Clear my mind on Inverters

[Confucius]

Yeah was being a bit light (pun intended) when saying lights only.

Already have plenty of these rechargeable lights around the house, including the bulbs with their own batteries.

Realistically, it's about a better quality of life. I'm fine spending the R50k per installation; I just want to be clear about what trade-offs I'm making so that I don't act as surprised at Squirrel when I find out later that I have limited expansion options.

Get an inverter and battery now. Later if you need to add batteries, that’s simple enough with a decent brand. I started off with 7kwh of batteries and I’m now just just 30.

With solar, install 1 string at a time. Adding inverters in parallel is a little tricky as they change so often. Adding panels to an existing sting is also tricky for the same reason

 

[Confucius]

reckon the manual change-over m

It’s an automatic changeover that engages as soon as grid fails and disengages when grid returns.

Oh, earth neutral bond is also a requirement. Most electricians don’t include this and some don’t even know how to test if it’s needed and simply claim it’s not.

 

[Nemo415]

you can add a surge arrestor, and wire it to your db with a cutover switch

 

[Reegz]

It’s an automatic changeover that engages as soon as grid fails and disengages when grid returns.

Oh, earth neutral bond is also a requirement. Most electricians don’t include this and some don’t even know how to test if it’s needed and simply claim it’s not.

Some late night Yoo-Choobing has educated me. Pretty nifty contraption.

 

[WarriorZA]

Hey, Confucius is spot on.

I’m currently running 6 houses with the LuxPower SNA 5000 and dyness 5kw lithium battery.

haven’t had any issues. Support with LuxPower is excellent locally. Tim and Andy are brilliant. They even provide tech support if needed and upgrade inverter firmware too if needed.

If you are in Cape Town area I could potentially get you a better rate on the deyes, LuxPower, Volta and dyeness batteries + get you free delivery.

In regards to Deye/Sunsyk they awesome inverters. When you couple the deye with a volta battery your warrant gets extended to 10 years.

If you end up going LuxPower, route shoot me a message. I can send over some tech recommendations for settings around charge times etc for Solar / or just battery back up.

The LuxPower mobile app is feature rich too. See below picture.

IMG-3919 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3919 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[Reegz]

Hey, Confucius is spot on.

I’m currently running 6 houses with the LuxPower SNA 5000 and dyness 5kw lithium battery.

haven’t had any issues. Support with LuxPower is excellent locally. Tim and Andy are brilliant. They even provide tech support if needed and upgrade inverter firmware too if needed.

If you are in Cape Town area I could potentially get you a better rate on the deyes, LuxPower, Volta and dyeness batteries + get you free delivery.

In regards to Deye/Sunsyk they awesome inverters. When you couple the deye with a volta battery your warrant gets extended to 10 years.

If you end up going LuxPower, route shoot me a message. I can send over some tech recommendations for settings around charge times etc for Solar / or just battery back up.

The LuxPower mobile app is feature rich too. See below picture.

IMG-3919 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-3919 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Thank you for the first person feedback.

I'm tending towards the Luxpower though the Growatt is about R1000 cheaper a unit.

Like I mentioned previously, Deye/Sunsynk are out of my budget at this time and the features won't be applicable as I don't plan for panels in the immediate future. I'm better served saving that money for future purchasing.

I'm in Jhb but will ping you about software settings should I go down the Luxpower path.

 

[Switch]

Ran the gamut with Axperts, Growatts and other Voltronic type inverters and I reckon they're all horrible choices.

Not much of a choice before 2020, pre 2020 your options were axpert type inverters with 300w panels controlled by a desktop program on a pi.

 

[Reegz]

On the topic, what is the general opinion on the Voltronic ranges i.e.: Axpert, MKS, InfiniSolar etc?

 

[Reegz]

Quite by chance I landed up at the Invest Solar showroom in Village Deep today.

I'm thinking it may just be necessary for me to rethink the whole not-going-for-panels situation.

Seems that either Deye or Sunsynk are the go-to brands when it comes to Hybrids. Are there others worthy of mention?

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

Quite by chance I landed up at the Invest Solar showroom in Village Deep today.

I'm thinking it may just be necessary for me to rethink the whole not-going-for-panels situation.

Seems that either Deye or Sunsynk are the go-to brands when it comes to Hybrids. Are there others worthy of mention?

Good idea. Do it right the first time. Nothing worse than throwing good money after bad.

Other brands worth researching in my opinion:

Solis Hybrid Range
Solax
Goodwe
Victron
Huawei (their stuff is actually quite amazing)

 

[Confucius]

Quite by chance I landed up at the Invest Solar showroom in Village Deep today.

I'm thinking it may just be necessary for me to rethink the whole not-going-for-panels situation.

Seems that either Deye or Sunsynk are the go-to brands when it comes to Hybrids. Are there others worthy of mention?

Don’t let yulesh make you part with your hard earned cash. He is a good salesman but a bullshitter too.

Sunsynk / deye is good until something goes wrong. I have installer friends who send brand new units in for repairs as they are faulty out of the box and they wait 2-3 months to get it back. Hence my comment above about them. I have 2 Sunsynk’s and I just live with my issues now.

 

[RIK]

I bought my dad the Luxpower off-grid 5kw inverter paired with the Volta 5kWh battery.

The installer and supplier spoke highly of these two brands for entry level basic usage.

I intend adding panels to one mppt soon and if need be to the other mppt .

I cannot personally give any rave reviews since it's just 3 weeks since installed, but so far so good.

 

[Reegz]

So quick one please.

Is my understanding about off-grid inverters correct when I say:-

• They cannot feed power back to the grid
• They cannot feed power to the non-essential load
• They charge the batteries using either PV or grid
• They cannot feed excess PV power to the essential load

Would appreciate some confirmation on whether or not I've got that right.

 

[Confucius]

So quick one please.

Is my understanding about off-grid inverters correct when I say:-

• They cannot feed power back to the grid
• They cannot feed power to the non-essential load
• They charge the batteries using either PV or grid
• They cannot feed excess PV power to the essential load

Would appreciate some confirmation on whether or not I've got that right.

First 2 is correct.

They can charge batteries from both pv and grid and depending on inverter, you can set the priority

Your pv can be used to power essentials and charge battery

 

[Reegz]

First 2 is correct.

They can charge batteries from both pv and grid and depending on inverter, you can set the priority

Your pv can be used to power essentials and charge battery

Ok cool cool.

So this lack of clear information is driving me up the creak. Some of the installers I've spoken to say that the Luxpower and Growatt off-grids cannot power the essential load from PV.

Everyone has copy-pasted the same blurb on their websites so getting clear and correct information is neigh on impossible it seems!

 

[Confucius]

Ok cool cool.

So this lack of clear information is driving me up the creak. Some of the installers I've spoken to say that the Luxpower and Growatt off-grids cannot power the essential load from PV.

Everyone has copy-pasted the same blurb on their websites so getting clear and correct information is neigh on impossible it seems!

I have a friend who installed the luxpower and he powers everything on essentials from solar just like how you would with a sunsynk. The only thing he can’t do as mentioned, is power non essential.

 

[Scrooloose]

@Reegz my brother-in-law is an installer, PM me if you need to speak with him. He's starting at ours in the next week or two with a 10kW Inverter/12kW Array. We've selected a Kodak inverter and Pylontech batteries.

Non-essential will power from the PV array during daytime, essentials will enjoy battery back-up.

 

[Confucius]

Ok cool cool.

So this lack of clear information is driving me up the creak. Some of the installers I've spoken to say that the Luxpower and Growatt off-grids cannot power the essential load from PV.

Everyone has copy-pasted the same blurb on their websites so getting clear and correct information is neigh on impossible it seems!

Suggest you find a better installer.

 

[Reegz]

Suggest you find a better installer.

Gonna sound strange, but the installers I'm talking to are the ones who've done work for friends or family. Now, I don't want to be the one without a system who suddenly knows more than the installers themselves - yet here we are.

It's a lot of money to put down so I am really trying my best to know what's what so that I can ask the right questions to ensure I find the right person and importantly at the right price too. This is an equally important part of the puzzle.

ETA: Thanks for the vid. So clearly it can function in a hybrid capacity; I spotted the "export to grid" option as well.

 

[Reegz]

@Reegz my brother-in-law is an installer, PM me if you need to speak with him. He's starting at ours in the next week or two with a 10kW Inverter/12kW Array. We've selected a Kodak inverter and Pylontech batteries.

Non-essential will power from the PV array during daytime, essentials will enjoy battery back-up.

Thanks for the offer. May take you up on this closer to the time.

What's your system looking like?

 

[Confucius]

installers I'm talking to are the ones who've done work for friends or family. Now, I don't want to be the one without a system who suddenly knows more than the installers themselves - yet here we are.

Sooner or later you will realize that many installers are absolutely useless. I say that based on the many people that I have spoken to since installing my system just under 3 years ago and provided advise to and i would get the same “the installer said this or that…”.

They will advise based on what they have installed or what they can make the most profit on.

When I wanted to install my system, I wanted a to do it myself so I read as much as I could around the SANS regulations, watched videos, and just researched as much as possible and everything I could find.

Once you have the knowledge, no one can bullshit you. I still see so many install pictures where AC and DC cables are in the same trunking, no earth-neutral bond, no battery disconnect, wrong / missing circuit breakers, incorrect battery cable size.

Bottom line, do your own research and don’t just trust installers. I have also seen so many Tom, Dick and Harry become installers over the past 3 years, some with zero electrical qualifications.

 

[Scrooloose]

Thanks for the offer. May take you up on this closer to the time.

What's your system looking like?

Kodak OG-10 Inverter
3x Pylontech 4.8kW Batteries, more will be added later
14x 550W Panels for now

 

[Confucius]

Non-essential will power from the PV array during daytime

Are you sure that is possible with the Kodak OG10? From what I can see, it doesn’t come with a CT coil and is not meant to feedback to non essentials. Without the CT, there’s no way to control the amount of power being fed back.

It can however blend pv and ac power.

 

[Scrooloose]

Are you sure that is possible with the Kodak OG10? From what I can see, it doesn’t come with a CT coil and is not meant to feedback to non essentials. Without the CT, there’s no way to control the amount of power being fed back.

It can however blend pv and ac power.

I'm not clear on how everything is being wired just yet, I'm awaiting a diagram that explains stuff better.

 

[Scrooloose]

Clarification has been given to me:

Everything except the Oven is getting fed through the Inverter since it's a big beast. We're using some integrations with Solar Assistant to automate turning the geyser and pool pump on when the PV output is sufficient, that sort of thing.

Our stove is gas, so we're sorted for the rest.

 

[Billionairebum]

@Confucius are there any decent installers you would recommend?

 

[moedeez]

@Confucius are there any decent installers you would recommend?

https://imgur.com/a/tDxhs2l

But legit, if you(@Confucius) and @Qui_Illustrati started a solar company I'd hire you'll.
Heck maybe you'll could start your own consulting firms.

 

[Confucius]

@Confucius are there any decent installers you would recommend?

I get asked this really often and unfortunately I do not know anyone that I can actually recommend. I know people that install and have recommended them previously, only to find that they want to charge crazy pricing or want to take short cuts.

I’m meeting another electrician turned installer later this week for a COC on the install that I did recently. Will let you know once I speak to him. I used him when I needed a coc previously and he wasn’t crazy expensive when others wanted R2500.

In Cape Town area, I have a friend that does installs and at least he does it properly not sure about price though

 

[durimotara]

Yip

I installed one for my sister a few weeks ago and it works well. The fan is a little loud though when charging. I used a Volta battery cos it was all I could find. It’s 1C so 1 battery was fine.

+1 on Luxpower, pretty happy with mine but agree on the fan getting loud when charging and also under heavy load of 3500watts plus which sometimes happens when my borehole pump kicks in to top off the tank. Had to relocate it to the garage due to the noise but other than that pretty happy.

 

[RIK]

@Confucius are there any decent installers you would recommend?

If you're based in GP, I may recommend one pro installer.

PM me if keen.