Garthox

Year 4 Update - running swimmingly

Stick with reputable known good suppliers.
https://powerforum-store.co.za
https://www.diygeek.co.za My 2x Narada batteries and and 1st growatt spf5000es and Sunsynk 5k inverter came from DIYGEEK running more than 5 years now with zero issues
https://segensolar.co.za Need an installer account to buy, some bargains but mostly a bit pricey
https://www.solarwaysuppliers.co.za I buy my panels and mounting systems from them, best prices online open to public
https://acdc.co.za Expensive, but can go there in emergency if desperate for something.
https://www.liteglo.co.za Electrical supplies online - nationwide delivery quick and their prices are really good, they based in JHB and I am in Cpt often get supplies from them cheaper than suppliers in cape town even after adding their courier fees.

Currently its only Container orders however we are working on getting some Bonded and Consignment stock available this will be then available to PF users and for that matter anyone that wants these panels.

My comments on the rest of the initial post:
Your goal is probably to reduce electrical consumption from the grid.
Personally I like vertical geysers.
One 150l geyser will work hard for 6 people.
With hot water usage in the morning, there will be grid usage. You want to manage the temperature of the geyser to minimise this.
I would definitely go for Geyserwise PV, but add four panels. I don't know the Elon system but I don't see remote display with the temperature.
A heat pump reduces energy consumption but doesn't give free energy. PV heating for a geyser is the best return on investment.
You can consider a second geyser to have more storage and reduce hot water runs.
You can also disconnect the AC supply to the geyser. Love and hot water supply should have limits.

@Verrayne
I love my sunsynk, reliable and has not missed i beat in over 5 years now.
As a long time sunsynk user I can categorically state in my opinion, the sunsynk app/portal/system/support is atrocious.
What started of as a re-branded deye inverter with a good reputation, unfortunately that has gone down the drain... especially in SA.
Maybe they just follow with good support where the demand is highest. They saturated SA in the days of constant loadshedding and now don't give a hoot about SA.
That's my rant of the year :)

Best solution is to get home assistant or solar assistant or something similar where you are in control of the data and never need to rely on some third party system.

Just a thought - really just taking a chance - try to set your Azimuth to 300 degrees and see how it looks.
It might be, if this is a new feature being tested, that the degrees are being counted anti-clockwise rather than clockwise. Basically, I'm wondering whether your panels aren't being interpreted as pointing 60 degrees West rather than to the East.

Good day.
5kw Sunsynk was between approx 55c and 65c before adding cooling
DIY cooler approx 45c -55c. (R650.00 inc. 12v 3A power supply)
Price does not include trunking. Used polystyrene to "seal" the sides


Laptop cooler approx 35c - 45c. (R629.00 Used cellphone 5v 1A power supply)


Sold the DIY cooler for R1000.00. (Had to include labor. 🤑)
The laptop cooler has been running non stop since 7 Dec' 2024 (Silent)
IMO it's better to blow air up from the bottom than sucking it up from the top.

Garthox wants to run Home Assistant. That's a rabbit hole, but so satisfying......

Gas is your friend. I get away with 2.5/3kwh of battery usage at night because of gas. We have a 9kg bottle and it lasts us about 5 months (299 to refill). We have those kettles that whistle and do our water boiling with it, cook every 2 days give or take mainly because we dont like the trouble of doing it everyday. Dishwasher and Washing machine are scheduled using connectlife app to run during the day. Pool pump etc also during the sun.
Battery only runs the TV (75 inch one that draws a bit over 200W), lights, router and my Desktop I play games on at night. Laptops for the kids. Microwave gets used here and there but its negligible, same with fridge. I only have a 3.6kw inverter but we work around the power draw by only running one big power user at a time. Dishwasher, toaster, washing machine, microwave and air fryer are only used one at a time. Was a simple enough habit change. Barely inconveniences anyone.

If best solution is what you want make the positive the longer cable due to the extra voltage drop on the negative due to switching on BMS and also some have a fuse.

The inverter cannot see if one cable is longer than the other. It only sees the voltage received. The normal quote is just to ensure one does not use a 1m positive and 5m negative as it is bad practise. There is already a higher volt drop on the negative due to the BMS even when cables are the same length.

Starting to re-read info in preparations when I'm back home now that I have purchased a second battery from Voltex at a cant pass up price.
From the Sunsynk manual - The diagram below shows the layout, this is clear. But this same document does not specify cable lengths.
From another reference, all lengths are to be equal.
I recall reading its good practice to keep all cable runs to equal length, the cable lengths from the breaker to each battery (Positive and Negative).
Could someone confirm there is no issues if I order and use the same length for that connection (Breaker to positive and negative on the batteries).


The below was a paste from a source in that thread.

I get your frustration, but the guy writing the article is probably just an ordinary journalist without a technical qualification, just copying and pasting the info from Eskom.
Anyway, the 50kVA spec cannot be referring to panel output, because panels only produce DC-current. The 50kVA apparent power rating only makes sense in the context of Alternating Current, so it can only mean the inverter's AC output.

System Update:
Generator input added. This was done with 6mm cable, a dual pole 25A isolator, and a 32A CEE plug on the outside wall.
Added an additional battery and neatened up the battery cable from the fuse holder to the inverter.
Next item on the to-do list is the route the battery cables between the batteries a bit neater and to cover the earth and comms cables on the left battery with conduit.:

Achieved a good milestone with my system, of completing my panel installation with the wiring. All finally connected and generating.
Being later in the afternoon and overcast, the graph on the Solar assistant was all over the place with me testing the system putting on the kettle etc
Happy so far with this progress.

Voltex is selling the Sunsynk 5.32 kWk battery for R16,100 ( just bought one ), however you need the push connector cables

No significant losses BUT your running baseload is higher

Achieved a good milestone with my system, of completing my panel installation with the wiring. All finally connected and generating.
Being later in the afternoon and overcast, the graph on the Solar assistant was all over the place with me testing the system putting on the kettle etc
Happy so far with this progress.

Achieved a good milestone with my system, of completing my panel installation with the wiring. All finally connected and generating.
Being later in the afternoon and overcast, the graph on the Solar assistant was all over the place with me testing the system putting on the kettle etc
Happy so far with this progress.

Achieved a good milestone with my system, of completing my panel installation with the wiring. All finally connected and generating.
Being later in the afternoon and overcast, the graph on the Solar assistant was all over the place with me testing the system putting on the kettle etc
Happy so far with this progress.

Achieved a good milestone with my system, of completing my panel installation with the wiring. All finally connected and generating.
Being later in the afternoon and overcast, the graph on the Solar assistant was all over the place with me testing the system putting on the kettle etc
Happy so far with this progress.

Hey Guys 
Sadly I don't have videos or pictures of us raising the 12 meter tower we just did not have enough hands its a very critical part of the process and one does not want to drop an expensive turbine on the ground. 
I will post more pictures of the controllers etc.
Currently i have the wind turbine coupled to a wind turbine grid tied inverter ac coupled to the back up port of my 2 x Solis S6 6KW advanced inverters and the turbine is constantly pushing a little power into the system I still have two trees to trim down. 
My windy season starts just before winter so then the turbine will have nice constant 30 to 40 KPH Winds 
Peak production that i have so far from the machine was 1.7 KW on the DC controller and 900 Watt on the WInd turbine inverter. 
I also still have to install the HYE 1KW at a later stage and we are also looking at testing a more advanced Grid tied Wind turbine inverter. 
later this week I will move the current Grid tied wind turbine inverter to the generator port of the Solis Hybrid setup and do some tests with that configuration and the week after I will recieve my Solis 4.6 Grid tied inverter Supplied by Solis South Africa thanks James Frank.
With the solis grid tied we will then use the 360VDC DC Controller and couple to the solis 4.6 MPPT and Ac couple to the Solis hybrids.
I also have the Solis 5KW Off Grid inverter that I will be testing the 360VDC DC Controller on its MPPT the inverter will have a 5KW Humless battery I am just waiting on some components to finalize the commissioning of that little system which I will also integrate onto my hybrid system. 

I've had the Geyserwise MAX with water filled solar collector tubes for more than 10 years now. Apart from a service once every few years, it just runs and produces plenty of free hot water. It is really an excellent brand!!
My only issue was changing the settings is awkward and having to look in the cupboard to see what the temperature was. But I solved that recently by adding the Geyserwala Connect smart WiFi upgrade which gives me a full featured app so I can see and control my geyser from anywhere.
I highly recommend the WiFi upgrade from Thingwala it completes the trusted Geyserwise brand perfectly.

As an update, today is Day 34 off grid.  So far I've had blasting sunny days, and days with so much cloud cover it's hard to get the batteries to 100%.  So far I've generated 1.06MWh, and I've had to use the generator only once.  Only once because I chose to run it when cloud cover was thick, so I can get batteries a bit fuller before bedtime.  I could have skipped it, but I figured the generator needs to run anyway, and "today's as good a day as any", so went with it.
So far, I'm not sorry for a second.  It's worth every single cent.

Here are some Pics of the Generator and guy wires fixed to the pole.

The Guy Wire bases are 120 Degrees appart and 6 meters from the central base each Guy wire base is 1000 x 1000 x 800 and the central base is 1000 x 1000 x 410 mm 
One Guy base diagonal with the direction of swivel on the base this allowed us to assemble the turbine and tower on the ground. 
Total estimated 27 Mpa Concrete used was close to 3 Cubes in total all the rebar and steel mesh we had to supply the manufacturer supplied the base plate and threaded rod and the eyelet rods for the Guy bases.
More to follow...