Sunsynk 5kW 48v Inverter - Reliability, Support & Number of Installers

[Moffat]

I've been hearing some good reviews of the Deye/Sunsynk inverters, in general. I however have several questions to pose:

1. How reliable are they and over what period have these been tested?

2. How good and quick is the support from Sunsynk?

3. How widespread are installers of this product for one to be able to get various quotes and support from installers in South Africa? Here in Zimbabwe, this product is relatively unknown and untried more so given that our local grid tends to have "dirty frequencies". I've not been able to find any local installers who are conversant with this product.

4. I have already a 3kW 24v system running AGM batteries and the batteries are now almost at EOL and would want to upgrade. Given the costs of a certain "blue brand" to go up to 5kW is not cheap and the upfront costs of Lifepo4 batteries either. Could I in the interim buy and install a 5kW 48v system that can be set to charge my batteries at 24v as I upgrade slowly. Is there any inverter out there capable to such capabilities off tinkering on the software side and then go back to 48v once I'm able to upgrade the wiring and the batteries?

...forumites, please help.

[Sammyigt]

We've installed probably close to 100 of these units in the last 7 months or so.

Out of box failure rate so far at 0%.  In the past 7 months we've had a total failure rate of around 3% (one was a parallel system where only one went so true failure rate rather around 1%).

So, while a pretty reliable and stable inverter for its cost, there are a few design flaws that im not to fond of but again for what they cost they are i believe the best value for money inverter on the market at the moment.

Local support is fantastic, mostly depending on your suppplier but even support from the community is great.

I will conclude with this though, i am looking at moving in to starting my own solar installation business, i however will not be including these inverters on my list and will only be doing Victron systems.

[Tariq]

Hi @Sammyigt, 

1 )  you mentioned design flaws, can you please elaborate 

2 ) why would you not offer a Sunsynk on your list, is it because you cannot offer remote assistance

[excitedphoton]

There is a few things you can do remotely via the solarman business web app.

 

[Achmat]

1 minute ago, excitedphoton said:

There is a few things you can do remotely via the solarman business web app.

 

Like? 

I registered as an installer on Solarman Business and can't do anything besides viewing inverter data. 

Can't change any inverter settings remotely. 

[FixAMess]

Why should ONLY an installer be allowed to/want to make changes?

If the owner/user can be told what changes to make over the phone then surely you are achieving the same thing, "remote support" ? I believe most users will actually make their own changes as time goes by anyway, as they learn about the system. Unless your experience with users is different? Maybe its only a few weeks babysitting they need?

9 hours ago, Sammyigt said:

We've installed probably close to 100 of these units in the last 7 months or so.

Out of box failure rate so far at 0%.  In the past 7 months we've had a total failure rate of around 3% (one was a parallel system where only one went so true failure rate rather around 1%).

So, while a pretty reliable and stable inverter for its cost, there are a few design flaws that im not to fond of but again for what they cost they are i believe the best value for money inverter on the market at the moment.

@Sammyigt, As for only doing victron, after successfully installing 100 Sunsysncs (with 1% failure rate) baffles me...How many Victrons have you done in the same time period? Failure rates?

Design flaws? Compared to what, Goodwe, Axpert, Victron ??

With any hardware (which an inverter is), Dell, HP etc, a hardware failure rate of 1-2% is the norm...I bought 200 servers last year, to date 7 have failed, all in the first 3 months, so a 1% failure rate is good.

Sunsync has really good support, even forum members are quick to help, so that's not an issue.

So where's the issue with Sunsync (BTW, I have a Goodwe, so I'm not bias)..

[Chloe]

@Moffat Sunsynk inverters are great an the support absolutely amazing even asking for help here on the forum is quickly answered.

Do youself a favour and go to the Commercial section on this forum, have a look at Backbone energy. There you can familiarize yourself  with the inverter and the type of support offer.

The Deye inverter is not as good as the Sunsynk when it comes to support, usability and software.

And NO you can NOT use 24v batteries on a 48v system unless you can reconfigure the batteries to 48v.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Chloe

[excitedphoton]

On 2021/01/28 at 7:51 AM, Achmat said:

Like? 

I registered as an installer on Solarman Business and can't do anything besides viewing inverter data. 

Can't change any inverter settings remotely. 

I had to email Deye to enable this on my account as I couldn't get it working myself.

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by excitedphoton

[Achmat]

36 minutes ago, excitedphoton said:

I had to email Deye to enable this on my account as I couldn't get it working myself.

 

I had a feeling that the limitation is not the Solarman app but what the inverter manufacturer allows to available to access either via the app or website.

I should email Sunsynk to open up more of the features.

 

What exactly did you request in your email to Deye. Not sure if Sunsynk would be as forthcoming.

[PaulinNorthcliff]

On 2021/01/28 at 3:41 PM, Chloe said:

 

The Deye inverter is not as good as the Sunsynk when it comes to support, usability and software.

I've had excellent on-site support from Shabir, the Deye rep in Johannesburg. Really can't fault it.

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by PaulinNorthcliff

[YellowTapemeasure]

27 minutes ago, PaulinNorthcliff said:

I've had excellent on-site support from Shabir, the Sunsynk and Deye rep in Johannesburg. Really can't fault it.

 

FTFY

[Moffat]

On 2021/01/28 at 3:41 PM, Chloe said:

@Moffat Sunsynk inverters are great an the support absolutely amazing even asking for help here on the forum is quickly answered.

Do youself a favour and go to the Commercial section on this forum, have a look at Backbone energy. There you can familiarize yourself  with the inverter and the type of support offer.

The Deye inverter is not as good as the Sunsynk when it comes to support, usability and software.

And NO you can NOT use 24v batteries on a 48v system unless you can reconfigure the batteries to 48v.

Thanks @Chloe

[billythekid]

Hi all, I'm lookin for a battery graph within solarman app {8kw sunsynk} , can't seem to see a day trend of soc. 

 

Am I missing something? 

[billythekid]

Thanks very much, but solarman smart does not accept login for pro. Even the country selection does not allow sa? 

[Achmat]

2 hours ago, billythekid said:

Thanks very much, but solarman smart does not accept login for pro. Even the country selection does not allow sa? 

I have all four of their apps working, solarman, Solarman Smart, Solarman Business and Solarman Pro. I think when I setup my account I selected installer. 

On the Solarman Pro app you select devise then select the inverter. Swipe to the right to get the history tab and then you can swipe the right to get to the parameter you looking. I don't use the the Pro app as you can only select one parameter at a time to display whereas the smart and business apps allow for multiple parameter selection. 

[billythekid]

Thanks so much. Let me see how to get into the other app,

[billythekid]

Hi again. Please advise me here, on the sunsynk. 8kw. I've got 12 panels running 325w Ja panels. The inverter spec is as follows :

 

• Max power input – 10400W
• Max V DC input – 370V (100V~500V)
• Max current input – 18A + 18A
• MPPTs – 2
• MPPT Range – 125~425v

Am I supposed to spec it to the wattage of 10400w, the 370v or mppt range of 425v? 

[Achmat]

52 minutes ago, billythekid said:

Hi again. Please advise me here, on the sunsynk. 8kw. I've got 12 panels running 325w Ja panels. The inverter spec is as follows :

 

• Max power input – 10400W
• Max V DC input – 370V (100V~500V)
• Max current input – 18A + 18A
• MPPTs – 2
• MPPT Range – 125~425v

Am I supposed to spec it to the wattage of 10400w, the 370v or mppt range of 425v? 

The max input power is the max solar panel wattage that you can connect. You want to spec it to within the mppt range. 125v is the minimum at which the mppt will start to work. 500v is the maximum but you want to stay will below this. 400v is probably the best. 

What's the Voc and amps of the panels? 

I have 34 x 305w Canadian solar panels on my 8kw sunsynk. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Achmat

[billythekid]

Thanks very much spec as ffgs:

 

VMPP:	33.44 V
IMPP:	9.72 A
Voc:	41.04 V

[Achmat]

9 minutes ago, billythekid said:

Thanks very much spec as ffgs:

 

VMPP:	33.44 V
IMPP:	9.72 A
Voc:	41.04 V

You could put 10 panels on a string on each MPPT to get to about 400v.

You can then connect connect another string in parallel which will give just over 19A. The inverter will clip the amps down to 18A but voltage should always be under 500v.

32 panels should get you to 10 400w if you have the roof space. 

I would put 16 panels on each MPPT. 8 panels per string with two strings in parallel on each MPPT.