Starting In Solar? Feel free to introduce yourself

Hello Everyone, I am on a quest to lessen my riliance on the grid, so I decided first to tackle the geyser and electric hob. I have installed a solar retrofit that warms and stores the water in a 150lt electric geyser (element off, basically a repository now wrapped with a blanket), same feeds a 26 litre Paloma forced fan geyser with 2 × 48kg gas canisters. Replaced the electric hob with a gas hob that is on a 9kg tank. I was on an average of 25kwh a day and reduced same to about 10 kwh a day. I am considering a grid tied solution to tackle the remaining 10kwh, any recommendations would be sincerely welcomed.

Hi. I'm trying to find a solution. Is the above configuration compatible? Is Dyness 1C (I read somewhere on this forum that they should match or it wastes the capability of the inverter) Any issues?

As you can see by the screenshots, the Volage on the Solar Panels remains Fairley constant, but the Power and Current are extremely erratic, is this normal - We have 4 Canadian 450w installed for less than a week, so this is all still a learning curve for me and its no point in asking the installer as they will tell you that is working perfectly when it actually might not be

Hi I want to know if its possible to expand an existing 2x10kwh bank with another 2x10kwh from a different manufacturer? I have 2x LiFePO4 (48v 200ah) batteries and want to add 2x more LiFePO4 (48V 200ah). I am not currently using comms between the batteries and inverters (2x 5kw Deye Hybrids). My existing batteries have been in use since November 2021 - so concidering 600 cycles they are still "new" Everyone Ive spoken to said its not possible but I suspect its because they want me to buy more batteries. I presume same Volts, AH and Chemistry wont be a problem if you use it together? Thanks John

Hi, I am new to world of renewables. I have an 8kW Deye inverter (installed 6 January), with 18 x 330W panels (being installed today) and a US3000 battery. With the panels being installed a week after the inverter, it has given me a chance to monitor our power consumption from the grid for a week. The problem is that the inverter states that we've used 318kWh in the past 6 days, while the municipal meter has only read 181kWh. I would understand a small difference, but surely something is wrong with the inverter's readings?

Ok so here goes what is probably another "stupid" question where I could not find an answer on Google Its early morning and light outside but the sun is not technically up yet, I see the panels are producing voltage but no Current or Amps as per attached image (120v currently), is this because there is technically no sun?

Hey all, So i started working on my diy solar setup and think I am starting to get somewhere Axpert 5000 80a 145v one. 8x330w solar panels in strings of 2 (Planning to get another 330w and do 3 stings of 3 later ) DIY combinder box still looking at getting a busbar that will fit between the fuses. 2x pylontech us3000c Keto 125a battery disconnect 1xEarth Neutral bridge box And then a db ready board for after inverter. I have everything connected exept for the Earth Neutral bridge box. I am a bit confused on how to connect this one to the setup and dont want to blow the relay or worse. Any one here have …

Hi All, I have been reading most of the discussions here for last couple of months and now finally made up my mind on the installation. I want to achieve the following and reduce the electricity bill 1. Power during load shedding 2. Daytime energy savings and 3. Use the battery to meet the evening demand We are a family of 4 (us two and two kids) and a family of two (tenant) in the cottage. I am thinking of the following configuration 1. Sunsynk - 5Kwh 2. Panel - 455w * 12 3. Battery - 7,2Kwh Please let me know if this should be sufficient to generate enough power during the summer and winter. I am aware that I will still …

Hello everyone. I think it might be the settings but we have 2 Growatt inverters and since they changed the setting our electricity bill is higher than it was pre-solar panels. Please advise as to what settings should be. We have 2 inverters, 3 batteries and 16 solar panels. Many thanks.

Checking in... I work in the renewable energy field, mostly mini-hydro (1-20MW) with a touch of solar on the side... Currently getting ready to install a home solar at my place, 10kVA victron quattro, cerbo GX, 4x pylontech US3000 operating as a UPS at first then adding PV modules and MPPT in about 6 months' time when my pocket has recovered!

I have two Deye 5kw inverters installed. The consumption reported by Solar Assistant is almost half the monthly Tshwane meter reading. Any idea on what the problem might be?

Hi everyone, I have recently installed a Hoymiles MI-600 microinverter and two 365W Mono Percium panels from ARTSolar. I still need to align them better, they are ground mounted and not on the roof. I see you can get a DTU for there micro inverters in order to monitor their output and also ensure that you do not export to the grid. Exporting to the grid is a real issue as our base usage when we are not at home is about 100w. But anyway the exporting of power is not my main issue, I would like to get the best alignment for the panels to give me the best power production curve across the daylight hours. So I need the DTU for that. The pricing I…

Morning all I split my DB into two separate systems both receiving power from the same source my question is should the CT,s for both units be on the same main live incomer, or should I install the CT coils on the individual AC supply (after the split was done) for each inverter regards

Hello, Please advise if you see any issues with the above config. Is the Dyness a rebrand of something else? Any issues with BMS between the inverter and the battery. Thank you for your help.

Good day all, Just need some advice on my solar setup which was installed recently in the Pietermaritzburg Kzn region. I have 6 panels (415w each) mounted on my north side roof and 6 panels (415w each) on the westerly side closer to north. Now the issue I found is that I am not receiving the total possible production from this setup. In fact the total I noticed was 3.5kw which is a good 1.5kw roughly shy. Is this seasonal related because the sun is shining well these days however the angle of the sun has altered itself as oppose to summer? If you guys have some recommendations let me know. Thanks

Hi All - Completely clueless and new here!! I have a Eaton 9SX 1000i 1000VA Tower Line Interactive UPS with 6 extra 12V batteries. Will i be able to run a TV and lights during a load shedding session (2.5 hours)? Thanks!! Sammy

I have recently had a hybrid 3.6kw solar system installed at my house, this is more power than i ever use so i am curious to find out why the control panel always shows a small amount of power, around 20 watts coming from the grid. Can anyone please enlighten me ?

Hi Guys Am experienced in domestic single phase but new to DC/Inverters/Batteries. Can someone point me to how to install an inverter and backup battery system? Specifically from a DB/switchover point of view? Or if you are in JHB North/West - can I tag along?

This has definitely been the steepest learning curve I've had so far! I was asked by the family to help out with a solar/ backup solution. They have been plagued by major outages where they stay due to roadworks closeby. The contractor has damaged the mains feed cable to their complex resulting in at least 5 occurrences of power outages lasting 3-6 days at a time this year (over and above the load shedding we've all experienced. I now have around 10 quotes to choose from and am really worse off than before.... The information and ideas from this forum have given me a lot of knowledge - thank you all! Can I please ask for some user feedback on your systems that y…

So . I got myself 2 x 5kw sunsynk inverters . Currently running them as grid tie and just saving some power during the day. Works great . However . I finally got around to actually wanting to connect the earth's up ( was running just live and neutral . ) Noticed a voltage difference between the earth on the inverter and the earth in the db board . 114volts difference . First time coming across anything like this . So if anyone got any advice would be great . Thnx . PS . . . YES . it does shock 😲 😐

Hi I have been reading furiously for the last week, from Victron wiring guides, to spec sheets to maps and calculators for solar power not to mention this forum and a couple of other local ones. The current system is just a UPS for the internet and a battery lantern so starting from a clean slate. The UPS needs new batteries and the second lantern could use one too... Based on the Eskom postpaid bills that used actual meter readings the average (over two months) daily usage is below 8kWh per day. A few years back it was below 6kWh so that figure is nothing special. The electrical consumption doesn't change much between Summer and Winter probably due to…

Good day, I'm new to solar and have been drop into the deep end. Please HELP 🙂 In an effort to ensure my solar installation was done correctly and that there are no issues with registration, I opted to go with an official installer. Quote, design, purchase, install, configure and do the registration with COCT, the whole 10 yards. Everything went well (barring a few misconfigurations) until the City of Cape Town registration. This is where we were informed that the inverter was not on the COCT approved inverter list. Not to bore you with the back and forth between the installer and I the last 6 months, lets just say its not going anywhere. I have now decided…

I have been dreaming and trying to go solar for some time now, but the budget always seemed to get in the way. Anyhow I have freed up some cash to enable me to get my home/shop/office and my factory less dependant from the Eskom grid. Hoping that in the long run this will bring about some savings as well as ensure the survival of my business in increasingly hostile business conditions. So far I have a 2nd hand RCT Axpert 5K and a pile of dead 100ah lead batteries. Should I sell the RCT Axpert 5k and rather invest in something new? For the home/shop/office I think 5-8kw should be good. The factory will require 3-phase power and I estimate 30 - 50kw …

I'm having a bit of trouble, and all the information I consume, opinions I hear and advice I get conflicts into two camps. Busy with an assisted installation, doing some on my own. But first, my basic set up (in sequence): DC-Side - PV. DC Combiner box with fuses (fuse holders), noark and surge protect (+ve/-ve/earth), going to MPPT. KETO device connecting MPPT, Inverter/Charger and Battery. AC-Side - DB/House Mains, flowing through AC Combiner box with Changeover switch, breakers, into/out of Inverter/charger back through C/O switch to DB. Now to the earth... When I asked, of my advisor, "The earth connected to surge-protect in DC b…

Good day I'm new to solar and with all the loadshedding, I got myself a 3kva axpert inverter with 2 120amp gel batteries. No panels at the moment. I need help with the settings. Everything is on default at the moment. Its works but only lasts about an hour. Only have the Tv 55" (130w) with the router connected. I'm assuming my settings must be wrong. Please help...