p_i

Another URL used by the same people: sasolarsuppliers.co.za Don't get caught.

Wow, what a shyster. We can only hope that karma exists.

Lots of possible red flags on that one:

Here's another web site highlighting these scammers: https://mygqeberha.com/i-smell-a-solar-rat/

solar-origin is the same as jpsolar; you can easily confirm that by looking at the relevant "about us" pages and scrolling down to the "team" photos.

I believe it's simply a case of PV not able to ramp up quickly enough to provide the required power.

It's legit if you're using this URL: https://powerforum-store.co.za/

It's looking great. Seems the battery dropped to about 38% SOC during the night but was fully charged before 10:00. And each time you used a little bit of battery due to load, the PV kicked in to recharge it back to 100%. That's a beautiful graph to sit and watch.

Seems that's only applicable on paid/promoted google ads. We should have a pinned fraudulent sites post.

This says otherwise:

That's a copy of jpsolar; simply compare the faces on the about us page.

And you're still getting a little power from PV too... nice.

That's just how it works. PV can't provide power if there's nowhere for it to go, ie. nothing available to use it. As you noticed with the kettle, PV will provide the necessary power as soon as you need it.

These ones are suspect too: https://www.sunsmart.co.za/ https://www.heatsmart.co.za/

You can add this to list: https://jpsolarsuppliers.co.za/

Nice catch on that announcement!

Scanning through the sites, I'd hazard a guess that it's still very new and not fully checked. There's lots of [INCLUDE ALL THAT APPLY TO YOUR BUSINESS] type of text in the privacy policy, as if it was copied from a template and they didn't know what to do. Physical address is listed as a PO Box. No matches for their company names on google maps. Some products don't have pricing on their product pages, eg the SolarMD batteries. Some products have template junk at the bottom of the page, eg the Sunsynk 5kw inverter. Same phone number listed for both sites and it's even the same number for branches in different areas of the country? Free shipping under their shipping policy on the solar site? I didn't go through the entire registration process to see what payment options are really presented, but maybe first contact them and ask whether the product can be collected at their premises. That might tilt the scale between the new company vs potential scammer.

I've noticed a few things: a. "Use timer" isn't ticked so your schedule isn't active right now. b. There's a lot of grid usage during the day as if the inverter isn't using PV to the full potential (but it might be that the PV was too low due to rain and clouds) but why isn't it supplementing load by using the battery then? Also, it was using a lot of grid to charge the battery at 5:00 and 22:30? PS: I'm still a newbie and pre-solar so my comments might be rubbish.

I think they're playing games with us. How can they go from level 4 to nothing over the past weekend, just to pop back up to level 4 & 5 in the evening? Was it simply to end their current streak of loadshedding?

According to this post, the inverter itself uses 50W, but there's further losses due to charging, etc. I can't seem the find the official value during quick googling. Maybe one of the forum experts will give us proper figures.

Based on this image compared the previous one, it might be self-consumption by the inverter, which is then roughly 231-239W based on the numbers shown (I don't know what the correct inverter self-consumption number is). Which means you didn't get enough power from PV and it supplemented that from the grid in the earlier image? 813+32-2-612=231W 871+0-2-630=239W

There's an arrow on the CT coil. It should be pointing towards the inverter, ie. inbound from Eskom on the outside.

Any chance the CT coil is pointing in the wrong direction and the 32W is actually outgoing?

I'd give that site a skip: Terms & Conditions: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet - dummy text? Refunds: mention of books & cd's and so forth, as well as gifts, but only solar related stuff listed on the site? Registration number listed is very new: 2022/528909/07 Payment policy updated in November 2021, which is before registration in 2022? One review on hellopeter mentions that the business doesn't exist at the address: https://www.hellopeter.com/energy-outlet

Crossover is where the orange combo on one connector goes to green combo on the other side of the cable and vice versa. Blue and brown goes straight through. But as P1000 mentioned before, these cables aren't really used anymore given that switches and network cards have become smarter over time. PS: With T568B it's easier to see the wire colours so you don't accidentally swap pin 6 and 7, as orange and brown are close colour wise.