Mze's Solar Install (18 months later)

[Mzezman]

[December 2021]

Got a simple starter system installed on Dec 3 - so 1 month of running thus far.

Components:

• 1x Sunsynk 5kw Inverter
• 1x Dyness 4.8kw battery
• 8x 330w Poly Solar panels on 1 string

The rain hadn't helped at all but have been able to generate approx 260kWh in Dec. Jan got off to a great start and so far loving the system. One or two items still need to be sorted by the Installer but happy thus far - will look to add an extra battery and 6-8 more panels in a few months








Plan is to grow the storage and generation components in the next 6 months. I reckon another 8x500w panels and 4.8kWh battery should do the trick. We could definitely get through a 2 or even 4hr load-shedding session with no issues with the current setup. On sunny days like we've had the last 3 or so all essential loads have been running off the solar from 8 until 4pm-ish. I have also been experimenting with running off the batteries for part of the night to offset our evening usage. An additional battery would mean we can definitely get from 6pm to 6am, currently we can get through a 3rd of that time

 

[Mzezman]

[March 2022]

Ended up getting more panels. Now have a total of 18x335w across the 2 MPPTs that the 5kw can handle. New battery incoming by end of week

 

[Mzezman]

[December 2022]

One year later. Some stats and thoughts on the last year below:



All in all I should have done this sooner as the benefits have been immense. Our area periodically gets plagued by an unwell substation - system keeps performing. Also managed to drastically reduce the Eskom bill (even on prepaid) and we have been able to continue working (from home) without a hitch... well - almost

If i had to do it again:

1. I would go for an 8kw unit - more regularly we have been having AC overloads on the 5kw
2. I would go for higher wattage panels - we got the 335s as these were in stock at the time but i should have gone for 455s or higher
3. I would have installed it in the garage and paid extra to run cables from the DB
4. I would have cut all the trees in the line of sight - we lost approx 25% production in the winter months due to tree shading - once we cut those we were cruising

 

[Mzezman]

[April 2023]

System has been rock solid with the exception of the AC Overloads we had bene getting quite frequently - mainly due to running too much at the sametime. Ended up buying another 5kw SS and 4.8kw Dyness and got these installed yesterday. The new SS came with the new dongle so now running both Solarman and Sunsynk dongles. Hasn't seemed to be an issue (for now) - just trying to get the inverters on the same firmware. Old one is on 3382-0513 and new one is on 3381-1515




Excuse the walls - these will be patched up soon

 

[rh1]

[December 2022]

One year later. Some stats and thoughts on the last year below:



All in all I should have done this sooner as the benefits have been immense. Our area periodically gets plagued by an unwell substation - system keeps performing. Also managed to drastically reduce the Eskom bill (even on prepaid) and we have been able to continue working (from home) without a hitch... well - almost

If i had to do it again:

1. I would go for an 8kw unit - more regularly we have been having AC overloads on the 5kw
2. I would go for higher wattage panels - we got the 335s as these were in stock at the time but i should have gone for 455s or higher
3. I would have installed it in the garage and paid extra to run cables from the DB
4. I would have cut all the trees in the line of sight - we lost approx 25% production in the winter months due to tree shading - once we cut those we were cruising

I am glad I got the advice to with 8kw. Although 95% of the time, we using 500w to 1kw, sometimes we go to 7kw or higher.

My only change would be to buy a different brand of batteries. I am using Hubble. Although the batteries that I have are good. I wanted to increase my battery bank, but Hubbles batteries appears to have become a hit or miss.

 

[eepr0m]

[December 2022]

One year later. Some stats and thoughts on the last year below:



All in all I should have done this sooner as the benefits have been immense. Our area periodically gets plagued by an unwell substation - system keeps performing. Also managed to drastically reduce the Eskom bill (even on prepaid) and we have been able to continue working (from home) without a hitch... well - almost

If i had to do it again:

1. I would go for an 8kw unit - more regularly we have been having AC overloads on the 5kw
2. I would go for higher wattage panels - we got the 335s as these were in stock at the time but i should have gone for 455s or higher
3. I would have installed it in the garage and paid extra to run cables from the DB
4. I would have cut all the trees in the line of sight - we lost approx 25% production in the winter months due to tree shading - once we cut those we were cruising

I have a 8 kw units at my houses and I regret not installing 2x 5kw units.
Is your CT coil connected to allow excess solar to be used on non essential loads provided eksdom is on?

 

[Mzezman]

I have a 8 kw units at my hoses and I regret not installing 2x 5kw units.
Is your CT coil connected to allow excess solar to be used on non essential loads provided eksdom is on?

Yes the CT is installed to enable this feature - initially (with phase 1) it wasn't but when they came to do phase 2 they moved it to the correct place. The only Non-essential I have though is my Oven - moved geyser to essentials after witnessing @Mike Hoxbig go for 4 days with no eskom. Had to manage it carefully with just the 1 5kw but now it should be sorted

 

[eepr0m]

Yes the CT is installed to enable this feature - initially (with phase 1) it wasn't but when they came to do phase 2 they moved it to the correct place. The only Non-essential I have though is my Oven - moved geyser to essentials after witnessing @Mike Hoxbig go for 4 days with no eskom. Had to manage it carefully with just the 1 5kw but now it should be sorted

Is that dyness not rated 0.5 c meaning you can only discharge at 50 amps ie 2.5kw?

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Nice dude, congrats. That extra battery will also boost your production and give you an extra 100+ kWh a month. Will also give you more freedom with load size during LS, no more kettles tripping the batteries.

Have you tried running a high load to see how high it can go with the two inverters? The 8 kW caps out at around 12 kW...

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Is that dyness not rated .05 c meaning you can only discharge at 50 amps ie 2.5kw?

0.5C and 14.4 kWh storage, so he should be able to push a load of 7.2 kW which is more than enough for most situations. Is there even a 0.05C battery?

 

[eepr0m]

do both dongles read both inverters ie. does the sunsynk dongle see both inverters?

 

[eepr0m]

0.5C and 14.4 kWh storage, so he should be able to push a load of 7.2 kW which is more than enough for most situations. Is there even a 0.05C battery?

Yes apologies I've put the full stop in the wrong place. Corrected it.
I've found 15kw storage to be the sweet spot. OP will most likely only draw down his batteries down to between 60-70 % which is quite nice

 

[eepr0m]

@Mzezman is that I rasberry pi behind the right inverter where those black wires are sticking out? Are you running SA?

 

[Mzezman]

do both dongles read both inverters ie. does the sunsynk dongle see both inverters?

@Mzezman is that I rasberry pi behind the right inverter where those black wires are sticking out? Are you running SA?

No - each dongle operates independently - similarly - if i need a firmware upgrade I have to contact 2 separate teams - not a huge issue because i also have Solar Assistant working for the day-to-day monitoring etc. Dongles are really only there for firmware (in my use case)

 

[Mzezman]

Nice dude, congrats. That extra battery will also boost your production and give you an extra 100+ kWh a month. Will also give you more freedom with load size during LS, no more kettles tripping the batteries.

Have you tried running a high load to see how high it can go with the two inverters? The 8 kW caps out at around 12 kW...

No load test yet - might do that during the course of today. Just been swamped since the install completed yesterday

 

[eepr0m]

No - each dongle operates independently - similarly - if i need a firmware upgrade I have to contact 2 separate teams - not a huge issue because i also have Solar Assistant working for the day-to-day monitoring etc. Dongles are really only there for firmware (in my use case)

I'm confused here so apologies if I ask dumb questions. Your inverters are running in parallel mode right? or do you require te FW upgrade to allow them to run in parallel mode?

 

[Mzezman]

I'm confused here so apologies if I ask dumb questions. Your inverters are running in parallel mode right? or do you require te FW upgrade to allow them to run in parallel mode?

The are running in parallel mode yes. But if I go to the dongle view i dont see the other inverter. I'll paste some screen grabs below. The only place I see both inverters currently is in Solar Assistant

 

[eepr0m]

The are running in parallel mode yes. But if I go to the dongle view i dont see the other inverter. I'll paste some screen grabs below. The only place I see both inverters currently is in Solar Assistant

Ahhh I see. Still nice though.

 

[Mzezman]

Ahhh I see. Still nice though.

If i had 2 of the same dongle then i probably would see both inverters; either on Solarman or on Sunsynk connect

 

[Mzezman]

No idea who or what was running here.. Nice little load test