Has anyone gotten their Deye/Sol-Ark/Sunsynk inverter to run even briefly on solar only without battery or grid?

[kolek]

Has anyone in the history of man been able to get their Deye / Sol-Ark / Sunsynk inverter to run strictly on solar without battery or grid?

I'm just wondering if it's possible to use it this way in SHTF situations, assuming battery and grid failures.

Don't worry, I understand it doesn't "work well" or smoothly without either battery and/or grid, and I'm not planning on running my house on it this way. I'm just wondering if it can even run low power devices for short periods, given good light on large strings of solar panels.

So far, I've only gotten mine to come on for an instant and turn on a 30W LED lamp, before failing about 2 seconds later with an F08 error.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Making some progress with updated settings, see my last post for more details.

 

[houseofancients]

Yes..
You do have to make sure , grond first is ticket and zero export disabled..
Essentially you will turn it in a a grid tie inverter that way

 

[kolek]

@houseofancients thanks for your response.

Do you actually have a Sol-ark / Deye or Sunsynk and you've tried this and made it work?

>zero export disabled..

There's 3 options in the management screen:
- Selling first
- Zero export to load
- Zero export to CT

Which setting are you advising?

>grond first

Inside the inverter case, I've connected the "N" on the load terminal to the grounding terminal inside the case, per what @timselectric advised here. Is that what you're talking about? If not please explain further, thank you.

 

[DougfromdaUP]

My Sol-Ark 12k works flawlessly with the batteries turned off and no grid. It will power my dryer.

 

[houseofancients]

@houseofancients thanks for your response.

Do you actually have a Sol-ark / Deye or Sunsynk and you've tried this and made it work?

>zero export disabled..

There's 3 options in the management screen:
- Selling first
- Zero export to load
- Zero export to CT

Which setting are you advising?

>grond first

Inside the inverter case, I've connected the "N" on the load terminal to the grounding terminal inside the case, per what @timselectric advised here. Is that what you're talking about? If not please explain further, thank you.

yes i do, own 2 x 12k 3 phase sunsynks

selling first

as to grounding, and all other topics you've opened, i'd advise to first read through the documention, before you hurt yourself, or follow the installer course available from sunsynk

 

[kolek]

My Sol-Ark 12k works flawlessly with the batteries turned off and no grid. It will power my dryer.

Thank you, that's great information. Can you please share your settings?

Because Deye won't offer any assistance with the settings, they instead claim it's impossible. I asked them:
"You are saying the inverter AC function will not work at all without battery and grid, even with lots of PV input?"

Deye's response:
"Yes, because when there is no battery, the inverter must have a power grid to function properly. Without a power grid, energy cannot be produced
Best Regard Stephen"

 

[DougfromdaUP]

My Sol Ark feeds three distribution panels from the load output, so I use "limited power to load" mode, and "battery first" energy pattern.

 

[kolek]

My Sol Ark feeds three distribution panels from the load output, so I use "limited power to load" mode, and "battery first" energy pattern.

I'll check again tomorrow when I have it powered on, but unless I've missed it somewhere in the menus, "Limited power to load" isn't an option on Deye, as I mentioned earlier, the 3 options on Deye are:
- Selling first
- Zero export to load
- Zero export to CT

So you're using "battery first" setting when no grid or battery is actually present, and that's working for you?

 

[kolek]

My Sol Ark feeds three distribution panels from the load output, so I use "limited power to load" mode, and "battery first" energy pattern.

Thank you @DougfromdaUP I found the "battery first" setting and switched to that. Also per the comment above I'm also trying "selling first." No AC output yet.

 

[kolek]

UPDATE: I think I'm making progress with the following settings:

System work mode: "selling first"
Energy pattern "battery first" checked
Battery settings - "use battery %" & "activate battery" checked

AC inverter started, fans started running, LCD panel shows unit is "ON", and 40W LED light was turned on again for about 20 seconds.

Then inverter cut off with error F56 (DC busbar voltage is too low), but there's no direct light on the panels now so I think that's the reason.

Will continue to update.

 

[LydMekk]

F56 is not enough discharge value vs. the load you are trying to run - a battery that is supposed to be there...
3-phase models: YOU NEED A BATTERY!!!

 

[kolek]

UPDATE 2: Wow very excited to report that the system is working well now with no battery and no grid.

Panels came into sunlight this morning and was able to power a 500W heater without interuption with just 1 strand of panels. Panel output showed fluctuating at around 300V @ 2.2 amps.

Really happy this works. We're not going to be running the system like this normally, but it's great to know in a SHTF situation where both battery and the grid are down, we can run strictly off the panels at least during the day.

Again the settings that work are:

System work mode: "selling first"
Energy pattern "battery first" checked
Battery settings - "use battery %" & "activate battery" checked

EDIT: I wanted to add that for some reason, even with all the settings perfect and enough PV input, the inverter needs about 20 minutes or so to wake up and kick itself on and start working in this configuration. No idea why that is true. Not sure if it's warming up or what. Just don't assume it will immedately work if you're switching the panels on for the first time.

What makes this particularly confusing, from the settings side, is if you truthfully choose the "no battery" setting, the inverter actually won't allow this to work.

Also, if you're not connected to grid it's necessary to run a wire connecting the "N" on the load terminal to the grounding terminal, as shown here, or install the bonding screw in your loads panel, as detailed on this thread, otherwise the inverter will fail with a F08 error.

Hope this is useful to someone. I want to thank @timselectric, @DougfromdaUP and Yoda @houseofancients for assistance with the settings! Deye support, on the other hand, provided no assistance or guidance, and actually contributed misinformation by claiming this was impossible.

 

[houseofancients]

UPDATE 2: Wow very excited to report that the system is working well now with no battery and no grid.

Panels came into sunlight this morning and was able to power a 500W heater without interuption with just 1 strand of panels. Panel output showed fluctuating at around 300V @ 2.2 amps.

Really happy this works. We're not going to be running the system like this normally, but it's great to know in a SHTF situation where both battery and the grid are down, we can run strictly off the panels at least during the day.

Again the settings that work are:

System work mode: "selling first"
Energy pattern "battery first" checked
Battery settings - "use battery %" & "activate battery" checked

What makes this particularly confusing, from the settings side, is if you truthfully choose the "no battery" setting, the inverter actually won't allow this to work.

Also, if you're not connected to grid it's necessary to run a wire connecting the "N" on the load terminal to the grounding terminal, as shown here, or install the bonding screw in your loads panel, as detailed on this thread, otherwise the inverter will fail with a F08 error.

Hope this is useful to someone. I want to thank @timselectric, @DougfromdaUP and Yoda @houseofancients for assistance with the settings! Deye support, on the other hand, provided no assistance or guidance, and actually contributed misinformation by claiming this was impossible.

Happy for you it works, but you really should be investing In batteries now.
You effectively turned your very capable hybrid inverter into a very overpriced grid tie inverter

 

[kolek]

@houseofancients
Already have a battery, just waiting on cabling, but thanks!