Geyser timer solution for solar

Lupus said:
Change CSO to SNU, this will blend grid and solar when there isn't enough sun. Also charging at 5A on a 48v or 24v system? As that would be 240 or 120w so not a lot at all.
Click to expand...

SNU was the default. I changed it to CSO because the manual isn't clear on how SNU will work exactly. It just says that SNU mode "Solar and utility will charge the battery at the same time"

So to me that sounds that it will use the grid to charge the battery even during the say when there is PV it won't choose to prefer solar over grid.
 
cavedog said:
SNU was the default. I changed it to CSO because the manual isn't clear on how SNU will work exactly. It just says that SNU mode "Solar and utility will charge the battery at the same time"

So to me that sounds that it will use the grid to charge the battery even during the say when there is PV it won't choose to prefer solar over grid.
Click to expand...
Only when it gets to your cut off point not otherwise
 
Tested again with my navasolar inverter.best setting is selecting agm battery type.then set charge parameters.otherwise doesn't charge batteries fully.
 
cavedog said:
I think I figured out why its still draining the battery.

It will only switch to grid when solar is unavailable. At 6pm its not generating anything but its not unavailable because it doesn't switch the mppt controller off yet. Mine only goes off like at 19:40 or so.

If I switch the solar dc breaker off. It immediately switched to grid in the SUB mode. As soon I switch the breaks back on the very little light there is is enough to trick the inverter to switch the mppt back on and it drains the battery to stabalize the load. It still pulls from grid but mostly from battery probably at 60& bat and 40% grid.

This also means because I have my solar priority set to CSO and battery charging at LBU that when eventually the MPPT controller gets switched off battery drained to 50 - 60% depending on my loads at the time.

Now program 20 is preventing grid charging unless I set the cut of voltage higher to make sure battery SOC is at around 80 - 90% because its waiting for the morning solar to charge the battery.

If I leave it like that it leaves me at risk when there is a power outage during the night so I let it grid charge the battery to 80 SOC at 5A just to be safe.
Click to expand...

yea the modes just switches when no solar is happening so for hours you can have 20w so present but means nothing only prevents the switching modes

Solar-assistant.io

on a cheap pi allows you to control the voltronic type inverters remotely, and data logging

And also allow automations
So you can set the the profiles at certain times

ie mine is set to switch to uti at a set time to. prevent this exact situation

And then switch to SBU at some time in the early mornings while i'm sleeping to start to drain the battery to be just the right amount of empty for my system size

Anybody with these dumb incerters. I can really recommend gettjng a pi to manage it

Can even estimate SOC better as it calcilates it based on usage
If yiu have a dumb battery too
Really a game changer
 
leon.davibe said:
yea the modes just switches when no solar is happening so for hours you can have 20w so present but means nothing only prevents the switching modes

Solar-assistant.io

on a cheap pi allows you to control the voltronic type inverters remotely, and data logging

And also allow automations
So you can set the the profiles at certain times

ie mine is set to switch to uti at a set time to. prevent this exact situation

And then switch to SBU at some time in the early mornings while i'm sleeping to start to drain the battery to be just the right amount of empty for my system size

Anybody with these dumb incerters. I can really recommend gettjng anou to manage it

Really a game changer
Click to expand...
Yeah solar assistant and axperts are great, it actually also unlocked stuff on my luxpower.
 
thomas@88 said:
Tested again with my navasolar inverter.best setting is selecting agm battery type.then set charge parameters.otherwise doesn't charge batteries fully.
Click to expand...

I havn't been able to test this really because its been pretty cloudy and my solar basically just meet my demand so there wasn't any extra.
 
Lupus said:
Change CSO to SNU, this will blend grid and solar when there isn't enough sun. Also charging at 5A on a 48v or 24v system? As that would be 240 or 120w so not a lot at all.
Click to expand...
Yea some axpert types don't blend
Solar and grid while on solar

So it will only blend tbe charging when it switches to uti

And disables it on sbu
Even though chargjng is set to mix

Having a solar-assistant or SMH on a raspberry pi does hell a lot so you can change settings remotely

I would go as far as saying these devices is a must on all budget inverters with no remote functions
 
leon.davibe said:
Yea some axpert types don't blend
Solar and grid while on solar

So it will only blend tbe charging when it switches to uti

And disables it on sbu
Even though chargjng is set to mix

Having a solar-assistant or SMH on a raspberry pi does hell a lot so you can change settings remotely

I would go as far as saying these devices is a must on all budget inverters with no remote functions
Click to expand...
Even with my luxpower I prefer solar assistant
 
Thought I'd post here what I ended up doing. Unfortunately still not the ideal solution for my specific setup. A few challenges.

1. Geyser element pulls max 3.1kW so when clouds roll over it drains the battery pretty quickly especially with a 5kW battery.
2. The risk of draining the battery completely and grid being unavailable is there so it might trip if its cloudy and grid is unavailable when the battery is drained.

Other than those 2 issues the Smart Wifi breaker that works with Tuya or Smart Life app works well so far.

Geyser set at 70C. 2 people shower at night and in the morning and there is enough hot water. That might change in winter will see. Geyser takes only 1h 50min to boil the next day for the thermostat to switch of at 70C.

Given the above and the fact that not the entire 150l might be at exact 70C it uses about 5.62kW daily.

Screenshot 2026-01-27 131538.png


Screenshot_20260127_130958_SmartLife.jpg
 
cavedog said:
Thought I'd post here what I ended up doing. Unfortunately still not the ideal solution for my specific setup. A few challenges.

1. Geyser element pulls max 3.1kW so when clouds roll over it drains the battery pretty quickly especially with a 5kW battery.
2. The risk of draining the battery completely and grid being unavailable is there so it might trip if its cloudy and grid is unavailable when the battery is drained.

Other than those 2 issues the Smart Wifi breaker that works with Tuya or Smart Life app works well so far.

Geyser set at 70C. 2 people shower at night and in the morning and there is enough hot water. That might change in winter will see. Geyser takes only 1h 50min to boil the next day for the thermostat to switch of at 70C.

Given the above and the fact that not the entire 150l might be at exact 70C it uses about 5.62kW daily.

View attachment 1881692


View attachment 1881693
Click to expand...
Install a 2Kw element to give you some room.
 
cavedog said:
Thought I'd post here what I ended up doing. Unfortunately still not the ideal solution for my specific setup. A few challenges.

1. Geyser element pulls max 3.1kW so when clouds roll over it drains the battery pretty quickly especially with a 5kW battery.
2. The risk of draining the battery completely and grid being unavailable is there so it might trip if its cloudy and grid is unavailable when the battery is drained.

Other than those 2 issues the Smart Wifi breaker that works with Tuya or Smart Life app works well so far.

Geyser set at 70C. 2 people shower at night and in the morning and there is enough hot water. That might change in winter will see. Geyser takes only 1h 50min to boil the next day for the thermostat to switch of at 70C.

Given the above and the fact that not the entire 150l might be at exact 70C it uses about 5.62kW daily.

View attachment 1881692


View attachment 1881693
Click to expand...
Heat pump 900w
 
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