HELP!!! What are correct setting for sunsynk.

[ColeGP]

So I bit the bullet and went for a 5kw sunsynk, the install finished on friday and everything seemed fine for a few hours until I realised my mains
supply had gone off.
After calling the installer back it seems that the "smart meter" (hexing) is showing an open circuit and it refuses to go back to closed and feed the mains power to the house.
It seems that this can happen if the inverter feeds back past the CT.

The CT is fitted in the right direction and the cabling also seems to be fitted correctly but I believe that there is a problem with the selections under zero export.
Below is how it was setup by the installer (except the "grid trickle feed" had been set at 20w before)
I am of the opinion that by selecting "solar export" that this was incorrect and has led to power being fed past the CT and reaching the smart meter, am I correct?
What items should be ticked in order to back feed to the main house db (but not to the municiple meter)

[Fluffy]

Oh dear, the old age problem.

How to stop a Grid-Tie Inverter from feeding back into the grid.

Answer, don't use a Grid-Tie Inverter. Get an Off-Grid Inverter.

Theoretically it is almost impossible to do so. Control theory tells us that you cant correct a problem until you can detect it and close the loop.

There are all sorts of ways to try and fix this problem, but invariably some power leaks back and trips the smart meter.

[ian adams]

I have the 8kw, just checked mine and the grid trickle is at 20w. I believe otherwise the prepaid meter doesn't like it.

Been like this for 15 months (since installation) with no problems. Lots of info on the power forum i believe, but 20w keeps the pre paid happy. My grid tied inverter (8KW sunsynk) has worked perfectly from day 1 as i'm sure have many others.

[Jeepiscool]

Check the correct direction of the arrow on the CT?

[Tiaan Pot]

So I bit the bullet and went for a 5kw sunsynk, the install finished on friday and everything seemed fine for a few hours until I realised my mains
supply had gone off.
After calling the installer back it seems that the "smart meter" (hexing) is showing an open circuit and it refuses to go back to closed and feed the mains power to the house.
It seems that this can happen if the inverter feeds back past the CT.

The CT is fitted in the right direction and the cabling also seems to be fitted correctly but I believe that there is a problem with the selections under zero export.
Below is how it was setup by the installer (except the "grid trickle feed" had been set at 20w before)
I am of the opinion that by selecting "solar export" that this was incorrect and has led to power being fed past the CT and reaching the smart meter, am I correct?
What items should be ticked in order to back feed to the main house db (but not to the municiple meter)

Correct unselect solar export

My smart meter is happy with 21W - always pulls 21 W from the grid to keep the meter happy

[Tiaan Pot]

Oh dear, the old age problem.

How to stop a Grid-Tie Inverter from feeding back into the grid.

Answer, don't use a Grid-Tie Inverter. Get an Off-Grid Inverter.

Theoretically it is almost impossible to do so. Control theory tells us that you cant correct a problem until you can detect it and close the loop.

There are all sorts of ways to try and fix this problem, but invariably some power leaks back and trips the smart meter.

Well seems like the smart engineers in China has managed to break the laws of physics then

[Fluffy]

Well seems like the smart engineers in China has managed to break the laws of physics then

By having a trickle

[ColeGP]

I have the 8kw, just checked mine and the grid trickle is at 20w. I believe otherwise the prepaid meter doesn't like it.

Been like this for 15 months (since installation) with no problems. Lots of info on the power forum i believe, but 20w keeps the pre paid happy. My grid tied inverter (8KW sunsynk) has worked perfectly from day 1 as i'm sure have many others.

Yes but is your "solar export" ticked or is it unticked?
What about the load and priority boxes?

I am already pretty convinced the problem lies with the "solar export" having been selected on my side, as that being ticked seems to override the grid trickle amount.
I am just trying to get confirmation from people who actually have the sunsynk is RSA as to what is and is not selected in their settings.

[ColeGP]

Check the correct direction of the arrow on the CT?

Yes I confirmed it is in the right direction and the cable polarity is wired correctly at the inverter.

[ColeGP]

Oh dear, the old age problem.

How to stop a Grid-Tie Inverter from feeding back into the grid.

Answer, don't use a Grid-Tie Inverter. Get an Off-Grid Inverter.

Theoretically it is almost impossible to do so. Control theory tells us that you cant correct a problem until you can detect it and close the loop.

There are all sorts of ways to try and fix this problem, but invariably some power leaks back and trips the smart meter.

Any idea on how to reset the smart meter so it goes back to a closed state vs open?

[Fluffy]

Well seems like the smart engineers in China has managed to break the laws of physics then

Nice dig, wrong hole.

By having a parasitic trickle load they stop the system going into a closed control loop. This applies specifically to Solar Export OFF.

If you don’t know anything about control loop theory, rather stay away, you are exposing your lack of knowledge on the subject.

Besides grid-tie systems overshooting and tripping smart meters is a well documented problem.

[Tiaan Pot]

Yes but is your "solar export" ticked or is it unticked?
What about the load and priority boxes?

I am already pretty convinced the problem lies with the "solar export" having been selected on my side, as that being ticked seems to override the grid trickle amount.
I am just trying to get confirmation from people who actually have the sunsynk is RSA as to what is and is not selected in their settings.

Solar export must not be selected

If it is selected it will export excess solar to the grid when you have more solar than what the loads on the grid side can absorb

Just untick that box

If you look at the Screen you should see power from the grid flowing to your house as there is no solar at the moment

[Fluffy]

Solar export must not be selected

If it is selected it will export excess solar to the grid when you have more solar than what the loads on the grid side can absorb

Just untick that box

If you look at the Screen you should see power from the grid flowing to your house as there is no solar at the moment

Quite so, But the Inverter has to make sure this happens, and they make mistakes as loads are switched off and On and overshoot and trip smartmeters occasionally.

[Tiaan Pot]

Nice dig, wrong hole.

By having a parasitic trickle load they stop the system going into a closed control loop.

If you don’t know anything about control loop theory, rather shut up, you are exposing your ignorance.

Besides grid-tie systems overshooting and tripping smart meters is a well documented problem.

You made the statement that the only way to make sure that you don't trip a smart meter is to have non grid inverter.

But I'm exposing my ignorance?

I apologize but you post in thread with no assistance to the OP and only confusing a simple issue because you try and sound smart I can't help myself

I'll try hard going forward not poke the bear because it just spoils the forum for everyone else

I'll leave the playground now.

[ian adams]

Solar is unticked, don't know how to reset the meter sorry. But my meter is getting replaced tomorrow morning, i will ask the city power sparky. He has been replacing all 9 in the box outside my house and mine is next. I know it doesn't solve your problem now but maybe some info for the future.

(Note. this is a helpful response to someone who asked for help )

[Fluffy]

You made the statement that the only way to make sure that you don't trip a smart meter is to have non grid inverter. Well it is BY FAR THE BEST WAY

But I'm exposing my ignorance? You dont know how control loops work and how they the effect problem.

I apologize but you post in thread with no assistance to the OP and only confusing a simple issue because you try and sound smart I can't help myself NOT AT ALL - I am simply trying to illustrate that what he is trying to do is not trivial because he is using the wrong inverter for the application, and the solution may be OK but not foolproof.

I'll try hard going forward not poke the bear because it just spoils the forum for everyone else. (Duuhhhh - You poked me first - unsolicited - admit it - I never even engaged or referenced you prior..)

https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum...25#post4899325

I'll leave the playground now. (PLEASE NO - If you understand these concepts rather stay and engage. I would love to learn)

A little tutorial on control theory.

The speed limit is 60km/h. you read your speedo and see you are doing 55km/h, so you press the accelerator and the your speed is 65km/h, so you back off and continue doing this control in smaller and smaller steps until the speed is 60km/h. But then you speed drifts off to 62km/h and you back off on your throttle. WHY - because you saw an error of 2 km/h. You are in closed loop control, every time the speed is not exactly 60km/h you compensate with either more or less throttle.

--------------------------
Then you observe the speed is 58km/h and you push the loud peddle, the car lurches to 65km/h and you back off.

This is exactly what happens to a grid tie inverter trying to do Zero export. It tries to keep export at ZERO , but every now and again it can overshoot. Think - you have the kettle on and everything is nice at Zero. Then the kettle switches off and there is a large surge of extra power available. This overshoots and the inverter tries to correct it. Too late the smartmeter has tripped.

This is where the trickle load comes in. Yo make sure the inverter doesn't try to settle at Zero export but 20W (200W whatever) import. So if something overshoots it will need to exceed the trickle load to trip the smartmeter.

[Fluffy]

Just a little addendum. If you have no intention of exporting power, why buy a grid tie inverter at twice the price and suffer all the problems of smartmeters and preventing export.

The extra R10K can buy some nice Solar Panels or batteries.

[ColeGP]

Solar is unticked, don't know how to reset the meter sorry. But my meter is getting replaced tomorrow morning, i will ask the city power sparky. He has been replacing all 9 in the box outside my house and mine is next. I know it doesn't solve your problem now but maybe some info for the future.

(Note. this is a helpful response to someone who asked for help )

Thanks Ian I would really appreciate that, I logged my issue with city power around 30 hours ago as it seems thats the only way to get it reset (or heaven forbid the smart meter needs replacing, that would really suck) but I am still waiting, no surprise there, and the call hasn't even been moved to "accepted".

[Dirk]

Just a little addendum. If you have no intention of exporting power, why buy a grid tie inverter at twice the price and suffer all the problems of smartmeters and preventing export.

The extra R10K can buy some nice Solar Panels or batteries.

The essential/non-essential feature is a big drawcard, probably 20-30% of my grid power goes to my geysers which are not on my inverter, but I do have some spare capacity, if I had one of these I could use all my extra solar to heat water and put the panels to work properly.

With my off-grid inverter I have no way of using any spare capacity should there be any.

But we off-topic now.

[ekkekan]

Just a little addendum. If you have no intention of exporting power, why buy a grid tie inverter at twice the price and suffer all the problems of smartmeters and preventing export.

The extra R10K can buy some nice Solar Panels or batteries.

Keith I'm not so sure we should label the Sunsynk as a grid tied inverter. It is more correctly labeled a true hybrid. It does appear the export and tripping is due to wrong setting by exporting excess PV.

You are spot on that the system operates in a reactive way. Having said that there are a hell of a lot of Sunsynks that do not trip prepaid when set as low as 20W from grid.
It remains nice to be able to export even if it is not used.