Solar power and Geyser

[RonSwanson]

Good question. How did @RonSwanson handle that disastrous weekend in June? I had to run the house without a kitchen for a day.

Truth be told: I do what I did during lockdown loadshedding, same as every good South African: I braai.

 

[Magnum]

Are they on the same circuit?

yes. The Geyser is on its own. and is only on when nothing else is on.

 

[zakslaher]

yes you can I run 2 150l geysers on my 8kw Deye , i can run both at the same time 6KW but i dont just to give a bit of headroom.
your 200l 4Kw will be fine
I have them connected under smart load (with my Oven) - - which called Aux on sunsynk if you installer has no idea what this is get another installer.

Thank you, Can you perhaps advise on an installer. Also does it not finish your batteries. I want to run my geyser in the morning at 04:00 - 06:00

 

[zakslaher]

We had an 8kW Sunsynk with 16x545kWp PV panels and ran both our 150l and 200l, not at the same time though. We have two Geyserwise TSE's and I have an HA automation runs a geyser for 55 minutes, switches it off, starts up the next geyser 5 minutes later, etc. We originally had the geysers on the non-essential side of our inverter but moved them to the essential so we could heat them even if there was no mains supply.

Did it not finish your batteries

 

[zakslaher]

Yes, the installers should not have isolated it from the solar.

The installer says it can't; will finish the batteries if using in the evening. We are only 2 people in the house, and hardly use electricity in the evening.

 

[denmendez65]

It does use your batteries but up to what you set it to be is this smart load works the same as how other inverters work with a bit of extra features.

 

[denmendez65]

The installer says it can't; will finish the batteries if using in the evening. We are only 2 people in the house, and hardly use electricity in the evening.

What is your SOC every morning? If you don’t use much power then you will have some battery left.

I’m against putting geyser on inverter but it can be done without issues as long as you are fine managing the system during power cuts.

 

[denmendez65]

And what I don’t know is does that smart load side start supplying from the grid if the battery is drained to that SOC you set or does it just go dead?

If it goes dead then you will be bathing with cold water and manually intervening every time there is clouds etc. so that needs clarity from the guys with your inverter.

 

[zakslaher]

What is your SOC every morning? If you don’t use much power then you will have some battery left.

I’m against putting geyser on inverter but it can be done without issues as long as you are fine managing the system during power cuts.

I am not sure, how would I check this.

 

[zakslaher]

And what I don’t know is does that smart load side start supplying from the grid if the battery is drained to that SOC you set or does it just go dead?

If it goes dead then you will be bathing with cold water and manually intervening every time there is clouds etc. so that needs clarity from the guys with your inverter.

Hmm, then best would be not to use it. We frequently have electricity issues, this might mean I won't have power in the morning

 

[wingnut771]

I am not sure, how would I check this.

With the sunsynk app on your phone.

 

[wingnut771]

The installer says it can't; will finish the batteries if using in the evening. We are only 2 people in the house, and hardly use electricity in the evening.

It cant because your geyser should have a timer that only allows it to turn on when its day time. If its cloudy and batteries are flat then it uses the grid.

 

[zakslaher]

With the sunsynk app on your phone.

At 5sm it is on 45%

 

[denmendez65]

I am not sure, how would I check this.

On the inverter screen there should be a SOC percentage shown if you don’t have an App or Home assistant/ Solar assistant. You can check it in the morning every day for a week to get an idea.

But it sounds like you don’t tinker much with the inverter so unless you are willing to go down that rabbit hole I would avoid putting geyser on inverter and just follow what your installer says.

 

[wingnut771]

Hmm, then best would be not to use it. We frequently have electricity issues, this might mean I won't have power in the morning

You are only 2 people in the house. The water should still be warm enough from the previous day.

 

[zakslaher]

On the inverter screen there should be a SOC percentage shown if you don’t have an App or Home assistant/ Solar assistant. You can check it in the morning every day for a week to get an idea.

But it sounds like you don’t tinker much with the inverter so unless you are willing to go down that rabbit hole I would avoid putting geyser on inverter and just follow what your installer says.

Correct, I do not. Don't fully understand so I do not want to change things all the time

 

[wingnut771]

At 5sm it is on 45%

and how hot is the hot water in the morning if you turn your geyser breaker off at 5pm?

 

[denmendez65]

It cant because your geyser should have a timer that only allows it to turn on when it’s day time. If it’s cloudy and batteries are flat then it uses the grid.

But doesn’t the aux port have separate settings and allow you to set at different SOC? If it doesn’t follow that I would not put the geyser on inverter at all.

 

[wingnut771]

But doesn’t the aux port have separate settings and allow you to set at different SOC? If it doesn’t follow that I would not put the geyser on inverter at all.

AFAIK, the aux port (non-essential loads) doesn't function during power failure.

Okay, keep paying eskom for hot water then.

 

[denmendez65]

Correct, I do not. Don't fully understand so I do not want to change things all the time

Yeah then just leave it as is and get a Heatpump installed. @Lupus and @SauRoNZA have done it and it won’t affect your batteries much. Then you don’t have to manage anything or worry about your batteries being drained.