sjp100

Usually it is because of the waterproofing warranty on the roof itself, or at least that is why I didn't drill through mine. Once you drill through this, you loose your warrantee and any issues that arise from that is yours to fix and could cost more than you bargained for.

@Marcodp I recently went through this excersize with my panels and I found this online calculater that aasisted me.
https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/wind-load
Its pretty self explanatory. For wind speed look at historical data for the closest airport, usually posted on their website. you can add 20% (or more if you wish) to the max measured as a safety factor. Angle is the panel angle to the roof, about 30 degrees is optimal for South Africa year round. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Once you get the Newton value devide by 9.8 and you have the required weight in kg

Thank you, I had the wrong profile selected. It is working now ass it should

If you pull the cable out and the inverter doesn't complain then you are probably set to User battery mode which will run on volts. For BMS comms to work you need to change to PYL or LIB or LIC and have comms on RS485 to the battery. It is likely that it won't communicate, the axperts are a bit picky with batteries.
This is also why the inverter has a different soc level to the battery, it is guessing based on your charging and cutoff voltages... the battery is correct.

Hi All. Thought I would share some updates of our small 3kw system.
First of I separated AC and DC wires from original install. Also added mains and EL breaker plus a watt meter to my essentials DB. Top DB is PV combiner.


The panels we added was 4 off Canadian solar 550w panels. They are weighed down with cement blocks as we cannot fasten them to the roof due to the waterproofing.


Performance is good, can carry load from solar, but there are some issues being discussed here If it ever gets solved it will be updated on that post.

Whats Next: Waiting for some parts from Geewiz and takealot too add geyser to system aswell. Will be a separate post but linked here. Then finish up and neaten the conduit.

So 1 final mod to our system. I derated the geyser element to run at around 1 kw via the inverter, and with an automatic changeover switch I can run it at 2kw from Eskom power. Everything is controlled via eWelink so I can manage it from my phone. Here is a sketch of the circuit. I will be adding a Sonoff loadshedding detector at a later stage to switch geyser and pool pump off when mains aren't available. This will save strain on my battery. Reason being can be found here

3 capacitors in 3D printed housing, I know it doesn't look pretty but it will be in the roof and no one will see it. Unfortunately I ran out of red insulation tape and heat shrink, otherwise I would have used that instead of the black and yellow. i did add a little solder to each terminal to ensure solid connection between wire and capacitor. Extra piece of insulation between the capacitor poles for added protection.


Install in roof.

Geyser running via Eskom

Geyser running via inverter

 

Not at all. They have been running now for a solid hour and still cool to the touch. They are quite beefy so not worried. 

Jip. I think I got 180V and 70V but can't remember which way around. I did notice that fluctuating utility voltage had a big impact on the power. Probably because of V*V/R.

You got it. With the double terminals on each pole of the capacitor it is easy to jump to the next. Just watch out to discharge before working on them. I had a circuit to bring in my second capacitor and I had a contactor to bypass the capacitors. It depends on what you need.

I would use this capacitor available from Tecsa https://www.tecsareco.co.za/product/capacitor-45mfd--450v/506
There are 2 different capacitors available for single phase induction motors because there are different types of single phase induction motors namely Capacitor Start Induction Run and Capacitor Start Capacitor Run induction motors, the capacitor linked above is used as a run capacitor for an induction motor that is why the enclosure is aluminium so that the heat can be radiated to the environment, the capacitor in the plastic housing is used as a starting cap.

@frivan used it. See earlier in this topic. It should work but not sure if one should not try to get caps rated at 400V AC. Also without trying it I am not sure how reliable if in circuit for a few hours at a time. With only 1kW the geyser can take long to heat up.
I would 1st try it with 2 caps and test and measure before buying 6 caps. 
Use a fine over current MCB like a 10A MCB. 

A post from Modina on 31 July. Your calcs seem to be correct. 
I don't read or follow any publications anymore.  I have divorced myself from technical stuff.  I refuse to listen to this post-Covid bullshit. 

Hi All. Thought I would share some updates of our small 3kw system.
First of I separated AC and DC wires from original install. Also added mains and EL breaker plus a watt meter to my essentials DB. Top DB is PV combiner.


The panels we added was 4 off Canadian solar 550w panels. They are weighed down with cement blocks as we cannot fasten them to the roof due to the waterproofing.


Performance is good, can carry load from solar, but there are some issues being discussed here If it ever gets solved it will be updated on that post.

Whats Next: Waiting for some parts from Geewiz and takealot too add geyser to system aswell. Will be a separate post but linked here. Then finish up and neaten the conduit.

It does seems strange that when the PV produces 1.4kW at the 1.1kW load that the battery shows 25% SOC and a few seconds later it shows an estimated 100% SOC when PV is still more than the load connected which as you indicated is steady during the time the video was taken.
The current supplied by the battery is also below the 50A charge/discharge level so it should not be limited by the BMS.
May be some of our other members can add a reason or 2.
@Coulomb @GreenFields @TaliaB @BritishRacingGreen

Is the correct way.

Pa is N/m² - so to go from Pa to N, you need to multiply by m^2.
2400Pa * 2.278m * 1.134m = 6200N ~= 620kg per panel.
But, fortunately, you don't have to design for max wind loading - only expected max wind load in the area (BUT you are required to assume a CL of 2), which would give you about 280kg per panel with a max gust speed of 100km/h.
You can probably get away with a lot less than that, but this is what will be required if a structural engineer has to sign off on it.

https://powerforum.co.za/topic/18166-12kw-sunsynk-with-18-x-575w-longi-solar-pv-modules-freedomwon-1512/

No, I am in Alberton, south of JHB

Thank you for the clarification. Got myself confused there. 
I like this box. 👍

I bought some dc breakers from them in Jan and i was pleased with the service parcel was delivered within 4 days ordered on a Monday got my parcel on Friday morning 09h00

Always one ONE Earth. If you install earth spikes you connect them to your main earth. Multiple earths only creates issues. Also if an earth spike is installed and no Earth resistivity test is done it doesn't mean anything, just a rod in the ground.

Keep a single earth point namely the one connected to the grid. This will be in the non essential DB. 

So a few months ago just before the first rounds of stage 6 loadshedding we(wife and I) installed an inverter and a single battery.

Our main issue was costs and needed to keep it low. We opted for a Giter 24v lithium battery (Giter G2500-24) and they only work with Kodak inverters, so that is what we got (Kodak VMIII OG3.24). One of the reasons we also opted for this is that the inverter is strong enough to also run out pool pump, 0.75kw, directly from solar panels during the day. We don't have panels yet but will get in the near future.

We did purchase from sustainable who I know is not the cheapest, but figured it was one of the safest in that I would actually get my items.

An electrician friend helped me with the install. We decided to split up our DB board and run certain items permanently from the inverter. These include all the lights which are LED, the 1 fridge, tv, media box, fibre router, alarm, garage motor, gate motor and a few extra plugs for the office and charging of phones, laptops and tablets.



So how does it work? Brilliantly. Alot of the times I wouldn't even realize we are having loadshedding until I hear the microwave powers back on and beeps.

How long does it last? We only experienced a major power failure once where the battery switched itself off to not drain completely, but that happened after about 10 hours of use.

How does it handle stage 6 loadshedding? Very well. It takes about 30-45min for the battery to recharge for every 2,5 hours of loadshedding. So with stage 6 at 5 hours the battery is recharged within 2 hours.

Would I do it again? Yes and no. Even though we are happy with this system and it meets our needs, it doesn't quite do with our wants. If we want to add more appliances i.e. dishwasher and washing machine, it gets too close to max power usage to do it comfortably. We already have a gas stove/hob so cooking isn't an issue during loadshedding. At the time of writing the 5kW Kodak inverter, my inverters big brother, is about R2000 more, however the 48v Giter battery is cheaper than mine, but is sold out. Price wise in total R1000 more, however I am not sure if this was the case when I purchased as I didn't check on such a large system. Other items e.g. second DB box, breakers and cables would be the same as I ended up installing cables for a 5kW inverter. Maybe subconsciously I was future proofing.

What was our total cost? All in running as it is now, R33000

So what is next: Solar panels. I can add 4kW of panels. After that would probably be a solar conversion to our geyser.

That is true. But the plan was always to add more batteries and panels as funds are available. A 48v, 5kW system just makes adding more items easier as it takes the fine tuning out of the equation. Only pointed it out so people don't go into the buying process with the same mindset I had of "5kW is too expensive"

This is just my suggestion and I'm not an expert
Please read my experience with a 24v system here
I don't think to such a large inverter will give you any benefit if you are only using 350w, so save some money and stick to a 1kw system.
I would suggest this combo of inverter and battery (I am only using sustainable links because I like that the website has alot of products and gives info of the products, once you have made a decision you can shop around and get better prices)
Reason for that combo is the inverter has a max output of 1,2kW. Just that extra 200W for extra piece of mind. The battery has a 1C rating, so can discharge at the max the inverter can handle. Also 1,5kWh battery @ 350W discharge should give you 4-5 of power. If not you can have 4 batteries in parallel.