Nicholas Strachan

Nice one.You guys are way too technical for me.I just smack the side of my 5000l jojo and I can tell where the level is but of course not as accurately as you .

That is exactly the size of my system and your numbers are 100% correct.

Me personally, I would prefer 2 batteries for redundancy.Your 1 big battery goes down and you have no back up for the night time if needed.

I live in Hillcrest which is about 25 km inland from Durban and its 2200 ft above sea level.We get tons of mist and drizzle in summer so sometimes I scratch but its workable. Yes winter days are shorter and sun is weaker BUT we have guaranteed sun so my output in winter is often more than summer. I have 1x 8kw sunsynk, 3 x hubble am2 and 7.25 kw of panels. I have a geyserwise system and with management in summer I "give" ethekweni about R120 pm of electricity just to keep them quiet. On hot days i use my lounge aircon off the panels without blinking and in winter use the ac to heat the lounge if i am too lazy to make a fire. Interesting how everyone has a different story/ need on solar.

Hi all. I am based in Hillcrest/Durban which falls under ethekweni municipality. To date there hasnt been a requirement to register our sseg system with them but am sure its coming along with some penalties for low usage. Has anyone out there heard of any new info regarding solar and Ethekweni ? Thanks

I dropped in 2 x s100 into my girlfriends mecer inverter system as the lead acids were stuffed plus I added a balancer and they work a treat.

Exactly. As long as you know what you are dealing with its fine.Ethekweni here Dbn are such a shambles.

Its interesting following these posts from here in Dbn because at the moment we dont have to register our systems with the municipality. That will change as they are so far behind here on all fronts.If they want this whole song and dance as discussed above then I shall disconnect from the grid. I suspect with revenues dropping off dramatically that a special tariff for solar owners will come and that would also make me go off grid which i can do already.

At the end of the day its up to the client if they want to rent a unit so that the lights stay on in loadshedding and up to the installer to explain the possible limitations of having a rental unit for a month or so that isnt exactly the same as what they are having fixed.

Well if anyone who is in the greater durban area needs a battery on loan for a client then let me know. I am happy to go ahead and buy some inverters and batteries if i see some requests coming through.

I was thinking of exactly those inverters.The 8kw I would have to charge a bit more for as they cost more than the 5kw but that can be worked out. As you said a 5 kw luxpower as well plus some batteries.

Thanks for the reply. I think the client should pay for it ,of course it depends on the circumstances. If the client is prepared to go without batteries or inverter while theirs is being fixed then so be it , but from an installers perspective i think it would be a nice service and unstrapping a battery off my wall or just taking one away from my stock is easy.

I have 3 Hubble am 2 batteries.If someone in the Durban area needs a battery for a client then we can do a test run.The installer can remove one of mine but prior to that obviously ask the client if they are prepared to pay R 1000 for a month of using it.Its up to the installer to charge what they want for the work done.I am assuming the risk as its my battery /inverter.It would be an interesting exercise and its a great service for installers to offer. I am in Hillcrest so it really would only suit Durban clients. My number is 0726025119.

I was thinking of around R1000 pm for a rental of either a battery or in inverter on a pro rata basis. I just know myself that if my inverter was gone for a month then I would not want to be without my system so 1k wouldnt make me blink and as you said there are continued electricity savings with having a loaner rather than nothing.

Thanks for the replies. Obviously one cannot mix up batteries and have to stick to the same type. Regarding the invertor ,I replaced my 5kw Luxpower with an 8kw Sunsynk and it was non event regarding wiring. I was thinking of getting a few 5k Luxpowers, a couple of 5 and 8 kw sunsynks. I would assume the risk of lightning strike and any damage to the inverter.It would be a risk I would take. I would like to hear your thoughts on what you think a client would pay for a month of renting an inverter in order to keep having their system while repairs are being done and the same goes for a battery.