THIS is the Swiss Army Knife of Solar Inverters - SunSynk hybrid inverter
It's an inverter, It's a battery charger, it's a power diverter - and it's all of these in one unit at the same time.
We first spotted this Sunsynk inverter during a visit to FutureBuild in London. Keith Gough knows his stuff when it comes to solar inverters, so we asked a loyal eFIXX viewer Sean Scanlan to check out if it all stacks up.
== Featured products ===================
SunSynk Hybrid solar inverter
hub.efixx.co.uk/sun-synk
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🕐 TIME STAMPS 🕕
00:00 Sunsynk inverter
01:31 7000 watts of solar panels
02:29 Display panel
03:53 What house can take more than 7 kw?
04:40 Buy good batteries
06:20 You can fit it to an existing system
06:55 Battery sizes
07:53 Solo PV and caravan parks
09:17 Sean and a solo panel on his head
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📹 Presented by
Sean Scanlan - SSES
Gordon Routledge CEng MIET - Technology Editor eFIXX ===================================
#efixx #electricians
Nice to see a salesman who believes in his product wholeheartedly. Good job.
I have installed 6 units so far, with 10 more to install, I am invested however not blinded by that investment. I also have installed a fair bit of Victron kit and have 10 plus years’ experience in the sector so I can talk from a position of knowledge and experience. Some of the complaints about technical back up are fair however Sunsynk are listening to installer feedback, time will tell. The idea that this is a low-quality product is unfounded by anyone claiming it, other than saying its a rebranded product, which it is to some extent (ie different name badge) however that isn’t intrinsically a bad thing, the PCBs in the unit have Sunsynk printed on them at manufacture so who is using what aspect of the other components, it could be a jointly developed product range. It is common place activity sharing aspects of products with other manufactures. If you’re not familiar with it I suggest taking apart any electronics and comparing and contrasting, you will see the same components and PCBs and layouts over and over again. Same in cars, same in houses, boilers, heat pumps, white goods, TVs, computers, phones, etc etc, same in all things in life, its part of globalism, it helps keep costs low and quality high. You see all these brands out there and think they are all making their own products, the best example I can think of is Unilever, same stuff different bottle. Who do you think makes Tesco own brand food, Tesco with their own factories, of course not, its the same stuff with a different sticker on it, or maybe a perceived lesser quality product operating in a different part of the market. Once working I have been extremely impressed with the performance of the units for their cost, the 3.6 unit can handle 8kW of panels if sized correctly (maximum through put is 7kW) and still operate under G98. I have a system operating 21kW of PV on three 3.6 units and a 40kW system nearing completion using 6 of the 5.5 models. Try costing those systems up with Victron, its no joke! There is no kit out there which is perfect, I have replaced from all manufactures at some point or another, its power electronics at the end of the day, if you think it should just work and never have issues then try turning a switch on 100,000 times a second and see how that goes for you, cause that’s what this kit has to do. I see plenty of sparks moving into solar and making plenty of mistakes due to a lack of knowledge, thinking they can cram everything they need to know into a days’ worth of reading or watching videos. Then blaming the inherent complexity of the kit and the systems on the manufacture or the lack of “technical support” when really, they just don’t know what they are doing or they are punching too far above their weight presenting as engineers when they are actually technicians/parts fitters because there is ££ to be made. This is nothing new and not exclusive to the electrical/solar trade.
In South Africa, we install these inverters on mass! They are really great units with lovely features!
Hey Hein, I'm interested in knowing more. I have a little rural 1 bedroom home to power up using the sun
Which is better to add to the 5kw inverter..Sunsynk battery or hubble battery ?
I have the Freewon battery connected to my Sunsynk. Expensive but fantastic.
@@petereberhardt1070 I have a hubble lithium battery and works perfect.
Yes, but are they on the city of cape town approved inverter list?
Great products, curious as to whether it can vary the power going into the immersion coil to match excess generation? Feel like the industry needs to come up with a standard protocol so your ev charger and immersion heater and other loads can dynamically take up power to match availability across brands - any work going into this?
Great content! Installed a few hundred thousand KW's in Canada and looking to possibly start back in UK.
Many thanks for the video :) I am about to increase the size of my array considerably to be able to charge my electric car - Can you help? I would like to know if the 8kW sunsynk has the option for a user defined battery . . . I have built my own 48v lion battery which has it's own bms and need to know if I will be able to configure the sunsynk appropriately - many thanks in advance for any assistance 👍🏼
Love this channel, saving to try and get Sunsynk invertor. Need it here in South Africa
Getting one today
When visiting the factory that produces this unit. The first thing that catches the eye is the large sign up front that says Deye. Its everywhere in fact.
This is the type of feature rich product we need nowadays as solar energy is maturing. Will this unit work in N. America with its 240VAC RMS split phase?
Wat bout 10.5kw electric shower, will it power that?
just a quick question about the 3.6 inverter. If i have 4kw solar and say 5-10kw batteries , ( and the batteries are full and its a sunny day) dose this still mean that only 3.6 kw can be exported to the mains even if im cooking on electric and my peak for 30 mins is over 5kw?
Yes, 3.6kwh is the most it will output to your house even if solar is producing 3kwh and your batteries are full. This is so it complies with the G98 regs. Anything over 3.68kwh output to your house requires G99 agreement before installing.
@@andynoakes I think you mean kW not kWh in your reply.
Is there an issue in the solar trade where optimisers are being mis-sold? They only have a purpose where panels might be shaded and if that shading is present during a significant portion of the generation cycle - other than this they have significant disadvantages to reliability.
Good point - we will explore further 👍
Anyone know what the self power consumption is of these units? Lets say its night and the house is using 200W, there should be 0 coming from the grid but how many watts is the inverter taking from the battery including running its own electronics?
40-50 watts is what I have seen for the 3.6kW model, I dont know about the others. Sunsynk have recently released a firmware that switches the inverter out below a set state of charge in the battery. This way the power demand of the inverter in low solar months, aka the winter, over night is minimised. Thats a step in the right direction.
Interesting to hear about new options. Has it got UPS capability for a power outage or did he describe designing a manual switch over option instead?
Yes it does The change over option is for in case the unit needs to be repaired and taken away , then you change over too municipal power only
Yes, the unit works as a UPS in the event of power outage or grid failure and switches you to taking power from your battery bank.
@@tirivaenim in long term grid down will it allow pv to work?
Is there a more comprehensive independent review done of the inverter and battery? Am considering Sunsynk but trying to research more on it
We are just about to start one.
Would be amazing to hear how it goes as I considering between Sunsynk or Givenergy for my solar install
Just do it, my system is working great for a few monds. Home Assistant is taking care of extra power when the batteries are full. Running A.C. ect
He said at one point dont use micro inverters? They are for arrays with shading I believe! Is it the case that you can’t use micro inverters or just that there was no need in his example?
Can this be programmed to function on solar and grid without batteries ?
Yes
You mention 7kwp max from solar panels regularly but the spec sheet shows max is 6.5kwp from solar panels. Which is it? Have 6.9 DC myself so makes big difference for me
If the specs say 6.5kw, while that would be right, it is not unusual to overpanel systems for different reason to a point and 10% would not generally be considered too high, he may have considered this in his comment if he didn’t mean to misrepresent the data sheet. IDK. Just a guess.
Its technically 7.2kW peak DC input power. The model number you are looking up might be slightly different. Oddly the 5.5kW unit can handle 6.5kWp, maybe its that model you are looking at?
I just wish I knew what is meant by discharge
Be careful!!! Just had one of these installed plus 2 batteries 5 weeks ago and it's still not working properly. Problems with communication system and batteries not discharging. Also the app doesn't appear to represent actual power flows and numbers. Many hours spent on phone to tech support working through installation and settings to no avail. No answers forth coming to date. Apparently, according to the installer I am not on my own. Very disappointed with product and support so far. Come on sunsynk get your act together!!!
is it ok now?
3.6 is definitely not enough!
It might not be for some but it does mean you don't need dno pre approval to install it. Pair it with a battery and you shift your generation to when you need it, usually in the evening. And when you need a little more juice it's grid tied.
@@MichaelGreenhalgh it has 7.2 kw mppt AC coupled
@@MichaelGreenhalgh the normal configuration is to limit the output based on your consumption, so it only allows 3.6kwh export, but can generate more if you have a local load.
@@rogerthomas7040 The 3.6kW unit is limited to inverting 3.6kW of power. Any spare over the amount goes in the battery, up to a maximum of 90amps, combined AC and DC power flows up to 7.2kW
can this do a decent backup off grid?
3kW
@@efixx they make 5kva and 8kva inverters as well.
@@AlbertCloete and make my enphase microinverters work grid down?
Could you go a piece on how these things should be grounded. Especially the grounding arrangements for those that can switch the DNO supply out of circuit. It's a question that gets US users and sparkies well riled and while I _think_ I know what should be happening I'd very much like to see what the manufacturers say is needed.
All solar panels should be grounded The inverter body should be earthed The mains feed into the inverter should connect via an RCD So the question is the output neutral earth bond
Hello eFIXX, thanks for this very informative review directly with Sunsynk's CEO. At 6:20 you are showing an "existing system" This seems to be a Omnick. What happened to this company. Nobody seems to know them anymore.
Looks like they went in to liquidation - www.omnikportal.net
Thx how well did you know that brand? Did they make good inverter or entry level?
Looking at installing one for a DIY install for a "cheap" grid to battery setup on Octopus Agile. Only use around 300-500w on average, so a 5KWh would be a great start to offset peak price times with cheaper rates. Not looking for offgrid though or island modes though, that starts to get very busy, wiring wise.
hes selling specs from this inverter as "very special" whcih are features every single hybrid inverter does?
Is this inverter MSC certified
No such certification. Maybe you mean G98 for connection to the low voltage network.
@@WindyJAMiller yes I found that out later thanks. I thought all equipment used had to be MSC approved, but I was wrong.
Victron use the same technology except there’s is modular and expandable.
I'm a big fan of the Victron Multiplus-ii range. They always work with a range of batteries so you are not tied into only their brand.
Victron is a good low frequency product and has lots of parts, Our inverter is an all in one High Frequency unit
One thing Sunsynk is completely expandable and on and off grid good point 🙂👍
@@sunsynk do they have to be installed by a trained installer or can they be purchased direct and installed by a competent person
I'm guessing that's a No then
Why not inverters on each panel as they will compensate for shade and dirt? A single inverter in a string is asking for trouble, maybe you aught to look at what an expert like Dave Jones of EEVBlog has to say?
On the contrary. Optimisers and microinverters are asking for trouble in my opinion! In almost all cases I think you're better off designing a system that doesn't need them. The most common things that go wrong in my experience of solar installations are connectors, and if you have either microinverters or optimisers you have twice as many of them on the roof where they're typically more difficult to access. The next most common fault on our portfolio is optimisers. We get something like one failure per 50kW per year. And yes they're under warranty and there's a bit of money for swapping a failed one but that doesn't pay me to drive all over the shop swapping them. If you have low insulation resistance fault and you have a regular string, it's relatively quick and easy to identify the faulty string and then locate the fault in that string. If you have the same fault on a system with optimisers... it can easily take five times as long. The diagnostics are built in to a rubbish interface on the inverter which takes an age to start up, vs a meter in my hand which can test about a string a minute. We used to use systems with optimisers. We've got a lot of them. They were sold as high end, and the systems are fancy and give you all sorts of useless features you don't need. It's like the BMW of solar. In my opinion, you're better off buying a Toyota. A fully working system with optimisers yields typically 1-2% more than an equivalent string inverter system. The amount of fully working systems with optimisers is very low compared to our other systems and that completely wipes out any gains. Add that to the increased purchase and installations costs, more difficult maintenance, lock in to one inverter manufacturer for the life of the system... I really don't see the point. Unless you're installing them and can then charge callout fees every time they go wrong which doesn't seem great for customers. On the dirty panels, our systems tend to either not get dirty (most of them) or if they're by the coast then they all get dirty together. Anything installed at a reasonable pitch in the UK should be self cleaning unless there's a serious gull problem :D
Solar panels can last 25 to 30 years, how long will your optimisers last on a roof
@@sunsynk good ones have a 25 year warranty
There are use cases for optimisers ie hard shading of a chimney that the solar is on, a badly designed system would not factor this in, there are use cases and I’m not talking about shading from clouds or birds as those are not a constant factor
@@DTech101 I would argue that you'd be better off just avoiding the chimney! Even with an optimiser, a shaded module isn't going to generate anything meaningful. I've gone through all the SolarEdge training... I really don't see the benefit.
Looks to me it's deye hybrid inverter. Good inverter but cheaper order directly
Is that right ?
Huawei hybrids for me, can put optimisers on the strings or not your choice. Physically a much smaller inverter.
Chinese manufacture? IOT to China?
Hong Kong British owned company
@@sunsynk DEYE!!!
Fogstar are far cheaper
I think this sales person had a meeting with 'Charlie' before this gig...
😂
Really??? :))))) Epever, Easun and the list goes on. They're called hybrid inverters. Lol. I'll delete the video if I were you. Talking about of how low can you get :)))
Not the most convincing salesman in the world! The Interviewer asked about optimisers and he starts waffling about MPPT he seemed rather like a slippery politician, avoiding the awkward questions and talking constantly about anything else to fill the time!
Sadly am not a salesman, As an engineer have spent almost 20 years of my life working and designing inverters starting from very simple units please look at the #Sunsynk Channel maybe I need to take your advise and employ a salesman
There are use cases for optimisers so I don’t see why the guy from the company just glanced over it! Shadowing can be a big factor in low generation solar ie chimney’s trees building shadows and so on. How could you ever design a system that doesn’t have that type of versatility. And I’m not really a fan of these integrated systems especially the hybrid systems where your tired to a manufacturer/battery, example being Solax hybrid that released a new gen battery that doesn’t talk to the old inverter meaning if they can’t get the old battery they have to by a whole system to replace it DC charging is a money con as far as I can see the benefits of straight charge does not out-way the flexibility of an AC system.
@@DTech101 Sunsynk can connect to any low voltage battery, like Pylontech US range for example.
@@andynoakes the Hybrid system can connect to any low voltage battery?
What has an optimiser got to do with the inverter? It was a crap question asked at an irrelevant time. It is almost like the interviewer did not know what he was asking or why.
.
This is a rebranded cheap chinese whitelabel low voltage hybrid inverter. Efficency is quite poor compared to dc coupled hv hybrid systems
Wrong Sunsynk a uk owned company approached a major tear one contract manufacture to produce for them in 2016 Sunsynk released first inverter in 2008
Can you put some numbers to your claims of 'Efficency is quite poor compared to dc coupled hv hybrid systems' Other wise its just unsubstantiated. I could as easily claim you to be a moron without evidence.
We’ve fitted a few of these and have real problems commissioning. Having installed plenty of Victron, SONNEN, GivEnergy and Solis prior, these have been the ones that have given us real headaches. Linking the Sunsynk dongle to WiFi, getting master and slave batteries to communicate with each other and the battery, signalling generator switch on. And not to mention actually getting it to do what an inverter with battery storage should do in a G98 setting to minimise self consumption. In each case multiple calls to the Sunsynk helpline, speaking with engineers from all over the world via WhatsApp it seems, have been fruitless and no one has been able to help whatsoever. This has included photos, videos, video calls etc. they’re scratching their heads and so are we. The instructions are not very well written at all. Keith’s videos need much in the way of improvement. They’re incoherent, in consistent and don’t get to the point. He makes the tragic mistake of assuming that installers have time to watch hours of videos to learn about it. I don’t, but I had one of my most techie installers spend an entire day watching videos about them, including setting the system up prior to installation on a work bench, etc but it just didn’t help. And our installer, an experienced chap with this sort of thing, is about as techie as it gets. He made the comment, quite aptly, that this is a system for people that come from engineering backgrounds. But not for general consumers. In exploring the portal, playing with the settings pages on the portal and the inverter itself, I would second this. We’d been looking for alternatives because of the massive shortages in the industry at the moments. But I’m mightily disappointed. If they had a helpline that could help, was UK based and staffed by people with some proper field experience (like GivEnergy) things would be better. We want to use this kit, but I’m really struggling to justify the switch from out givenergy mainstay at the moment. If you can’t operate something with only minimal guidance or reliance on manuals (that, in this case, don’t really contain anything) then the product is either a space ship or badly designed. I don’t have the confidence in it, and just can’t imagine recommending this to a not too tech-savvy customer over GivEnergy which has an excellent, intuitive portal. Keith who runs this company is an interesting, capable bloke, but in many ways, when compared to other products on the market, this misses the mark.
Really helpful thanks
I've recently installed an 8k with 5 of their own CATL batteries. I relate to some of your experiences and frustrations. I didn't have a problem with battery set up but the installer manuals and the videos...wow - utterly unacceptable for a large company and clearly a capable machine. I had the chance to talk candidly with one of their UK technicians whilst organising a firmware update earlier this week. Apparently they're still in the throes of setting up their UK operation and said that was an influence. He said the current manuals had been translated and Sunsynk were in the process of addressing this, specifically for the UK market. He said they're very aware of the generally poor response to installers here and are training more UK technicians to speed things up during installation. He also said they have stopped (or will be, I forget) taking calls from the end user and passed that job back to the installer because it has slowed down the help unfamiliar installers need. My own other criticism is that the System Mode set up is downright confusing, badly thought out and even more poorly explained in the 'training videos'. Previous software updates were, ironically, a little less confusing according to some South African KZhead installers/end users where this brand is apparently very popular. It is a software design issue. I was reassured management are paying particular attention to our installer feedback, including the ugly bits. I'm now invested with the one installation. My honest impression is that the company has a genuinely good and versatile product that does a lot for a lot less than the likes of SMA and Victron, with some software and manual flaws addressed and that maybe they were running here in the UK before they could actually walk. Only time will tell. After a week of monitoring and tweaking the install I am impressed with the capabilities it has. There are many settings that can be adjusted, either via the inverter interface, the Sunsynk data logger app (installer access) and their own online portal.