The Deye hybrid inverters are becoming more popular, so I purchased one of the 8K inverters to see how they perform for off-grid use. I’m generally not a fan of all-in-one inverters for off-grid use, but if the specifications are accurate, this could be a good affordable choice for small-scale off-grid systems.
Deye is very new to Australia, with very limited information online. In the US, they are sold under the name Sol-Ark, and have had generally good reviews.
Inverter Power Rating
The inverter is transformerless, so it does not have the peak (surge) power of similar-sized off-grid inverters like Victron or Schneider. The specifications are quite confusing. It doesn’t list the continuous power rating, but it does list multiple variations of the peak (Max) power rating.
The max battery discharge power is listed at 190A or approx 9.5kW at 50V, but the Peak power (off-grid) is listed at “2 times the rated power for 10 seconds”. This peak rating would only be possible with battery and PV power combined. The “rated AC output power” is 8kW, and the “Max AC output” is also 8kW which doesn’t make sense. I’m presuming the rated continuous power is more like 6kW, and the max peak power is around 8.0kW.
High Solar MPPT current ratings
In regards to solar, the MPPT voltage range is a bit narrow (200V to 425V), but the input current rating is very good at 26A per MPPT, meaning parallel strings is possible on both MPPTs. Ics max current is also very high at 39A per MPPT, which is great. The max DC input power is listed at (10400W) 10.4kW, but based on the high input current rating, it should have no issues with oversized PV arrays higher than 10kW.
Build Quality
The build quality appears surprisingly good for a relatively low-cost inverter. The dual AC inputs are very useful for UPS backup power in a hybrid system. The on/off and DC isolator switches are solid, and the large cable glands make it easy to install. Battery terminals are solid, but a little more clearance would help.
The inverter will be installed and operational in about a week, so I’ll post an update about the setup and operation.
Update: The inverter was installed and commissioned about a week ago and is running great so far. Installed with 6.2kW of solar on two strings, and 3 x Pylontech US3000C (3.55kWh) batteries.
Startup and programming were relatively straightforward. However, the Lithium settings are a little confusing, and the manual has very little information about how the system should be configured for various lithium battery types (see more details below).
So far, the household loads have been very low, so we haven’t had a chance to test the inverter under higher loads to see what the continuous and maximum power output is. (The house is still under construction, and the electric appliances are still being installed.)
Lithium Battery settings: One of the more confusing settings is the “Lithium Mode” setting which I cannot seem to change? It is set to 00, but there appear to be 18 settings from the display. (Or that’s what I assume the 00/18 is referring to?)
Also, as mentioned previously, the battery data is very limited. The battery temperature reading was -100C as soon as it was connected, which is clearly wrong.
EDIT: This issue has been fixed by using the correct CANbus cable with pins 1,2,3 disconnected, as shown in the post below.
Deye tech support just informed me that the problem with the battery data not being reported may be due to the CANbus connection between the battery and inverter. There are certain pins that need to be disconnected (pins 1,2,3).
are you able to give a final recommendation or summation of your experience? I have an off-grid business in the Pacific region and sadly, we’ve learned the hard way regarding your sentiment on ‘all in one’ offgrid inverters. However, the Deye option is a bit more expensive than our current brand - about 1.8X and comes with a 5yr warranty and a decent IP rating. So we’re really keen to give them a crack…
@Superfly, It’s too early to tell until we have conducted high-load testing. However, overall the construction and built quality are very good, and the solar performance has been excellent. This inverter is far better than the other low-cost, all-in-one hybrid inverters I have seen, like the Voltronic Infini series (also used by Growatt).
The only real issue so far has been using the Solarman App and the user manual is a little vague and a bit confusing.
We plan on doing some more thorough testing next week.
Regarding the batteries. Between your Deye manuals and literature you have a document regarding Lithium Mode settings. It’s a list with most LiFePo4 battery brands and what lithium mode to use with each brand and battery model. Also with your LiFePo4 battery you again have a list regarding the settings of those small red and white dip switches. On the battery documentation you have a list of inverters and how to set those dip switches for communicating properly with each brand of inverters.
You need to have both documents in order for the inverter to comunicate with, and charge properly the batteries, similar with my examples.
@Bursu, thanks for the Lithium mode settings (approved battery) document. This should be included with the inverter as there is no information provided about the various Lithium modes.
The Pylontech battery is listed under lithium mode ‘00’ Canbus, and also lithium mode ‘12’ RS485. This is strange, but I’m guessing it will work on either mode. Although, when I tried to change the mode from ‘00’ to ‘12’ setting, it would not change. It was stuck on ‘00’ which is very frustrating.
The inverter can communicate with the battery’s BMS in two ways. Primarily, through the BMS/CAN combo port, which is recommended, I had to use a splitter to combine two cables into the BMS port (Orange Pi 3 LTS and Battery) or, alternatively, through the RS485 port.
The whole document that came with my inverter DEYE - SUN-12K-SG04LP3. It has 19 Lithium Modes in it’s battery menu.
Cannot charge from a backup generator. Does anyone have any insight into what could be causing this problem? I have followed the setup procedure and changed the settings to charge from a generator but it does not work? The Generator symbol does not show on the display and it will not charge from the generator when connected.
Hi, I do not have a generator but as I understand, if you have batteries, as in my case, the inverter will seek for generator signal, and display the generator icon, only when the battery is near a certain percentage that it set for the battery to disconnect the power and no Grid is available, OR in order to start charging the batteries using the generator. If you are not using batteries, that Icon will appear when the grid fails and when there is not enough energy being generated by the panels, at night for example.
Basically the icon appears when the Inverter tries to use the generator, in emergency situations. At least this is how it behaves when using have batteries too.
Maybe if you also check GEN signal option, on the display, generator icon might show up.
I am new to this too, i hope it helps a little.
Ics max current is also very high at 39A per MPPT, which is great. The max DC input power is listed at (10400W) 10.4kW, but based on the high input current rating, it should have no issues with oversized PV arrays higher than 10kW.
