hannesvn

Good day. I have 5.1 kW worth of panels ( 6 x 400 and 6 x 450), 3 x Pylontech 5000 batteries and a 8 kW Dye inverter. I must now move to a etirement village. There is no problem installing solar at the new dwelling. The estate agents selling my house seem to be luke-warm about the solar installation, I get the impression that the solar does not increase the value of my home. They base their estimate on other properties sold in this area, not whether it is fitted with solar. I am considering removing my complete istallation and moving it to the new dwelling. I'll use the same guys that did the istallation for the move. I will be frank with the agents and prospective buyer, and tell them that the solar is not part of the deal. May I ask for your opinnion on that?

If this was not an issue, ie large inverter with charge controller that can handle the voltage, can one then safely mix panels on one string? Anything in particular to watch out for?

Good day guys. I have done weekly exports of data from my Solarmanpv system monitor, saving the files for future reference. Thats how I am, maybe I'll never look at it again. When i click on the "Export" command, I get the normal download interface with a suggested filename: "2022-09-12 _ 2022-09-18Inverter2108129468Report" About two weeks ago the filename changed to "2022-06-06 _ 2022-06-12dict.device.type.undefinedundefinedReport", and the resulting file is void of any data. Any ideas how to resolve this please?

Hi all, as part of my indepenency project, I'm harvesting rain water during the rainy season (Centurion). Ihave a three stage Big Blue filter system down to 1 micron. I also have a RO filter for drinking water. I want to fit a UV filter at the Big Blue filter. It seems that the UV light has a life expectancy af 9000 hours, about one year. I want to wire it to the pressure pump after the pressure switch, so that the UV only comes on while the pump is running. I have a hour meter (220V) which I can use to monitor the UV light. Has anyone done something similar? Is it feasible? I have 15000 liter storage, and for about 5 months of the year I use zero municipal water.

I notice on Google Maps that many malls in Centurion have substantial solar arrays on their roofs. How is this power managed? To store it would require enormous battery installations. Anyone with first hand knowledge?

Can I combine neutral from the grid and from the inverter? Earth leakage issues?

Gave it some more thought. If I use a relay with a NO nd NC output, I could connect those outputs to my buzzer via a 2-way switch. That way I can silence the buzzer, and at the same time arm it for the next change in status.

We experienced our first power outage since I installed my modest system three weeks ago. (8 kW Deye hybrid, 1 pylon UP 5000, 6 x 400 W panels) I was unaware of the outage and the household carried on as normal... until the lights went out. All kinds af beeps and red lights on the inverter. We must have exeeded the battery's max discharge and caused a shutdown. I knew from the outset that I am lean on battery, and was planning to increase that soon in the new year. In the mean time I planned to reduce load during load shedding. Question is, how can I become aware that the grid is down? With scheduled loadshedding it's easy, but a grid failure can come any time. I was thinking of a relay connected to grid, and on failure it could trigger a battery operated buzzer or klaxon or something. Any ideas or experiences?

Do I get ANY gain/ bill reduction out of this?

A steep learning curve (for me) indeed. It doesn't look as if the inverter is "choking" the power, but rather returning it to the grid. This week was particularly bad in terms of sunshine, so it was difficult to get enough reliable data to come to a conclusion. I will monitor my installation over the festive season and declare my disputes (if any) once businesses are open again. I've seen a few things of interest, the DC voltage stays around 3.5 V during the night. It spiked to about 10 V during a thunderstorm (lightning?) I also noticed that there is a 70 W difference between total grid and total consumption. I assume that is the system's internal use. Thank you all for a very pleasant and informative two days on the forum. Have a wonderfull Christmas and new year, and stay safe.

Thanks guys, I feel better about the panels now. I've plugged in my location , setup and angles to PVWatts calculator (https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/) and downloaded the hourly prediction, and it is very close yo what I get.

Yes, connected in one series string....and yes, battery is now set up for 90% SOC, 2.5 kW draw should see me through a load shed. Do you think it will be better to first expand the batteries rather than the panels?

Hi guys, after (too) long deliberation and hesitation, I eventually started my PV installation. I'm a pensioner so money is not abundant but I managed to get things started. I have a 8kW Deye hybrid, six 400 W panels from Proton Solar and one Pylontech UP 5000 4.8 kWh battery. My electricity meter is old school analog and I was told that it would turn backwards if I produce surplus power. I need to witness that when the sun shines again. I live in Centurion. I plan to expand, first with more panels and then with more battery. I have a concern about the panels. I can't find any info about them on the www. The maths tell me that the total rated power is 2400 W, but at midday in brief full sun I have seen only 1800 W. The panels are roof mounted on a 27 deg slope and facing 10 deg west of true north. Are the panels under-performing? I don't want to complain to the supplier and make a box of myself if the panels are within acceptable limits.