Loadshedding solutions

[M L]

Anyone on here keen to upgrade and sell me their 5KW hybrid inverter and battery?

[M L]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:38 AM, NickGM said:

I'm looking at going the PV, inverter and Li battery route and am looking for recommendations on installers. I'm based in stellenbosch but would be happy with anyone that is relatively local (CT, Somerset, Boland). These chaps did an installation at a friend's place and he was very happy with it:

https://www.solarandgas.co.za/

But before I spend more than I've ever spent on a bike (hey I'm just trying to keep it topical), I thought I may as well ask around a bit and get some other recommendations. So if you're in a similar neighborhood to me and have someone you can recommend then I'd be keen to hear.

You say they’re legit and did a good job? Got a quote from them and it was around 15% cheaper than 2 other quotes I requested..

[NickGM]

12 minutes ago, M L said:

You say they’re legit and did a good job? Got a quote from them and it was around 15% cheaper than 2 other quotes I requested..

They did an installation at a friend's place and he seems happy with it. It was a battery backup only (no solar). I've not seen the installation and don't know them (the company) in any capacity. I also got a quote from them and found the same thing as you, about 15% cheaper than other offers. I don't know much more than that I'm afraid!

[dave303e]

Few technical questions-

5kw invertor and 14kwh worth of batteries - I need to put up a wall frame for it to be mounted on. Given it is going into the new gym shed. The installer reckons one sheet of plywood is enough. I had bargained for 2. But I am not going to be able to just quickly add extra wall frame and plywood the days he will install. Should I add some extra space for the installation as a fail safe? How much extra?

Long term I also want it out of sight somewhat, can I do a cupboard around it with louvre doors and a vent above? 

Then who has disconnected from eskom directly recently(not from a municipality)? We have heard there are fees to pay. Others have said you just send a cancellation letter and they pull the links and then come collect the transformer when they need it? But no one has a direct answer.

 

[M L]

54 minutes ago, dave303e said:

Few technical questions-

5kw invertor and 14kwh worth of batteries - I need to put up a wall frame for it to be mounted on. Given it is going into the new gym shed. The installer reckons one sheet of plywood is enough. I had bargained for 2. But I am not going to be able to just quickly add extra wall frame and plywood the days he will install. Should I add some extra space for the installation as a fail safe? How much extra?

Long term I also want it out of sight somewhat, can I do a cupboard around it with louvre doors and a vent above? 

Then who has disconnected from eskom directly recently(not from a municipality)? We have heard there are fees to pay. Others have said you just send a cancellation letter and they pull the links and then come collect the transformer when they need it? But no one has a direct answer.

 

Interesting - with that big battery I take it your idea is to disconnect from Eskom if it's not too expensive?

[117]

How far is the intended install away from the DB box? You'd do good to keep it as close as possible - loss of current on long cables to the db box etc

Venting is fine if you place it in a cupboard style closure, just remember to have a bigger exit vent hole than the entry vent hole. 

[dave303e]

11 minutes ago, M L said:

Interesting - with that big battery I take it your idea is to disconnect from Eskom if it's not too expensive?

As direct customers with a 3phase line. Our line rental is around 4k a month before we use any power. So economically it actually is going to work out cheaper paying off the solar. We also have no more 3 phase need here it is just a house and office and personal workshop.

3 minutes ago, 117 said:

How far is the intended install away from the DB box? You'd do good to keep it as close as possible - loss of current on long cables to the db box etc

Venting is fine if you place it in a cupboard style closure, just remember to have a bigger exit vent hole than the entry vent hole. 

The house and garage are surrounded by old trees. We have an old concrete dam that I am converting to a shed. Roof is on, busy finalising a lot to get it to lock up before early next month when they are coming to install. The shed gives a big north facing roof which gets a full day of sunlight at the angle the installer asked for. The field around it is grass and is ours so nothing will impede the light. The installation will go right below the panels in the shed with AC power to the house about 50m away. The drop off is a factor but the volume of light was a bigger factor. 

[117]

Then you'll lose from the shed to the house. 50m is a big haul for the current. I'd put the inverter and flatteries as close to the house DB as possible. Pv panels you can afford to lose the drop off over the distance - its free anyway, well, sort of, you know what I mean, so you can place these on the dam/shed to maximize the sunrays

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by 117

[BigToe]

I'd like the installers name as well.

 

Thanks

[Jensie]

On 11/16/2022 at 7:25 PM, BaGearA said:

Need A good recommendation for A UPS battery pack thing to exclusively power my routers 

 

Max 10k budget 

I am going this route as my UPS is not working as intended. Batteries does not last. 
https://www.takealot.com/ultralan-mini-ups-17w-8-8ah-wifi-fibre-router-including-dc-split/PLID70776331
 

[dave303e]

1 hour ago, BigToe said:

I'd like the installers name as well.

 

Thanks

will try get it, it is one of the approved installers through the bank/hohm energy

[Jehosefat]

1 hour ago, dave303e said:

As direct customers with a 3phase line. Our line rental is around 4k a month before we use any power. So economically it actually is going to work out cheaper paying off the solar. We also have no more 3 phase need here it is just a house and office and personal workshop.

The house and garage are surrounded by old trees. We have an old concrete dam that I am converting to a shed. Roof is on, busy finalising a lot to get it to lock up before early next month when they are coming to install. The shed gives a big north facing roof which gets a full day of sunlight at the angle the installer asked for. The field around it is grass and is ours so nothing will impede the light. The installation will go right below the panels in the shed with AC power to the house about 50m away. The drop off is a factor but the volume of light was a bigger factor. 

I'd get the solar and run it for a few months before cutting out Eskom completely just to make sure your installation is big enough. I've got an 8KVA inverter 19KWh of batteries and 7.3KWp of solar panels and I still need to use Eskom power on rainy days (or if I need to run the pool pump overnight). We generally only use 800 - 900KWh per month. 

[TheoG]

7 minutes ago, Jehosefat said:

I'd get the solar and run it for a few months before cutting out Eskom completely just to make sure your installation is big enough. I've got an 8KVA inverter 19KWh of batteries and 7.3KWp of solar panels and I still need to use Eskom power on rainy days (or if I need to run the pool pump overnight). We generally only use 800 - 900KWh per month. 

I found the exact same.  I'm close to reverse "load-shed" Escom 🤪😂, BUT, when a few rainy/cloudy days in a row strike, I'm buggered.

To have enough reserve to account for ALL "bad sun days" would be a massive and expensive exercise.

For now I'm happy to cover more than 95% of my needs.

[dave303e]

5 minutes ago, Jehosefat said:

I'd get the solar and run it for a few months before cutting out Eskom completely just to make sure your installation is big enough. I've got an 8KVA inverter 19KWh of batteries and 7.3KWp of solar panels and I still need to use Eskom power on rainy days (or if I need to run the pool pump overnight). We generally only use 800 - 900KWh per month. 

We have a backup power source to charge battery for rainy days so it is covered.

[BlinkFan]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:44 AM, Schnavel said:

Yup, I have both a Synapse and Pylontech batteries. I have been running my system for 1.5 years now with no issues.

Synapse is just a rebranded version of the Axpert inverters - they are not a fully hybrid system, but are roughly half the price of the Sunsync / Deye units. Pylontech are a well established brand in the solar industry and supply a large number of batteries. If you do go this route, make sure you have some proper monitoring software available, as the standard Axpert monitoring isn't the greatest. I'm using ICC which allows for the proper monitoring and it even gives a beautiful dashboard layout.

When I started doing research I couldn't figure out why the Sunsynk and Deye were double the price, and I was seriously considering just going with the "cheaper" solution. BUT after a lot of reading and research to just understand what all the mumbo jumbo in the specs mean I did end up going with Deye (Sunsynk is the exact same hardware, just different UI and better local support).

• 5 year warranty vs 1/2 years for Axpert (and its derivatives)
• AC passthrough feature - my 8kW inverter has 10kW AC passthrough (the 5kW interver has 8kW passthrough), meaning that when there is grid power I can basically do whatever I want. without risk of tripping. The house has a 60A breaker, so the max I can draw anyway from Eskom is 13kW and you really need to switch on everything in your house to get close to 10kW (in my house anyway)
• True hybrid inverter with excellent PV/Batt/Grid blending. Mine is set up to use PV during the day to power the load, and excess is used to charge the battery. If PV isn't enough for the current load then the battery will supplement (if above x % state of charge). IF PV and battery isn't enough, then grid will supplement further. This means that during the day I use basically use no Eskom power (battery is typically fully charged by 12:00).
• Grid feedback. So right now I can't feed back to the grid (meter doesn't allow it), but the inverter can measure the power draw of the non-essential stuff on my DB and then push back just enough to supplement Eskom power for those loads. For e.g. my pool pump is on my non-essential side, and 13:00 when the pump goes on the sun is typically good and PV power my pool pump fully even though it's not connected on my inverter. My Geyser is also set up to run for an hour or two during the day using the feature. The geyser always draws more than PV can supply, but then my battery (which is now fully charged) supplements the PV. And then there is mostly still enough time to charge the battery back to 100% before 17:00.

If the finances allow I would advise people to go with a true hybrid. I was lucky that my work helped finance loadshedding solutions, otherwise I would have gone with Axpert.

[M L]

1 hour ago, Jensie said:

I am going this route as my UPS is not working as intended. Batteries does not last. 
https://www.takealot.com/ultralan-mini-ups-17w-8-8ah-wifi-fibre-router-including-dc-split/PLID70776331
 

I'm selling my 720W mecer inverter and lithium iron battery if you want to power more than just the router. We powered lamps, laptops and screens, router and TV from it with zero issues.