Starting In Solar? Feel free to introduce yourself

First time poster and long time lurker. I need advice on what you'd suggest for my house for a solar install. I live in Johannesburg and my house uses 3 phase power and is over 100 years old. I'm in the process of converting to Prepaid, hopefully this will be done soon. My average usage is 600 kWh, peaking at 700 in July, we ran a heater all night for an entire month. These are my things: 3x Gas Geyers 1x Gas Stove 1x Small Pool Pump 1x Electric Oven 1x Air Fryer 1x Single Fridge 2x Double Door Fridge 1x Dishwasher 1x Front Loader Washing machine 1x Dryer (only used in winter) 1x Gaming PC …

Right, so a few weeks ago I had a question about running a pool pump and heater on a solar setup and the advice received gave me a lot to ponder in terms of what I actually need. As it stands we’ll be moving into our new house come February next year and one of the first big ticket items I’ll need to do is some form of “beat load-shedding” setup as our new house does not have backup power. I’ve checked our power usage at our existing house which comes in at just over R3,000 per month or 35Kwh per day. At the current house I have a borehole, pressure pump, 2 pool pumps (only 1 runs daily), a heat pump (only switch it on selectively) and 2 geysers (one of which …

As topic indicates I'm new to solar and have been lurking for a while, but now want to get going. Ultimate goal The ultimate goal for my setup will be a small-scale off-grid solar powered system on a farm. It will power lights, some ceiling fans, fridge/freezer, tv, some computer equipment and maybe a pressure pump for water. Hot water will be solar and stove gas for the start and maybe later induction if the system gets bigger. Interim goal In the interim I would like to use the system as a battery backup for load-shedding in the city. Requirements 5kw inverter 5kw Lithium Iron Phosphate battery Run load of house directly …

Hey everyone, New here and SUPER new to solar. My system was installed this past Thursday, 2 days ago. I want to set my inverter to charge the battery at night from grid when it drops below a certain %. From reading here and from the manual, it seems simple enough. I have the Deye 8K hybrid. When I go to System Work Mode setting, it is only in volts, and I see no way to switch it to %. I am sure it is something simple I am missing somewhere. Please help?!

I looked into solar some time back, but in the end could not afford it. I am now in a position to install a system and are looking at getting a system, but not sure what would be the best way to go. My aim is to start with a 8 - 10kWh system with panels. I want to be loadshedding proof as well as save on my Eskom bill. Inverter options: Sunsynk 8kWh - +- R40k or Victron MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 230V GX Sine Wave Charger Inverter + Victron MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 230V Sine Wave Charger Inverter (I understand I only need one with the GX function - +-R60k The thinking above is whether it is worth it for the additional…

Hi Guys. John here. I just bought a new house. It comes with the following. Axpert 5kva inverter (Think Gen1 - No built in Wifi but seems to have Bluetooth Symbol) 12x 335W Panels (Think that's 3900W potential ) After I washed them most I have seen was an increase from 2500w to 3070w) Think you should only loose 10% due to efficiency ? Gel Batteries SONOF devices x6 I have an iPhone & Fibre with Wifi. So far I have been able to use eWeLink and hooked up all the SONOF devices. Seems to work quite well. What I havn't gotten right yet at all is a way to communicate with the inverter without standing infront of it watching it…

Hi, I want to buy the combo Deye 8kw Inverter + Greenrich 5kw li-ion battery through the Power Forum Store on a Black Friday PROMO. Sorry for asking but is the Power Forum Store legit as I've had to duck and dive various scam websites this week and I'm very weary as it is a lot of money to be scammed out of.

Hi All, I'm sure questions like this come up on a daily basis, but I'm just looking for a bit of advice regarding which battery and inverter brands have a decent reputation. I'm looking to have a 5kva inverter, 5kva battery and small number of solar panels installed, with a view to expanding later on (when I can afford it). I got 3 quotes that ended up much along the following lines: Option A ($): Synapse inverter, Pylontech battery Option B ($$): Sunsynk inverter, Hubble AM2 battery Option C ($$$): Sunsynk inverter, Freedom Won eTower battery In terms of solar pannels, all parties came out within a few R100 of one another and all quoted the same …

Hi all, I've been running an 8kw Sunsynk system happily for over a year now. But what is annoying is when there is load shedding and more than enough solar for the pool and geyser to run but they can't operate because they are on the unprotected circuit. Is there a way to setup some kind of transfer switch so that I could move all loads to protected circuit when needed? Thanks in advance, Julius

Hi All, Still a newbie to these back up power systems, I am running a luxpower SNA 5000 and Dyness 4.8kwh battery. The battery seems to be in constant discharge even when the grid is on (example on the picture). When the grid is on it discharges around 50W and this jumps as expected when there is loadshedding. Is this to be expected? I would expect zero discharge and for the battery to only kick in during loadshedding.

Hi all I have an installer coming through on Monday to start my installation. Any advice, tips or things to look out for during the installation? Thank you

Hi Folks please could I ask if it seems right that my sunsynk inverter (grid tied only no batteries)switches off when the sun sets and switches back on when the sun rises. Their are no error messages the AC light stays illuminated, but the DC and normal light goes off. The LCD on/off button also changes to off. In the morning DC and normal light switch on again , and works 100 percent during the day. Also when it switches off in the evening it stops monitoring grid power usage?? (LCD display stays on). Sort of makes sense, was just wondering if anyone else with grid tied systems experience the same. Thank folks

Hi all. I want to start upgrading my small 12v system early in the new year and was looking to purchase a 48v off grid inverter to start with. I was looking for a system that I could run without batteries at this stage and have seen the above 2 models. I am unfortunately not in a position to spend thousands of Rands and was just wanting to know which of the two units would be best on a limited budget.

Good day all, I am new to the forum. I recently had a back up system installed, Luxpower 5kw inverter and Dyness 4.8kwh Li-ion battery. Please have a glance at my installation and let me know if any pointers/recommendations? Thank you

Hello all, Thanks for accepting me to the forum! I just installed my Mecer 3KVA inverter with 4x 275w panels and 2x 200AH Gel batteries and so far so good. I just want to find out where can i get the latest firmware for this inverter. I have managed to get SolarPatrol working as the Watchpower app is very basic. But the problem is the Battery SOC seems erratic and not sure how accurate this is. So im hoping a firmware update will solve this. Thanks!

Hi! I am new at this, but started investigating options to: Keep basic functions (typically lights, microwave, fibre, laptops and TV) going during load shedding and: Reduce electricity bill The above is for a 3Ph residential setup. 3Ph is required fore some woodworking machines, etc. - which is not required to be functional during load shedding. Electricity usage average 30kWh/day. The intention is not to end up with an almost R0 electricity bill every month - rather to realise a substantial reduction. Metering is done with three x mechanical meters and reselling power to the municipality not a priority at this stage. The intention is to …

I have a 5kva system using a mecer inverter and 2 lithium batteries of 48v 50A Can I use 7,5KWA GENERATOR to charge the batteries? The generator does not have a regulator. I use the generator for my water pump and other farming tools. Can I use this generator to charge the batteries and to supply power. Thank you in advance

Hi All, Please can you assist me with the correct wiring of the the setup mentioned. To avoid you having to edit photos, I added labels to assist in making the links. (You're still welcome to edit and post again) eg: A - B, C - F etc. Please also add the dip switch configuration. MANY thanks!

Hi all. I’m very new to this entire process but would like some advice RE: Hybrid inverters and their cooling systems. I have been trying to decide on which hybrid inverter would be best for me and my family but have a few questions. For now, I am looking to set up a basic back up system and then add solar panels early next year. The set up I have in mind would be a 5Kva hybrid inverter with a single 5Kwh lithium-Ion battery (for now). My DB board is outside my house (older home) and sits just outside my kitchen window. My understanding is that the inverter and batteries would then need to be in a special housing next to my DB board. I have had two electric…

Hello everyone, I am new to solar installations. I am using a built Goodwe GW5048-ESA installation with the following parameters: 1. Hibrid inverter 5 000 W. - Max. Input Power (W)-6500 Max. Input Voltage (V)580 MPPT Operating Voltage Range (V)125~550 Start-up Voltage (V)125 Max. Input Current per MPPT (A)14 Max. Short Circuit Current per MPPT (A)17.5 Number of MPP Trackers2 2. GoodWe SECU-A(4.8kWh) battery 3. 16 pieces VITOVOLT 300 Type M400WE (Pmax. 400 W, MPP-spanning Umpp 38,6 V, Umpp 10,36 A, Uoc 46,4 V) The panels are arranged in 2 strings of 8. I hope that if any questions arise, I would be grateful for your knowledgeable opini…

Hey Guys, Jacques here, New member and green to solar. Any assistance would be appreciated with regards to the plant below, Solar Plant Bryanston with equipment as follows: ● 2 X SUNSYNK-12K-SG04LP3 fitted with Sunsynk Data Loggers and monitoring via Sunsynk App. ● 3 X Solar MD 7.4k SS4074 Advanced Lithium Battery ● 30 X 460W JA Solar panels The above was just recently installed probably three or four months ago in a residential property in Bryanston Johannesburg. The property's power requirements on a daily basis is between the ranges of 160 and 350 kilowatts. The power breakdown between night and day is on a ratio of app…

I see there is a forum member called Nexuss... How can i get un contact?

Hey Guys, I'm a student and as a part of my project I'm working on I need to install a standalone/off-grid solar power system. My configuration is Inverter: Axpert MKS 5K Battery: SS202-05 (single unit of 7.4KWH capacity) Solar panels: AE380hm6-72 (8units connected in 4-parallel combination of 2 serially connected panels) Currently I'm testing the setup in lab with only 2 solar panel in series and with very limited sunlight available although I have mains/utility available. I am actually testing the situation when the battery gets discharged to a point (setting 29 - 48.5V) where inverter shut it down and connect the input to the inver…

Hi! I'm Gianfranco I'm new to solar and would like to know which battery is best between shoto and Hubble my installer quoted shoto for me and I see on forum thay it has comms problems kindly advice

Currently we have on our north facing roof 15 panels canadian solar of 375 watt=5,6 kw, in connection with a goodwe inverter of 5 kw. we also have a nice western orientated roof and theoretically we can add there 10 panels of 460 watt. If we do that we need to replace the goodwe inverter with a larger one: sunsynk or victron. But: if we do so, The total amount of solar produce is more then 8 kw? I can bring the exess power we produce back to the net and we get a credit of 0,7 randcent per kw.. Q: will that work? sunsynk or victron? resell value of the goodwe inverter? Is the app from sunsynk good? Thx for the help! …