Deye off grid: the economical inverter that hasn't let us down.
Deye makes a hybrid inverter that costs less than the premium platforms, carries a ten-year Australian warranty, starts motors hard, runs from a built-in touchscreen with no internet in sight, and — across every one we've installed — hasn't failed. It also has limits that decide where it belongs: a transfer switch that caps whole-home backup, and an AC-coupling mode that stops short of a full battery. Here's where Deye is the right call, where it isn't, and the customer who could tell when the WiFi dongle was in.
Designed in Lismore · installed by accredited localsWhat Deye makes
3 to 16 kW hybrids
Low-voltage single-phase units from 3 kW up to 16 kW, built for 48 V battery banks. The small ones carry sheds, cabins and modest homes on their own; the 12–16 kW units run a large single-phase house. Up to sixteen units parallel, on grid or off.
5 to 20 kW low voltage, 10 to 25 kW high voltage and up
Three-phase hybrids in both flavours: 48 V models from 5 to 20 kW for farms and workshops on a 48 V bank, and high-voltage models from 10 kW upward for bigger sites. One box does three phases — see our three-phase page for what that changes.
Twice rated power for ten seconds
Deye's datasheets rate the low-voltage units at two times rated power for ten seconds off grid. That's the figure that starts bore pumps, compressors and welders — the reason Deye keeps its place in our designs where the neater all-in-ones fall short on motor starts.
IP65, −40 to +60 °C, screen on the front
IP65 rated and specified from −40 to +60 °C (derating above 45 °C), so it lives in a shed or under an eave without a cabinet built around it. A colour touch LCD on the unit means you read the system standing in front of it. Ten-year warranty in Australia, with the first five covering parts and labour.
Our track record with it
“We have never had a Deye inverter failure. It's a really good, economical product — not a poor-quality product — and it's amazing for small systems.”
— Mike Haydon, The Off Grid Shop
The Deye property
A shed with a workshop. A cabin or a weekender. A single-phase home with sensible loads where the owner wants power that works, a screen on the wall that says so, and no monthly relationship with an app. Deye is at its best in low-complexity systems: the fewer moving parts a property asks for, the more of Deye's value you keep. It scales — sixteen in parallel is a lot of inverter — and it will run a big house. It just isn't the platform we reach for when the design turns complex, because that's where the extra hardware to make it behave starts to cost more than a platform built for the complexity in the first place.
It also suits the owner who'd rather the system stayed off the internet. The WiFi dongle plugs in and pulls out. Everything you'd want to know is on the screen. That matters to more people than you'd think — one of them is further down this page.
The transfer switch decides whole-home backup
A grid-connected hybrid inverter keeps the backed-up circuits alive by passing grid power through itself, then taking over when the grid drops. How much it can pass through is the transfer-switch rating, and it's model-specific. Deye's own manuals give 40 amps for the 48 V 3–6 kW single-phase units (35 A on the 24 V 3 kW variant) and 100 amps for the 12–16 kW units; the mid-sized units we've fitted carry a 50-amp switch. If the loads on the backup circuit fit inside that figure, Deye is an ideal product. If you want the whole house backed up — ovens, air conditioning, the pump and the workshop, all at once — the figure is the wall you hit, and the Deye inverter doesn't add its own output on top of the grid pass-through the way some platforms do.
| Whole-home backup | Deye | Victron | Sigenergy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the switch lives | Inside the inverter | Inside the inverter | In the Gateway at the switchboard |
| Pass-through rating | 40 A (3–6 kW) · 50 A (mid-range) · 100 A (12–16 kW) | 100 A on the 10 kVA MultiPlus-II — the last number in the model name | 12 kW Home SP · 22 kW HomePro SP · 30 kW Home TP |
| Inverter adds power on top of the grid | No — pass-through is the cap | Yes — PowerAssist: the 10 kVA MultiPlus-II adds its own inverter output on top of grid or generator pass-through | Yes — Gateway and stack work together |
| Best fit | Loads that sit inside the switch rating | Whole-home backup with big simultaneous loads | Whole-home backup, shed-and-house layouts |
Mike's shorthand: Victron is the king of pass-through. A 10 kVA Victron puts its full inverter output into the house and grabs more from the grid at the same time. Sigenergy's Gateway is good at it too. Deye is honest about its 50 amps, and so are we.
Deye and the existing grid-connected inverter
Deye's generator port has a mode for this — Deye calls it Micro Inv Input — that accepts a grid-tied or micro inverter and controls it by shifting frequency. As the battery climbs toward the set point, the AC-coupled inverter's output is ramped down; at the set point it shuts off. In the systems we've configured that point sits around 90% state of charge, which leads to the catch: an AC-coupled Deye with no DC-coupled solar of its own never fills the bank. Design it with panels wired straight to the Deye's own MPPTs as well, and the last stretch to full comes from them. Victron handles the same moment the other way round — it tends to wind the DC side back and lets the AC-coupled inverter run to a full battery.
One more Deye-specific detail: to show the grid-tied inverter's output on the Deye's screen, Deye's manual calls for a meter installed for that inverter with the Grid Side INV Meter2 setting on — then the hybrid's LCD shows the string inverter's output on its PV icon. We fit the meter. The full AC-coupling story — the shed-first build, the frequency trick and the two data cables — is on our grid-connected inverter off grid page.
Screens, apps and sheds
“Deye is good for low, simple systems where the owner isn't too fussed about monitoring — stick it in a shed, it's got its own screen, and it's IP-rated where the Victron isn't. Sigenergy has no screen at all; you open the app. My Victron screen sits in my office on an HDMI cable.”
— Mike Haydon, The Off Grid Shop
The customer who could tell the dongle was in
A customer came to us wanting a home with as little wireless in it as possible — no WiFi, nothing transmitting. We did the research and Deye came up well: a hybrid that runs entirely from its own screen, with the wireless part being a dongle you can leave in the box. The system went in and sat waiting on a switchboard upgrade from a level-two electrician, and the installer, commissioning the unit, did what installers do: plugged the WiFi dongle in and set it up.
The customer came out with a meter and found it straight away — the inverter was emitting WiFi. We pulled the dongle, the reading went flat, and everyone was happy. Then we did the job properly: a wired Ethernet connection to the inverter, on power over Ethernet, that they unplug when they don't want anything transmitting and plug back in when they'd like us to look at the system remotely. Off grid, remote monitoring saves a lot of driving. Now it's on their terms. That's a Deye story, and it's also a design story: the equipment that suits the customer's wishes, wired so the customer holds the switch.
Deye against the platforms we design with most
| What matters | Deye | Victron | Sigenergy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost position | Economical | Premium | All-in-one, priced as a system |
| Our history with it | No inverter failures to date | Dealer for more than ten years | Neat, simple installs — see our Sigenergy page |
| Screen on the unit | Colour touch LCD | GX Touch, extendable by HDMI | None — app only |
| Runs offline | Yes — dongle is removable | Yes — VRM optional | Designed to be online |
| Outdoor rating | IP65 | MultiPlus-II is an indoor unit (IP22) | IP66 stack |
| Battery choice | Long published compatibility list, CAN | Very wide, 48 V world | Sigenergy modules only |
| Motor-start surge | 2× rated, 10 s (low-voltage units) | Strong — the benchmark | 150%, 10 s |
| Whole-home backup | Within the transfer switch | PowerAssist, 100 A on the 10 kVA | Gateway, 12–30 kW |
| AC-coupled solar to a full battery | Stops at the set point (~90%) | Runs to 100% | Design-dependent |
We design with all three, on merit, for the property in front of us. No warehouse of one brand tells us which. If the loads fit the switch and the owner wants a screen, a shed-proof box and a smaller bill, Deye is often the honest answer.
Is Deye right for your property?
Tell us what runs, what you'd like backed up when the grid drops, and whether there's existing solar to bring across. If the loads sit inside a Deye's transfer switch and the property is the simple kind, the design says so and you keep the savings. If whole-home backup or a complex layout points to Victron or Sigenergy, the design says that instead — with the working shown.
Prefer to talk it through? Call or text 0483 927 257 — Lismore HQ, local voices.
Deye questions, answered
Are Deye inverters reliable?
In our experience, yes. Across the Deye hybrids we've installed we have not had an inverter failure, and Deye backs the units in Australia with a ten-year warranty — the first five years covering parts and labour. It's an economical product, not a poor-quality one.
Is Deye a good inverter for off grid?
For small and simple systems it's excellent: strong surge (twice rated power for ten seconds on the low-voltage units), a built-in touchscreen, IP65 for a shed, and a long battery compatibility list. For complex designs — whole-home backup on a big house, or a shed-and-house split — the extra hardware to get there can cost more than a platform built for it, and we'll say so.
Can a Deye back up my whole house?
If the backed-up loads fit inside its transfer switch — 40 A on the 3–6 kW single-phase units, 50 A on the mid-sized ones we fit, 100 A on the 12–16 kW units — yes. Deye's inverter doesn't add its own output on top of grid pass-through the way Victron's PowerAssist does, so for a large house with big simultaneous loads we usually design around Victron or a Sigenergy Gateway instead.
Can I AC-couple my existing grid-tied inverter to a Deye?
Yes, through the generator port in Deye's Micro Inv Input mode, which controls the grid-tied inverter by frequency. It ramps that inverter down as the battery approaches the set state of charge and shuts it off there — around 90% in the systems we've configured — so pair it with panels on the Deye's own MPPTs to fill the last stretch. A meter installed for the grid-tied inverter is what lets the Deye's screen display its output.
Does a Deye inverter work without WiFi or internet?
Completely. The colour touchscreen is the interface, and the WiFi dongle is a plug-in you can leave out. For owners who want nothing wireless in the house, we wire the inverter over Ethernet with power over Ethernet so they unplug it at will and plug it back in when they'd like remote support.
Which batteries work with Deye?
Deye publishes a long compatibility list of lithium batteries that communicate with its hybrids over CAN, which gives a designer genuine choice on the 48 V side. We match the battery to the property and the inverter, then confirm the pairing against Deye's list before anything is quoted.