Featured Content

I'm ready to press go on my install (very excited). Would love some thoughts on the chosen setup, and if you have any recommendations for installers in Cape Town Northern suburbs, please DM me.

Here's what I'm looking to set up:
2 x Solis 6kW Inverters (S6-EH1P6K-L-PRO)
32 x Jinko Tiger 560W (JKM560M-72HL4)
Axe Struct Mounting system (Railed Roof Top)
SolarMD SS 4143 14,3kWh
 

Mock up of the roof attached. Mostly East / West, I've added summer / winter sunrise, midday, sunset lines to show morning and afternoon sun. I can't mount on the north facing roof (geometry won't allow).

My thinking is to have 4 strings of 8 panels per string, with the strings of each MPPT split East and West. So MPPT1 String 1 East and MPPT 1 String 2 West.

Was looking at 5kW Sunsynk inverters initially because the software is apparently pretty good, but the panels I'm looking at are 13.6A (over the Sunsynk rating of 13A), and the Solis 6kW at the same price looks like it makes sense with the additional headroom. Unless I'm missing something.

The equipment above comes to R185K excluding shipping. I'd still need fuses, wire, connectors, DB board, breakers, conduit etc etc... and of course the installation.

Does this look about right for a setup?


 

I have a holiday cottage where I'd like to add some load shedding backup power. I want to wire it directly to some circuits on the DB, and only need it to power some lights, a router and a TV for about 4 hours (maybe boil a kettle if possible).

It would be a huge bonus if the system was quiet as the DB is in one of the small bedrooms. Having fans whirring away while guests are trying to sleep isn't going to be cool 🤣

What's the most affordable, long term solution here? Any specific products come to mind?

Hello Everyone I am very pleased to inform you of our flash sale on Magneto Energy lithium batteries Longi Solar panels and Greenrich inverters.  Contact [email protected] via email or whatsapp and cell call on 067 189 7084 Wall mount EVO100 - 5kWh - R18 786 VAT INCLUDED EVO200 - 10kWh - R37 571 VAT INCLUDED EVO280 - 14kWh - R52 877 VAT INCLUDED IMS305 - 7.6kWh - R27 830 VAT INCLUDED Rackmount IMS306 - 9.6kWh - R35 345 VAT INCLUDED Longi 430 Watt (11 amp) Solar panel prices R2.56/wp ex VAT - 5 pallets an up R1 265,92 VAT INCLUDED Per Panel R2.68/wp ex VAT EXW - Minimum order is a pallet (36) R1 325,26 VAT INCLUDED Per Panel R2.86/wp ex VAT EXW - loose R1 414,27 VAT INCLUDED Per Panel These Prices are Retail Prices Installers please contact us for Installer Prices  We are also offering the Greenrich (SOLIS ADVANCED) Inverters and if you Purchase them with the Magneto Battery Range you get an extended 10 Year warranty on the inverter. Prices on the Greenrich (SOLIS ADVANCED) Inverters  Greenrich Inverter powered by Solis Hybrid 5KW, 10 Years Warranty - R17 773,25 VAT INCLUDED  Greenrich Inverter powered by Solis Hybrid 6KW, 10 Years Warranty - R19 797,25 VAT INCLUDED Greenrich Inverter powered by Solis Hybrid 8KW, 10 Years Warranty - R29 790,75 VAT INCLUDED We also have a Portable Power Product By Magneto Energy available - R34 618 VAT INCLUDED Magneto Renewable Energy 3kW PPS.pdf

Hey everyone, here’s a quick explanation of how Powerforum and Powerforum Store can assist you with all your renewable energy projects.  What we offer: Our company has established strong agreements with all the top solar equipment companies in South Africa. Additionally, we have strong partnerships with leading inverter and battery manufacturers both in South Africa and internationally. This enables us to offer you competitive prices on any equipment you may need. Our online store only reflects a fraction of the products we can supply you with. We have an advantage over many other companies when it comes to specifying products for your unique Renewable Energy requirements.  The team: Our team bring years of expertise to the Renewable Energy industry, engaging in various projects nationwide. We have access to a large group of highly experienced engineers in the field of the renewable energy thus allowing us to provide you with the best possible advice when deciding on products to go for. We understand that Renewable Energy is an investment in your future peace of mind and quality of life. We work closely with trusted and accredited installers across the country, and we will guide you through the entire process to ensure that the project is completed to the highest standards.  After sales service: It is important to understand that all renewable energy products come with either a 5- or 10-year carry-in warranty. This means that the consumer is responsible for the cost of removal, transport, and reinstallation of the product if it fails under the warranty conditions. It is not the responsibility of the supplier, manufacturer, or installer to cover these costs. This is an agreement that you, as the consumer, agree to when purchasing these products. Nevertheless, we strive to make this process as easy and fast possible. Many of the quality products we offer support remote monitoring, configuration, and fault diagnostics, which allows us to determine if a product needs to be returned for warranty repair. In most cases, the issue can be resolved remotely, such as by changing a setting or updating firmware, at no cost to you. Only in severe cases will the hardware need to be returned for repair or replacement.   Our pride: We take pride in our commitment to provide excellent service and support to our clients. Many of our members can attest to the fact that we are always available and willing to help when experiencing problems or when advice is needed. We have many happy clients who continue to rely on us for their renewable energy needs. By choosing to partner with us, you not only receive quality products and excellent service, but you also support our efforts to maintain a trustworthy and reliable platform for all. With over 27 000 members on our forum, we remain committed to honesty and transparency. Additionally, your support helps us keep the forum free from commercial advertising, cookies, and clickbait, providing a better experience for all members.

Hey All

We have another Awesome Powerforum Store Review and Lucky Draw Giveaway of a very nice Lithium Battery and some other soon to be disclosed goodies on its way....

Thank you to the Team at Magneto Energy for providing us with equipment to test and review and the best part to let us give it away to one of the lucky members on our forum.

Terms for you to be eligible 

Must be a Power Forum Member. Yes even NEWB's Can win the product in the lucky draw.


Must be willing to give feedback on a thread you create on your experience with the product.


Allow the Manufacturer to communicate with you to get realworld information on how their product performs and some technical feedback for future improvements.


If you win the product it must be installed by a qualified technician NO DIY Installs Please we need to support the professionals in the market.


Provide us with nice photos of your Installation on the thread you created. 


Cost of delivery or collection of the prize is for the winner.




We will Post more details on the giveaway in the next couple of days. 

Thanks for your Continued Support. 

Powerforum Store

Hey Guys  We have another Awesome Powerforum Store Review and Lucky Draw Giveaway of a very nice Lithium Battery and some other soon to be disclosed goodies on its way.... Thank you to the Team at Magneto Energy for providing us with equipment to test and review and the best part to let us give it away to one of the lucky members on our forum. Terms for you to be eligible  Must be a Power Forum Member. Yes even NEWB's Can win the product in the lucky draw. Must be willing to give feedback on a thread you create on your experience with the product. Allow the Manufacturer to communicate with you to get realworld information on how their product performs and some technical feedback for future improvements. If you win the product it must be installed by a qualified technician NO DIY Installs Please we need to support the professionals in the market. Provide us with nice photos of your Installation on the thread you created.  Cost of delivery or collection of the prize is for the winner. We will Post more details on the giveaway in the next couple of days.  Thanks for your Continued Support.  Powerforum Store UPDATED LINK TO GIVEAWAY   Hey All here is the link to the Lucky Draw Giveaway Follow the Link to enter https://app.viralsweep.com/sweeps/full/ab6695-152749?framed=1  Terms and conditions are in the document.  May the Luckiest Person Win!  Magneto_Email_EnterandWin.pdf

Vital to being able to keep within the inverter output limits (and avoid importing expensive grid power unnecessarily) is having the means to display the relevant information in an immediate and accessible way. That's what I told my wife, anyway.  Really, I'd just scored a bunch of old RC servos on ebay for £5 and I wanted to play with them. 😉   In context:   It uses 6 servos, a Wemos d1 mini clone and a tri-colour LED.  Dial faces are 3D printed, with a filament change from white to black (which turned out much better than I imagined, TBH). The servos only had around 90° of sweep angle, so I 3D printed some little holder/gearbox things to get over 180° and provide a shaft for the needle to go on, plus some 'steampunk' needles.   All run buy the obligatory D1 mini and held together using the very latest in 'twist and tape' technology.   Yee-haw! 🤠 It gets fed the data from 'node-red' running on a Victron CerboGX via UDP packets over WiFi, updating as often as the data changes (approx 3 second intervals).  The LED changes colour according to state, so 'All OK' is green, 'You're getting very close to/exceeding the inverter output limit, so if you don't want to pay for grid, don't turn anything else on' is red, then blue for 'dumping power into the hot water tank'. It's by no means silent in operation.  I originally made a single-servo version for just PV generation and coded it so that the meter movements were gradual (a kind of PID to get from one value to the next), but apparently it 'sounded like we have cockroaches' when it made it's ticky-scratchy transitions between values, so the big version just jumps between values with a 'zzziiiiiup!' sound. It's actually quite reassuring to have an audible indication when the sun comes out for 5 seconds, or it starts charging at night. I'd also put a little radar sensor in there, with the aim of having it detect when there was nobody around, so it could stop displaying to save power/noise.  Unfortunately, that meant that every time you entered the room, all 6 needles would suddenly move at the same time, making you jump out of your skin and spill your horlicks, so we just leave it 'on' all the time now. There's also a basic web UI, so you can see the same data on your phone or whatever, plus it's useful for troubleshooting:   I had fun and learned loads making it - and now it's become a family game to try to cook dinner without making the red light come on. 🙂   Libraries used are 'ESPUI' and 'servo', plus 'arduinoOTA'.  Code, FreeCad file for the gearbox & stl file for the arrow-head needle are all in the attached zip. Power_meters_v2..zip

Vital to being able to keep within the inverter output limits (and avoid importing expensive grid power unnecessarily) is having the means to display the relevant information in an immediate and accessible way.

That's what I told my wife, anyway.  Really, I'd just scored a bunch of old RC servos on ebay for £5 and I wanted to play with them. 😉


 

In context:


 

It uses 6 servos, a Wemos d1 mini clone and a tri-colour LED.  Dial faces are 3D printed, with a filament change from white to black (which turned out much better than I imagined, TBH).

The servos only had around 90° of sweep angle, so I 3D printed some little holder/gearbox things to get over 180° and provide a shaft for the needle to go on, plus some 'steampunk' needles.



 

All run buy the obligatory D1 mini and held together using the very latest in 'twist and tape' technology.


 

Yee-haw! 🤠

It gets fed the data from 'node-red' running on a Victron CerboGX via UDP packets over WiFi, updating as often as the data changes (approx 3 second intervals).  The LED changes colour according to state, so 'All OK' is green, 'You're getting very close to/exceeding the inverter output limit, so if you don't want to pay for grid, don't turn anything else on' is red, then blue for 'dumping power into the hot water tank'.

It's by no means silent in operation.  I originally made a single-servo version for just PV generation and coded it so that the meter movements were gradual (a kind of PID to get from one value to the next), but apparently it 'sounded like we have cockroaches' when it made it's ticky-scratchy transitions between values, so the big version just jumps between values with a 'zzziiiiiup!' sound.

It's actually quite reassuring to have an audible indication when the sun comes out for 5 seconds, or it starts charging at night.

I'd also put a little radar sensor in there, with the aim of having it detect when there was nobody around, so it could stop displaying to save power/noise.  Unfortunately, that meant that every time you entered the room, all 6 needles would suddenly move at the same time, making you jump out of your skin and spill your horlicks, so we just leave it 'on' all the time now.

There's also a basic web UI, so you can see the same data on your phone or whatever, plus it's useful for troubleshooting:


 

I had fun and learned loads making it - and now it's become a family game to try to cook dinner without making the red light come on. 🙂

 

Libraries used are 'ESPUI' and 'servo', plus 'arduinoOTA'.  Code, FreeCad file for the gearbox & stl file for the arrow-head needle are all in the attached zip.

Power_meters_v2..zip

Hi,

I'd like to introduce myself, and my small setup. 

I'm Bianco, a Dutch male, and my wife and I moved to Spain 2 years ago, where we live on a small piece of rural land, in Aragon. We are completely off-grid. 
Therefore I Hired a friend two years ago to install a solar system. he and a friend installed a Voltronic Expert 24V 3Kw, with 6 320 Wp Solarpanels, and 2 Ultracell 316 Ah Gel Batteries, and I paid good money for it.  After 1 year and a bit, every thing shut down at 2 in the morning, whilst the day before was a clear and sunny day. In the months after that, it started happening more and more. Well long story short, The Batteries were fried. After contacting the "friend" He basically told me he could do nothing: A bit like: Shit happens. 

After studying I chose to do it myself. The panels were fine, so they are still there. I bought a new Inverter, another Voltronic Axpert, 5Kw, on 48 Volts And two Pylontechs US3000C

All connected, everything works fine. in the (hopefully near) future we'd like to add another Pylontech to the bank. Its enough for us. We have a TV, and we mostly watch during the day (if we do), and no dishwasher, washing machine or other heavy stuff, besides a Nespresso, but that is also only used during the day. The only thing that is a big consumer is the waterpump, but on a timer, controlled by Domoticz. During non-solar hours, it is off. 

So I have a raspberry in the bedroom, wich is equipped with Domoticz, wich controls most of the lights, and a few other stuff. In the Batteryroom, there is another raspberry, wing contains Solarassistant, and monitors the Pylontechs via the Inverter.

I'm still looking for a way to connect the Pylontechs Directly to the raspberry, I read something about the console port, but can seem to find if you can connect it at the same time as the port to the Inverter.

So, Newbie in Solar, but I like learning about it, and helping. 

If anybody knows something about connecting it to a raspberry, (or maybe my way of thinking is wrong) much obliged.

Greetings from a cold (+2), but Sunny Spain.

 

When I google this or ask installers, I'm getting mixed answers.

Some suggest that a hybrid inverter will get any extra load it needs, from the grid, if its overloaded.
Some suggest that even a hybrid inverter will fault/cut off if overloaded.
When I say overloaded, meaning if its a 5kw inverter and my load exceeds that.

Or is the truth somewhere in-between, certain makes/,models of inverters can and some can't?

Thanks for your time.

2013 Nissan Leaf for sale.

Excellent condition. 

New tires.

Odometer: 55 171 KM

Range: 60 KM

Charger: 3 Kwatt

Location: Cape Town

Efficiency: 7.5 KM / Kwh

 

Hi,

I have good friend who has a solid concrete roof on which he wants to install 4 x rows of 6 x 550w solar panels using A-Frames.

The main point here is that he does not want to drill into the roof and would prefer to use Concrete ballasts to hold the A-frames down.

Can anybody advise how much ballast (weight) he would need to use per A-Frame to hold the panels in place (not to blow away in the wind).

He stays in Cape Town where the wind is gusty and can be relatively stong, especially when the South Easter blows.

Below is a picture of the A-Frames he wants to use (note: this is not a picture of his installation....just a picture of the A-Frames)

The A-Frames will be placed 1.2m apart - can anyone advise how much weight is recommended per A-Frame?

So I will be picking up my cells on Wednesday, I also purchased their Apex BMS, which is just a rebranded seplos. 

I was initially going to buy a steel case and modify it from there, but has since decided to get a 3D printer, draw up some modular designs, and this will now be my project. From the mockups it is going to look good. 

Will post my build log here.

Hi All

Hope you are well. I had a question. How do you know if we are saving once solar is installed. I am not seeing changes on my electricity bill. My geyser is still on eskon but I have installed a timer to control when my geyser is switched on and switched off.
I have a 5kva inverter and 4.8kva battery. I run the house on solar during the day (switching back to eskom when using high wattage appliances like an iron or running multiple appliances at once when need to).

 

Kind regards

Deepa

Hey Guys so its that time of the year again and we have a whole Host of Giveaways lined up some to watch out for would be the New Solis S6 6KW Advanced Hybrid (Beast) we are busy with a long term review in real world conditions with the Solis S6 the Unit we are giving away has already gone through a preliminary review but we may give more of this brand away in the future. 

Magneto has given us some wonderful product to review and give away MAGNETO Lithium-LiFePo4 Rack Mount 48V 5.1 KWh also note the great prices on those units  and a  Magneto Thermo Tank also promise of more nice items to give away in the future. 

Then we Have the Revo Inverter and battery Combo (not listed on our online store yet but soon) there will be some terms and conditions on this giveaway however an exciting product squarely aimed at Sunsynk and Deye.

We are also receiving a very nice Battery from Halo Energy to give away the 113AH HALO Eclipse WM-5 48V 1C however this will only be in about 5 Weeks time but still a very nice compact battery.  

VTC is giving us one of their VTC Vxl5100W 5.1kWh LifePo4 battery 51V/100Ah Wall Mount (not listed on our online store yet but soon) to review and test this is also a very nice wall mount battery with Bluetooth and WIFI features decent cycle count compatibility and scalability and we will give this away to a lucky forum member. 

Some say yes some say no ????  My setup are  the following as per drawing.

Now if I bond the neutral and the earth from the inverter and work hat to be done on the electrical box outside (eskom) then the earth back to the box will have a earth that can carry current due to the bonding---My inverter do not do the bonding as I tested the system---On eskom power the e/n there is no voltage but on inverter there is 84volt between e/n.

Anyone please explain if I can bond earth/neutral at the inverter out and also the feedback from the bond to the electrical box outside

Hello everyone! <br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
<br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
I am looking for participants for my Masters dissertation survey and ALL of you who are in this forum are exactly the right people! It's about people who are interested in renewable energies. I am interested in anyone who uses the available technologies - or maybe has even had an idea how to improve the set-up or played around a bit with it. As long as you care just a tiny bit about renewable energies, you are perfect for my survey! <br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
If you have already read this far, please take part  

https://forms.office.com/e/9Q0z7r21W8

<br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
The survey is of course anonymous and the results will only be used in the context of my master thesis. You only need 5-10 minutes of your time. You get loads of good karma for taking part and the additional good feeling of knowing that you helped out a student.  <br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
<br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
Sunny greetings<br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
Freya <br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
<br style="color:#141414;font-size:15px;">
PS: this post is authorised and I am extremely grateful for being allowed to post my survey here and I hope lots of you will take the chance and take part!

Hello everyone!  I am a Masters student at the Nordakademie University in Germany and I am looking for participants for my dissertation survey and ALL of you who are in this forum are exactly the right people! It's about people who are interested in renewable energies. I am interested in anyone who uses the available technologies - or maybe has even had an idea how to improve the set-up or played around a bit with it. As long as you care just a tiny bit about renewable energies, you are perfect for my survey!  If you have already read this far, please take part   https://forms.office.com/e/9Q0z7r21W8 The survey is of course anonymous and the results will only be used in the context of my master thesis. You only need 5-10 minutes of your time. You get loads of good karma for taking part and the additional good feeling of knowing that you helped out a student.   Sunny greetings from Hamburg, Germany Freya  PS: this post is authorised and I am extremely grateful for being allowed to post my survey here and I hope lots of you will take the chance and take part!

I made a video for you 🙂

 

 

Hello Everyone!

Goodoldgaz here.

Im not exactly new to inverters and solar and renewables

I am electrician by trade and just dig the idea of sustainability and more specfically

"self sustainability" .

i am however new to forums and finding it kinda challanging navigating around 

not even sure that this is where introductions are made but Hello

 

 

 

Hi Guys, newbie question for my string arrangement that will feed my Sunsynk 8kw

Due to my roof configuration and space,  I need to get crafty with my string arrangement. Can I install 2 strings of 6 x 550w panels each on one mppt and 2 strings of 3 x 550w panels on the other mppt?

Note that string 1 will face east and string 2 will face west, the same with string 3 and 4. Excuse my drawing below


Thank you in advance

 

Hi All,

I have taken the plunge and installed solar:

1 x 8kw Sunsynk inverter

2x 5kwh Sunsynk batteries

12 x 545w JAS PV panels

The work mode I would like to configure is for the system to provide solar power to the essentials first then if there is spare capacity charge the batteries, then send left over power to the non-essentials.

I have ticked "Zero Export" and "Prioritise load"  on the inverter and in the sunsynk app the " Limit to Home" option is selected. See attached pictures.

But according to the Power Flow diagram some power is from solar (3Watt) , (43Watt) is produced from the batteries , 790Watt is send to the Grid and nothing is supplied to the Load.

This does not make sense? The installer confirmed that the CT coil is installed in the correct place and the correct way around.

Any Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

So for the last 9 years or so I've had a simple 12v lighting system in the house with a 120ah battery running off a 12v 120watt panel in turn running 34 led lights. I've had zero failures of any of the equipment and the battery that I had lasted me a good 7 years. Success. The new install had to actually work around the small panel as I refused to move it or change anything attached to that system.

I decided to up it a bit, but knew that I was in over my head. So Alumo did the install yesterday. 

12 x 470w panels, 8KW Sunsynk and 2x 5.5KV greenrich batteries. I'd added Cbi wifi timers on my geysers and have 1 geyser on the system (smaller one) and one on the grid. 


I've been in a mad rush to finish painting the area where the panels were going to go as the roof hadn't seen any paint in the last 9 years. The final plan is to add more panels towards the back of the property as we have space for a good 10-12 more. 


The set up has been installed in our laundry and I couldn't wish for a better layout. It sits right next to my existing system and that system got a few smiles from the installer who said....meh, it works and it works well. 🙂