Scorp007

Not so sure I can agree on this. Panels are now much cheaper than say 18 months ago. Yes they seem to be steady now and we currently seeing batteries coming down week after week. A 450W panel is now much cheaper than even a year ago when we were still having daily LS. That even with a much weaker Rand/$ exchange rate.

Here you have selected the battery to remain at 100% all the time but you did not tick any grid use to keep it at 100%. Put a tick mark at GRID CHARGE. I will also reduce the 100% to 95%. On the next slide you did indicate every day. These 2 pages gives permission to charge from the grid. If I have it wrong can our thousands of users please jump in to help. By using only a 25Ah battery and some load you can expect to use nearly 80% of the battery in the period with no PV thus you HAVE to tick using grid charge to keep the inverter on. Info on slide 6.

I would depend what your setting is under the timer section and if you have the use grid ticked. My 5kW has a 50-60W drain from the battery when I have AC not connected. This is shown under the load value on the RHS at the bottom. This value is the self power when all loads are switched off.

Personally and based on your question I would untick the 9h to 17h time frame from using grid. This is if your panels can sustain the load in this sun period. I will also lower the SOC to around 30-35%. I have my use grid ticks off and run without the grid on during the day. But I have to say I use very little grid. I only have my Deye now for nearly 2 weeks and only connected my last batteries yesterday. I am in an area where if we have power failures it gets restored in under 3 hrs. Only had 2 long power failures which were 12 and 36 hrs in 35 yrs. During LS we do have the normal cuts.

You can measure the voltage of each battery with a high resolution voltmeter. You can also use the amp scale of a multimeter to measure what current is flow between them if they are not at the same voltage. Lastly the easy way would be if you have a DC clamp meter and measure on the red wire Sorry to hear you did not pay attention to the polarity of the wires. As with about ALL things electrical this is key. I notice it is shown on the unit which wire goes where.

I still prefer using these controllers on high power tools like table saws, angle grinders, cutters for steel. Basically any brush motor without speed control. All the above I manage to start from a 2.4kW 24V Axpert. Some I don't even run at full power. They are kind to the inverter and no more high starting spikes. I have a 4kW with 0-100% power meter that adjusts via up and down tactile switches. Some junk info these units were one of 2 electronic projects we could be asked to do during our trade test way back in the late 1970's. I build one before my trade test inside a 4x4 box and used the full wave design with pot for decades in the garage. https://www.communica.co.za/products/cmu-ac-speed-dimmer-contr-6000w?variant=17184331202633&sfdr_ptcid=31591_617_495127808&sfdr_hash=d937f832f4bff6317af0b7c2114f8972&utm_source=www.communica.co.za&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAtYy9BhBcEiwANWQQLzYeTb6d2Fvn1wWsxTb-Ex4gmFe_smytp6UQMHBvhmD_dMGoDjRvCBoCTpoQAvD_BwE

Measuring the DC is very easy via a series voltage divider. When the level is too low you just disconnect it via a relay and can then switch on the AC side of the 230/72V unit. Allow the solar supply as the master and as soon as the solar is strong enough it takes over and uses solar which then disconnects the AC supply. Cost of such a module less than R250. How about some other ideas from our members.

Thanks for making the inverter available. I am sure it will keep on doing its thing in future.

AFAIK the pump is just pumping water (circulating)all the time while the temp is below the set point. Once the set point is reached the gas compressor is also stopped. Yes the compressor pumps the gas just like in a fridge and aircon but the result is just heating instead of cooling. This is why the outlet air from the heat pump is cold as per an aircon where the outlet of the aircon is inside the room and the exhaust is hot air to the atmosphere.

Although not related to this post just a comment on the non carrier type of meters. Some months ago I helped a neighbour on a CUI that does nor plug into a socket. The CUI showed 30kWh but the main meter was depleted and it was giving an audible alarm when I went to the street kiosk. It seemed like the CUI showed it's battery still good but at about 25%. Thus a good practise to change the battery when it is low. Also good to check that the CUI does indeed show lower credits on a regular basis. I suggested to load some units and as we walked to their house at night the lights sudden came on and all well again. Another point my Sonoffs used to show power going through it in either direction. Using a radio linked CUI on my prepaid it stopped showing any export after converting to prepaid. On this point I am not sure if the Sonoff was updated that this caused export to stop showing or if it was the prepaid power meter that was installed causing it. Even my other Sonoffs just being used as a switch would not allow power to be exported as earlier.

If you look at my basic picture of yesterday just below the koekies you will see a closed system and the pump sucks from the cold inlet of the geyser and discharges at the hot outlet side. Being a closed system this causes the geyser water just to circulate. At all times whether the pump is running or not cold water enters the geyser as hot water is used. This is very muck like water pumps in cars circulating water through the radiator to cool it down.

Credit to @TaliaB as per this link. The manual shows it as battery voltage low.

The current range of NORMAL geysers do have 2 hot water outlets. One for the hot water to taps and the other for solar collector/heat pump. Then you have the cold water inlet/taps as well as the drain point and lastly the pressure relief to the outside. I had to chat to the manager of the last plumber who had no clue how a heat pump works and luckily for me I saw he put a non return valve between the heat pump hot water T-piece connection and the geyser hot outlet. He did not use the 2nd hot water point for solar/heat pump. This would have meant my heat pump would not have been able to push the hot water into the geyser. Imagine trying to convince the plumber it is wrong and he had to remove the non return valve or connect the heat pump to the correct port. That is how things go. The only way for the 2 plumbers to accept they did it wrong was to Google a Kwikot document with drawing to show the connections. I have been using the standard Kwikot geysers all my working life. These are the normal replacements by the insurance companies.

All a pleasure. I just try to give my own experience with enough figures and test to back it up. When I had to do repairs in a steel factory we had a heat pump but all I had to ensure is that the thing is always running. I had no idea how it worked as it was just the inlet and outlet pipe from the pump. I also had the headaches to repair copper pipes in a massive 17kV induction heater that was used to melt the electroplated tin on steel plates at a high speed while the steel strip was going through the coil. These coils were cooled with distilled water. Never knew this tech will one day be used in most homes over time.

You just have to set the inverter not to use the battery and use the inverter in bypass mode by activating the timer to be on grid all the time. This is how I think you will not waste the grid to battery and then back to AC for the loads.

Being new to the prepaid game I can just say I am happy with my wireless console back to the munic main unit out in the street. The only problem I see it does take a number of seconds to update credit thus no actual real time values as far as power use is concerned can be requested. Time will tell how long the console battery lasts but I guess it could be longer than a year. Maybe others in Tshwane can give an idea of the current Conlog unit.

You will read a lot of junk from people bashing heat pumps while they have never used them. Sometimes best to ask those that have been using them. Myself and @Bobster. have been using them for over 10 yrs and do know how little power they use. I even heat my geyser from batteries if I have to and I only use a small 2.4kW Axpert. I just ensure I switch off my fridges via smart switches for the 1 hour when heating to prevent overload on the inverter. Water is just circulated through the unit that transfers heat. Some of the pool HP are using as little as 10% power compared to an element. One forum member indicated his pool HP adds 1deg per hour to his open pool of 4x7m. He runs it of solar. All HP quote their COP factor. This shows the actual efficiency factor. Most pumps are around 3-4 for older units like mine. I have what I rate one of the better makes being a ITS but they must be installed by their approved plumbers. Mine is long past the normal life cycle and working fine. Locally designed. I only had to change the pump as the original installer did not fit a strainer back in 2011.

@BarendD My calculations done at the actual cost of running a heat pump up to 2022.

The usage is below 45% of a element. It runs less than an hour 2 times a day. It must be one of the worst urban legends that a HP runs all the time. During summer it is actually faster than a 3kw element and should be as it transfers 4.7kw of heat to the water. The about 50min above is to heat from about 28 deg C to 55 deg. The run time cannot be calculated as it would be a function of the hot water used per day. A not so common stat is that during December we baked over 600 of these koekies and we used 12kWh of power in total. That was from 09h to 19h in the evening. Overall not so much power at R36 as people tend to indicate it's not worth baking koekies. The ingredients were the expensive bit. Example of koekies.

4.7kw heating capacity and 1 x 150L geyser in use. The 2nd one is switched off. 150L geysers are the cheapest per litre capacity due to the high volumes. I would use 2 of them and if they are close together then you need only 1 heat pump.

Luckily my single over only uses 1.8kW and does have the option to use the fan or not. My twisted brain cells just love my heat pump which uses just over 1.2kW to heat water. Easy to run from solar and it has been doing it for 14 yrs. No element to assist has ever been connected up in Gauteng. Not up to date on modern stoves but I can still recall the free standing Defy stoves of decades ago with models like 424/425 I think were drawing just below 10kW for the 4 spiral plates, oven and warm drawer.

Most Axperts have settings going deep into the 30's. Not feasible to list every one here and pointing out the meaning of the different options per each setting. Refer to a manual then I suggest to point to the settings you need more info on.

What we sometimes forget is the residential main DB has a 60A MCB. Up stream from the house grading is used so the residence would trip before the up stream towards the source. Practical as less call outs from the supply authority. Thus the source side would typical have a 70/80A breaker. I hear you when you say how do people get along on 60A. Easy if you manage energy used. In the portion of my house where the 2 of us live there is the normal kitchen appliances but never more than 3 on at the same time. We have never tripped the main 30A breaker. Yes this excludes Aircons, pool pump and heater, lawn mower, welding machine etc. These are fed from the main DB at 60A. All items that must be on a earth leakage have never tripped the 40A unit on overload. Only tripped due to moisture on extensions(joints) or water in an outside light aperture. No gas equipment but for a single stove plate if needed for boiling water.

If you were talking about the diagram @WannabeSolarSparky posted on Thursday - it is from the Sunsynk manual with some editing I guess.

Just a comment on the CT. I notice you have a Sunsynk. In my Sunsynk manaual it shows the arrow towards the inverter. Then on the other hand Deye shows the arrow towards the GRID. Circuit from the Sunsynk manual.