TimCam

My goodness, when protection is bypassed on these large plants, this is insane. Not only for reliability of the grid, but for safety sake, as workers lives are then in danger. 😲

Thanks for your explanation Antonio. 👍 But why do the generators go into reverse / motor mode before disconnection from grid, and then cause catastrophic shutdown after disconnection? Surly the control system should disconnect before the generators go into reverse / motor mode. Maybe it is a function that just occurs when a generator is stressed beyond its capabilities, but still no reason to push the generator until it reaches this point. Rather disconnect and keep it running. More input please.

Never call these vermin elites, they are nothing but parasites. Back to topic... One thing that bothers me is if the load increases beyond generating capacity, the frequency drops below 47.5 Hz, then the "generators" disconnect from the transmission lines, (isolate themselves). This will continue in a domino effect if the load is not shed in time. Now lets say this happens, why will it take 2 to 4 weeks to "black start" again? Surly the generating units will still be running independently, just disconnected from the transmission lines, and maybe running into dummy loads or pumping water between ballast dams? All that should be needed to restart is slowly bring the loads and generating units back online through the transmission lines. It naturally needs to be synchronized one generating unit at a time, but 2 - 4 weeks, that's slow. Maybe some Eskom past, present employee or contractor could explain fully? 🤔

Maybe @HiltonQ could crate or PX the equipment and ship it to you in JHB. Unfortunately no other choice as warranty is toast. Shame man, I can imagine the terrible sinking feeling having this happen.😢

Thanks @Scorp007. Does the geyserwise setup have a thermostat and a temperature sensor? Difficult to work out the components in the pic. It looks like thermostat middle bottom, element middle left, anode upper middle and earth strap middle right? Either way hope @Dannler is happy with his hot water.👍

Possibly with the installation of the new heater element the geyserwise thermostat (sensor) has been "bumped" lower down in the tank, so the inrush of cold water takes longer to heat and "mix" with existing hot water higher up in the tank? I don't have a geyserwise install, but on my custom install, the temperature sensor is safely installed near the top of the tank.

Well done Kevin, enjoy. 😄

Bump for those who are not night owls.

Keith Gough live in Johannesburg (SunSynk) New products like a 5 kW inverter with 10 kW MPPT, and general info.

@Scorp007 & @Modina Talk about "old" 12V and 24V UPS's. I have 6 Luminous 900VA machines, but only one is in service at my daughters home, the other is a 24V 1400VA machine at a "play school". Others are dismantled for repairs. No time to spend on them now. All are pure sine-wave machines. The modified sine-wave machine is in the vehicle if needed. Ahaa! the money I've wasted to get to a full house inverter.😲

We all need one or two of those... 😂 I see it can be used in 12V, 24V, 36V or 48V configurations, and up to 16 in 4Sx4P in 48V. 👍

Possible problems with running a generator as backup through the AUX port. If I had this choice, I'd get a 16 kW inverter with a load of batteries and panels, and keep all loads on essential. When I last looked, 2x 8 kW inverters cost more than 1x 16kW inverter. Less problems and expenses with DB re-wiring, and less chance of equipment failure. Welcome to the forum, and enjoy your expensive new solar hobby.

That rag called the constitution, is not worth the paper it's written on. If read carefully you will notice ALL rights and powers are put into the hands of a few thugs (um politicians). The people can and do have no rights at the stroke of a pen, as we saw in the last Covert19 PLANdemic. As for water been a scarce resource, this is fabricated propaganda. Most of the worlds surface is covered by water. Many decades ago when I lived and worked in Cape Town in the medical business I dealt with reverse osmosis system in the renal field. I spoke with a membrane manufacture in Somerset West (if I remember correctly) who exports products worldwide. He told me about the offer his company made to the CoCT to provide desalinated potable water for pennies on the kl. The CoCT flatly turned down the offer. Talk about agenda's and ulterior motives. 🤔 Not picking on you Peter, just get annoyed when thinking about the loss of freedoms, and the power in the hands of a few incompetent cANCer nuts. 👍

Eskom let the cat out of the bag here. Load-shedding has nothing to do with maintaining a stable grid? These guys were NOT drawing power from Eskom (during load-shedding times), but providing power from their own solar infrastructure. So please explain what the "unknown" purpose of load-shedding is, if not to maintain a stable grid in reduced generation periods?? They appear to be a spiteful mafia monopoly. So careful people with Solar, you are Voiding too, and Eskum will get you. 🙄

An 8kW inverter will handle a 1.1 kW pump start-up, but as you suggested try the 0.75 kW pump. Most important for flow and head is pipe diameter feeding the pump, as you don't want cavitation. Unfortunately most houses have 15mm copper pipe throughout except feed in, so nothing much you can do there. I currently have a 0.55 kW booster pump, but we rarely have more than 2 taps open at a time. When my water purification room is complete, I'll be running a 0.75 kW pressure pump and a 0.55 kW booster pump in tandem at times, plus another 0.55 kW booster pump for the green house. I also "only" have a 8.8 kW inverter. 👍

https://www.voltex.co.za, but different prices for different "customers".

As @GreenFields and @Scorp007 suggest, a heat pump is expensive, but gentile on inverters and batteries. If you are starting from scratch, you can choose different options, by learning from other peoples mistakes. 😄 Oh, and as for lithium batteries running a geyser element or heat pump, a friend of mine just bought a new Hubble AM-2 today with updated spec's of 6kW, i.e 125Ah for a little over R28 000. This is his fourth AM-2, and his geyser runs happily on battery and/or solar.

I have both EV solar and PV solar, and on full cloud cover, the EV tube solar for the geyser is useless compared to PV output. With intermittent clouds, the EV does heat up the water. On full sunny days the EV solar heats up the water to between 70-80 degrees. I've had the EV solar long before the PV solar system. On my SunSynk 8.8 kW everything is on essential load, and I use CBI Astute's to control the loads if needed. If I was going for a new install, I'd go for full PV, and get a few CBI Astute's, to control different "heavy" loads.

Yip, should have put the "perceived" percentage of failures goes up... I believe the quoted stat is 0.004%

With the increase in Eskom load-shedding, the installed inverter base is increasing at an alarming rate. Most common brands are SunSynk / Deye way ahead of the rest, then followed by the voltronics crowd. Victron installs are few and far between, compared to the rest. All electronic equipment can fail, especially with the number of DIY installs, and shady companies doing half jobs. Obviously the larger market share you have, the percentage of failures goes up, and your success can bite you in the butt, if you can't ramp up the service channel quickly enough. Problem there is if you ramp up the service channel to match the demand, when the demand tapers off, you are over-staffed. Very common problem this. As for my SunSynk 8.8 kW inverter, it has served me well without a problem. Through lightning storms that made me cringe, and wild grid voltage variations from 180V to 266V. Oh! and what is this load-shedding people talk about?😂

Ha ha, I know the feeling, even 3D printed enclosures are not the best looking but are OK for a small run of beta testers. Injection molding etc, is extremely expensive.😲 Looking forward to the finished product. Maybe fiddle with some DIY lithium batteries in the future.👍

What inverter do you have, and what is the maximum panels you hope to invest in?

Looking good, and I like the new look "Freedom Won" battery styling. 😂😂

Another happy customer, I bet. What angle to you set for the panels?