jeddles

I have the same RCT VM1 unit but my fans almost NEVER go off. The only time its ever gone off completely was when I had just a fan plugged into the output (~60W) I'm going to mod mine because at this point I cant move it to a garage/outside so I need it to be quiet.

It's a bit tricky I think Not all 'cycles' are equal, the curve is non-linear w.r.t. DoD and discharge rate I suspect most manufacturers just use the energy=1 full discharge of battery method because it is the simplest to understand and measure/track e.g. 3000 cycles @ 80% DoD != 6000 cycles @ 40% DoD

Fuel cells are so stupid, no offense, when you look at the total lifecycle efficiency from water -> car moving forward, the efficiency is laughable Green Hydrogen is a solid concept but ONLY when applied as a direct fuel additive/replacement or base to produce other organics like methanol, ethanol

lol In December 2017, the company ran out of money.[2] In December 2017, it cut the workforce down to 15 as it entered "hibernation".[11] In March 2018, the company closed.[2] Innovacorp vice-president of investment Charles Baxter cited the emergence of cheaper Lithium-ion batteries in the field of energy storage as the reason for LightSail's failure to commercialize its storage devices.[2]

I don't think you'll have any luck getting the issue resolved Brownout/under-voltage and over-voltage are common when loadshedding ends, although I don't think I've ever heard of it being more than ~15 mins as people turn their electronics back on. A programmable over/under voltage protector might be your most practical solution, this will at least solve your excessive cycling problems

Yeah and I bet the covid 5G brain-control is out to get you to??

GeeWiz is definitely not the manufacturer of Axpert inverters. They do re-brand some clone devices but I would not trust an online store like Takealot to provide very good advice. Yes its very easy to find a fuse rated for AC and DC, up to 1000V at any amperage you need. But for LiFePO4 you need to consider the following: 1. internal resistance is incredibly low, during shortcircuit conditions you can easily experience >10 000A 2. DC circuits are significantly more prone to arcing than AC, especially with 24V/48V and higher batteries (not so much at 12V). What is important is the interrupt rating of fuse. if your fuse is not rated >10kA breaking capacity then a shortcircuit has a good chance of just arcing right across your fuse and doing nothing in the end. The reason a class T fuse is so expensive is because it is very fast acting, and has a UL breaking capacity of >20kA, usually with some form of sand or silicon beads to break up the arc. They are very expensive, but then again so is burning down your house. I know enough to know that I don't know enough, thats why I normally overkill. You might be fine with those fuses but thats a decision you need to make

What voltage is your battery? are they in series/parallel? I recommend a class T fuse between battery/inverter for short-circuit protection. Fuses for DC is different than AC

At this price range I'm much more worried about burning down my house than destroying a 1kW inverter I see your point, but funnily enough I actually did include the 9.6W lost from each of my fuses 😅 Like I said the manual recommends 25mm, and it will work fine, I went with 35mm because I like `em thicc

If you're okay with having a clone inverter, go for it. There's a reason that the prices don't line up - the clones cut corners where they can to save money and it will always come back to bite you. I calculated ~ 4W additional load on 25mm vs. 35mm, and I prefer the bigger cables if anything was to ever short I'd be more confident that my fuse can safely pop before the cable catches fire...not an issue if you have a ClassT fuse but best I could find was fuse rating F/gG

I bought the same one for the exact same reason However, I would return that to takealot and order from here instead, save yourself R2000 https://www.firstshop.co.za/products/rct-axpert-vm-1kva-1kw-12vdc-inverter-136381?_pos=1&_sid=b6062aa1a&_ss=r https://www.rctzone.co.za/power-solutions/inverter/off-grid-inverters/rct-axpert-vm-1k-12v Manual recommends 4AWG (25mm) battery cable, I went with 35mm instead on advice for a lower voltage drop.

Not sure how an eco-flow only lasts 6 months? even at Stage 6 that's not right I would recommend: Ecoflow Delta + Extension battery; OR Battery + Inverter (high quality), charged by grid If you try jam battery + inverter + solar panels into the equation it won't come cheap, and if it does, it will be crap in the long run. Solar panels are not necessary to keep employees online

Whats the scam if there's no deposit and payment after install? Whole thing is dodgy, especially that quote

They could literally just buy everyone an eco-flow pro/delta, that could run any home office for 4 hours. https://www.takealot.com/ecoflow-delta-1260wh-portable-power-station-black/PLID73199314 This seems like a quite a deal

Here in Cape Town is welding cable the same in terms of insulation etc.? will check for some audio shops never considered that

I need to get some 35mm (2 gage) wire for my batteries Does anyone know if they sell it at hardware stores? or any (non-scammy) websites I can get some?

I don't think that's even remotely close to what I said But yes, the majority of batteries will end up at Durban harbour. Supplier's I spoke to were not able to organize DDP to SA - you're mileage may vary Freight is charged min. per cubic meter, ~ 20 cells as a minimum order quantity. If you can't get DDP you need to organize customs and transport from Durban

Yes it can

consider the following whether copper 'knows' its carrying AC or DC Wire that carries AC typically has more strands compared to that used for DC I believe this has something to do with the magnetic field around a conductor with AC current, causing the resistance to be higher in the center of the copper strand and thus electrons tend to move along the surface. In contrast, current in DC tends to flow in the middle of the conductor This is why AC cable tends to have more strands to increase the surface area and mitigate this effect EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect

To an extent. You need to consider the efficiency curve of the specific inverter. You're highest efficiency sits around 30-50% load In some rare cases, if you really oversize your inverter and your load is low you can waste quite a bit of battery storage

I've been having brief discussions with some suppliers on Alibaba, you will need to make quite a big order for it to become worthwhile. There is also very little in the way of DDP from China to SA, you will need to organize your own customs/shipping from Durban harbor.

If its the same brand there's no reason to downgrade, other than the fact that you didn't actually pay for it. What model is it? 8kW inverter might consume a little bit more power but definitely worth the upgrade. Off topic: you have a 5kWh battery, not a 5kW battery.

It's well understood that each battery chain should have an overcurrent fuse before the inverter. The amp requirement is fairly straight forward to calculate, however, not all fuses are created equally. It seems quite standard in the US to use a class-T fuse, which have very high AIC (after blow, prevents an arc from forming across the contacts ~ 200,000 amps) and short blow time. Here in SA I've seen a lot of different things, people using MEGA, ANI and even blade fuses/resettable thermal fuses (terrible) which seem incorrect to me for LiFePO4 since their low internal resistance could spell MASSIVE current spikes in a short circuit situation. Does anyone have any input on which fuses are fine to use?

https://www.takealot.com/clearline-loadshedding-tripconnect-lightning-surge-protector-iec/PLID46988205 I'm trying to protect my PC from the effects of loadshedding (no lightning where I live). I'm aware that there is often voltage fluctuations when the power comes back on which can damage electronics Most people seem to just buy the ellies surge protector multiplugs but I don't think they offer under/over voltage protection? I'd love advice from you smart people

Kind of off-topic but you could try make the wood storage part of the design, it can actually look quite good if you do it Hopefully your wife is of the Pinterest type