PaulF007

I wonder if the inventor of those ever envisioned all the uses that they are used today , thank you @Chris Hobson!

I saw this on another forum of a guy that mounted panels on a RV , I like the way he connected the panels to the frame.
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/solar-panel-mount-frame-53154#post77552

Ambitious as it may be I think it would be nice to have a place where we can share instalation ideas , from the DYI'd , the dirt cheap plans (@Jaco de Jongh ) , and commercial stuff. I know that when I started my installation I were looking at all the installations for some inspiration.
So , if I may, the rules for this thread.
Pictures is a must preferably closeups to show detail Let's stick to the topic this time...... If the idea seems to be less safe and not in public interest refer to admin ( @Energy if this is ok with you?) We don't want this thread to be derailed by  LONG discussion about the welding techniques or how the steel might be tooo thin or to skew or whatever. Let the ideas flow , everybody here should have a degree of common sense that they could apply   Did I mention pictures is a must! Web links is also cool. Maybe this could become sticky sometime down the line and a cool resource place. Lets see .
Regards
Paul

Another option that is worth a look is Openhabian - it is also well supported. 
I whent full automation about three years ago and sofar Openhab has treated me well. 
This is what my layout looks like :
 

Another option that is worth a look is Openhabian - it is also well supported. 
I whent full automation about three years ago and sofar Openhab has treated me well. 
This is what my layout looks like :
 

Here is a thought , span the begees out of those contact numbers. Keep the crook busy so he does not have time to scam ignorant/desperate people. 

The thread was very old when you posted but your post helped me yesterday.  .
I have been running ICC for a while but am now starting to dabble in Home Assistant and was looking for info to get me going on using MQTT to get info regarding my inverters from ICC into HA.
Your statement "If the Broker is receiving data you could try and connect to the Broker with # as the topic" was exactly what I needed.  I had no clue what topics there were. Thanks!

Been using Openhab now for almost four years .  Here is a LINK of the setup I posted on another page. 
 
Personally I tested both and the reason why I went OH is that they have a Proxy server that works out of the box. You install the plugin register the on the site and add your UUI and Secured code. No need to port forward and it is for free. But apart from that I could not see much difference for what I an using. Also after three years you tend to know the interface so it is "easier" to setup 

Cloud access and Android client!

Complements to the new year for every body , my your success end up being boring to you all
Its been a while since I posted anything and to be honest I have not spend enough time on Pf but in my defense I had quite a bit on my fork. The place that we bought two years back was/is quite old and it still has those horrible red semi backed clay bricks. When I started with my Solar project I knew that the houses wiring was in a very shabby state but at that time there was not enough time or tom to redo it and I also had some "plans" that I wanted to figure before I started with the project. So almost two years later I had all my plans and material to grab the wires and start pulling. 
Now my wire work is not nearly as good as some of the folks stuff that I saw here but it works and it is safe and that is the most important part.
This was what the DB looked like before I started

As I also wanted to introduce some home automation into the house I knew that I would need to install a bigger DB and as it would be a DC/AC system two DB's would be better and those things are flippen duur. So I had to shop a while to get something that would fit my budget .
This is what I came up with. The Box and the left is the controller board where I receive all the inputs and on the right the AC side with all the relays and cb's. I ended up using ducting to run the wires down the wall as it would look neater when it was all done bit it does make the wire management tricky also I did not keep in mind that the wires came from the top and the space between the CB and the top end was a bit close but it worked with some slow working.  Take note of the "nest" on the right. I just could get all those wires neatly lined up. Lucy for me the covers takes care of that.

Gone is all those wires!!!

Closeup of the CB's and the labeling. As I redid every thing I made a point of marking all the wires so that I could label them afterwords. This makes things a lot easier in the future

The box with all the bits and pieces added 

This is just a quick view of the system. I still run emon for the data collection.

All the best 
Paul
 
 
 

Thanks for the pointers, My geysers and oven are connected through a Carlo Gavazzi energy meter so when mains fails power is cut to these devices anyway, I also have other automation's that detect mains failure and cut power to things like my pool pump, toasters, kettles etc... I've got it pretty streamlined to the point where if we have load shedding during the day my batteries usually charge up to 100% because the load is that low (around 260w) I actually end up manually just switching the pool back on, I also only start things like the pool pump if mains power is available, if it isn't it waits until it is.
 
 

Ok , so this project has been ongoing for the last three of four years and in fact is still going on we have learned a lot on hydro power and possible pitfalls. but I wont bore you all with the details. Here is what the "final" product looks like. 
Ps. Not my system , hope to have one going in a year or so - (Need to raise the capital ) 
 
 
 

Ok , so this project has been ongoing for the last three of four years and in fact is still going on we have learned a lot on hydro power and possible pitfalls. but I wont bore you all with the details. Here is what the "final" product looks like. 
Ps. Not my system , hope to have one going in a year or so - (Need to raise the capital ) 
 
 
 

Ok , so this project has been ongoing for the last three of four years and in fact is still going on we have learned a lot on hydro power and possible pitfalls. but I wont bore you all with the details. Here is what the "final" product looks like. 
Ps. Not my system , hope to have one going in a year or so - (Need to raise the capital ) 
 
 
 

Ok , so this project has been ongoing for the last three of four years and in fact is still going on we have learned a lot on hydro power and possible pitfalls. but I wont bore you all with the details. Here is what the "final" product looks like. 
Ps. Not my system , hope to have one going in a year or so - (Need to raise the capital ) 
 
 
 

I guess the easiest way to look at is 
 As per usual do you want to save cost or stick it to the man.... If it is the latter - go for it as there is no argument for principle decisions.
On the other hand ..
In CPT it looks like average cost is about R2.50 per unit if you are going to use less than 1000 units per month - just got the value of a quick google search ..
Lets assume that most people can get Prime + 2% , although some of my clients recently go as low as Prime -2 - rather stick to the upper part cause if that one work it will definitely work the other way .
Last time I checked a halve decent solar/battery unit wil set you back at least R 150 000 but lest rather work on R 200 000. 
Interest on R 200 000 @ 9.25% (7.25% + 2%)  will be about R 1500.00 pm or R 18 000 - With the bond repayment over 10 years R 2500.00 over 20 years it will drop to R 1800.00 but you will pay more interest.
Lets work on R 2500 pm - that would be close to what you would be paying every month for 1000 units. So on the surface it looks like it could make it BUT you then make the assumption that you are now off Grid and not paying CPT else that will add to the cost per month. (Extra 300 units will be R 720.00 on top of your current bond and that will burn disposable income)
If you have a R 200 000 setup chances are you will need to change your lifestyle to match your system and as a result you will end up using less units per month if you were on grid.

Factor that back into the first calculation and it becomes near impossible to justify setting up solar system on a bond for non commercial use - (Commercial changes it quite a lot as you need to factor in loss of production ectr. )   Also keep in mind that rates are as low as what I personally think it will drop so don't bank on it for too long... 
Rather start to setup the household to become solar friendly , solar geyser , gas stove ectr. Once you have reached that goal you can then recalculate if it is worth converting. You might find that a small hybrid system to cover you base load and have some capacity available for load shed will be much more profitable in the long run and that you could do without needing a bond or if you need to the saving will justify the cost.. 

From my side there is one variable that makes it  a little hard to factor in and that is battery tech. Last time I checked you could get lithium's for about R 2.75 per unit. In theory if you buy a bank now it will "cap" your cost per unit for the duration of the batteries lifespan and you could offset that against Eskom increases in the future. . Unfortunately as it has been proven over the years in the forum batteries do not last for ever and if they do go it is away messy. 
 
 
 
 

Still a work in progress. But I have build a dash to display all the different alternative energies on one page. 
 

Still a work in progress. But I have build a dash to display all the different alternative energies on one page. 
 

Sure it is quite simple. So i have a SonOff running Tasmota on it . You will need to flash the sonoff with the new firmware. This will add the benefit that you can add atleast 3 sensors to the SonOff , (TX , RX and GPOI14 , I think thats the last pin). In tasmota to you just select the correct sensor for the pin that you connected that DS18B20 sensor.  Here is a tutorial as to how to wireup the sensor.  The nice part of tasmota is that every thing is already done and you only need to add the broker details and it will publish to sensor data to the "tele/#/SENSOR" topic. 
Here is some pictures of the Tasmota setup. 

 
There a lot of info as to how to flash the sonoff switch with tasmota , alternatively you could also use a Wemos D1 with Tasmota loaded to do the same. 
Last thing is that I placed the sensor where the normal thermostat of the geyser would go. So that was quite easy 

Thanks for the info, I went for a similiar route.  I used the Sonoff TH16 and coupled it to a 25 amp solid state relay.  The Sonoff is flashed with Tasmota and I have set hard coded rules for the power to be turned off and stay off at a set temperature.  This allows the unit to act like a mechanical thermostat should it loose connection to my home assistant server.  In home assistant I have set up timing schedules with desired temperatures to control the geyser and maximise my solar availability.
With the added functionality of being able to measure and track the geyser temperatures and standing losses I'm planning to log a baseline over the next 2 weeks and then add pipe insulation and a geyser blanket.  Want to see how much this really improves the standing losses.
 

Here is a thought , span the begees out of those contact numbers. Keep the crook busy so he does not have time to scam ignorant/desperate people. 

I guess the easiest way to look at is 
 As per usual do you want to save cost or stick it to the man.... If it is the latter - go for it as there is no argument for principle decisions.
On the other hand ..
In CPT it looks like average cost is about R2.50 per unit if you are going to use less than 1000 units per month - just got the value of a quick google search ..
Lets assume that most people can get Prime + 2% , although some of my clients recently go as low as Prime -2 - rather stick to the upper part cause if that one work it will definitely work the other way .
Last time I checked a halve decent solar/battery unit wil set you back at least R 150 000 but lest rather work on R 200 000. 
Interest on R 200 000 @ 9.25% (7.25% + 2%)  will be about R 1500.00 pm or R 18 000 - With the bond repayment over 10 years R 2500.00 over 20 years it will drop to R 1800.00 but you will pay more interest.
Lets work on R 2500 pm - that would be close to what you would be paying every month for 1000 units. So on the surface it looks like it could make it BUT you then make the assumption that you are now off Grid and not paying CPT else that will add to the cost per month. (Extra 300 units will be R 720.00 on top of your current bond and that will burn disposable income)
If you have a R 200 000 setup chances are you will need to change your lifestyle to match your system and as a result you will end up using less units per month if you were on grid.

Factor that back into the first calculation and it becomes near impossible to justify setting up solar system on a bond for non commercial use - (Commercial changes it quite a lot as you need to factor in loss of production ectr. )   Also keep in mind that rates are as low as what I personally think it will drop so don't bank on it for too long... 
Rather start to setup the household to become solar friendly , solar geyser , gas stove ectr. Once you have reached that goal you can then recalculate if it is worth converting. You might find that a small hybrid system to cover you base load and have some capacity available for load shed will be much more profitable in the long run and that you could do without needing a bond or if you need to the saving will justify the cost.. 

From my side there is one variable that makes it  a little hard to factor in and that is battery tech. Last time I checked you could get lithium's for about R 2.75 per unit. In theory if you buy a bank now it will "cap" your cost per unit for the duration of the batteries lifespan and you could offset that against Eskom increases in the future. . Unfortunately as it has been proven over the years in the forum batteries do not last for ever and if they do go it is away messy. 
 
 
 
 

I guess the easiest way to look at is 
 As per usual do you want to save cost or stick it to the man.... If it is the latter - go for it as there is no argument for principle decisions.
On the other hand ..
In CPT it looks like average cost is about R2.50 per unit if you are going to use less than 1000 units per month - just got the value of a quick google search ..
Lets assume that most people can get Prime + 2% , although some of my clients recently go as low as Prime -2 - rather stick to the upper part cause if that one work it will definitely work the other way .
Last time I checked a halve decent solar/battery unit wil set you back at least R 150 000 but lest rather work on R 200 000. 
Interest on R 200 000 @ 9.25% (7.25% + 2%)  will be about R 1500.00 pm or R 18 000 - With the bond repayment over 10 years R 2500.00 over 20 years it will drop to R 1800.00 but you will pay more interest.
Lets work on R 2500 pm - that would be close to what you would be paying every month for 1000 units. So on the surface it looks like it could make it BUT you then make the assumption that you are now off Grid and not paying CPT else that will add to the cost per month. (Extra 300 units will be R 720.00 on top of your current bond and that will burn disposable income)
If you have a R 200 000 setup chances are you will need to change your lifestyle to match your system and as a result you will end up using less units per month if you were on grid.

Factor that back into the first calculation and it becomes near impossible to justify setting up solar system on a bond for non commercial use - (Commercial changes it quite a lot as you need to factor in loss of production ectr. )   Also keep in mind that rates are as low as what I personally think it will drop so don't bank on it for too long... 
Rather start to setup the household to become solar friendly , solar geyser , gas stove ectr. Once you have reached that goal you can then recalculate if it is worth converting. You might find that a small hybrid system to cover you base load and have some capacity available for load shed will be much more profitable in the long run and that you could do without needing a bond or if you need to the saving will justify the cost.. 

From my side there is one variable that makes it  a little hard to factor in and that is battery tech. Last time I checked you could get lithium's for about R 2.75 per unit. In theory if you buy a bank now it will "cap" your cost per unit for the duration of the batteries lifespan and you could offset that against Eskom increases in the future. . Unfortunately as it has been proven over the years in the forum batteries do not last for ever and if they do go it is away messy. 
 
 
 
 

I guess the easiest way to look at is 
 As per usual do you want to save cost or stick it to the man.... If it is the latter - go for it as there is no argument for principle decisions.
On the other hand ..
In CPT it looks like average cost is about R2.50 per unit if you are going to use less than 1000 units per month - just got the value of a quick google search ..
Lets assume that most people can get Prime + 2% , although some of my clients recently go as low as Prime -2 - rather stick to the upper part cause if that one work it will definitely work the other way .
Last time I checked a halve decent solar/battery unit wil set you back at least R 150 000 but lest rather work on R 200 000. 
Interest on R 200 000 @ 9.25% (7.25% + 2%)  will be about R 1500.00 pm or R 18 000 - With the bond repayment over 10 years R 2500.00 over 20 years it will drop to R 1800.00 but you will pay more interest.
Lets work on R 2500 pm - that would be close to what you would be paying every month for 1000 units. So on the surface it looks like it could make it BUT you then make the assumption that you are now off Grid and not paying CPT else that will add to the cost per month. (Extra 300 units will be R 720.00 on top of your current bond and that will burn disposable income)
If you have a R 200 000 setup chances are you will need to change your lifestyle to match your system and as a result you will end up using less units per month if you were on grid.

Factor that back into the first calculation and it becomes near impossible to justify setting up solar system on a bond for non commercial use - (Commercial changes it quite a lot as you need to factor in loss of production ectr. )   Also keep in mind that rates are as low as what I personally think it will drop so don't bank on it for too long... 
Rather start to setup the household to become solar friendly , solar geyser , gas stove ectr. Once you have reached that goal you can then recalculate if it is worth converting. You might find that a small hybrid system to cover you base load and have some capacity available for load shed will be much more profitable in the long run and that you could do without needing a bond or if you need to the saving will justify the cost.. 

From my side there is one variable that makes it  a little hard to factor in and that is battery tech. Last time I checked you could get lithium's for about R 2.75 per unit. In theory if you buy a bank now it will "cap" your cost per unit for the duration of the batteries lifespan and you could offset that against Eskom increases in the future. . Unfortunately as it has been proven over the years in the forum batteries do not last for ever and if they do go it is away messy. 
 
 
 
 

Hello @patalhetas this was done ages ago so Some of it went missing but here is some of the Images that I still have and can be available here. 
You could edit them with something like GIMP or Photoshop (if you have a copy) 
Hope this helps!