Mike's (non-Sunsynk) System

Paul_S said:
If you have a Sunsynk inverter you can use the Aux port - no timers needed.

e.g. When battery SoC reaches 100% and solar PV is generating more than 600W then connect loads on Aux. If battery SoC drops to 95% disconnect Aux loads. That way you can use the spare capacity at any time of the day which will assist in not using the grid at all.

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Does the aux port work during loadshitting?
 
Paul_S said:
If you have a Sunsynk inverter you can use the Aux port - no timers needed.

e.g. When battery SoC reaches 100% and solar PV is generating more than 600W then connect loads on Aux. If battery SoC drops to 95% disconnect Aux loads. That way you can use the spare capacity at any time of the day which will assist in not using the grid at all.
Use a smaller geyser element on Aux and it can heat water throughout the day without overloading the inverter.

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But then you remove the possibility of using the aux for something like a generator or wind turbines...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
But then you remove the possibility of using the aux for something like a generator or wind turbines...
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I have a generator with MTS on the grid side but I guess some people may want to use Aux for generator/wind input. Sunsynk is a Swiss army knife in comparison to a lot of other hybrid inverters.
 
Paul_S said:
I have a generator with MTS on the grid side but I guess some people may want to use Aux for generator/wind input. Sunsynk is a Swiss army knife in comparison to a lot of other hybrid inverters.
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Correct and you could go as high as a 12kw generator on the grid input side taking you fully off grid if that is what you want to achieve.

I just need to find the time and money for my final upgrades which includes a wind turbine on the aux and a 8kw generator on the grid input and then 2 more UP5000 batteries.

If I can get 8 to 10kwh from the wind turbine at night the generator would hardly ever be used as if its overcast there is normally excess wind. A 2kw of 3kw wind turbine is what I would probably look at.
 
AchmatK said:
Correct and you could go as high as a 12kw generator on the grid input side taking you fully off grid if that is what you want to achieve.

I just need to find the time and money for my final upgrades which includes a wind turbine on the aux and a 8kw generator on the grid input and then 2 more UP5000 batteries.

If I can get 8 to 10kwh from the wind turbine at night the generator would hardly ever be used as if its overcast there is normally excess wind. A 2kw of 3kw wind turbine is what I would probably look at.
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Let us know when you find a decent option for wind, I'm also keen on it. With a small generator as a last resort. The wind options I've looked at so far didn't look too appealing...
 
AchmatK said:
Correct and you could go as high as a 12kw generator on the grid input side taking you fully off grid if that is what you want to achieve.

I just need to find the time and money for my final upgrades which includes a wind turbine on the aux and a 8kw generator on the grid input and then 2 more UP5000 batteries.

If I can get 8 to 10kwh from the wind turbine at night the generator would hardly ever be used as if its overcast there is normally excess wind. A 2kw of 3kw wind turbine is what I would probably look at.
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I really think the wind turbine is a waste of money. It doesn't generate if the wind is slow or too fast. Rather have more battery.
 
AchmatK said:
Correct and you could go as high as a 12kw generator on the grid input side taking you fully off grid if that is what you want to achieve.

I just need to find the time and money for my final upgrades which includes a wind turbine on the aux and a 8kw generator on the grid input and then 2 more UP5000 batteries.

If I can get 8 to 10kwh from the wind turbine at night the generator would hardly ever be used as if its overcast there is normally excess wind. A 2kw of 3kw wind turbine is what I would probably look at.
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Please let us know if you find a wind turbine solution.
 
Speedster said:
I think wind could be an option in some coastal areas, but for most of us it isn't a viable option.
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Wind isn't an option where I am but it makes more sense for one reason. It's an energy generator which pays for itself while batteries are a sunk cost and don't actually pay for themselves. Batteries and inverters are actually paid off by the solar/wind component.

Now if we ever had decent feed in tariffs and different time of use tariffs then batteries could pay for themselves like in the UK. It seems that some people have made a business of charging their batteries off-peak and then feeding back into the grid during peak and actually net themselves a positive balance in the process. Youtube "Sunsynk peak shaving". Never going to happen here in my opinion.
 
Paul_S said:
Wind isn't an option where I am but it makes more sense for one reason. It's an energy generator which pays for itself while batteries are a sunk cost and don't actually pay for themselves. Batteries and inverters are actually paid off by the solar/wind component.

Now if we ever had decent feed in tariffs and different time of use tariffs then batteries could pay for themselves like in the UK. It seems that some people have made a business of charging their batteries off-peak and then feeding back into the grid during peak and actually net themselves a positive balance in the process. Youtube "Sunsynk peak shaving". Never going to happen here in my opinion.
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Wind makes sense for many reasons (e.g. night time generation), but you need wind for it to work. I remember looking into it a while ago and Pretoria had about 5 days a year with sufficient wind.

Current technology is also noisy, expensive and needs to be mounted high.

I'd love a simple product that delivers a consistent 500 - 1000W but unfortunately that doesn't exist yet.
 
Solar Advice came in cheapest by a huge margin. Seems like I'll be going with them again...

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Mike Hoxbig said:
So I didn't really want to start a new thread, but figured this would be helpful for those who don't really want to go the Powerforum/Sunsynk route.

Got my system through Solar Advice. Consists of:
Deye 8kW inverter
2 x Dyness 4.8kWh LiFePo4 batteries
14 x 455W JA Panels

The plan is to run the house off my system, minus the geysers and oven (will have these added to essential once I add more batteries and panels).

Total cost was R178k including installation. I went with Solar Advice because after our renovations I didn't have enough upfront cash to pay for the full system, which was the original plan. So I put down a deposit of R80k and financed the remainder over 5 years at about R2k a month.

Some pics:

View attachment 1244168

Following on from @Snyper564's thread, I decided to install all 14 panels facing north. I have another north facing roof, as well as an east/west one if I get desperate enough for space.

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The install itself was professionally done. If you're going to use them, I can recommend using their installer. The AC still needs to be connected and there's still a little clean-up to do which they're going to finish up tomorrow.

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Apologies for the mess in this pic, it's leftover construction kark from the renovations that I need to get rid of. But as part of the renovation, I had them create an adjoining storage room inside the garage. Partly for storing small things and tools, but mainly to make space for expanding my system.

Although the AC still needs to be connected tomorrow and I haven't had a chance to play around with it much yet, I'm very impressed with the inverter. Right now it's only charging the batteries.

You'll see from the pics below that the interface is very similar to the Sunsynk, and supports pretty much everything that Sunsynk does. That's because hardware-wise Sunsynk is basically a rebranded Deye and they're identical, and software-wise they're pretty close too.

View attachment 1244186

View attachment 1244188

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Still need to do a lot of the config once they're done tomorrow so don't mind the settings.

That's pretty much it. Any questions feel free to post them and I'll try and help...
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I am getting pretty much the same as you, same inverter, also two batteries, but 12 panels. Have to wait till March.
 
Today is exactly a year for me. System went live shortly after 12:00.

Screenshot_2023-02-15-16-05-13-982_com.igen.solarmanbusiness.jpg

Consumption went to crap because of winter, and I use power as we need it and not try to limit anyone. The additional batteries will hopefully fix this...
 
Speedster said:
That's a good R21k saved in the year.
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Yeah it's not bad but I've been conservative with my batteries, taking it down to only 30-40% DOD.

With the extra 2 I'm hoping to go deeper, and shifting about 4 MWh from power purchased to production. So this year's saving should be in excess of R30k...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Yeah it's not bad but I've been conservative with my batteries, taking it down to only 30-40% DOD.

With the extra 2 I'm hoping to go deeper, and shifting about 4 MWh from power purchased to production. So this year's saving should be in excess of R30k...
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When is your install again?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
It's been moved up to next Wednesday. Holding thumbs there's no issue that delays it...
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yeah finding time these days is insane. Where did you find stock btw? I cant find anything online
 
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