I have recently had a SunSynk inverter installed. Some questions still in terms of how it works.

1) In the System Mode settings if I don't tick the "Use Timer", but I tick the "priority load" then will the inverter just try to keep the battery at 100% and use the panels to supply to load with a balance from grid?

2) If I tick the "Use Timer" and set all the SOCs to 100% without having grid charge ticked, I still note that the battery drops off to about 94% during the night. Is this the battery feeding the inverter - not sure why it would drop below 100% if the SOC is set at 100%

3) If the house load exceeds 6,5KW then the electricity switches off and about 30 seconds later comes back on. Is there a setting I need to configure to allow the inverter to bypass and go full grid into house if the load exceeds the inverter capacity, without it switching the electricity off?

4) In winter, the solar panels don't usually generate enough energy to feed the house and recharge the batteries to full load during the day. I thus end up charging the batteries from grid once the sun goes down. I am still playing with the settings, however considering putting SOC at 90% during the day and 100% at night with a grid charge from late afternoon. Any suggestions on best settings for winter?

    

Hi there , please upload a flow diagram and system mode picture. What battery and pv array size are you using ?

1)If you use timer and priority load the ups will be getting pv first then when there is excess it goes to the battery. 

2) yes that is the inverter using battery power 

3)Why do you have so much usage on the UPS side of the inverter ? you should have all your large draw appliances on the non essential side,controlled via the ct coil on incoming grid power line.

4) To give proper recommendations i need to know more about your system , but i can tell you that i run 80% soc 24/7 , no grid charge ,battery priority first,On 5kw inverter with 3,5kwh lifepo4 battery and 4,55kw PV.

3 hours ago, AndrewWr said:

I have recently had a SunSynk inverter installed. Some questions still in terms of how it works.

1) In the System Mode settings if I don't tick the "Use Timer", but I tick the "priority load" then will the inverter just try to keep the battery at 100% and use the panels to supply to load with a balance from grid?

2) If I tick the "Use Timer" and set all the SOCs to 100% without having grid charge ticked, I still note that the battery drops off to about 94% during the night. Is this the battery feeding the inverter - not sure why it would drop below 100% if the SOC is set at 100%

3) If the house load exceeds 6,5KW then the electricity switches off and about 30 seconds later comes back on. Is there a setting I need to configure to allow the inverter to bypass and go full grid into house if the load exceeds the inverter capacity, without it switching the electricity off?

4) In winter, the solar panels don't usually generate enough energy to feed the house and recharge the batteries to full load during the day. I thus end up charging the batteries from grid once the sun goes down. I am still playing with the settings, however considering putting SOC at 90% during the day and 100% at night with a grid charge from late afternoon. Any suggestions on best settings for winter?

    

Hi 

1. Correct 

2. It's the power for the inverter running from the battery and you can expect ±5% usage overnight. It will charge it back when pv is available. 

3. The 5kw sunbath can only pass through 6.5kw from the grid to the essential side. You need either manage this by monitoring the loads or move some circuts to the non essential side. 

4. It really depends on what you want to achieve. I simply turn off use timer when load shedding is announced. Its a waste using grid to charge the batteries. Today in CT my batteries only got to 25% from pv charging but there is no load shedding so I'll just leave it and charge it up again from pv tomorrow. 

Thank you for the input!

What do you think of my settings (see pic)? My thinking is to try and prevent the charge and discharge scenario during the day, hence set to 100% from 13h00 - my understanding is that the batteries will then not be used and will charge to that level. Thereafter slow discharge to keep store in case of load shedding at night.

Question in terms of whether better to have priority load ticked or to charge battery first? Your opinion?

10 minutes ago, AndrewWr said:

Thank you for the input!

What do you think of my settings (see pic)? My thinking is to try and prevent the charge and discharge scenario during the day, hence set to 100% from 13h00 - my understanding is that the batteries will then not be used and will charge to that level. Thereafter slow discharge to keep store in case of load shedding at night.

Question in terms of whether better to have priority load ticked or to charge battery first? Your opinion?

That seems fine. I have priority load ticked but then I've got 4 x US3000 pylontech batteries so not too worried of only have 40% of battery if load shedding is announced. 

31 minutes ago, AndrewWr said:

Thank you for the input!

What do you think of my settings (see pic)? My thinking is to try and prevent the charge and discharge scenario during the day, hence set to 100% from 13h00 - my understanding is that the batteries will then not be used and will charge to that level. Thereafter slow discharge to keep store in case of load shedding at night.

Question in terms of whether better to have priority load ticked or to charge battery first? Your opinion?

Why are you limiting power to the UPS? Do you not have non essentials ?  oven , aircons ect?

My geyser, oven, microwave and air-fryer are on a different circuit that does not go via the Inverter. 

What discharge current would you advise on the batteries? I have two Pylontech 3000 ? I have mine set at 37A - should this be 74A for two batteries? My charge current is set at 40A.

I was also wondering about the float voltage, the equalisation and and absorbtion voltages? I have mine set 52.5V, 53V, 53V

Thanks

 

 

Ok , Do you know if you have the CT coil installed ? This inverter is a bi directional inverter . meaning the grid input is also an output that sends power to your non essentials ,controlled via a ct coil on the main incoming power at db box. That is the way you should be running the inverter ,only your absolute essentials should be on the UPS side of the inverter , especially on the 5kw unit.

For 2 of those pylons , set discharge and charge to 74 Amps. The battery wil do voltage balancing /float ect itself(via the bms) you dont have to set anything there .

Thanks - no I dont think there is a CT Coil installed.  Sounds like I need a someone to review the setup - any recommendations in the Cape Town Southern Suburbs?

 

Interestingly, I had an Axpert 5KW inverter before installing the SunSynk. That inverter managed to "bypass itself" if the load exceeded the inverter limit. I recall seeing an error on the inverter but it never cut off supply. My set up it via a pre-paid meter. At the DB board, the electrician has split out the non-essential loads. Current wiring of essential loads probably need to be reviewed and those with large loads, re-wired into "non-essential" (same as oven, etc)?

 

9 hours ago, AndrewWr said:

Thanks - no I dont think there is a CT Coil installed.  Sounds like I need a someone to review the setup - any recommendations in the Cape Town Southern Suburbs?

 

It seems this is a common thing that installers are not talking the time to research how this inverter works and should be wired up. You will not be the first user i am helping with this ...

So what you need to do is determine the largest draw appliances on the UPS and move them to the non essential circuit .Then you need to connect the ct coil to inverter and then connect the ct coil on the main live/red wire just after your prepaid meter (before the entire non essential DB). Then you need to change the "limit to load" setting with no tick and also set zero export to 50watts . You will then see the ct coil and a picture of a house on the flow diagram which will show you how much eskom power you are drawing and also how much you are feeding to the non essentials (house picture ). 

2 hours ago, Nexuss said:

It seems this is a common thing that installers are not talking the time to research how this inverter works and should be wired up. You will not be the first user i am helping with this ...

So what you need to do is determine the largest draw appliances on the UPS and move them to the non essential circuit .Then you need to connect the ct coil to inverter and then connect the ct coil on the main live/red wire just after your prepaid meter (before the entire non essential DB). Then you need to change the "limit to load" setting with no tick and also set zero export to 50watts . You will then see the ct coil and a picture of a house on the flow diagram which will show you how much eskom power you are drawing and also how much you are feeding to the non essentials (house picture ). 

I completed my install about a month ago and installer also didnt use the CT coil.

Almost everything is on the UPS side, which works fine as I have the 8kw inverter and load rarely exceeds this.

As the Limit to load only is ticked, it works perfectly. Is there any risk running it this way without the CT coil installed?

8 minutes ago, Mark M said:

I completed my install about a month ago and installer also didnt use the CT coil.

Almost everything is on the UPS side, which works fine as I have the 8kw inverter and load rarely exceeds this.

As the Limit to load only is ticked, it works perfectly. Is there any risk running it this way without the CT coil installed?

I dont think there is any real risk if you are not overloading the inverter constantly,but it certainly is not the way the inverter is meant to be used. You are losing out on powering whatever is not on the inverters UPS.Keith makes it pretty clear that it is one of the most important parts to the system in all his training manual videos.

39 minutes ago, Mark M said:

I completed my install about a month ago and installer also didnt use the CT coil.

Almost everything is on the UPS side, which works fine as I have the 8kw inverter and load rarely exceeds this.

As the Limit to load only is ticked, it works perfectly. Is there any risk running it this way without the CT coil installed?

You could have then just gone with an off grid inverter instead of a full hybrid if you are not going to fully utilise the inverter. 

As an example, say your ups loads are 3kw, batteries are full and solar is pushing at 6kw, the inverter will simply derate your solar to only produce 3kw for the ups loads and effectively waste the other 3kw. Meanwhile you switch on the kettle or geyser and there is another 3kw on the non ups side before the inverter. With the CT coil installed the inverter will send the surplus pv to the grid side so you don't need to use from Eskom or the municipality. It's one of the main features of a full hybrid inverter. 

Thanks a mil.....makes 100% sense

Is there a specific rating of CT coil I should buy?

 

Ct coil comes with the inverter.Edit* You should ring up your installer and get them to come finish the installation. The sooner the installers realize how to set these up the less people will be using only half of its features.  Maybe point them to this forum as there is loads of info available.

Edited June 29, 20214 yr by Nexuss

Will the inverter stop selling to grid when the CT coil is disconnected (wire broken)?

Edited June 29, 20214 yr by Namak

41 minutes ago, Namak said:

Will the inverter stop selling to grid when the CT coil is disconnected (wire broken)?

Yes. As it will not be able to read what is coming from the grid, effectively a zero reading, it will not feed anything to the grid. 

On 2021/06/29 at 7:35 AM, Nexuss said:

the "limit to load" setting with no tick and also set zero export to 50watts . You will then see the ct coil and a picture of a house on the flow diagram which will show you how much eskom power you are drawing and also how much you are feeding to the non essentials (house picture ). 

How come it needs to be 50w? why cant it be 10w or 20w?

2 hours ago, Terminal3k said:

How come it needs to be 50w? why cant it be 10w or 20w?

It can be whatever works for the individual setup ,if your power meter has no issue with 0w that would be the best ,some meters were tripping if you set it too low . Personally i set it at 0 watts as i dont have a prepaid meter.

On 2021/06/29 at 10:10 PM, Achmat said:

Yes. As it will not be able to read what is coming from the grid, effectively a zero reading, it will not feed anything to the grid. 

Can the guys in the know please comment on the above statement. I have it without a CT excess power will be exported as the CT needs to know when to throttle the inverter in order not to export and the inverter doesn't know this point without the CT.

You only need the CT is you have loads before the inverter. It's easy for the inverter to know if it is sending power back along the lines or not. The trick is to know how much to send if it's not zero. 

31 minutes ago, Speedster said:

You only need the CT is you have loads before the inverter. It's easy for the inverter to know if it is sending power back along the lines or not. The trick is to know how much to send if it's not zero. 

Thanks. Other grid tied inverters will export if more PV is produced than what the essential and non essential is used during sun periods if no CT value is reported. They need the CT to prevent export.

Is it normal for the Grid power to shoot up when I activate "Zero export to CT"? What could cause this? Is this an installation error?

Hi. I conpleted a Sunsynk 5kw installation. The problem I foyns is the distance from the db to garage where installation was done is +- 14m away. I hear that the ct coil wire lengh must not exceed 10meters. Is this critical or can I extend it a bit longer with thicker cable ie 1.5 twin&earth. There are no pv's connected yet but will cone in future.

Regards Otto