Muerte

Wiring done, 16mm2 was a challenge in the 8 way DB's
Must say the OBO trunking are nice to work with 👌🏿
 

Hi All,
The solar bug has bitten and am also hopeful that in the long run this will get us away from Eskoms increases and obviously loadshedding as well.
I had 11 x JA 455w panels installed along with a 5kw Sunsynk inverter and 10.1kw Alpha ESS battery.
Very happy with the performance so far! My roof the panels are installed on faces exactly north which is awesome 🙂 Ive seen the solar production go up to 5650w which is really impressive for panels that are supposed to be a combined output of 5005w
 


 

Looks like my unit id on the Sunsynk was changed from 1 to 0 with the firmware updated. Changed under Advance on Sunsynk. Working again. 

Some updates. Been really frustrating not to be able to do more but I'm working alone and for some things just need an extra hand. Solar panels mount on roof is scheduled for next week Friday. 
Got 35mm2 cables made and crimped with the sprag. Disconnector to inverter cables came out about 5cm too long but still fine. 

Each PV wire gets it's own 25mm conduit hole to feed plug and wire into roof. Connections will be done inside the roof. Also easier to then test panels if something seems wrong. 

Hi Gabriel a piece of 80% shade net also does the job ..

Although not in SA an image that a school friend sent me. He does gutter replacements with a product called Gutterglove which prevents leaves settling in the gutters. Cheap way of storing water although it will test the efficiency of your plumbing ability.

Large price premium and long wait time ... I'm not that much of a brand snob.  Would rather get a Shoto for R10k less. 

Approximately 2279mm x 1134mm × 35mm is pretty much the industrial size used in ZA.
If you have the space, then it's not a problem.
Does required 2 people to handle and correct mounting on the correct clamping zones to prevent flex and damage.
 

I've got the ja 540w installed. The installers didn't have an issue with them. 

my installer carried the JaSolar 540's up to the second storey roof

they're very bulky and heavy for one person to handle, mine were 465w however.
2 people makes it much easier.
in my case I have a landrover with a heavy duty 4x4 roof rack which can handle a lot of weight safely, and simply got my supplier to load onto the roof. (only a 15 min drive back)
back home, line up with the carport and instant roof level panel unloading, no mess no fuss. 
having done it as 1 person, I can really say its not for the faint hearted, rather get a friend in.
 

All settings on the inverter is available on the control panel. No risk of being locked in.
Also, if you do not want to use the included Solarman system, you can use the same dongle with Solar Assistant. Solar Assistant keeps the data on an SD card on the Raspberry Pi that runs it. 

@Muerte
My 2cents worth:

There are 2 loggers.
1. The SolarMan logger (the older one)

Ive only used the SolarMan version.
It only connects via WiFi
IMHO, SolarMan is slow to refresh / lags, not very informative/useful and does not allow changing any inverter settings remotely - perhaps I'm missing something.
I'm using Solar-Assistant to provide additional functionality and information.
--
2. The new SunSynk.org logger
https://www.sunsynk.org/remote-monitoring
AFAIK, not yet released in ZA - can someone on the forum advise?
This connects via WiFi, but according to the documentation also has a network port.
The new SunSynk logger looks quite good, and allows you to remotely change inverter settings, etc.
Watch logger the video in the link above.



AFAIK, you will need a logger to request firmware updates.
I suspect you could do an offline firmware upgrade from a laptop and a serial cable.
Perhaps someone else can advise.