Solar options for home in 2022

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Solar options for home in 2022 - 2026

1 | ... | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | ... | 150

272 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 84

Lifetime subscriber

#3448612 1-Jan-2026 12:08

I’ve spent the last few days buried in datasheets and arguing with various AIs, trying to land on a solar solution that actually works for us. What a rabbit hole…

Long story short, it looks like a hybrid inverter + battery setup is the best fit. One option that’s been suggested is the DEYE SUN-8K-SG05LP1-AU.

I’d be interested to hear what inverters others are using — pros and cons, whether it was simply what the installer supplied, or if there was a specific reason you chose it.

HarmLessSolutions

1237 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 829

Subscriber

#3448639 1-Jan-2026 13:19

shanes:

I’ve spent the last few days buried in datasheets and arguing with various AIs, trying to land on a solar solution that actually works for us. What a rabbit hole…

Long story short, it looks like a hybrid inverter + battery setup is the best fit. One option that’s been suggested is the DEYE SUN-8K-SG05LP1-AU.

I’d be interested to hear what inverters others are using — pros and cons, whether it was simply what the installer supplied, or if there was a specific reason you chose it.

We're running a Fronius Primo 8.2 kW which we're pretty impressed with. The access to data streams including grid voltages, generation and consumption stat's, etc is excellent and easy to navigate. If you're heading towards a hybrid inverter and battery system it may be worth checking out the features of Fronius's Gen 24 range.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Jase2985

13746 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6230

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3448660 1-Jan-2026 14:31

HarmLessSolutions:

shanes:

I’ve spent the last few days buried in datasheets and arguing with various AIs, trying to land on a solar solution that actually works for us. What a rabbit hole…

Long story short, it looks like a hybrid inverter + battery setup is the best fit. One option that’s been suggested is the DEYE SUN-8K-SG05LP1-AU.

I’d be interested to hear what inverters others are using — pros and cons, whether it was simply what the installer supplied, or if there was a specific reason you chose it.

We're running a Fronius Primo 8.2 kW which we're pretty impressed with. The access to data streams including grid voltages, generation and consumption stat's, etc is excellent and easy to navigate. If you're heading towards a hybrid inverter and battery system it may be worth checking out the features of Fronius's Gen 24 range.

The downside of Fronius and a few other brands is they are HV DC (100-400V) whereas most other brands are LV DC (40-60V). The HV batteries are more expensive and harder to come by. But it does open the door for you to use a used EV battery in the future.

tweake

2664 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1141

#3448688 1-Jan-2026 16:37

Jase2985:

Unless you are road tripping, you seldom need to use a fast charger I've used one twice in 2 years both on road trips, and you can't use your home charger anyway, unless you are a taxi or courier or something, and then you fall into that 1%.

You don't NEED 10 hours to slow charge, you have 10 hours you CAN slow charge on cheap power. or you charge during the day off solar.

You keep IGNORING the fact that the average journey of a New Zealander is less than 40km per day. that's 1h or charging to top it back up. You don't need a 25kw charger to do that.

Where are these people you speak of?

At the end of the day, charging your EV from your home battery doesn't make sense, a small home battery topping up a large car battery.

who? everyone who doesn't have an ev and is not interested in any environmental reason or even likes ev's or solar. the joe blogs mass market. those buyers are the inverse of existing ev buyers, so you can't claim what people need or want based of prior ev usage. the markets are completely different. eg you tell them to run all the appliances or charge up the car during peak sunlight, you will get told where to shove it. they want tech to fit into their lives, not change their lives to suit the tech.

yes i'm ignoring average length of journey because its not realistic. an average user is a small part of the market. eg my short drive to work is 40km round trip and its the 2nd shortest i've every had. i've just done 6 months working in city and thats ~200km round trip. working off averages is pointless.

a small home battery is incorrect. i'm not talking about yesterday. as battery prices continue to go down and power prices go up, home battery sizes will increase massively. start thinking car sized or bigger.

very roughly put, a homes energy use is about the same as a car. yes, that varies a huge amount. but it shows how much bigger solar systems can grow. downside is most are not home to use that generations so they need to store it. you can also store night rate power for use in peak times.

fast charging is about mass market consumers. having the ability to charge at super high rates IF they want to. doing it off a battery is the means to get around nz poxy 60 amp house connection (usa has 400 amp minimum?), and a lot of peoples 30 amp garage connection. a mass market buyer will ONLY buy a new car thats is just as good, or better, than their old one in every way. newer ev's are coming out with 600km of range or more and super high speed charging, which puts them on par with ice.

its a huge phycological win if you can refuel at home, the same as you can at the fuel station, with cheaper home made fuel. even if there is no technical win. if you tell them not to, they will go elsewhere. telling mass market that they have to add extra inconvenience to their lives to use your product means they won't buy. remember they are not ev or solar fans.

Jase2985

13746 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6230

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3448690 1-Jan-2026 16:45

@tweake please, I will ask you again to stop discussing this in this thread as it's not relevant to the core topic. Please start a new thread to discuss.

tweake

2664 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1141

#3448693 1-Jan-2026 16:48

kangaroo13:

You're assuming a situation where you get home with battery fully depleted, and you need to drive a long distance the very next day ... that's not typicaly usage.

sorry not intending to dig here, just want to get the point across.

we have gone past the point of using "typical usage". that non-typical usage will drive people nuts. the system has to cover the bulk of the market and most of the market is not "typical usage".

someone did a post saying that they don't do anything special with their solar system, they run the house as normal. thats the mass market, thats who you are making solar and ev's for.

tweake

2664 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1141

#3448696 1-Jan-2026 16:53

Jase2985:

@tweake please, I will ask you again to stop discussing this in this thread as it's not relevant to the core topic. Please start a new thread to discuss.

?? i think solar, batteries and the two main energy uses people have is exactly what this is about.

going back to the original question, why would you not design the system to charge an ev off solar when its 50% or more of your energy use?

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3448708 1-Jan-2026 17:31

tweake:

sorry not intending to dig here, just want to get the point across.

You have laboured your point, and in my opinion your arguments are still flawed no matter how many times you make them. As Jasse has said - this discussion has moved beyond the core interests of this thread.

(

tweake ... most of the market is not "typical usage".

!!!!????? )

HarmLessSolutions

1237 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 829

Subscriber

#3448711 1-Jan-2026 17:46

@tweake I think you've confirmed at length that EVs aren't suited to your use model or (unrealistic) expectations. It's now getting to the point of an old man yelling at clouds which is just tiresome and more relevant to the EV thread than here until they get sick of your ranting there too.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

fastbike

458 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 336

#3448886 2-Jan-2026 10:20

shanes:

I’ve spent the last few days buried in datasheets and arguing with various AIs, trying to land on a solar solution that actually works for us. What a rabbit hole…

Long story short, it looks like a hybrid inverter + battery setup is the best fit. One option that’s been suggested is the DEYE SUN-8K-SG05LP1-AU.

I’d be interested to hear what inverters others are using — pros and cons, whether it was simply what the installer supplied, or if there was a specific reason you chose it.

I feel your pain. I started by building a spreadsheet model for the previous 12 months with consumption data at 15 minute resolution plus actual solar output (from a closeby site with publicly available data adjusted for PV size, tilt and orientation), feed in various tariffs. I used a 5 year payback to determine the best setup.

We ended up with 27 panels on the roof. We had looked at Fronius but ended up with Solis as they had 4 independent PV inputs - the roof layout required 3 which most could not support.

We chose a 10kW hybrid inverter (Solis S6-Eh3P10K-H) - this determines the total AC throughput (house load plus exports) and got a HV version. This has now been coupled to 2 used EV batteries so we never buy peak rate power despite having a fully electric home and some use of an EV.

Back to your question re pros and cons:

The HV battery allows a decent separation between inverter and battery as only thin HV cables are required. We have our inverter in an internal utility room and the batteries are 17m away on a masonry garden wall inside a "shed" like enclosure. This flexibility is great as we are not wasting living space for batteries or having to place them in less than optimal places because of the need for short/thick cables.
I have moved onto automating some of the features such as partly discharging the battery before 9:30am on sunny days, and ramping the charge rate to maximise exports/battery SoC. The Solis is well supported here with a cloud API (if you are happy with you data being hosted etc by a third party = less hassle but less control) as well as the ability to use a local modbus controller with real time data.
The app and web portal are functional, but use data from the cloud which only uploads every 5 mins. (I use openHAB and have most data uploaded every 5 seconds) You can set various modes (we have Self Use enabled) and multiple tariff values so you can charge a battery on cheap night rates etc.
A separate meter is used which provides flexibility as to what it is measuring and where the CTs are placed. This may be important if you want the inverter to be some distance away from the grid connection point.
The meter was available as 3 phase
There is a separate backup connection, we will get a sparky to wire up some of the circuits to this later in the year so that freezer, lights, internet, phone chargers, hob, oven etc keep working in an extended power cut.

Good luck with the decision. I advise getting an inverter that is large enough to handle reasonable loads, especially if there is a possibility of adding battery(s) in the future. There will be a glut of used EV batteries in NZ starting in about 5 years time which are perfect for second life stationary storage so keep that in mind.

Otautahi Christchurch

tweake

2664 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1141

#3448980 2-Jan-2026 13:38

HarmLessSolutions:

@tweake I think you've confirmed at length that EVs aren't suited to your use model or (unrealistic) expectations. It's now getting to the point of an old man yelling at clouds which is just tiresome and more relevant to the EV thread than here until they get sick of your ranting there too.

just keep in mind which way the tech is going. all the things i mentioned already exist and are coming down the pipe, because thats what people want. please don't hate on me, i'm just showing whats available and what it provides. if you don't like it thats on you.

tweake

2664 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1141

#3448983 2-Jan-2026 13:51

kangaroo13:

!!!!?????

do you size solar to nz average house hold power usage? no of course not, every one is different. you size it to what the person wants. if you size things to average, people who are not average are negatively effected. we aim for the majority, not averages.

also keep in mind that a person can have usage at extreme ends and it still averages out. so even a person with average usage can still be negatively effected. eg even if you sized solar to their average use, it can be not enough in winter and having huge excesses in summer. you need to factor actual usages, the extremes, not just averages.

there is way to much variations in people to put them in a box labelled average.

insane

3325 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1006

ID Verified

Trusted

2degrees

Subscriber

#3448992 2-Jan-2026 14:58

Sorry @tweake, I got a lot of respect for all the help you've provided on GZ over the years, but we're heading into the imagination game here.

If rapid refueling was so critical we should then expect huge numbers of ICE drivers to have large petrol/diesel storage at home to avoid the service station (a.k.a fast charger)

michelangelonz

125 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#3449000 2-Jan-2026 15:36

We have Enphase micro inverters. No DC in our house at all.

fastbike

458 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 336

#3449057 2-Jan-2026 16:35

michelangelonz:

We have Enphase micro inverters. No DC in our house at all.

We have both string PV connected to a hybrid inverter (on the house) and also a separate installation with Enphase micro inverters (on a stand alone garage).

The house system provides more bang for the buck.

Otautahi Christchurch

1 | ... | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | ... | 150