4 minutes ago, Leshen said:

The genset when connected to the AUX port will only work when the Grid is offline. 
 

I limit the wattage to whatever the genset is rated at less 20%. 

Thanks for clarifying

So if I wanted to charge the batteries from the genset (via AUX), I would have to drop the grid side? Or can you achieve this on the system/timer menu?

9 minutes ago, branderplank said:

Thanks for clarifying

So if I wanted to charge the batteries from the genset (via AUX), I would have to drop the grid side? Or can you achieve this on the system/timer menu?

You will have to switch the Grid off. Correct. 

A simple thought, when connecting a generator to the Main input and not the AUX port, make sure Zero Export is ticked, or the Generator will complain or be damaged.

I was thinking if adding a separate voltage regulator between the inverter and generator would make a difference for those of us who have the cheaper type generators that can’t do a good job regulating voltage?

Few years back with some serious load shedding I had to get a office running with a small 5KVA adendorf generator. The problem was lights and computer screens were flickering and showed signs of bad voltage, we decided to get a additional regulated power supply from AC/DC. This seemed to resolve the problem and we did not have to buy another generator.

Has anyone actually tried something like this with inverters that is a bit finicky with voltage?

On 2021/08/23 at 1:54 PM, Sc00bs said:

Hi Guys, I have a question regarding the functioning of my Sunsynk 8kw inverter with my 5.5kw petrol generator. 

The Inverter is connected to a Eskom/Generator change over switch that I can use to select my source power.

If I switch from Eskom to Generator, the AC light on the inverter lights up but I cannot get any power from the generator.

If have a look on my laptop the inverter is not seeing any grid frequency, it obviously sees 50hz when running on Eskom power.

If I bypass the inverter totally I can run my house from the generator directly, I would however prefer to be able to charge up my batteries using my generator which I currently cannot do.

I was thinking that the power from the generator is perhaps not living up to what the inverter is expecting for some reason. 

Any idea what could be causing the problem? 

Hi Scoobs did you figure out what the problem was?

Have had success running a much lower load than what the generator is rated at.

Otherwise it goes outside the allowable specs and the inverter kicks it out.

I also opened up the Voltage min/max settings on the inverter to allow as much leeway as I could, haven't tried it out seriously yet but it does connect and stay connected at 2kw load  (5.5kw generator).

I also added another earth to the generator.

Does anybody here use the sunsynk GSM dongle? I heard somewhere that it comes with 1 year's worth of data and that you need to purchase data after that. After inspection it looks like a vodaphone sim (probably roaming on Vodacom). Im not sure if there is a way to locally load more data onto it or what the process is to get it recharged. Any ideas?

On 2021/09/29 at 2:49 PM, LDV said:

Hi Scoobs did you figure out what the problem was?

Forgot to mention, it is important to check the frequency that the Inverter is running at. You can check with a Multimeter pretty easily.

Mine was running at 46kz and as a result when load was added it slowed slightly which went out of the acceptable range for the Inverter, the inverter then disconnected.

I adjusted the frequency by adjusting the screw on the throttle linkage (Youtube it if you are unsure) and set it at 52hz which seems to have helped a lot.

Thank you all for the above discussion. I have found it very informative. I plan to have a 7.5 generator  for those dark and cloudy days. I have been concerned with the following which  I copied and pasted from  Bundu Power's website............

"The Datakom DKG-116 and Smartgen MCG100 controller do not filter out these harmonics. When the harmonics enter the main power cable it causes a ripple effect pushing the voltage and frequency readings up on both the inverter and generator. The inverter then disconnects the AC input and the generator shuts down on overspeed/overvoltage.  "

On 2021/09/29 at 2:49 PM, LDV said:

Hi Scoobs did you figure out what the problem was?

One last thing, it appears that the "Gen Signal" box needs to be ticked for the inverter to connect to the generator when connected to the Aux port, even if it is a manually started generator. 

Finally got the whole thing working properly, now pulls 5kw from my generator for hours with no problem. 

The Earth bonding was what was causing the issue as it had a floating earth when disconnected from the grid. 

Once that was sorted out the generator was much happier and I actually doubt that changing the voltage and frequency settings was even required in the end. 

 

On 2022/03/30 at 5:39 PM, Sc00bs said:

Finally got the whole thing working properly, now pulls 5kw from my generator for hours with no problem. 

The Earth bonding was what was causing the issue as it had a floating earth when disconnected from the grid. 

Once that was sorted out the generator was much happier and I actually doubt that changing the voltage and frequency settings was even required in the end. 

 

Hi, 

 

Please can you tell me what exactly you mean by sorting this out. 

 

Did you have a bridge of some sort to connect the earth and neutral? 

Did you connect the generator earth to the normal earth in the DB or did you earth the generator frame to a spike? 

 

I am really desperate. 

 

Thank you very much 

Finally got the generator to work properly.

Hopefully this will help some else. 

Here is what I had to do

1. Connect the generator to the AUX port

2. Connect the AUX port earth to the earth on the GRID port. I do not have the generator connected to a earth spike. 

3. Connect earth and neutral together on the generator 

4. On AUX menu, tick Gen Input and tick Gen peak shaving and set the shaving value to 80% of your generator capacity. Then set Gen Load OFF to 95% and Gen Load ON to 80% (choose your own values that work for you) 

5. On System menu, work mode 2, tick Zero Export, AND Limit to load. My generator would disconnect if Limit to load was not ticked. 

6. On System menu, work mode 1, make sure the SOC for the time slot you are running your generator in, is set to 100% and tick GEN box to charge from generator. 

7. On Battery menu, make sure the Charge Amps on Batt Type is the same as the Amps in the first block on the second screen Batt Charge. Also important is to make sure the charge amps is not set too high. Consider the power drawn from the generator to charge the batteries PLUS the power required to run the load and inverter. 

8. Tick Gen Charge, Gen Signal and Signal Island mode on Battery menu under Batt charge. 

 

What a mission to figure all this out.

Hi @ScanlanGP

Another option if you don't want to use the AUX port is to use a transfer switch to switch between the generator and Eskom. 

I then use "Grid Peak Shaving" to limit the amount of power the inverter pulls from the generator.

On 2022/05/21 at 9:40 AM, Sc00bs said:

Hi @ScanlanGP

Another option if you don't want to use the AUX port is to use a transfer switch to switch between the generator and Eskom. 

I then use "Grid Peak Shaving" to limit the amount of power the inverter pulls from the generator.

Thanks

Did you end up having to change the SOC setting as well? (as per Keith's video)

How did you sort out the earth issue? Put differently why did you have a floating earth?

56 minutes ago, branderplank said:

Thanks

Did you end up having to change the SOC setting as well? (as per Keith's video)

How did you sort out the earth issue? Put differently why did you have a floating earth?

Cause the installer didn't bond the earth and neutral

 

Hi, I have 2 x 5kw sunsynk inverters. They don't wanna take power from the generator. I'm off grid. Does the generator needs to be sine wave?

On 2022/11/28 at 10:15 AM, Eduard said:

Hi, I have 2 x 5kw sunsynk inverters. They don't wanna take power from the generator. I'm off grid. Does the generator needs to be sine wave?

Judging from Sc00bs post, are your earth and neutral bonded at the gen?

On 2022/09/17 at 9:54 AM, Sc00bs said:

Cause the installer didn't bond the earth and neutral

 

So he didn't install the earth neutral bridge connection? You basically had a house without earth leakage when loadshedding / grid fails? 😠

On 2022/11/28 at 10:15 AM, Eduard said:

Hi, I have 2 x 5kw sunsynk inverters. They don't wanna take power from the generator. I'm off grid. Does the generator needs to be sine wave?

All generators are sine wave. 

I take it you need 2 earth neutral bonds then? 

The normal bonding relay on the inverter output and also the earth and neutral on the generator to be bonded? 

Hi @Chris_S

One earth/neutral bond is sufficient. I would check your generator is bonded as well. 

Is pretty easy to check if your inverter/generator are earth/neutral bonded if you have a multimeter. 

You just need to measure the voltage difference between Earth & Neutral with the multimeter. 

You should get a 0V reading in both cases which indicates that the Earth/Neutral, are bonded.

I would check your inverter when connected to the grid and when running with the grid disconnected.  

If they are not bonded you will get a reading of anywhere between 40V & 140V. 

A big help I found when trying to get my generator connected was checking the readings screen  on the inverter, when generator reading are outside the allowed spec on the inverter, the reading will turn yellow, when they are within spec they turn black. The inverter will wait for them to be within spec and then has a default time period of 60 seconds (I think, feels like hours) before it will try to connect. You can then hear the relay click in on the inverter and load gets applied to the generator. 

If the generator power frequency drops outside of the permitted range the inverter will disconnect from the generator.

You can adjust the generator frequency on the generator, is usually and adjustment on the throttle assembly and will affect the rpm the generator is running at (non-inverter generator that is). You can also adjust the voltage on the voltage regulator if required. 

If you are connecting the generator via a change over switch  and you are getting too much load being put on it, you can reduce the load by using the grid-shaving option in the menu's. 

 

Edited December 13, 20223 yr by Sc00bs

Hi Sc00bs, 

I seem to be having a similar strange issue. Commissioned the 5kVA system and ran fine for 2 days. 

Did a firmware update and then the inverter would not read frequency but would see voltage. 

Was told by Sunsynk to do a factory reset and then the frequency could be detected and read on the flow chart. 

The gen and grid supply are on the grid input only and are separated by a change over.  There has been load shedding so trying to charge the batteries off the generator with very low charge current of 1-10A the inverter clicks in, starts charging and suddenly clicks out. I have widened to the max frequency and voltage but now seems like it just wont hold onto the gen supply. No wiring has been changes since it was working and i have a earth neutral bond in the main panel. 

Will see if the grid lets it charge well tonight without kicking out the supply. 

Edited December 13, 20223 yr by Spicy Cables

On 2022/12/12 at 6:47 PM, Chris_S said:

I take it you need 2 earth neutral bonds then? 

The normal bonding relay on the inverter output and also the earth and neutral on the generator to be bonded? 

That depends on your installation.

I have the E/N Bond installed by the inverter for when the grid fails. This is the normal setup that most people have.

 

My generator is connected to the DB via a change over switch (not to the GEN port on the inverter). So when I change over to the generator on the DB, the inverter will see that as GRID and will not go into island mode (no E/N bond)

I therefor have a E/N bond on the generator

 

 

Edited December 16, 20223 yr by ScanlanGP

IMO the 1st prize is to connect the generator to the Aux/Gen port so that you are not messing around with your grid settings. 

I would only connect with a transfer switch to main grid side if you are using the Aux port for non-essential loads as it is just easier. 

When first connecting it I suggest disconnect the grid and PV panels as it won't connect to the generator if you have any power coming in on the grid. PV panels so it is just easier to see what is going on, use the DC disconnect on the side of the inverter. 

Check the gen boxes on the system mode screen are ticked.  

Check the the Gen charge box is ticked on the  battery menu and set it relatively low 10A = +-500W

Switch the Aux port to Gen Input and tick the "Gen Peak Shaving" box and set the maximum amount of power that can be pulled from the generator (Load + Battery Charge), would set this to 50% of the generator output to start.

Start the generator and you should hear the relay click in as the inverter connects to the generator.

Once everything is working you can reconnect the PV panels and mains power.  

The generator will not connect if there is grid power.