Generator or Inverter for residential use?

[mariusmeyer]

@signates when you have loadshedding during the day, does the batteries supply the power only or does the pv supply as well? Just trying to figure out if PV production stops during loadshedding on the SunSynk. Or does the pv charge the batteries while it is being used in this instance? If I had to add a battery I wonder if the PV will supply the loads directly during the outage if of course they have enough capacity.

 

[Sinbad]

@signates when you have loadshedding during the day, does the batteries supply the power only or does the pv supply as well? Just trying to figure out if PV production stops during loadshedding on the SunSynk. Or does the pv charge the batteries while it is being used in this instance? If I had to add a battery I wonder if the PV will supply the loads directly during the outage if of course they have enough capacity.

They should. PV and batteries are basically indistinguishable DC input to the inverter.

 

[AchmatK]

@signates when you have loadshedding during the day, does the batteries supply the power only or does the pv supply as well? Just trying to figure out if PV production stops during loadshedding on the SunSynk. Or does the pv charge the batteries while it is being used in this instance? If I had to add a battery I wonder if the PV will supply the loads directly during the outage if of course they have enough capacity.

During loadshedding priority will be pv first then batteries if pv is too low for the current loads.

Pv never stops unless batteries are full and the loads are low and pv will just match the loads and trickle charge the batteries to keep it at 100%.

 

[mariusmeyer]

So a single 3.5kw battery with a large 9kw PV array should still be able to power the whole house or does the 1 battery limit the amount of power going out?

 

[Sinbad]

So a single 3.5kw battery with a large 9kw PV array should still be able to power the whole house or does the 1 battery limit the amount of power going out?

The limit is on the inverter capacity.
Battery current may be limited as well but pv will compensate for that until a cloud moves over the sun, then you may have issues.

 

[mariusmeyer]

Perfect, thank you. Just wanted to make sure as I am quickly realizing the differences between normal electrics and solar electrics. Some feedback on my parallel issue, when connecting them together as a set they dont fire up. But if I just treat them as individual units then they all fire up and spread the load. Managed to get that running before loadshedding kicked in at 8. I dont think the system is as efficient as it would have been if they were properly paralleled but at least i have some solar production. I think the best bet will just to add a single US3000 battery and expand on that as time goes by. I have not chatted to the local support just yet. But will still do that so that I can understand what we did wrong or if it is not possible.

 

[wingnut771]

Perfect, thank you. Just wanted to make sure as I am quickly realizing the differences between normal electrics and solar electrics. Some feedback on my parallel issue, when connecting them together as a set they dont fire up. But if I just treat them as individual units then they all fire up and spread the load. Managed to get that running before loadshedding kicked in at 8. I dont think the system is as efficient as it would have been if they were properly paralleled but at least i have some solar production. I think the best bet will just to add a single US3000 battery and expand on that as time goes by. I have not chatted to the local support just yet. But will still do that so that I can understand what we did wrong or if it is not possible.

Have you got a pic of your install?

 

[AchmatK]

So a single 3.5kw battery with a large 9kw PV array should still be able to power the whole house or does the 1 battery limit the amount of power going out?

The inverter is the determining factor then array size and battery.

I have 3 x 3.5kw pylontech batteries with a recommended discharge rate if 111A(5 328W) as limited by the BMS. Ideally I should have a minimum of 5 x 3.5kw batteries to make full use of the inverter output.

My inverter will only pull 5 328W from the batteries if there is limited pv available. I very rarely have my loads this high though so not an issue.

 

[AchmatK]

Doing my bit to help stave off loadshedding in CoCT. 6kw going back the grid.

 

[RonSwanson]

So a single 3.5kw battery with a large 9kw PV array should still be able to power the whole house or does the 1 battery limit the amount of power going out?

You could even use a US2000, heck even 4x car batteries in series would turn the Sunsynk from a grid-tied into a super hybrid parity inverter.
Edit: that said, the US3000 is the better choice for long term.

 

[RonSwanson]

Perfect, thank you. Just wanted to make sure as I am quickly realizing the differences between normal electrics and solar electrics. Some feedback on my parallel issue, when connecting them together as a set they dont fire up. But if I just treat them as individual units then they all fire up and spread the load. Managed to get that running before loadshedding kicked in at 8. I dont think the system is as efficient as it would have been if they were properly paralleled but at least i have some solar production. I think the best bet will just to add a single US3000 battery and expand on that as time goes by. I have not chatted to the local support just yet. But will still do that so that I can understand what we did wrong or if it is not possible.

I'm confused: When you say "spread the load" are you talking about spreading the load amongst the 3 individual inverters, or one individual inverter taking up all of the load?

Were you able to get hold of Sunsynk's local support regarding the parallel issue? I'm curious to know how responsive they are over a weekend (and I am sure that many others are too).

 

[wingnut771]

I'm confused: When you say "spread the load" are you talking about spreading the load amongst the 3 individual inverters, or one individual inverter taking up all of the load?

Were you able to get hold of Sunsynk's local support regarding the parallel issue? I'm curious to know how responsive they are over a weekend (and I am sure that many others are too).

This is why I asked for pics. Would like to see how it's wired.

 

[Sinbad]

Remember parallel inverters is not the same as a 3 phase install.

Parallels are on a single phase, sharing the load on that phase. And there are a LOT of considerations around wiring in that case

 

[itareanlnotani]

Doing my bit to help stave off loadshedding in CoCT. 6kw going back the grid. View attachment 974132

I hope you're charging them a daily facility fee for the cables and infrastructure. I'd suggest R12.36/day + vat.

Small-Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) Feed-In Tariff Map | Energy Security Game Changer

Working to create an energy secure province The Western Cape Government (WCG) is focused on ensuring a supportive regulatory environment for SSEG across municipalities. This will

www.westerncape.gov.za

Oh, and ensure that they can't make a profit on the electricity, and whatever other inane rules there are for SSEG.

 

[vassen]

I think the best bet will just to add a single US3000 battery and expand on that as time goes by.

Your other option, probably a lot cheaper too, is to find some used gel /lead batteries and just use them so that the inverter thinks there’s batteries installed. Don’t use the time of use and the battery with not be used during the day. It will just sit there fully charged. If the grid goes off during the day, you may still be able to use your solar power generated. Worst case the batteries discharge and everything shuts down.

 

[vassen]

I'm curious to know how responsive they are over a weekend

How many people have been successful at getting a decent response during the week, let alone the weekend. I know of 2 people that tried to get support from him and were just ignored or given some excuse. They ended up contacting me and we were able to get it sorted. The couple times I contacted him, he was of no help or just ignored me.

 

[mariusmeyer]

Hi guys. So I contacted the local support this morning and he got back to me within 30mins. So that was impressive on its own. He gave me all the connections which some are not specified in the manual. But that also did not work. I sent him the pics and a video to show what the system is doing and he then later sent that off to factory support after we tried everything possible. Turns out they say parallel without batteries can not be done. So it is clearly not a manufacturer specific issue and looks to be a general limitation when wanting to do parallel.

 

[mariusmeyer]

When i mentioned spreading the load, what happened this morning with the 3 inverters running as standalone units at the same time, was that when i had 2 running the load was 1000w and each inverter took about half. Then when i started up the third inverter it took some of the load and the load on the other 2 dropped. It was not a perfect equal split between the 3 but that is fine. It looks like they were load balancing between themselves without having any communications between them. Will see and post some pics i took earlier today

 

[mariusmeyer]

So top is the dc combiner box for the 3 strings. And bottom is the ac box. Left 3 double poles are for the mains into each inverter. Its a single phase coming in and then just bridged to split in 3 on top of the breakers. Middle is the changeover and on the right is the ac out from the 3 inverters. The live from the load outputs is going into the top and then bottom outs of that breaker is bridged with the single live cable load heading back to the main db.

hope that all makes sense.

 

[mariusmeyer]

Not sure how to get that image upright from my phone. Sorry