Kavesh

Yes thanks man. My main reason for going small was just to keep essentials running, however, these days I am concerned of an extended period, i.,e days without power. There has been so much speculation of grid collapse. Its getting to me! I do not intend living on this property in 3 years.

Please explain further, I am no electrician, however, I like to do my research before chatting to an installer.

OK then 3 panels in parallel is all that I can install. Any thoughts on panel brand?

Thanks for the feedback. Would installing in series make a difference to the number of panels I can fit? Which way would be most efficient? I have been looking at solar panels. Locally it seems that the 2 brands available are JA and Canadian solar. is one better than the other or are they about the same? Canadian 450W can get for R4 100 and the JA 545W R4 250. Cant compare but that is what is available on the market.

Hi guys, would appreciate some input. Thank you

model SPF 3000TL HVM-24 Solar charge mode 102VDC MPPT 30 - 80VDC Input strings 1 Max charge current 50A Hope this helps

Hello all So last year I installed a 3kw Growatt inverter with 2 x 100amp gel batteries. This is a small system to keep my critical stuff on, like wifi lights and certain plugs for laptops. System has been working good and am happy. I have decided to add some panels as the risk of extended outages over winter and not being able to charge the batteries. I want to also run my fridges on this setup if possible on the days that there is sunshine. My installer advised me that I can only add 2 panels to this inverter, i.e. 2 x 450w canadian solar panels. I always believed that one could add more than that as it will enable faster charge of the batteries. I would appreciate any advice on this please. Thank you Kavesh

What are you guys using to protect the invertor from power surges? I was talking to my electrician and he said that I could install a surge protector on the invertor DB but said that even though surge protector would blow it will not break the power. This sounds strange to me as I would assume the surge protector is like a fuse that would blow first and protect everything connected to it. Would appreciate any thoughts on this please.

Hi Yes, it did come with the cable. I have not tried connecting it to my laptop though, just been lazy. Is the Watchpower software free to download?

Ok so load shedding did not happen as planned. I had a look at the settings and they were not set per above. We have now set the charging at 28.2v, with the float at 27v. Also some settings needed to be changed which I can report has allowed the charge light to go from constant blinking to steady green, which I believe indicates fully charged. I need to study the manual and familiarise myself with how it works. In the box came an additional cable, one end is a USB and I assume the other will fit somewhere on the inverter. Is this something that would make setting up the inverter easier or to obtain reports or graphs?

Hi all My recently installed Growatt 3kva inverter which has 2 x 100ah gel batteries. Power is from the grid and not solar. I have noticed that it is constantly charging, even though in theory the batteries should not have drained as we have not had load shedding as yet. I sometimes hear the fan running as well. When I checked the battery voltage it seems to be at a constant 25.3v, which is what it was when first installed. I would like to know whether this is normal or do I need to be concerned. Need to make sure everything is working correctly with load shedding coming tonight possibly. Thanks in advance. Kavesh

OK so the inverter is now installed, Can you believe that I am waiting for load shedding now:-) To test the system. I have connected all lights to the inverter and key plug points that do not draw much power, to power wifi, laptops and cellphones. I will be replacing the last few of my florescent tubes to LED soon, to make my lights load lighter. These normal long tubes actually are a heavy draw, 2 x 5 foot double tubes in my garage draws 1amp of power. We did a test on some LED downlights, 16 downlights draws 0.5amps. Obviously during load shedding I will not keep everything on, will manage that myself. I will update once I have had load shedding.

Hello There has been a delay due to lack of stock of the inverters. I have now managed to purchase a 3kva Growatt inverter and 2 100ah gel batteries. Hoping my sparky is available this weekend to complete the job. I have already sorted my essential load and will be converting the some florescent tubes to LED which will lighten my essential load further. I will update once its done.

So that has given me perspective, thanks Clivevan. My investment is not going to yield much help in terms on ROI. For now my priority is to ensure continued power when Eskom goes off, hopefully for not more than 5 hours. With that in mind, I have decided I will get a Growatt 3kva unit with 2 X 100ah gel batteries. I will just need to make sure that I do not discharge them below 40%. Bundu Power has it for about R7 100 and the batteries are R2 800 each. Hopefully they have stock tomorrow. Then I will need to get some accessories to do the install. My sparky asked for battery fuse and holder plus 35mm cable. He said 4m but that in my opinion is too much. The inverter and batteries will be close to each other. 2m should do it I think. We already have the additional DB and breakers, change over switch. Hopefully we can get this done on the weekend. Thanks for all the advice.

Thank you all for the valuable advice given, really appreciate it. You have helped me with staying away from the cheaper inverters which I have to admit is very tempting. I do not want to over invest at this time as mentioned at the beginning of this thread is that I am not sure how long I will be in this house, I'd say 5 years max, maybe less. I guess if I wanted I could uninstall my inverter take it along to the next house easily. The solar panels may be another story I think. How many panels would one need to power a 200l geyser? I have already decided to reduce this to 150l once its sell by date arrives and insurance covers that cost. I would look at the 5kva system if maybe 1 or 2 panels can run my geyser and other appliances during the day. With the cooler weather I only power my geyser for 2 hours and in summer for an hour, so will continue to do the same, the rest of the time I guess solar could feed back to power my needs, if I understand how these things work. OK who are the recommended suppliers who offer decent service I should be looking at?

Thanks for the reply.

So still very undecided on inverter choice! I am considering the option of getting a lithium battery which would allow me to run for longer periods without damaging it. However, if i go this route then I would like to see some ROI. Is it possible to to set an inverter to run at a specific time everyday, to run some selected circuits (yes that may mean getting a 5kva inverter) so like at a certain time of day or night there is a dual system powering the house, some from the inverter and some from the grid? Is this a pipe dream? If not then I will just stick with a hybrid 3kva with gel batteries. Bundupower has a 3kva Growatt at R7k, there gel batteries are R2.7k each and about R15.3k for a 2.4kw lithium battery Opinions please guys

Can you suggest brands that would be preferred?

He says if I decide to add more circuits to the inverter the 10amps will not be enough, say we decide to add a fridge at a later stage with more batteries. He also says this unit cannot be run in parallel with a second inverter which will add costs should we need to expand our backup

I can get the Rentech 3kva inverter for R7 000, have option for deep cycle batteries at R2 100 or Gel batteries for R3 250 each. Electrician is not too happy with this saying that max output on this unit which is a 2400w is 10amps. Apparently this cannot have a second inverter added to it in parallel. Mercer 5kva from sustainable.co.za for R10 048, then will need 4 batteries. (if I decide to go with this bigger setup). What do you guys think?

No battery backup on the garage door, its an old digidor motor

Thanks Bobstar, I am based in Pietermaritzburg. (because its a small town, everything here is expensive) I have already sorted out my house wiring. All essentials will be wired to a separate DB downstairs in the garage where I plan to mount the inverter. (Thats for both upstairs and downstairs). The electrician did the load test on the essentials that we want connected and its low, can't remember the number now, but 2amps comes to mind. No fridges will be connected, only my automated garage door if we need to get out. For the test we had all the lights on and in reality we will never have all lights on when on inverter power to preserve the batteries. If I recall my fridge spiked on startup to around 5amps and when the motor is running was 0.8amps. (wired to non essentials) My neighbour has a lot on during power outages on a 3kva unit with 2 gel batteries of 100a each. He mentioned that it could run easily for 8 hours. Now I understand that to preserve battery lifespan one should not run the battery below 40% of discharge, something my neighbour is not aware of. Ideally I would want the inverter to shut down once the battery reaches 40% of discharge. Do all inverters allow this functionality? I was chatting to a Battery Center salesman and he stated that there is no difference between deep cycle and gel batteries in terms of how long they will last. He mentioned that with the gel batteries you won't get any vapours like you would from the deep cycle. He also mentioned that if you do not run the batteries flat they will tend to last several years. (Are these comments regarding these batteries correct). At this stage I will have to say that the lithium batteries are outside my budget

Hi guys I have done so much research and each day get more overwhelmed with data. I am now being pushed by my wife to get backup power by month end. I was going to get a 3kva Rentech unit that my neighbour has which he seems satisfied with, He has 2 100a gel batteries connected to his essential load (several lights, cameras, wifi, tv, decoder and a few plugs to power laptops and cellphones). He claims it can run for up to 8 hours. Speaking to my electrician he advised against it as the output on this unit is only 10amps comparted to other 3kva units. My issue is that i cannot see myself living in this house for more than 5 years and investing heavily in backup power may not be worth my investment. Please guys in the know, help me make the right decision with regards to a decent inverter and associated battery packs to support it. We have already sorted the wiring out between essentials and non essentials. Please guys help me ensure I make the correct choice of inverter and battery. (Desperate now)

How does one choose an inverter brand? What I do know thus far that it needs to be pure sine wave and compatible to solar(not that I will be adding solar anytime soon). All all 3kva inverters the same assuming that is the size I need? Seems that that is not the case. Please advise, Thanks

Thanks for the feedback John. I agree with all your points mentioned. My problem is that what would the average cost of a bigger unit be together with the associated batteries? One option that I have debated to death is just get a generator is cheaper and yes the cost of fuel is very high and is still rising, how long will it take me to match the cost of the bigger inverter with my capital outlay on the generator plus batteries? The generator will run just about everything with minimal wiring. My first choice is definitely the inverter if I can just get it to run what I need, but don't want to be silly and go too small and have regrets later on. This is not an simple decision sadly.