Starting In Solar? Feel free to introduce yourself

Hi everyone, complete newb to Solar, based in Centurion. Hoping to learn alot here, awesome forum! Just had a system installed which was a hand me down from my company, pretty basic, Mecer Infinisolar 4kw, 8 x 365w CS panels and 8 x 100ah Solar batteries. System is up and running, still need to check if the config is correct. Any recommendations for installers in the Centurion area would be great! Thanks

Hallo, As so many previous threads, I need your advice. My elect bill is about R4k per month, I need to reduce that and minimize loadshedding. I only have R65k to do this. I will DIY what I can but need advice. I was thinking a Sunsynk 5KW inverter and a small battery for starters. Something like this: https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/batterys/products/pylon-us2000b-plus-2-4kwh-li-ion-battery-excl-brackets Budget is now at around R38k. Is it possible to add panels and get all the cables/mounting/DB board/sundries? My idea is to run most of my load during the day, when we have sufficient sun and only to use the battery duri…

Hi All, I am a very clueless noob and I am looking at installing solar at my home. I requested a few quotes from installers around September 2021 and there were two quotes that looked good. I decided to hold off on the solar installation until this year so that I can better understand what I need. In terms of usage, I spend around R2,500 to R3,000 per month – I think this translates to around 900 to 1,000 units. My stove is gas. My over and geyser are powered by Eskom. The aim is to reduce my electricity bill through solar and have back up power when loadshedding starts again. I am not looking at being off-grid (I can’t afford it and it sounds admin intensive)…

Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to source all the required hardware,cabling etc. to have solar installed at my house. I planned to go with the Growatt PSPF5000-es inverters but cannot find stock anywhere. I'm Looking for a reasonably priced alternative and found the Mecer 5.6KW hybrid inverter to be more or less in the same rice range. How do these compare to growatt? Are Mecer inverters reliable? Here is a picture of the one I'mm interested in:

Hi all, We are completely Offgrid and I have successfully upgraded our setup to the following: - 48V / 5kva Victron Multiplus * 2 -- Giving about 8000W - 6600W of solar - Our controller can pull a max of 5800W from panels - Lead Acid batteries at 220Ah The biggest power draw item we have are the 150L * 2 water geysers and some pumps that go up to 2300W and only run during the day. We also would like to cook using electric during the day and eventually at night as well. Questions -- Is it realistic to cook entirely using our inverter/solar setup as long as we have enough solar or batteries of course? I estimate we won't go over 5000w being use…

HI, thanks for all the information - very informative! I'm starting off too and was thinking about what would be more effective - installing a single large battery or getting a smaller one and adding more batteries later? Any advice, please Regards Ayub

Hi all. I am always wanting to know, and came accross this forum a week ago. I was prepared for a read of a couple of hours. But, what must be now more than 10 hours reading I have got more questions than I thought I would have. Wow, but here is a lot of info. THANKS. Can I confirm a bisic question as there is conflicting info on the web. June and December sunrise angle in Cape Town? I have 62/119 and 74/108.

Hi All, I have, due to a difficult time with the initial installer I contracted, a half-finished solar system at my house. It's mostly there and basically needs an inverter (I am leaning towards a Sunsynk 8kW) and a thorough once-over from an honest, competent, straight-forward installer to weed out any potential installation issues. Is anyone able to recommend a company which fits this bill? Ideally from first-hand experience. I need to pay my school fees and get on with it. I'm based near Northcliff in Johannesburg. Any assistance that can be offered would be highly appreciated.

Hi, I have noticed that the inverter sill uses Eskom power although the solar panels are producing enough power. I noticed this when there was load shedding, panels were able to charge battery and supply the house with power, once Eskom came back on, it started using Eskom power.

Hi My inverter shows that it charges batteries but is also sending power directly to my pump. This means at night my system cannot run because the solar panels are off. Please assist a layman to route power through the batteries before going into the pump. LT

Hi guys, So I'm hoping that someone here can help me out and bear with my logic 😃 I currently have a Mecer 2400 VA Inverter with 2 x Royal DC31 batteries inside my server cabinet and I've been trying to find a way of getting meaningful data out of the darn thing to integrate into Home Assistant which runs on a RPI3. I came across the Victron Smart Shunt and battery temp sensor on YouTube and thought that this could be quite an easy way to get battery data- well to my phone at least via the Victron App. I know that I may need to purchase an additional Victron VE to USB Interface cable to connect to the RPI but that's where I'm stuck and was wondering if any…

Hi Guys I am looking at a 8Kw sunsynk to replace my 5kw Growatt. I currently have 12 x 315 Watt JA Mono Panels I want to keep these but also add 10 x JA 540/550 Watt Panels. So basically 12 on one input, and 10 new panels on the other input Will it be an issue to have different string sizes on different MPPTs ? I have done this before on a Mecer 10kw 3ph with no issues in service for 3 years now Just wanted to if its recommended or not, if not will sell up the 12 panels and just get another 10 of the same

Hello Guys, I have been lurking a while and am finally building towards a system to help with Eskom problems at least. What i have so far, Victron EasySolar 48/3000/35-50 MPPT 150/70 - Bought off the Forum actually Seller also included some Battery cables and a Energy meter (Thank you JEVA) Battery LCB Branded - 6.4 kWh - (Not the best, but what i could afford) What i still want to get, and this is where i require some advice. Panels I am thinking either 4 of these - Link: https://powerforum-store.co.za/products/copy-of-solar-panel-ja-solar-545w-mono-perc-half-cell-mbb?variant=39851204116550 or 6 of these might be better value ? L…

Hello. My name is Jeff and so glad to have found this platform. Please forgive me as this is all completely new to me and I have alot to learn. I recently purchased the above mentioned kit as a backup power solution for the dreaded loadshedding and I am looking to acquiring solar panels in the near future. Have a question about Dipswitch and protocol settings: The installer setup the system with Dipswitch 0110 (2 and 3 UP) and on the inverter is was set to Li for Lithium and protocol 1. It worked just fine but I noticed my fans would be constantly on and sounded like full tilt. I then changed the Dipswitch to 0010 (3 Up only) and to protocol 52 on the inverter a…

So I am looking at buying a solar system for my house. I am sold on the Deye 8 Kw Inverter, however I need advise on what battery to go for. So between either 2 x 5.1 Shoto batteries or 1 x 10.1 Alpha battery what would you guys go for, and why? I can get either option for +/- the same price so it is just a matter of which one is the best? What I like about the Alpha is the 10 year warranty and 8000 cycle lifespan, where the Shoto only has a 5 year warranty and 5000 cycle lifespan . So what do you guys think?

Hi all, Im new to this scene. I have a friend who has installed quite a few systems. He swears by victron and has done installs with mostly Victron. I do like the flexibility that victron offers, but its so expensive compared to other systems. From what I have seen, i dont want to get an axpert type inverter. Im possibly looking at a sunsync 5kw inverter. Does anyone know if its possible to oversize the PV with this sunsync inverter? is the general consensus about sunsync good? i want to use if for backup for loadshedding and also save money long term with the PV.

Hi, I got solar installed(10 panels 540w) with a 6kw battery and 8kw sunsynk inverter. The most production a day I get is 10kw. I was expecting much more. Certain times of the day my 2 chimneys shadows goes over the panels.

Hi, I have just had a Sunsynk inverter installed (approved installer from their website) so I am still trying to find my way around the app and a little confused regarding the setup. I have noticed the following: the home icon is always on 0w except when there is no Eskom power. Should this not always display the home power consumption all the time? As long as Eskom is available, the house is always using Eskom power. Noticed this as I have a switch that monitors the Eskom power usage. Can the inverter be set to use solar then only use Eskom if the panels are not generating enough power (I have 15 X 410w panels) Image of the system flow chart below - …

Good day All. I am new to the group - My name is Vijen and I live in Centurion, Pretoria. I have had an Axpert 5kVA (4000W) system installed at my home for backup purposes for the last 2 years. I have 4 x 200AH gel batteries installed. The system has worked well but I would now like to add solar power to it. Can someone please advise me what configuration I should go for if I use the 330W Canadian solar panels? My concern is both voltage and current. I was thinking of 9 panels in a 3 x 3 configuration. This would theoretically bring Voc to 136.8V and max current to 26.64A (8.,88A x 3). The open circuit voltage is below the theoretical 145V but I am not sure how …

Good day, Eksdom is now pushing us to the point where we do not have any real answer, but to provide for ourselves. The plan is to get a Sunsynk 8kw inverter with 10 x JA Solar 455W Mono MBB Half-Cell Percium solar panels with either 1 x Pylon Tech UP5000 100ah 4.8kWh Lithium Battery or Sunsynk Battery Max 100AH 5.12kWh 51.2V - just to get the ball rolling. Further battery/ies to be purchased in near future. The geyser and aircons will be on the auxiliary load. With the 10 panels in 1 string, connected to 1 mppt channel. According to my research, the 10 panels will be within the 500V max input voltage. The Pylon will give max 90 Amps (15s) bu…

Can someone please help me with regards to sizing a solar panel for a 1200w microinverter, the specs of the inverter are below: The advert for the inverter says it is designed for 4 panels / 60&72 cell panels. INPUT DATA Recommended Input Power (W) 200-360 Peak Power MPPT Voltage Range (V) 32-48 Operating Voltage Range (V) 16-60 Maximum Input Voltage (V) 60 Maximum Input Current (A) 10.5 I can find 365w panels for sale, specs below: (Voc) 41.13 volts (Vmp) 33.96 volts (Isc) 11.30 amps (Imp) 10.75 amps Does the slightly larger 365w v 360w panel matter? Am I just looking at the (Voc) to be within the operating range of …

Hi, this might be a long post 🙃 please assist if possible Im looking to upgrade my current inverter (3kw an 200ah lead acid) which was a terrible choice to begin with. I need a system that can handle about 300watts for at least 6 hours easily… I’m renting a house which means at this point I probably won’t install solar but I want a system that I can add solar when I do buy a house. I have upgraded all the lights to led and rewired my DB board so that my lights and my Lounge plug point is on my inverter. Tv, DStv, WiFi, lamp. In total my plug point draws about 160watts. My largest light I use draws 52 watts. Total- 212watts Essentially I need this for load…

Good afternoon all I am embarking on a journey to get partially off grid and so have been doing alot of reading. My first question is where if at all can/should one save money if you are unable to do the full install in one hit? Currently I am looking at a sunsynk 16kw inverter for ease of install and to future proof any additional load I might want to add to the system. Now I could get away with an 8kw inverter which would give me an extra R20k to spend on either another battery or more panels but is this the better option as it would get me further off grid sooner and the only IF required I have a bigger outlay to get another 8kw inverter at some p…

Hi Guys Total newbie here. I am about to get the following system installed on Monday: 8 x JA Solar 540W Mono Sunsynk 8K Hybrid 2 x Pylontech US3000c I am doing this through an installer as I need this done before the next big Eskom madness hike and the next lot of breakdowns by an inept parastatal. I opted to get a bigger inverter to enable me to expand. I already have most of my lights on LED's, my geysers on solar (one tube and one panel) and also on timers. My Hob is gas, not my stove. I have brought my consumption down from 56-59kw/day to 42kw/day. What software can I use to monitor the system? Is there a way to a…

Hi, I have noticed that my Sunsynk inverter shows different reading than what I am seeing with Eskom. Their numbers are showing 42kwh more than what the inverter reports. Fyi, I am also exporting electricty back to the grid in our estate.