Loadshedding solutions

[Theunissa]

3 minutes ago, TheoG said:

I hear you, BUT, there is a lot of things on my house electric system that was done so shoddy by the electrician that I had to correct it myself to proper std.

YES. The first thing the AIA is doing and working on is getting ride of those types of issues. The rest will come. But like Leon the one person said to me the yneed people to report these guys otherwise they can't do nothing. They can't walk up to you and force you to report the person. 

[Theunissa]

Just now, The Ouzo said:

yes technically you should not even be changing a plug as a non sparky. 

YES and me as sparky needs to issue COC for all I'm doing even just changing a plug. But the the industry is such a mess. That it's scary. But things are changing but will take time. 

[The Ouzo]

1 minute ago, Theunissa said:

YES. The first thing the AIA is doing and working on is getting ride of those types of issues. The rest will come. But like Leon the one person said to me the yneed people to report these guys otherwise they can't do nothing. They can't walk up to you and force you to report the person. 

you see this right here, this is one of the reasons why vehicle manufacturers were insisting your vehicle needs to be serviced with them in order to keep the warranty. Far to many backyard type guys "that can fix cars for cheap cheap" . (I say one of the reasons, we all know the other reason is money).

[Theunissa]

13 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

you see this right here, this is one of the reasons why vehicle manufacturers were insisting your vehicle needs to be serviced with them in order to keep the warranty. Far to many backyard type guys "that can fix cars for cheap cheap" . (I say one of the reasons, we all know the other reason is money).

YES. Because people want the cheapest fix they can get. 

[The Ouzo]

Just now, Theunissa said:

YES. Because people want the cheapest fix they can get. 

and then cry when something breaks.

Granted there are people that do a better job than the so called professionals, but without regulation how would you know who these people are.

[dave303e]

12 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

yes technically you should not even be changing a plug as a non sparky. 

Great in theory, but please tell a farmer that. This is the whole thing around right to repair fight in the states. There they talking about 1000$ just to get a harvester to the nearest dealer for repair which makes it impossible to do every time something minor goes wrong. Same goes for most farming operations, call out to just fix our internet was R1100 in transport. I am not paying that just for a plug to be changed or a light to be changed. It is just not feasible. Then you look at a real world situations around timing and demand for the repair and it gets worse.

[The Ouzo]

3 minutes ago, dave303e said:

Great in theory, but please tell a farmer that. This is the whole thing around right to repair fight in the states. There they talking about 1000$ just to get a harvester to the nearest dealer for repair which makes it impossible to do every time something minor goes wrong. Same goes for most farming operations, call out to just fix our internet was R1100 in transport. I am not paying that just for a plug to be changed or a light to be changed. It is just not feasible. Then you look at a real world situations around timing and demand for the repair and it gets worse.

100% , most of these regulations are put in place for the lowest common denominator, thought up by someone sitting behind a desk that has never experience real world scenarios. 

Even as a normal home owner, I'm not calling a sparky to do basic things. It helps that I have an N3 in electricians work so I know a small amount about pulling wire and making sparks, but 90% of what needs to be done around a home can be done by anyone that takes 5 minutes to understand how it works and safety around it.

I would imagine on a working farm down time costs money, even before you call out the "pros" to fix the issue, the sooner you get it repaired and get the operation up and running the less you lose. Now having to wait for a "pro" to get out to you for something minor is just not viable.

[Schnavel]

I am fully supportive of the regulations being enforced, in the majority of cases, they are their for safety reasons. Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a CoC being issued when an installation isn't compliant.

What frustrates me is the amount of red tape that the regulations bring, as well as the different "interpretations" of the regulations. If you speak to one electrician, he will tell you something different from another electrician, although they both quote the same regulation / standard.

I recently installed an inverter system at my old man's place (house purchased in the last 3 months) and had to remove the old inverter which was far too small. How a CoC was issued I don't know. The original inverter only fed certain plugs in the house and garage, but absolutely nothing was labeled, there was no DB split and no warning of a dual feed on site. Imagine you are a contractor coming to site to work and you switch off the entire mains feed and the plug you test is off. Then you move onto the next plug and it's live! I spent more time fixing the mess than I did installing the new inverter!

[ACM]

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

[Frosty]

5 hours ago, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

A good starting point is PowerForum. Budget and your needs will determine what you can afford, and what you want to do.

[Steady Spin]

12 hours ago, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

1: Match it with the peak output of your inverter. Mine is a 5kw inverter and my panels produce 4kw max. 5kw would have been ideal.

2: Sunsynk

3: Avoid Hubble

[dave303e]

23 hours ago, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

We did ours through Hohm Energy, they do a bit of a run through discussion with you, they look at your electricity usage, roof area available etc. They discuss what you have in the house and then they suggest a setup for you. While you are charged for a consulting fee, the low prices for the equipment means it is really not too bad overall and it is fairly hassle free. They also have vetted installers and like with our setup, everything has a 10 year warranty.

[TheoG]

23 hours ago, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

1.  I have a 5kW Inverter and 8 x 455 = 3640W panels.

2.  So far I'm very happy with my Lux-Power, very good value for money.

3.  I have 3 x 3.6kWhr Mecer (Same as Dyness) batteries, excellent quality.  Will add a 4th at a later stage.

This setup work perfectly for me, provided that there is not more than about 3 bad sun days in a row. A 4th battery would help a lot with that.

 

[dave303e]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:27 AM, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

Another thing to really decide is what you actually want to do with your setup. Do you just want something to keep lights on all the time. Do you want to drop your electricity bill. Do you want more...

Also my 2c to your questions above - 

1 - Have a look at the roof you have available and try configure it best. This will guide your decision. If you can get more smaller panels spready out or fewer larger panels. The size of your invertor will also determine how many kw worth of panels you need/want.

2- Deye and snsync seem good. Our Deye is very user friendly and seems to be working really well so far.

[NickGM]

23 hours ago, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

I have 2.2kW of solar panels, 5kVa sunsynk hybrid inverter and 5kW freedom won lithium battery.

1. I went with the bare minimum in terms of solar (just to save money) which was 4 x 550W panels. When I can afford it I will add another 6 panels. But for now this is working well. Our "background" usage (2 computers and 2 monitors, a fridge, some lights and a small pump that circulates water from our solar plate geyser, etc) sits at about 500W. So we typically have another 1.7kW to spare on a sunny day, which is used to charge the battery if needed. If I turn the kettle on (2kW) the inverter will use that excess 1.7kW from solar and make up the shortfall via eskom (if available) or from the battery. Adding another 6 panels will take us up to about 5kW which is the limit of the inverter. But for now in the long sunny days of a WC summer, the 4 panels I got are working far better than I expected and load shedding doesn't really exist anymore apart from me occasionally checking if we have mains power or not, in case I want to use the oven. Being just the 2 of us, having a solar plate to heat water and a gas stovetop has made it easier though. From your point of view though - it really depends on what you want to supply. I have a colleague with 16 x 500W PV pannels because he also supplies his geyser, a pool pump, multiple aircons, etc.

2. As I mentioned, I went with Sunsynk. If I had the money I would have gone with Victron which is the Rolls Royce of inverters, if the price and the opinions on many forums I read was anything to go by. Sunsynk it probably a bit more like the VW Passat of inverters.

3. Freedom Won eTower LiFePo4 5kW 52V. These had a good reputation from the little I'd read and heard. I was initially going to go with Hubble but had heard too many complaints on forums. I don't know how valid they were, but it was enough to put me off.

I'm by no means an expert though and one can always do more research. I've only had this in for a month but so far so good. The lowest I've seen my battery so far is 88%.

I can't recommend an installer as the team I used were only just branching out of the northern suburbs (CT) so I don't think Centurion is on their radar yet.

[Frosty]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:27 AM, ACM said:

This is probably a very debatable question(s), but as a starting point to get more information/knowledge:

1. what is the reasonable/best output one should be looking for in PV panels?

2. What make inverter?

3. What make Li battery?

need to find a credible installer in Centurion and need to get some knowledge…

If you want an Installer, let me know. The team that fixed the problems from the initial installer were excellent; market related pricing too. They’re in Kempton Park and service Centurion.