Starting In Solar? Feel free to introduce yourself

Hi everyone. I'm just beginning my journey and leaning and looking at a good system at the best price. I was going through the we and came accross the luxpower inverter but was a little confused. The 5kw is 15k but the 10kw is 42k Why would that be and is it better to do the 2 vs the 1 I'd be happy to understand why as normally the bigger would work out cheaper based on spread Regards DEEZ

Good Morning Today we are considering going the Solar Route considering rising cost of living and most importantly - Eskom and their Electricity Un-Availability Factor, I work from from home, we require a power source.. the chosen system will be dedicated for daytime use: Inverter and Panels only and battery for now.. Before the following is set in stone I would like some advice and opinions other than my own from what I presume is normal. So in essence of our theoretical world of perfect supply will highlight Eskom's exceptional performance (not the case) - it would also dictate, I am happy, food is kept frozen, we are able to carry out the task at hand f…

Can setting 28 be adjusted/selected without monitoring software, as the software does not detect connection from inverter, on 2nd machine works fine !!! Regards AndrewF

How to isolate a single plug from others on the same circuit? I plan to install solar at my home and need advice on how to deal with my under-counter small geyser. It is plugged into a regular 15amp plug that share a circuit breaker with other appliances in the kitchen. During load shedding (when using batteries etc) I want to automatically switch off the geyser but not the other appliances on the same circuit. Any advice on how to do this will be appreciated.

Guy please give some input on this roof with limited space but for the 12 panels shown for use on a Deye 5kW. Panels are 460W JA Solar with specs as shown on the sketch. Thanks.

Hello I've been toying around with a design for a solar lighting system , all 12V LED completely off grid with 1 small panel, MPPT charger and a small battery. (Marine style) Is there a minimum cutoff limit (in watts) for solar generation in the SSEG rules? If not, should I register my solar calculator too? Thanks.

First a bit of background on what im trying to accomplish. I recently bought a Rovin 300W mobile power station. I figured out It has a dc input of 11-24 V 45W Max to charge. I want to charge it with a mobile Solar blanket (foldable), as i am traveling but i am currently not sure what Solar Panels i Could use to Charge it as quick as posible with Solar Energy during daytime. I Just found some Solar Panels from Kings for example that say they can deliver up to 120W Like thats way More than the 45 W i Need to Charge it . I am not a professionell in electricity thats why i cant figure it out what i should buy . Is the Input of 45 Watt way to less to Power …

Hi forum, INTRO: Long time lurker, been soaking up the wisdom for a while now. I made the decision to go Solar. Based in Paarl, WC. HOUSE: Family of 6, 4 kids 8 years and under. All lights are LED, major appliances incl. gas hob with electric oven, 2 x 3kw 150L geysers, 1 x 24000BTU, 1 x 18000BTU and 1 x 12000BTU non-inverter A/C's, 1 x 750W Pool pump, 1 x fridge/freezer (energy efficient), 1 x large box freezer. We have a domestic on weekdays, so all washing, cleaning, ironing, etc. can occur during the day. Wife WFH. Our average electrical consumption for the past 18 months is 822 units/Kwh, fairly conscience about usage, June-August is a fair bit …

Good day everyone I just received my Growatt 5kWh, which brand lithium ion battery company can i pair it with? please also suggest stores with stock in Cpt. How long should a warranty be? Thank you

Hi everyone, thanks for a great forum/community! I've learnt a lot and will still learn more! I am looking at installing solar, and am very close to making a decision on a provider. The favourite at the moment is Solarfinity, their pricing is decent, and service as far as asking questions and giving advice has been great. Has anyone used them for an installation that can provide an opinion/reference? Thanks!

Hi all I'm hoping someone on here can help me. We used to have a Schneider Inverter 24V 1500VA – Homaya Hybrid with 2 Deep Cylce batteries. This lasted us 6 - 8 hours if we kept the load under 300 W during power outages. During the middle of last year we upgraded to the following system (and we've just been experiencing problems ever since): 4x Solar panel 455W The Sun Pays Inverter 5.5kw (5.5kW 100A Axpert Type Pure Sine Wave Inverter High voltage) 4x Battery Royal 1150K (Deep Cycle) Output Source Priority: Solar + Line (PAL) Recently we added an additional 4 batteries (used but still new) to the above system in an att…

I've browsed this forum a few times whilst doing homework on Solar systems as it occasionally pops up on Google Searches and links from MyBB. I've played with some small off grid 12V systems for CCTV Cameras and a small 12V Flood Light but now I've secured a small loan from my Parents for a decent solar system on our house. I am a qualified Sparky but I do machine repairs and Automation and have no idea what the rules and regs are for installations anymore, last time I wired a house I was an Appy in 2006 and Solar was a pipe dream for the very rich back then. Goals are to have 24/7 power for the Missus who WFH. 2022 year we had collectively 13+ full days no…

Hi Please help a newbie here... I'm measuring (via SolarAssistant) a huge amount of power drops (via the Inverter input grid voltage). Eskom also feeds my Oven and Geysers directly (not via inverter). I can see the drops on my oven, it'll switch off and then back on again. My prepaid meter stays on... My logical deduction is that there is something wrong on the DB from Eskom feed to oven/geysers/inverter grid feed.... but my installer is trying to tell me that is what Eskom power looks like that now... 😕 ... he also claims that the prepaid meter has a backup battery - again I call BS. It was not like that pre-solar/inverter/battery install. Any experts have advice…

Hi All I'm running in circles with what options to go with a limited budget 25 -30k Based on the below quote received, it is price and brands relative? Are there any other more cost-effective solutions or better value deals any members came across? 3kv Synapse Inverter, 2.6kv N-Energy Lithium Battery, Incl installation and coc included R25000 3kv Synapse Inverter, 2.6kv N-Energy Lithium Battery, 3 X 330W solar panels, Incl installation and coc included- R32500 I would plan on using the system for 1x tv, 1 x inverter double fridge, 1 x deep chest freezer, Fibre modem, 16channel camera, alarm system and lights around a 3 bedroom house. T…

Hi I An3s from MP Secunda new to this and the more I read and do reaching the more overwhelming it is getting. I started collecting parts for building a system 2x 420w canadiansolar panels 2x200ah batterys Kodak og 3.25 vmiii Had the inverter installed last week The idea was to install to install 2 pannels that I already bought but the inverter mppt startup voltage is 150v and my 2 panels wil only give me 96v, I was planning on adding panels monthly after everything was up and running, question is wil the syst work or should I get 1 more panel first. Was planning on getting pv combiner box end of the month and have it installed with…

3KW, 24 volt Inverter with two Lithium 24v 2.56kw batteries, using Eskom to charge - just standby, running at 0.7kw/hr?

Hi guys, So I'm planning to install a 5kW inverter with a 5kwH battery as a backup system. I took a look at the SANS 10142-1 and followed the image they give for connecting a UPS (how my system will be used) to the main distribution board. Ill then have an external person COC the installation to cover my home insurance. Here is the planned system, the inverter will be some way away from the main DB, so I have it with its own main switch and earth leakage. Have i missed anything that could lead to the CoC being rejected?

Good morning We are seriously considering going solar, and our electrician (who we have used or years and knows out electrics very well) has recommended Sunsync 5Kw inverter and batteries with 9 x 460 or 525 watt panels. I have calculated that Highest consumption over last 12months 30Kw and average of 27 per day. We live in Gauteng on the East Rand. Our roof considered for the panels faces 330degrees North, which gets sun almost all day. Now during load shedding we run 6900kva generator and by turning off pool pump and solar geyser, the genny seems to idle for most of the time. The only strain is shown the water tank pump kicks in and returns to "normal" once wa…

Hi folks Got a house recently and looking to add solar for powering our life including cooking. Currently remodeling our kitchen and plan to install an AEG induction hob. Planned to install sunsynk 8kw inverter for our solar but some of the installers claim it can’t handle an induction hob. The one we are looking at has a max power of 7kw but typical usage of 2.4kw. They are recommending to use Victron instead. do folks have experience with sunsynk and induction hobs ? Would there be any issues here to go with sunsynk?

Hi All, after much research I have sadly come to the realization that for the following system: 5kw 48V Inverter 5kw 48V 100aH Batter Due to the nature of the recommended charge and discharge for LiFePo4 batteries being 0.5C, I would only be able to discharge these batteries at 2.5kw (50aH) per hour, depleting them in 2 hours. Thus my 5kw inverter is being wasted as it can only ever provide 2.5kW of power if I plan to maintain the health of my battery. So if I want to run a 5kw inverter at full load, I would need 2x the battery capacity, effectively 10kwh of batteries. Am I missing something, or is this a well-known limitation of these …

Hello, This is my first post and I will be grateful for someone to answer my questions below: I need some advice on adding a solar panel to my current setup. Current setup: Mecer-Ivr-2400mppt 24v inverter 2 x 120ah lithium batteries Solar Panel: 1 x 450w Solar panel(Spec below) Solar panel Specs of the inverter: Inverter Specs My questions are: 1. What size cable from the solar panel to the charge controller should be used, 4mm2 or 6mm2? 2. What size DC breaker should I use between the solar panel to the charge controller? 3. Should the breaker be closer to the solar panel or charge cont…

Hi All, I hope everyone is well and all the best for 2023. I have a 3 bedroom flat with a separate living room, dining room, kitchen and pantry. I have two double door fridges, two televisions, gas and electric hob, electric oven, electric geyser and dishwasher. I also have a laundry room with a washing machine and dryer and garage with a motor. I use about 310 units on average every month. I would like to reduce and in future remove my dependence on Eskom, so I envision going completely off-grid. I've been looking at the Huawei Isitepower-M 1PH Back-Up Kit 5KW Inverter 5KWh Battery Li-Ion, but need advice if this is a good unit or not and if it's futu…

Hi All, I’m looking for guidance on a nice monitoring app I can use for my system. I have an OCI 7.2 inverter with Shoto 5.12 batteries. Any suggestions?

Good day to all, New to your forum, so hopefully this is posted in the correct section. Wasn’t sure if you have an “intro” thread I need to post in first? If so and I’ve missed it, my apologies. As with many people on this forum, I have decided to install a battery backup and would appreciate some input with regards to my understanding of these systems. I’m no electrician but don’t want to be mis-lead by installers and thus would like to have a good understanding of how they “should” correctly install this setup. I have opted to install a SunSynk 5kw inverter with a SunSynk 5.32kw battery as a battery backup only. This has been calculated based on my partic…

Hi I am an old fart that has a double story roof, so when the panels were installed all I really got to see of the connections were four cables coming down to my combiner box. How do I check if they were installed correctly ? I have 10 x 455w panels. I did ask for and assume I got 2 strings of 5 panels. The four wires go into the combiner box and two exit to the inverter. I did a test when ac was off. My pool pump is running and the inverter (5kw) shows around 1.5kw being drawn. The input side shows also around 1.5kw from PV. As a small test I put the kettle on (2000w). Nothing more was being drawn from the panels so am assuming the balance was coming…