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Mike

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  1. Like
    Mike got a reaction from ibiza in Hello folks   
    Hi folks,
    after being absent from the forum for a year or two, i thought i would show my face and say Hi....
    i see my inbox has a few mails to read..
     
     
    be well everyone
    mike
  2. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Energy-Jason in Hello folks   
    Hi folks,
    after being absent from the forum for a year or two, i thought i would show my face and say Hi....
    i see my inbox has a few mails to read..
     
     
    be well everyone
    mike
  3. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Tim003 in Solar LED Give away!   
    Aesthetics over efficiency in the Deep South Penisula

  4. Like
    Mike reacted to daniemare in Online Prices vs Installer Prices   
    Exactly what you said. 
    Either bond interest rate if you borrow or investment return if you have the cash. 
    But for ease of calculation, I also do high level assumption that the electricity increase washes the opportunity cost. 

    I guess I was only so surprised that marketing wise, savings and ROI is toted all the time, yet it is not there. 
  5. Like
    Mike got a reaction from ___ in Online Prices vs Installer Prices   
    i openly mark up on my"dealer price"  as a registered  the lies herein, you study, pay your dues, use large distributors, and then suck it up folks.....those fackin distributors sell at the same price to tom dick and harry over the phone....ther is no special price for installers, we or i pay the same as a home user even tho i spend more than r1m to R2m between two distributors......and then i charge for installations. Even worse, most of the "customers" don't even want to pay a deposit and still expect a lower price.....I don't advertise, word of mouth only and here is to year 19.........if you dont offer service with a markup, you not going to be in business tomorrow....
  6. Like
    Mike reacted to Jaco De Jongh in Installer Payment Terms   
    It is the norm. I take 80% Deposit and 20% on completion. 
  7. Like
    Mike got a reaction from PaBz0r in Installer Payment Terms   
    i suppose it depends from company to company. I ask my clients to cover the cost of their material purchase and have it delivered immediately, and book an install date with them, once installed and switched on, balance of payment please.....i feel it protects both parties, and has worked for me for 19 years....
  8. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Jaco De Jongh in Installer Payment Terms   
    i suppose it depends from company to company. I ask my clients to cover the cost of their material purchase and have it delivered immediately, and book an install date with them, once installed and switched on, balance of payment please.....i feel it protects both parties, and has worked for me for 19 years....
  9. Thanks
    Mike got a reaction from Fuenkli in Retrieve Goodwe data using RPI/ Openhab   
    i had to sign an NDA.......in the software you can change from the sens ip addy to a local one to get the data, but you loose the portal then... only direction i can offer
  10. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Youda in Power outages   
    being one of the only ones still on, and me thinks that makes me a target, so have helped a few neighbors out, so there are more of us off grid.....
  11. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Wilfred in A visit from the municipality   
    when i went off grid after returning to grid 14mw a year, i had the surprise of virtually the whole management and legal from the muni connected to my meter box running whatever tests, and i was told i am stealing power.......now i don't even pay an availablity fee, dont buy any prepaid and so on for over a year i have been totally offgrid... i am happy, munu not so much
  12. Haha
    Mike got a reaction from Youda in A visit from the municipality   
    when i went off grid after returning to grid 14mw a year, i had the surprise of virtually the whole management and legal from the muni connected to my meter box running whatever tests, and i was told i am stealing power.......now i don't even pay an availablity fee, dont buy any prepaid and so on for over a year i have been totally offgrid... i am happy, munu not so much
  13. Like
    Mike reacted to KLEVA in Imeon 3.6 Failures   
    @Mike - Have been living in another town for a while so only got to take a closer look at the Imeon today - Imagine my relief when I opened the covers and found that the only reason the fan had stopped was a dead gecko stuck in the fan... Cleared out the petrified remains of a dead gecko and the Imeon purred back into life. Saved me nearly R2k on importing new fans!
    @Wayne Kolevsohn - I had this issue just today after restarting my Imeon... To start with, shut down the Imeon completely (no solar, no battery, no input AC and no output AC). Wait for the Imeon to completely shut down and then give it about a minute after. Then connect all the sources and outputs again and check. If still not charging the batteries then you need to go into the software admin mode - If you don't have the software, and/or the admin access then you will need to chat to us further. From the Admin mode - under Flow Manager, switch the "Function Mode" to "On-grid" (Warning - this might cut output from the invertor). This will reset all the Battery Manager functions internally, and will reset the charging logic (both the "Allow AC to charge Batteries" and the "Charge batteries from grid authorised from...". Seems weird, but the Imeon lost the settings on mine and even putting the correct settings in didn't reset the charging. Once the "On Grid" settings have been loaded (takes about a minute or 2), then set the software back to "Smart-grid" or "Back-up" (whichever you use) and check the rest of the settings are what you want under Flow Manager, Battery Manager and Grid Manager. Hopefully this will resolve the charging issue.
  14. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Energy-Jason in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  15. Like
    Mike got a reaction from SYC in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  16. Like
    Mike got a reaction from dvdwalt in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  17. Like
    Mike got a reaction from PJJ in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  18. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Jaco De Jongh in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  19. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Stanley in Forum Founder - Jason   
    Happy birthday young man,
     
    hope you have an awesome year...
  20. Like
    Mike got a reaction from ___ in Installation in a cupboard   
    if memory serves me, 3000cycles and for a similar priced new 6000cycle battery. i am still on the fence with them, need to test one
  21. Like
    Mike reacted to DDD in 24 x 450W solar tracker   
    I never saw it as any tempers.  No need to apologize. A lot was said that I took and re-looked at the design.
    Those arguments from every one even when I was told I can't proof it suited me 100% it had the desired affect and the pit falls was highlighted from the arguments.
    I understand that all people does not understand electronics and it is my bread and butter.

    I now know and understand the wasted cost in solar design and that made it all worthwhile.  I could not understand why solar is that expensive. Today I can say me and my neighbor has free water from the sea via a small Reverse Osmosis plant on my roof we both have free water.  Now I get paid for electricity instead of paying the  politicians from the COCT.

    All I did is made sure that the input voltage has a huge range for easy words (not technical) a variable Z (impedance) and the rest is dumb electronics. The most important is the CPU as it is a dual core 200Mhz with FPU and multi channel DMA for ADC and DAC which is programmable with trigger points and shared memory.  And then it was easy to create the cheat.
    The 10Kw 3Ph inverter is +/- R 8K.  Do the math's and understand I do not drive a 4 x 4 but an old beat up tjor.  🤪

    If I do put a MPPT in between I loose another +/- 3% efficiency and the cost escalates. Not even a buck converter is worth it. ( I will refrain from the referral to an anchor)

    The rest is a cheat with software and the grid is happy.
    240V 50Hz is very dumb device to emulate.

    Two motors +/-  12 - 24V                           R 1800

    All cut outs from Shcuurman Lazer Cut  R 1300
    Galvanizing                                                  R   160
    Bearings                                                       R   420
    Gear                                                              R 1300

    These prices are for one off's. My next order will be a set of 10 for my installation with two spare units.  That will have the true cost of this device.  The cheapest I could buy was R11K.
    I can not buy sufficient solar panels at these costs for the Wattage. I might decide to get it from India or China as they sponsor our developments due to the devaluation of their currencies and SA simply to expensive.

    I recon soon you will see a few of these mushrooms popping up as it has a national COC. Thus far I am keeping my inverter of the list but when I am a little more ready it will appear on that list of yours.
    The court case of the COCT against me was in my favor now I can complete the job and hopefully start installing on a bigger scale in 2020. 

    Nice to hear from you again.  And don't stop criting my stuff it is 100% worth every negative comment as it leads to improving the design and that is worth more than gold.

    Regards
  22. Like
    Mike got a reaction from TheoG in Goodwe ES 4.6kW Hybrid Inverter   
    i think i was one of the first users of the Goodwe's besides Neil, he was my first client with one, they work well, stable, sometimes have firmware issues i.e SOC, but built pretty well and solid. the duall MPPT is a def plus point and a steal at current prices....but actually the blue is great too...
  23. Thanks
    Mike got a reaction from Gerrie in Battery monitor china BMV 702   
    Fangpusun is a clone maker, he copies all that victron makes - no backup or support on any product
  24. Like
    Mike got a reaction from Energy-Jason in Battery monitor china BMV 702   
    Fangpusun is a clone maker, he copies all that victron makes - no backup or support on any product
  25. Like
    Mike reacted to Mstott in Victron & Solar MD DIY   
    I have finally finished installing my Victron system , started by rewiring my old DB , wired from DB to Multiplus with 4mm .Then installed Solar MD 7.4kwh lithium and commissioned with the help of Kalo Yan from solar MD. With all that running smoothly I moved onto the 350w Art solar panels . I decided to go with 10 panels connected in 5 strings fed into fuses then Noarc 63A. I lazer cut my own roof mount brackets from 4.5mm stainless steel and used unistrut for the beams as I wanted a flush look if possible. I plan on running an ESS setup.
     


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