All things Sunsynk (Deye, Inge, etc...)

Kosmik said:
Series normally has a additive effect ie: 2 x 12v gives 24V but parallel is the same voltage but able to sustain longer in the case of batteries, or that's my understanding.

If a single batteries max output is capped at 5kva, then in theory that would be the overall cap. So it would not be able to output at 8kva from the batteries alone.

Or am I missing something here.
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You're missing something. Parallel the V stays the same but the amps increases. So if it can draw 100A from one unit (at 48V), it can draw 200A from two.
 
Kosmik said:
Segmentation just house wiring etc. Also complains of getting a under voltage warning when batteries drop below 50%. I haven't seen it myself but he complains about it. My one thought was he was hitting a battery output cap with them being am2s.
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Sounds like cell's not balanced correctly or maybe needs firmware updates.
At least from what I've read in the past.
 
What adjustments are people making to their work mode schedules to take Stage 6 into consideration?

Also, and I'm sure it's been answered, I notice that a number of people have "prioritize load" ticked? What's the advantage of doing that?
 
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AfricanTech said:
What adjustments are people making to their work mode schedules to take Stage 6 into consideration?

Also, and I'm sure it's been answered, I notice that a number of people have "prioritize load" ticked? What's the advantage of doing that?
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Prioritise load will send PV to the laod first then whatever is left over if then sent to charge batteries

Haven't changed my settings because of S6
Screenshot_20230416_181843_Brave.jpg
 
AfricanTech said:
What adjustments are people making to their work mode schedules to take Stage 6 into consideration?

Also, and I'm sure it's been answered, I notice that a number of people have "prioritize load" ticked? What's the advantage of doing that?
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Prioritise load greatly reduces grid usage. Available pv is first sent to power the load and any excess is stored in the battery. The alternative is to prioritise battery, so pv is only sent to the load once the batteries are charged.
 
AfricanTech said:
What adjustments are people making to their work mode schedules to take Stage 6 into consideration?
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None, just find a schedule that works for you that results in the least Eskom usage. If you have enough storage then you can just leave it regardless of LS schedule.

If you don't, then add a 4 hour LS buffer in % terms (how much % you use in 4 hours) to all slots.

The only change I make is to tick grid charge when the weather is bad. And to do it in consecutive slots in the event there's a 4 hour outage, then at least one of the slots will charge.

IMG_20230416_181713.jpg

When winter comes around I'll just increase all evening slots by 10% to factor in the shorter days and higher loads, even if it means paying Eskom. The most important thing for me is to always have power.

The key is to plan for your 90% use case, not the 10% of exceptional cases...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
None, just find a schedule that works for you that results in the least Eskom usage. If you have enough storage then you can just leave it regardless of LS schedule.

If you don't, then add a 4 hour LS buffer in % terms (how much % you use in 4 hours) to all slots.

The only change I make is to tick grid charge when the weather is bad. And to do it in consecutive slots in the event there's a 4 hour outage, then at least one of the slots will charge.

View attachment 1509425

When winter comes around I'll just increase all evening slots by 10% to factor in the shorter days and higher loads, even if it means paying Eskom. The most important thing for me is to always have power.

The key is to plan for your 90% use case, not the 10% of exceptional cases...
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Do you prioritise load or battery?
 
AfricanTech said:
Do you prioritise load or battery?
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Load. As @Speedster said that's how you reduce grid dependence.

What you're effectively doing is speading your charging over the course of the day, therefore getting more utility out of your panels.

Prioritising battery will often result in the house load drawing from the grid for those few hours when the batteries are charging...
 
So if all goes to plan my installation should occur next week Wednesday. Been going through the house trying to plan changes to be more energy efficient and one of the things was to start replacing all the 50w downlights with 5w leds.

In my previous house this entailed changing all the connections from MR16 to GU10 and I removed the transformers as part of the process.

In the new house I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was already done with GU10 connections and I could just change the bulbs.

What has been eating at me though is I wonder if I should still have removed the transformers?

My logic says that the new bulbs will still only draw 5w in comparison to the previous 50w and the transformers are effectively redundant and can just be left.

Next up my installation will consist of a Deye 12kW hybrid 3-phase inverter, 10.2kWH in batteries and 14x455w panels initially. Had to go with the 12kW inverter as the house has 3-phase power and I wasn't inclined to drop to single phase. First month's consumption (before changing lights etc) was 781kWh including a lot of time with power tools.

Stove is gas, geysers are both setup with GeyserWise and evacuated tubing on timers leaving the only other big power draws being the pool pump, oven and pressure pump for water backup.

I'm happy to split the pool pump and oven off to non-essential along with the geyser the kids use as they only bathe at night and the sun should be fine.

Pressure pump is an essential and I also need to leave room for the wife to blow dry her hair. Things like microwave and kettles are rarely used.

Could I consider putting the second geyser on with essential items?

It's a nice to have though and so far residual heat from the previous day carries through to our morning showers. If it is going to negatively impact on my batteries though I'd rather not do it. Could just extend the timing on the GeyserWise and hope there is some power during the night. As it is currently set it doesn't heat if the temp is at 55.
 
Arzy said:
Could I consider putting the second geyser on with essential items?
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I've got my entire house on essential including the pool pump and 3kw geyser element. I have installed a smart switch in the db for controlling it and have automations which just ensure it's never on when there is loadshedding.

Pool pump also on a smart switch, currently have it kick in on an automation too when there has been a certain amount of pv output for the past 15 minutes.

I've got an 8kW inverter.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I've got my entire house on essential including the pool pump and 3kw geyser element. I have installed a smart switch in the db for controlling it and have automations which just ensure it's never on when there is loadshedding.

Pool pump also on a smart switch, currently have it kick in on an automation too when there has been a certain amount of pv output for the past 15 minutes.

I've got an 8kW inverter.
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Would you mind sharing the details of your smart switch and how do you make the smart switch loadshedding aware?
 
Napalm2880 said:
Would you mind sharing the details of your smart switch and how do you make the smart switch loadshedding aware?
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It's a little complicated if you're not already set up for home automation.

I bought the CBI Astute controller (https://www.builders.co.za/Electric...-Controller---Grey-Black/p/000000000000744335) and had the electrician come in and install them in the db.

Then set them up inside Home Assistant (they work as Tuya devices so you can use the cloud integration or manually use a custom integration to use them locally only - which is what I've done).

I then have the Loadshedding Home assistant integration which gives you all the load shedding data (from ESP).

I've set up a home assistant automation that turns the switch off 10 minutes before load shedding and another that checks when load shedding ends to turn it back on (it also makes sure there is grid power available before it will turn back on).

So ye, not the most simple solution but if you're already in the Home assistant world then it's not that difficult to get going.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
It's a little complicated if you're not already set up for home automation.

I bought the CBI Astute controller (https://www.builders.co.za/Electrical/Plugs,-Sockets-&-Switches/Smart-Electrical/CBI-Astute-Smart-Controller---Grey-Black/p/000000000000744335) and had the electrician come in and install them in the db.

Then set them up inside Home Assistant (they work as Tuya devices so you can use the cloud integration or manually use a custom integration to use them locally only - which is what I've done).

I then have the Loadshedding Home assistant integration which gives you all the load shedding data (from ESP).

I've set up a home assistant automation that turns the switch off 10 minutes before load shedding and another that checks when load shedding ends to turn it back on (it also makes sure there is grid power available before it will turn back on).

So ye, not the most simple solution but if you're already in the Home assistant world then it's not that difficult to get going.
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I'm not opposed to setting up Home Assistant but its disappointing there isn't a simpler solution for this - or at least none that I know of.

How is the smart switch aware that grid power has been restored, that's pretty cool?
 
Napalm2880 said:
I'm not opposed to setting up Home Assistant but its disappointing there isn't a simpler solution for this - or at least none that I know of.

How is the smart switch aware that grid power has been restored, that's pretty cool?
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You can set a switch in HA and based on grid frequency of voltage, under that there is no grid.
 
Arzy said:
So if all goes to plan my installation should occur next week Wednesday. Been going through the house trying to plan changes to be more energy efficient and one of the things was to start replacing all the 50w downlights with 5w leds.

In my previous house this entailed changing all the connections from MR16 to GU10 and I removed the transformers as part of the process.

In the new house I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was already done with GU10 connections and I could just change the bulbs.

What has been eating at me though is I wonder if I should still have removed the transformers?

My logic says that the new bulbs will still only draw 5w in comparison to the previous 50w and the transformers are effectively redundant and can just be left.

Next up my installation will consist of a Deye 12kW hybrid 3-phase inverter, 10.2kWH in batteries and 14x455w panels initially. Had to go with the 12kW inverter as the house has 3-phase power and I wasn't inclined to drop to single phase. First month's consumption (before changing lights etc) was 781kWh including a lot of time with power tools.

Stove is gas, geysers are both setup with GeyserWise and evacuated tubing on timers leaving the only other big power draws being the pool pump, oven and pressure pump for water backup.

I'm happy to split the pool pump and oven off to non-essential along with the geyser the kids use as they only bathe at night and the sun should be fine.

Pressure pump is an essential and I also need to leave room for the wife to blow dry her hair. Things like microwave and kettles are rarely used.

Could I consider putting the second geyser on with essential items?

It's a nice to have though and so far residual heat from the previous day carries through to our morning showers. If it is going to negatively impact on my batteries though I'd rather not do it. Could just extend the timing on the GeyserWise and hope there is some power during the night. As it is currently set it doesn't heat if the temp is at 55.
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Would not recommend running the geyser on non-essentials. Just set a timer to run it during pv hours, and maybe 30 minutes during the early hours if you really need to.

There will come a time when you'll have an extended outage and no hot water, because feeding excess pv to non-essentials only works when the grid is up...
 
Napalm2880 said:
Any thoughts on this?
www.sonoffafrica.co.za

The LoadShedder Bundle Sonoff | Sonoff Africa

Sonoff LoadShedder bundle is a smart power monitor that can alert you when your power goes off and turn off high-load devices automatically.
www.sonoffafrica.co.za www.sonoffafrica.co.za
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It does what it says on the box ie device detects the state of your Eskom feed and you then setup automations via the Ewe App that switch your Sonoff compatible devices on and off (I see a Geyser and Pool Pump device is included). You can use it to toggle and change the colour of the Sonoff LED bulbs as well. The included LED is a thoughtful touch (the actual LED is about R20 at ACDC, but it's nice that it's in the box) and gives the household (esp in the kitchen) a visual indicator of when the Grid is unavailable.

I strongly advise (they insist on that in the instructions) that it be fitted by a qualified electrician since you're accessing the Eskom and Inverter direct feeds in your DB board/s.

One caveat: in my experience, and possibly I haven't fully explored it, if you have an automation that switches a device on during a power outage after the LoadShedder has switched it off, it will stay on ie the LoadShedder will not detect that the device is not supposed to be on - so it's not foolproof.

Also, if you have HomeAssistant up and running you can use the sensors to trigger other devices as well.

Edit: As others have stated above, you can also use Inverter Data to detect whether the grid is up or not and drive your automations based on that. The LoadShedder is however less complicated (imo) and not prone to HA quirkiness (yes, it can be quirky, and since I've got 3 geysers plus the pool pump all on essentials I decided not to take a chance that those 4 appliances drain my batteries while I'm sleeping 'cos HA went haywire for whatever reason :) )
 
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