Thinking about getting an inverter?
All you need to know about getting an inverter installed in your home.
Sunsynk is leading the way with our revolutionary energy storage systems and inverters.
Our Batteries
Solar batteries are also known as storage batteries. You don’t need solar panels to use them and still save money!
Our Bi-Directional Inverters
We have a new type of inverter called a bi-directional inverter. This device connects the battery to your main AC connection.
Already have solar panels?
Find out what we can do for you if you already have solar panels installed in your home.
Choosing your batteries
Find out what battery size best suits you.
Installation
Our batteries can be in a cabinet, mounted on a wall side-by-side, or floor-mounted.
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10 Reasons
We have listed 10 reasons to use our inverters and battery storage systems in your home.
What are Solar Batteries?
Solar batteries can also be known as storage batteries. What a lot of people don’t know is that you don’t need solar panels to use them, and they will still save you money!
A battery is a device that stores electricity, similar to how you charge your mobile phone. You plug it into a charger overnight so that you can use your mobile phone all day without it being connected to the mains. Solar batteries work in a similar way to operate your household necessities.
What is the purpose?
Electricity prices are due to soar in the next year. The UK predicts a 50% increase in wholesale energy costs, which will increase most people’s electricity and gas bills by 50%.
A battery's purpose is to save you money on your energy bills. It does this by charging overnight. This power is then stored so that during the day/peak times, you can automatically release the power from your battery that was stored overnight.
How do they work?
A battery on its own will not work, you will have to connect it to another device, which is called an inverter. You may have heard the term inverter, especially if you have solar panels on your roof. However, the type of inverter that connects to a battery is very different, called a storage inverter.
What is the difference?
An inverter is a device that converts DC electricity into AC electricity. DC stands for Direct Current, which we get from batteries and solar panels. AC stands for Alternating Current, which almost everything runs on as it allows power transmission across long distances. In order to connect your battery or solar panel to the mains, you will need to convert the DC electricity into AC electricity—this is done via an inverter.
Inverters have been around for a long time but in the most recent years have become more sophisticated, especially with the popularity of solar panels. The solar panels would link and connect to a grid using a grid-tied inverter, often called a string inverter. This was revolutionary as the solar panels could connect directly to the mains electricity supply. When the sun is shining the solar panel would produce power, feeding into the mains electricity. This is called AC Coupled/Grid-Tied. If more electricity were produced than being used, then the power would be fed back into the grid, and the utility would then pay you for the excess power, this is called export power. The tariffs available for export power are very low compared to the cost of installation, as well as the cost of energy when the sun is no longer shining can be expensive.
Sunsynk Bi-directional Inverter
Sunsynk and our partners have invented a new type of inverter, called a bi-directional inverter. It is a device that connects the battery and your mains AC connection. This allows you to fast charge a storage battery during the day when AC power is cheap, saving the excess power that you’re not using, so that you can use your stored power in the evenings when energy prices are higher. An additional device called a CT coil, which is included with the inverter, is used to detect any power that is not being exported and prevent it from feeding back to the mains.
What if I already have solar panels?
If you have solar panels then even better, but it’s not necessary. The energy from the solar panels can be connected to the inverter directly, or if you have an existing system, our inverter can be added alongside it. When the sun is shining the excess power that you are not using will be used to charge your battery. Without the battery storage, you may be selling your excess electricity during the daytime for a few pence per kilowatt-hour. As for in the evening you could be buying the power back from the electricity company at more than 20 times the price.
Three things you should know about choosing a battery:
The power rating and depth of discharge. Generally, batteries used in our power storage systems are lithium phosphate. Most batteries are sold by giving them a Kilo-Watt Hour (KWH) Rating. The larger KWH will mean bigger battery systems.
Sunsynk batteries are sold in 5.2kWh building blocks, which means that they can store and release 5.2kW of power per hour.
The battery size that best suits you depends on your monthly power consumption and the size of your solar array (if you have solar panels).
If you choose to generate power from a solar array, you need to know how much DC power the panels produce.
Our most popular setup in the UK uses one single battery. You can begin with this setup, but depending on your power requirements, you can add more batteries to the system at any given time.
The life of the battery. All batteries are expensive – one important thing to consider is their life expectancy. The harder you work on the battery, the shorter its life span will be. Therefore it is best to use a high-quality battery, cheaper batteries will cost you more money in the long run!
Sunsynk uses battery cells produced by CATL, which produces cells for leading automotive brands such as Tesla and BMW. We consider these to be the most efficient cells available on the current market, and we want your system to function efficiently for as many years as possible.
How much power can you charge and discharge at any one time? The last thing to consider is the C rating, this is the maximum power that you can charge/discharge the battery at. Sunsynk batteries have a C rating of 0.5.
Installation
Our batteries can be placed in a cabinet, mounted side-by-side on a wall, or simply floor-mounted. The battery connects to the inverter by two cables, positive and negative. These are heavy cables due to the current that flows in and out of the battery, which is five times that of the energy coming out of the inverter.
All batteries have onboard computers that communicate with the inverter, which is called a BMS (Battery Management System). The batteries must always be compatible with the inverter, otherwise, the system will not work properly.
10 Reasons to Use the Sunsynk Inverter and
Battery Storage
1 - It is a Bi-directional Inverter that can convert direct current into alternating current and alternating current into direct current. Therefore, we can charge or discharge batteries at the same rated power.
What does this mean?
Firstly, a separate charger is not required as we use the inverter's power in reverse to charge the battery storage. If an inverter is rated at 3.6kW, it can charge and discharge the battery storage at the same power of 3.6kW, enabling on-grid and off-grid functions.
This means that you can charge your battery storage from the mains AC when the tariff is cheap and then discharge the battery to power your electronic devices ( the ‘Load’ ) when the mains AC tariff is expensive to use, i.e., Peak hours, 5 pm - 9 pm.
To achieve this, after installation, the Sunsynk Inverter can be programmed via its touch screen or remotely via the Wi-Fi connection so that power can be fed in the correct direction at the chosen times.
The installation of battery storage along with a bi-directional inverter provides the user with an efficient means of reducing the amount of power consumed by an average European household. If your power demand exceeds the power coming from the inverter and batteries, the inverter will simply allow additional energy to be taken from the grid.
2 - It has MPPT [Maximum Peak Power Tracking] that allows the inverter to handle a solar array up to twice its size. For example, a 3.6kW Bi-directional Inverter has a 7.2kW MPPT which allows it to connect to a solar array of 7kW.
What does this mean?
The inverter is fitted with an input port that connects to the solar array. The port has the facility of MPPT, which allows the inverter to maximise the energy available from the connected solar panels at any time during operation.
During any day, the output from the solar panels ( the ‘array’) will vary as sunshine changes its strength due to clouds and the angle of the panels. This means the power coming into the inverter will decrease at times. Now that the input has an MPPT circuit, it can constantly monitor and find the optimal voltage current array from which maximum power can always be obtained.
The Sunsynk 3.6kW Inverter matches 90% of UK-sized housing and allows the user to connect to a substantial solar array up to 7kW in size. The MPPT facility and other inverters allow further enlargement, and corresponding solar panels can be attached if more power is required.
3 - It can divert excess power to your hot-water appliance automatically by power-shaving.
What does this mean?
When the solar panels produce power, the system is set for Zero Export so that the power generated goes to the electrical appliances (the ‘load’). Any surplus power is shaved off and sent to appliances such as water heaters or into the battery storage for use later. This can be organized by adjusting the settings on the inverter.
At the rear of the Sunsynk Inverter, there are three connection ports:
1. The right-hand port is the grid connection.
2. The middle port is the auxiliary port, and this has many different uses, such as:
(i) A connection to a hot water tank to use extra power once the battery storage is full.
(ii) A generator for an off-grid system that can be activated by the inverter.
(iii) The port should be used if additional inverters are connected.
3. The house fuse board is connected to the left-hand port when running an Off-grid system.
Therefore, the middle port can provide power to appliances by shaving extra power when the batteries are at maximum capacity.
4 - It has a colour touch-screen LCD that displays an easy-to-understand flow chart containing the inverter's status to help the user understand what the inverter is doing in real time.
What does this mean?
This places the Sunsynk Inverter in a class of its own, especially the 3.6kW model, which has its own touch screen that provides detailed information covering Battery / Power Supply / Solar Generation / Load (Appliances) / Battery Storage and Grid Power. Further display pages allow the user to set the system's functioning, i.e., power export and power storage.
5 - Unique Information Screen design. This allows the user to clearly understand solar power production, battery charge status, power discharge, and grid power consumption.
What does this mean?
After observing the system's status, the user can see how much power is being produced, how much is feeding into the house, and how much is going into the battery storage. The user can adjust these amounts via the touch screen.
6 - Our amazing platform and App enable you to have full control of the system. With the Sunsynk Data Logger attached, the user of a Sunsynk solar system can remotely monitor and change any settings via a PC or mobile phone from any location around the world (provided there is an Internet connection).
One-button programming can configure the inverter using the Settings page on the Sunsynk Web Client. The user can choose from a list of recommended configuration files to suit applications and speed up the installation process.
What does this mean?
This allows the user to have confidence in the system by remote monitoring via mobile devices. Both the owner and the system manager can see what's happening and make corrections where necessary.
The process of connecting your data logger to the Wi-Fi is straightforward:
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Plug in the Data Logger and ensure the red light comes on.
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Go to Wi-Fi setting on mobile / laptop and look for an available connection EAP- ***** (***** are the last 5 digits of the serial number on the data logger)
3. Select the correct connection and then enter the password "12345678".
4. Once you have connected to the EAP connection, you need to connect it to your Wi-Fi. To do this, open your internet browser and search for the IP address "10.10.10.1."
5. After connecting, click ‘Scan’ to search the Wi-Fi list, and you should see your Wi-F
connection.
6. Select your Internet / Wi-Fi connection, enter the password and click ‘Connect’.
7- Push Notifications. These are when the system automatically notifies the owner of any changes that might include Load-Shedding (Power Outage), Low Battery or other major issues.
What does this mean?
As mentioned, the user can be confident of being notified via text or WhatsApp when something is going wrong with the system or if a power outage has occurred. This is dependent on Internet connection. However, the notification process will allow users sufficient information to ensure the system operates efficiently.
An example of notifications is below:
8 - The system can operate in both On-Grid and Off-Grid modes. It can also be set as an Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS), where the inverter is combined with battery storage and connected to the main domestic power circuit via the LOAD output. The UPS can be programmed to provide power when the main power is cut or insufficient. This ensures your essential appliances remain powered.
What does this mean?
On-grid mode means that your Inverter can take DC electricity generated by a solar array and convert it into AC electricity before sending it to the mains grid. In addition, it takes AC power from the grid, supplies it to the batteries (to use later), and provides power to the load.
Off-grid mode means the system relies on DC power generated by solar panels, wind turbines, or generators and supplies DC power to the battery storage or AC power to the load.
A UPS can provide emergency power when an input source or mains power fails. The difference between a UPS and an emergency power system is that a UPS provides near-instantaneous protection from power interruptions by supplying power from the battery storage. This will protect appliances such as computers, fridges, and medical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause problems for the user.
A Sunsynk Bi-directional Inverter can achieve all of the above by visiting the LCD touchscreen and setting the system operations.
9 - More than one inverter can be set in parallel to form larger systems.
What does this mean?
When inverters are connected in parallel, their power output expands, their reliability improves, and system redundancy also improves.
The diagram demonstrates a parallel set-up with one inverter acting as ‘Master’ and two inverters acting as ‘Slaves’.
The settings can be accessed via the control screen:
If the inverters are set in parallel mode, the batteries should also be connected in parallel, as this increases the system's stability.
This will enable the user to have a stable, enlarged system with a larger solar array and expanded battery storage system. Sunsynk inverters are designed to do this.
10 - Excellent After-Sales Support - Sunsynk operates a European Call Centre that can answer customer queries and clarify any questions with follow-up calls when required. The call centre will ensure the correct Sunsynk staff is assigned to the correct query raised by a customer.
What does this mean?
Customers can link up with the designers and engineers who created the inverters they are using.
South Africa
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+27 10 100 3589
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Canary Islands
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