Starting In Solar? Feel free to introduce yourself

Hi everyone, first of all thank for all the knowledge share on here and all those who are so willing to assist others, it is really appreciated. I'm hoping someone can assist me with a problem i'm having around my solar setup. I have an Axpert 3kva Plus 24v (most likely a clone) that I have been running for some time without solar. Over the weekend I installed 3 panels and was up and running for about an hour over Midday peak sun. After the hour, there was a loud bang from the inverter and orange sparks out the side where the SCC is located. The inverter / battery setup was still working but the SCC blew. I have sent it in for repairs and they have confirme…

Hi, I'm new to solar power and looking to invest when moving at the end of this year. With regards to my purchase, I'm not quite sure how much installation would work, I'm moving to Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape. The system I'm looking at (but not sure if this is feasible or if the panels would be too much for the inverter) are as follows: growatt hybrid 5kw inverter (could be convinced to use the deye 5kw if it will change my batteries faster) = 14,000 (24,000 for the deye) 10 x 540 watt Canadian solar panels = 40,000 2 x Shoto 5.12kwh batteries = 48,000 the total for this is 102,000 or 112,000 with the deye inverter. I'm aware though that I need …

Hello all, I am struggling to find the latest version of the Watchpower monitoring software. The Mecer website does not have the latest download link nor does the Watchpower website, it only has the 1.0 version. Does any of you maybe know of a website where I can download the latest version? Because as it is now, I can't really use it as my inverter has two PV input displays(input directly to the house and input to the batteries) and this version only shows one. Inverter: Mecer SOL-1-AX-5NB Kind Regards, Vulgrim

Open circuit voltage cannot be higher than 150v, max voltage on a system is 72 vdc . Need help in finding the best suited solar pannels with proffered setup whether in parallel or series or series parallel. I have 2 x 360w and 1 x 350w pannels. Thank you in advance.

Hi all, Happy Friday... New to this, and just had a LuxPower SNA5000 inverter installed, with currently 2x US3000C batteries, with another 2 on the way, so will have "14kW" capacity. So far, loving it, and it has made a massive difference to pure convenience during all the loadshedding, and not having to manually switch on the noisy and not so frugal generator, and manually messing with the DB board everytime. Also quite like the visibility it provides of consumption and battery usage, etc. Now I am keen to move on to adding Solar Panels, so I can at least get some relief on the monthly power bill...! I am considering getting 8 Canadian Solar 450W half…

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…

Hi gurus. Maybe I'm overthinking this or missing something important, but is there any reason I would absolutely not want to use an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) or maybe more simply, interlocking contactors with a hybrid inverter? I'm thinking, one could place the ATS to switch the essential loads between grid and the backup side of the hybrid inverter to somewhat mitigate the general pain of splitting all electrics between backup/non backup loads. Thus when grid is available, the inverter would act like a grid-tie power source to both essential and non-essential loads but only supply power to the backup side when grid fails. Maybe this thinking is flawed bas…

Good afternoon everyone. I have been surfing this forum for a few weeks now. I decided to go for a load shed kit which i purchased online. I istalled the batteries(2x200ah revov) and Kodak 3kw Inverter temporary just to see if its running okay. I will do a propper installation running to the house DB but will first obtain more info regarding this from you guys. It been running now for almost 24 hours. I downloded the watchpower app also, and when i first switched the unit on. It said my batteries are 100%. Now after a day, with no load on the inverter, my batteries are on 80%. Surely something is major wrong here. Where do i start? What did i do wrong? I …

A simple video to demonstrate the relationship between the basic values we are faced with everyday.

ART545-144-1500MH-FULL-BLACK_Datasheet.pdfFL5.2.pdf https://solarbackup.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/KODAK-Axpert-MAX-manual-20200727.pdf Hi guys Im new to solar and would appreciate all the advice i can get I have finally purchased the 7.2 OG kodak max with the kodak FL 5.2 lithium battery and 8 art solar panels each with 545 watts. I also have the dc cabling and battery cable. With a keto fuse holder. What would the best way be to set up my pv arrangement? PMAX 545w, VOC 49.7v, ISC 13.91A What else would be the necessities of a system like this like, ac breakers, DC breakers, DC disconnects, AC disconnects, battery fuse size, PV DC fus…

Hi, I have one 5kwh UP5000 PYLONTECH battery with 8kw inverter installed and solar. My installer mentioned that if I have about 3 of these batteries I can back up my 200l electric geyser for 1hr at night and early morning. The geyser has been converted to the pv system. I wanted to find out if there's anyone who has tried such?

Hi, we installed the Synerji 5KVA inverter. We installed the programmes (Power Monitor) on the laptop for the setup and connected the laptop with the USB cable to the inverter. According to the supplier, you should not switch on the innverter before you have completed the setup. But it does not pickup the inverter on Power Monitor at all. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

Hey everyone I stay in a house that uses around 30 units electricity on average per day obviously goes up when using aircon/tumble drier/ oven etc. I am looking for a solar solution that will reduce my bill but also help with loadshedding. My budget is limited tho. I have around 35 lights around my house/garden/ driveway walls and outside wall which I like and what to keep due to the fact that everything is nice and lit up and it is a plus for safety. I want to leave my electric oven (top is gas) on grid as well as my aircons. Should I change my Geyser to a 2kw element and leave that on the grid or add to my inverter on a timer? S…

Hi all! I've been lurking here for a while, trying to stay relatively up to date for when I want to take the plunge to solar myself. That day is now getting closer, and I've been looking at inverters. The Sunsynk/Deye range appear to come highly recommended, and appeal to me since they will offer the most flexibility in the long run. I am however confused by a few things, so I'm hoping the kind folks on this forum can please offer some advice? I need to decide between the 5kW and the 8kW models (though obviously prefer the smaller one). I also need to decide whether I want to put most of the house on it, or just some basic essential loads, with the rest left…

Hi guys, Long time lurker, first time poster, newly registered. Planning my move to solar with the new house in the near future so wanted to say hello.

Hello all, I received knioweldge about this forum from a friend in Zimbabwe and he asured me that my newbie questions would find a good answer. SO here goes: I live in a location in Niagar region of Ontario Canada and have thoguhts of putting up a combined solar system together with a wind power generating system. Any advice you can give me would be great. Darren

Hi there all Made the leap to solar with backup power in the last week so far very happy with the system performance. Inverter: Mecer Axpert MKS IV 5.6Kw Battery: Dyness BX51100 Solar: JA Solar 8 x 455w Having some teething issues with the battery to inverter comms - will raise this in the other threads where applicable.

Hi, I'm from Portugal and I'm going to start on solar to power some devices of my house. Hope to find here some answers to my questions and help in the areas I know. Plan is to start and an 5KVA inverter and 6 panels, to power devices during day and at night use grid for them and charge batteries if need. Regards

We have just installed a six panel solar array from ‘auto solar’ in Spain and it came with two lithium batteries and an axpert king 3 kW 48V inverter - we are complete newbies but followed the instructions carefully and connected it all up according to the instructions - we measured that there was a good voltage coming through from the panels and connected the PV input of the inverter, all in the right places and all connected really well doublechecked and triple checked everything - even our neighbour who is an electrician has had a look and said that it’s all correct but the inverter is not registering any PV input at all!! 🤷‍♀️ we phoned auto solar they told us that we…

I've just managed to source a DTU and now when I download the app it says I must get account login information from my installer (I am the installer)... I asked myself for the details and it was quite 😂 anyone have a DTU and managed to create an account? Thanks

Hi, I'm looking at getting 2x Hoymiles 1200w microinverters + 8x 300w (thereabouts) panels + DTU-Pro. If anyone has the Hoymiles microinverters can you please confirm that I only need 1x DTU (or DTU-Pro) for my setup, I seem to have got quoted for 2x inverters and 2x DTU's? surely you don't need a DTU per inverter... Then does anyone know the difference between the DTU and DTU-Pro? I am currently using around 2000w 24/7 (have a business at home) so I just want to reduce that load as much as I can for now during the daytime. If at a later stage I wanted to export power to the grid as credit, can my setup do that with regards to the DTU-Pro? (d…

im new into solar n trying to learn. (sorry im from non-English spoken country) i ve been using 1kw AIO inverter for a while bcs fan noise n want to hv more load i upgraded to 5 KW AIO inverter This 5kw one. i know fuse currents low n want to use till get proper ones. here s wht i have. PV have 4 280w in series. my load would be ~120w This first MCB is this one 500V dc @16A Second MCB is for battery to AIO inverter (from local suppier it was intented to use for e-mopeds. (pic s not clear it writes 12-100V= 350-1000W)) So if those polarities are correct? Thnx for help

Hello all :) Just signed up, Electrician by trade. Keen to learn more about solar and the intricacies of it. Especially with regards to inverters and batteries. Done a couple installs with the old boss and I guess could say we learnt together but he had PV Greencard. :) Will post a couple of questions in the correct sections shortly.

Hi All, I'm looking to invest in a solar system with the primary aim of getting some independence from the grid. We have a borehole and the plan is to run that off the inverter to cater for scenarios where the municipal power and water supply have both failed. Will a hybrid inverter be able to handle the startup load of a 1800W borehole pump? Or are there better options for that? I understand that the regulations around the grid tie in will limit us to a 3KVA inverter on our 60A supply and I'm planning for the following Victron setup running ESS: Victron Multiplus II 3000VA - 2400W continuous (peak 5500W) 2 x Pylontech US2000B - 2400W continuous discharge (pea…

Hi I have decided to go for solar after a long while of thinking about it. I have just received a quote and would like to know if it is a fair price. 8kw Deye Hybrid Inverter 10/8 Freedomwon Lipo Battery 18x 460w Canadian Solar Panels Sundried and Labour All Installed R335,000 Is this a fair price? Thanks