My inverter gets supply from grid. I have 23kva generator inline. when grid goes down, generator kicks in and supplies to the house. this feed comes in to the inverter.

When the grid is supplying, the inverter works fine. When the grid goes down (praise Cyril) and my generator kicks in, the inverter refuses to pick up the "grid". It just shows "stand by", "0hz" as per photo. You'll also notice the AC light is on, so it does in fact see the incoming current. I've put a multimeter across the incoming "grid" connection lugs while generator is running and it picks up 232v (2nd photo)

When the grid power comes back, then it goes back to normal

Im completely confused. As far as the inverter is concerned, it shouldnt be able to tell the difference between generator supplied power and grid supplied power - they both come in on the same line

Any ideas on what I need to do here?

The inverter is seeing 229 volts and the meter 232, so it looks like this is what the genny is providing.

I am not familiar with the Deye's interface, but I do know that the Sunsynk does have a screen defining the grid settings, things like upper and lower voltage ranges, and frequency high and low. It is possible that these ranges may be incorrectly set on your inverter.  Could you find this setting screen and show it? On my Sunsynk low is defined as 185V and high as 265V with frequency high of 51.5Hz and low of 47.5Hz.      

Great catch on the different voltages. I'm assuming its because the photos weren't taken at the same time, but I'll definitely compare them next time the genny is on.

 

Those voltage screens confuse me, but here they are

The second screen looks OK to me, seems to be sufficient latitude. I don't know or understand anything about the subsequent ones though, but it seems that they are not in use, so best not to fiddle there.

Is there a way that you can measure the genny's output frequency?

Another alternative is to hook the genny onto the Aux port (I assume that it's currently feeding from the grid side via a changeover switch).

Edited June 10, 20215 yr by YellowTapemeasure

I dont have any means to measure the genny output freq, but I assume its "ok" as the house seems to run just fine. The genny has an auto start and auto changeover switch. Yes, it feeds from grid side.

Also, if I disconnect the batteries and pv on the inverter while the genny is running, the inverter stays powered up, so its definitely getting power from the genny. Also as per the original screenshot the "AC" led is on when the genny is running.

I'm going to try get hold of a multimeter that can read frequency and see if that narrows it down

Almost certainly frequency related. Try bump Grid Hz high to max and Grid Hz Low to min, and see if it helps.

4 minutes ago, JustinSchoeman said:

Almost certainly frequency related. Try bump Grid Hz high to max and Grid Hz Low to min, and see if it helps.

Or fiddle with the genny's speed settings and see if it makes any difference?

Edit : another thing that I thought of: is the genny correctly earthed?

Edited June 10, 20215 yr by YellowTapemeasure

Genny output seems fine. Yeh genny is earthed properly. 
 

my guy says something has gone wonky in the Deye firmware

 

 

5 minutes ago, Zkrige said:

Genny output seems fine. Yeh genny is earthed properly. 
 

my guy says something has gone wonky in the Deye firmware

 

 

Not sure what display that is, but if 52.1Hz if the gen frequency, then it is above 'Grid Hz High' on the Deye, and it will not be accepted.

Gosh I hope this is the problem. Thank you 

@ZkrigeDid you ever manage to get your generator working? 

I am having a similar issue with my Sunsynk and trying to figure out what the cause could be. 

It seems to have resolved itself. The problem seems to raise its head when we have bad power in the area (low voltage, phase down, etc). Once those problems disappear,  things seem to go back to normal

What happens when the Sunsynk pushes power back to the generator? Does it produce diesel or petrol? 🤔 I thought the generator should be on the AUX port and not treated as grid?

On 2021/08/23 at 10:16 PM, Sc00bs said:

@ZkrigeDid you ever manage to get your generator working? 

I am having a similar issue with my Sunsynk and trying to figure out what the cause could be. 

@Sc00bs any advice on how to solve this issue? 

Generators normally run a bit high on the frequency side, especially petrol generators. Set your upper frequency to about 53.5Hz and lower to 47.0 Hz.

This will sort out most problems. Also confirm the generator is earthed to your incoming supply earth, and the inverter is connected to the same earth.

Plus DON'T forget to make sure Zero Export is ticked, or you could fry your generator if you are producing power from PV and feeding back to the generator.

You will burn out the coils or the AVR.

Edited September 5, 20214 yr by TimCam

See further discussion we had here:

 

It seems you have mixed 50Hz (page GridSet2) and everything else is 60Hz parameters...

Hi. I have just had a 8kva DEYE inverter system installed. My generator is also connected, but not a auto start. It is a 7,5kva petrol. I want to use it to charge my batteries should Eskom be off for too long etc. 

 

My electrician cant give me a cleR answer on this. How "EXACTLY" do I go about this? Can I just start my gennie safely without damaging either the inverter, batteries or gennie?

 

Please will somebody advise thT has a definate answer.

Refer to post

and my reply. Should serve as a guide only.

Edited March 29, 20224 yr by IcePick1957

8 hours ago, Lappies001 said:

Hi. I have just had a 8kva DEYE inverter system installed. My generator is also connected, but not a auto start. It is a 7,5kva petrol. I want to use it to charge my batteries should Eskom be off for too long etc. 

 

My electrician cant give me a cleR answer on this. How "EXACTLY" do I go about this? Can I just start my gennie safely without damaging either the inverter, batteries or gennie?

 

Please will somebody advise thT has a definate answer.

I have a 7.5kVA el cheapo genny without autostart that serves my 5.5K Sunsynk just fine.

I have it connected to the Gen/Aux port of the Sunsynk, and the Aux port is configured in the software to be a Gen port. I use two 16A plugs from the genny, with 2.5mm cabtyre, terminating on a 32amp plug:

https://www.livecopper.co.za/products/gewiss-straight-connector-32a-3p-n-e-400v-ip44-6h

and the Aux is wired to the female plug:

https://www.livecopper.co.za/products/gewiss-surface-mounting-socket-outlet-32a-3p-n-e-400v-90d-ip44-6h

This gives me the flexibility to place the genny anywhere, which is a blessing because it is pretty noisy and smelly.

 A limitation that you must be aware of is that the Sunsynk will service loads and charge batteries simultaneously from the Gen port, so it will draw what it can, unless you limit it with the very clever feature called peak shaving:

So you can adjust the maximum that the inverter will use from the genny to ensure that it will not kill the genny.

Alternatively you can adjust the batttery charge settings, or the power setting in the system mode screen to reduce the rate of battery charge. 

 

@Zkrige After months of fiddling with voltage & Hz settings on my generator & inverter to try to get my generator to connect for more than 60 seconds, it turned out to the the earth bonding was what was causing the issues. 

I would suggest checking that your earth bonding on your inverter is done correctly as you may find that is the problem. Have had no issues since then and just have to use the grid shaving setting to restrict my pull from the generator to no more than 4kw. Otherwise works like a charm. 

@Sc00bs Yip, Earthing can mess you around big-time. Great to see you enjoying your Gennie now.

Edited March 30, 20224 yr by TimCam

59 minutes ago, Sc00bs said:

it turned out to the the earth bonding was what was causing the issues

Was the earthing issue on the generator or inverter side? Was it just a missing/loose connection or did you have to drive an earth stake/rod into the ground?

Edited March 30, 20224 yr by Kilowatt Power

Also talk to your Deye supplier and ensure that you have the latest firmware. This issue occurred similarly with an install in Nigeria and Deye sorted it out with a firmware update, not sure if this firmware is now universally available. Good thing you also spotted the earth bonding issue.

Post moved here

Edited December 11, 20223 yr by Kilowatt Power
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