Wildebees

Earth Neutral fault. So what happens, is when you have load shedding, your inverters neutral looses its reverence to ground, a flouting neutral. and as soon as mains comes back, it creates the earth fault that makes the RCD trip. Bond your inverters output neutral to earth, and rewire accordingly. NB: YOU MUST PUT A NOTE ON THE OUTSIDE OF DB TO INFORM PEOPLE THAT THE INVERTER IS BONDED TO EARTH.

Hi Wessel
 
All is relevant...if your energy usage is plenty, so will be the system needed to supply that energy.
a few tips on alternatives:
you save your money before you start with the system. IE: take a look at the electricity demand, and bring that demand down as much as possible. Solar geyser, stove and energy efficient appliances. get a professional! Pasop for the bakkie builders. there are plenty of sharks out there. you can install a small system yourself, and ask for help on this forum, but for a true no nonsense solution, you will need expert advise. not all systems are modular. a bit of a true and false. if you have your energy demand under control, you will know how much you need, and then design a system that will allow you to reach your goal in a modular way. finance the system. if possible, get the right thing from the start, stop paying for eskom and start paying down a instalment on your system. this is the best way to get a good ROI. wind turbines vs PV: pv is the first option. much cheaper and i am almost sure that tomorrow the sun will sine again. Turbines are about 4x the cost per kwh. Batteries: if off grid, you will need something to store your energy in. dont buy cheap! it will cost you. Good Lead acid vs good Lithium. (Ek weet hier gaan ek pakslae kry) i like 2v Lead cells. but that is just me. Lithium is maintenance free, and about the same price.it all depends on DOD. Stay on the forum and ask your questions here, there are plenty of smart guys that are keen to help.
 
Good luck.

Try powerpulse. they are available locally. and works great. but any dead cells, are just that. dead.
i recommend you do a drop test on every cell (good luck finding a tester) and change out the weak cells.
 
most of the time it is the inter cell cables and corroded posts that is the cause of the problem. replace cables every 2 years. clean posts and charge correctly.
 
those 2v FLA cells are golden. Mine is 12 years old. 

Just a bit of FYI
Bought a BMS from lithiumbatterySA.co.za where the BMS suddenly stopped working after about a month.
I chatted to the tech department who basically said there is nothing they can do and said it was just from wear and tear. (Ive had it a month). This was pretty amusing as a few days prior the same tech guy said it was probably a loose/bad weld on the board.
I stated that i thought it came with a 1 year warranty but they said there was nothign they can do. Thought this was an interesting warranty
Anyhow It took a bit threating consumer act thing and going online for the tech guy (Ben was his name I think) to wake up. His boss I believed phoned back not in the best tone. He said I can send it and they will asses it. From his tone and the experience thus far I presumes this was a lost cause. 
Got the BMS checked out myself and it turns out the issue was the male molex connector that connects the thin wires to the BMS. The internal metal connectors became loose. Replace this and you are good to go. Dont bother with the lithium guys
 
 
 
 

Used lead cells are always dodgy. better to do a load test and see what life is still in them. or else it will be basically scrap lead value.

Used lead cells are always dodgy. better to do a load test and see what life is still in them. or else it will be basically scrap lead value.

Hi All.
I have had similar bad service from them. luckily i never bought anything from them. just a look at there google review's says it all. My experience i can say you get what you pay for from China, and in stead of purchasing direct from there, it is better to work with a local distributor, that actually picks up the phone when you call. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
I have installed a couple of turbines to date. From what i can say is this:
Wind is a great energy source if you have enough of it. the turbine needs to be set as high up as possible and a good controller makes the worlds of difference.  a Turbine will cost you 4 or 5 times as much per kwh compared to PV. But if you live in a place where you don't see the sun for 15 days, it might be an option. Turbine towers need to be strong, you can diy, but over engineer the hell out of it. there seems to be no clear info on lighting protection, so my course of action is as follows: at the base of the tower i install a combiner box with normal AC 3P lighting protection. and a couple of good earthing rods. breaking of turbine in high winds. this can be done by shorting the 3 phases out, but man don't do it while it is running away... i have seen some controllers that applies the break over an increasing resistance, and then making the short. the alternative is to go old school and buy a turbine with a manual cranking break on it like the old mills on the farms. Local dealers that know there stuff: i have found 2 that i can recommend. Jason from Pegasus (a true gentleman) and Mark from Wind and Solar.   
Good luck, hope you get your turbine up and running.

Hi All.
I have had similar bad service from them. luckily i never bought anything from them. just a look at there google review's says it all. My experience i can say you get what you pay for from China, and in stead of purchasing direct from there, it is better to work with a local distributor, that actually picks up the phone when you call. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
I have installed a couple of turbines to date. From what i can say is this:
Wind is a great energy source if you have enough of it. the turbine needs to be set as high up as possible and a good controller makes the worlds of difference.  a Turbine will cost you 4 or 5 times as much per kwh compared to PV. But if you live in a place where you don't see the sun for 15 days, it might be an option. Turbine towers need to be strong, you can diy, but over engineer the hell out of it. there seems to be no clear info on lighting protection, so my course of action is as follows: at the base of the tower i install a combiner box with normal AC 3P lighting protection. and a couple of good earthing rods. breaking of turbine in high winds. this can be done by shorting the 3 phases out, but man don't do it while it is running away... i have seen some controllers that applies the break over an increasing resistance, and then making the short. the alternative is to go old school and buy a turbine with a manual cranking break on it like the old mills on the farms. Local dealers that know there stuff: i have found 2 that i can recommend. Jason from Pegasus (a true gentleman) and Mark from Wind and Solar.   
Good luck, hope you get your turbine up and running.

Hi All.
I have had similar bad service from them. luckily i never bought anything from them. just a look at there google review's says it all. My experience i can say you get what you pay for from China, and in stead of purchasing direct from there, it is better to work with a local distributor, that actually picks up the phone when you call. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
I have installed a couple of turbines to date. From what i can say is this:
Wind is a great energy source if you have enough of it. the turbine needs to be set as high up as possible and a good controller makes the worlds of difference.  a Turbine will cost you 4 or 5 times as much per kwh compared to PV. But if you live in a place where you don't see the sun for 15 days, it might be an option. Turbine towers need to be strong, you can diy, but over engineer the hell out of it. there seems to be no clear info on lighting protection, so my course of action is as follows: at the base of the tower i install a combiner box with normal AC 3P lighting protection. and a couple of good earthing rods. breaking of turbine in high winds. this can be done by shorting the 3 phases out, but man don't do it while it is running away... i have seen some controllers that applies the break over an increasing resistance, and then making the short. the alternative is to go old school and buy a turbine with a manual cranking break on it like the old mills on the farms. Local dealers that know there stuff: i have found 2 that i can recommend. Jason from Pegasus (a true gentleman) and Mark from Wind and Solar.   
Good luck, hope you get your turbine up and running.