General Discussion

Gents, This could be fake news, but if it is true, very scary indeed. China has installed kill switches in solar panels sold to the West

Good day esteemed ladies and gentleman, I am currently the proud and happy owner of a Luxpower SNA 5000 MPV inverter. It has brought me over a year of good service but Oh my word this thing is noisy. Due to security problems I cannot install it anywhere else in my house and my garage gets way to hot. Please help me to choose a silent (heatsink only) type inverter. I cannot feedback into the grid as I am still waiting for the municipality to come install a prepaid meter. This means hybrids are also out due to some of them messing with the meter. I stay in the Free State (only just) and receive Eskom from the municipality and not direct. Generator input is important …

Hey. Whenever I come across a website selling a unit that I'm interested in for way less than the competition, I want to do some due diligence and check them out first before buying. Has anyone heard of sun4safe.com? Apparently in PE, but there's no street number on their address and I can't find them on google street view. Also no telephone number listed and I can't get the owner of the domain as that info is listed. So I wondered if anyone here in PE had heard of them? Their Volta Stage 4 batteries are well below the next lowest priced supplier that I know of that is legit (UtilityPal), so I am curious what the deal is. I'll reach out in the week and sus it out, but if…

I've noticed this week that the grid frequency has been fluctuating between 49.6 and 50.26 Hz. Has anyone else observed the same in the Pretoria area? This is just a short period of today.

Axpert SOL-I-AX-5M, inverter, is not connecting solar inpout to inverter. I can hear the relay switch clicking in and then dropping out immediately. Is there someone in the Paarl, greater Cape Town area who still does repairs? Fishing rod needed here. I'm aware it is now a discontinued product. However, it should a simpole repair for the person who knows how. Thanks Andy

Hi, I wanted to ask what is everyone's' base load at night. So basically after the panels stop producing power what is the almost constant load you have running? The reason I ask is I have a 14.3Kw DIY battery and my base loads can be over 700w, this does not include the granny flat and garages, if I take that into account it is just above 1kw. I read some people only have say 1 or maybe 2 5kw batteries and they still have around 40% the next morning. I am in IT so do probably have a bit extra running then say most people but was just interested in others base loads. I am looking to add another 14.3Kw DIY battery busy building it at the moment in my spare time.

This article refers to LMR, Lithium Manganese-rich cells for higher energy density...

Hello all, thanks for accepting me to the forum. I have the Proline MAX II 11KW inverter (same as the Axpert MAX II 11KW inverter) with 4 x Proline PROLIO4810 Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries and 10 x Trina 665KW solar panels, the system has just recently been installed at my home and is up and running. My question is as follows: The manual for the MAX II in the section "battery type" has the following options: AGM User-Defined Pylon Tech WECO Soltaro LIB-protocol compatible battery (for Lithium batteries compatible to the LIB protocol) 3rd Party Lithium Battery In all cases except the "User Defined" option they mention that the settings for (Maximum charging current, Bul…

Unfortunately, my experience with Sun Link Energy (formerly known as SunWiWa) compels me to share this warning. Key Issues: Lack of After-Sales Support: The company fails to honour its after-sales service commitments. Improper Warranty Handling: Attempts to resolve a warranty issue were met with unjustified charges for services that should have been covered under the product warranty. Delayed Communication: It took over six months to receive a response from Martin Hartmann regarding a faulty Pylontech US3000C battery. Unjustified Fees: I was informed by Esme Hartmann (via email) that there would be charges of R1600 (excl. VAT) each for the collection and return of the …

Hi everyone, I’m facing an issue with my Axpert VM III Twin 6KVA inverter. It suddenly started limiting the battery charge current to exactly 20A (1000W), regardless of PV or utility input. Here’s the situation: No fault codes or alarms are displayed. BMS (Felicity LPBA48200 LiFePO4) is working fine, with charge limit set to 100%. Inverter settings: Program 02 (max charge) = 100A Program 05 = LIC (Lithium) Program 16 = Solar + Utility Inverter temp = ~60°C, which is normal in summer. I’ve tried: Cooling the inverter after the derating → no effect. Disconnecting BMS communication (set battery type to USE) → no change. Load is moderate, PV voltage and SOC are normal. …

I had a brainwave. I need your opinion. I have 18 x 550watt solar panels installed on my roof. 9 north and 9 west. My 8kw Sunsynk only have 2 mppt's. So I cannot add a third string on the east side of my house. But what if I install 6 x 620 watt panels on the east side, connect it to some sort of device that only allows one side to be used at a time. So let's say from 06H00 to 10H00 the device or switch cuts off the west side completely and only draw from the east side and then after 10h00 isolate the east side completely and only draws from the west side until 17H00. The device must switch over automatically with say a 1 minute delay before the west start giving electric…

Hi everyone I have a 8kw Sunsynk and we are starting to reach our limit as far as the load is concerned and I would like to increase my panels... So my conundrum is which option to go for and though perhaps some experiences from others would help guide me. Option 1: Add a second 8kw Sunsynk and more panels Option 2: Remove the 8kw and replace with 16kw Deye and more panels Option 3: Replace 8kw with a Deye 20kw 3 Phase and more panels Right now my system is run on single phase and we have 3 phase... So I am looking at longer term, not just the cost right now... Cheers

MoneywebEskom’s new tariff plan to send shockwaves through solar...‘There’s no reason a tariff should reflect the fixed and variable components of the business; I think it's a fallacious argument and it's introduced to try and protect themselves from competition’...

Anyone know if it’s possible to download the history data from watchpower mobile app to excel

Plan to make solar panels and ba...Plan to make solar panels and batteries more expensive in...The International Trade Administration wants to review the import duties applied to solar and battery energy storage materials and products. Trying to protect a non existent Lithium cell manufacturing industry?

I've decide to pull the plug - literally but also figuratively. Based on my quick google search the easiest would be an email #DCE submitting a disconnection request. I've send an email this morning but need some advice / guidance from someone that went through this recently.

Hi I have 8 X 550w canadian solar panels, a 5KVA growatt intverter and 2 X 5kwh GFE batteries. Stove is Gas and 1 Geyser is Solar with a Geyserwize installation. I was on post paid and being billed the surcharge and Network fee. My bill showed approximately 300KW a month. I switched to PREPAID and I now need to buy approximately 900units/kw for the month. Do they set the meters to run faster in certain area's , I am in Norwood, Johannesburg. The postpaid meter has been in place for 20years plus so it was probably running 1kw when 1 kw is used. The new prepaid meter is a Wasion and I am now needing to buy 3 X more electricity. Is it possible that COJ/City Power have set it…

Hi all, I have a 5kW inverter and 2x 5,7kWh batteries. It coveres most of my usage but obviously run short in winter when weather is bad. Situated in Cape Town. I have contacted 2 companies. The one I paid R750 upfront for a site visit etc. The other waiting for them to organise a site visit. Its 2 weeks later and still have not got back to me so I would like more recommendations. What I want to do is split my load. Use my current inverter and batteries for some stuff and get a new higher kW inverter so that I can add my geyser and oven as well. So I really want a company that is very experienced especially since I am a female so don't want to be taken for a ride which n…

Hi guys, those of us that have invested in a solar system and are located near Cape Town, we are will get a shock when we see the new rates that are designed to punish us. The less electricity you buy, the higher the increase will be. Go the the https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/rtcalc/ and see how the new rates will affect you. The less electricity you buy, the higher the increase will be. mine will be 20,84% higher for the same services, I find these proposed increases to be criminal. They are mafia style extortion fees. We have until tomorrow, 2 May to object, send your email to [email protected]

A grid-tied inverter with storage is connected to a low voltage switchboard with stabilized mains supply and diesel generator power sources as shown below. Which is the most appropriate location for installing CTs for an external Chint DTSU666 smart meter for zero export management? (A) Between the change-over contactor and busbars (B) Before the automatic servo voltage stabilizer (C) Between the voltage stabilizer and utility meter I'm inclined towards position (A) with the only drawback being that the DG set could run on < 30% load during grid loss events.

Our house doesn't use much elec. At least i think lol We have gas stoves and gas geyset. In summer running two small airbnb units we use about 250-300units a month (believe thats 300kw?). Problem 1: We use quite a bit of gas to hear up our water in the winter when it drops to about 5-8c outside in the mornings. The pipes are exposed outside so water is pretty damn cold. Pipe insulation seems costly at R100 per meter and we would need at least 50m. To help reduce our gas bill was thinking of installation of an ITS FP 2.0m² Vertical Flat Plate Solar Collector or black hdpe piping to preheat the water a bit? For the house we are looking at a 6kw Lux power with a 5kw dyness b…

In Spain & Portugal. Massive power outage. Airports closed down, railway, metro. Credit cards are useless because card readers don't work. Traffic lights out so traffic is backing up across big cities. Shops losing stock. People stuck in apartment blocks because the elevators don't work. And no power means the pumps in the water distribution network aren't pumping so there are widespread water shortages. So now we get to see what a national outage looks like and what it will cost. Those poor people. Worst case scenarios coming out of Portugal are that it will take 7 days for full restoration.

With Tshwane rolling out prepaid is there anyone that perhaps have the various measurements codes for this meter. Conlog WCIU. Nothing in the box. Cannot find any when I Google.

Hi guys I have just been offered 600W JA Bifacial solar panels for the same price quote for 550W JA conventional. I don't have any experience with the Bifacial tech and from internet search seems they are good for steep angle in high latitudes but aren't likely to be that great for latitudes in the tropics unless you put a reflective surface underneath. Anyone with thoughts or experience please?

Good morning all. I need help please. I got 2 inverters in paralel with 8 550w pannels connected to each inverter. Why would the inverters not charge the same? One is charging more than the other. When the one charge rate picks up the other one drops all the setings on the inverters are the sam