Justin_A

yeah that is the other option im looking at, switching up to heatpump geysers, and adding another array and one more battery should also get us completely off the grid, then perhaps a genny only for periods like this Dec

Morning all, With COJ and their crazy grid fees I'm looking into getting a LPG generator to cover my last few% of power usage and then thinking of disconnecting from COJ completely, what are the best 6-8kw LPG generators available locally that will allow the Victron Quattro to control and work well with it? During summer Im currently 95% off grid, and winter 80%. Currently running 9kw of panels, Victron Quattro and 7 Pylontech US3000C's Getting tired of paying R5 - 8 per delivered kwh to COJ, so time to do another ROI calc once I get an idea of locally available and compatible gensc

Hi Sarel, love the work and setup, have you managed to get your victron talking nicely with the energy component of home assistant ? I’ve searched high and low but haven’t found a decent way to integrate the sensors into that component. I’ve got my other victron stuff all setup but this piece eludes me

so my system is in and learning is beginning, I've gotten my HA to be able to manage Min SOC which will help the situation, also looking into scripts that allow for auto recharge of batts from Eskom should the loadshedding get out of hand or if we have bad weather. Should keep us out of the dark

Yes I’m planning on using home assistant in conjunction with my victron for monitoring and scenario planning, going to start with general rule of thumb of when load shedding is on not letting the batteries go below what would get me through 4 hours of no power. I guess the best guide will actually be having the system in and learning about its own special behaviours

Right so things have moved along and I have what I'm thinking is a decent plan. A blue install with 10Kva Quattro, 9 kw of panels , about 40% west 60% north and 14 kwh of pylontechs. I've also started setting up my home assistant to play well with the Victron gear, and do things like control various heavy loads like geysers, stoves etc based on SOC, solar output etc etc. (Still need to figure out how / if my home assistant can actually change settings on the modbus, based on the scenarios I want to do) What I'm now wondering is if it might be worth going through the pain of COJ SSEG registration, and then config my system to use battery only during expensive peaks and load shedding periods, then sell my daytime excess (I'm expecting a little bit especially around Mid day - 4pm) to offset using Eskom from about midnight till when my solar picks up again. Has anyone done this recently and can give me some tips to avoid what I expect to be quite a painful process, or if this would even be worth the hassle? I've seen past posts where consensus is this is a waste of time, just wanted to know if this is still the prevailing view

OK gents so looks like I have gotten everything lined up, now just the wait for the install

Thanks yes , that was what I was imagining the plan might be, might still keep my little office mecer backup backup around though as well just in case we get caught unaware, that way we can at least still work and maintain connectivity to the outside world

Howdy all, so the system I’m putting will have some decent battery backup, should get us to around 3am on most nights considering our normal load. However this leaves us in the dwang if Eskom decides to pull a 4-8am load shedding drill on us. are there ways to proactively manage this? Or should I always ensure I have enough in the “tank” for a load shedding episode at any time?

Ok so I also needed to be warned how addictive reading up and learning about solar is. I think I’m driving the missus nuts 😛

Great thanks , gathering quotes and all and will let u guys know what I land up with

Thanks all for the info and replies, so I think that the below might be exactly what I'm looking for, it will basically turn Eskom into backup for cloudy day / us turning everything on on the same day silliness backup. The sunsynk also looks like what I might be looking for, however its not clear if it has an IOS app for monitoring and control, anyone had any experience with that? https://www.solar-shop.co.za/hybrid-solar-kits/366-sunsynk-8kw-hybrid-pv-kit.html I've also realised that I have a large portion of flat roof in front of my sloped tile roof, all more or less facing directly North, so if I get a frame for panels put into it then I actually have plenty of roof space, even though it might cost a bit extra for the install. Now just to find an installer and see if I can find better pricing on all components needed.

Cool thanks guys, not sure if I can fit many more panels on my roof. is solaradvice good as an installer ? Otherwise happy for any recommendations in the JHB area will also do some further inverter research , I’ve got some friends with goodwe’s which also seem pretty good

Heya all, After much lurking, and even more convincing of the SO, I think we might be ready to get into a solar kit for the house. We currently use most of our power during the day and below is our current pretty normal consumption, yes its high, but there are specific reasons for that Looking at getting something along these lines: https://solaradvice.co.za/product/fusion-8kw-pylontech-3-5kwh-lithium-ion-solar-power-kit/ Thinking of going 16X 400w Panels, 8Kw inverter (Is this Fusion one decent? the Dyes seem to come well reccomended), then 14 KW/H of Pylon USC3000's Idea it to keep it as simple as possible wire everything in, an use eskom for the excess. During Poweroutages, then be sparing on the batts. Would my plan be sound, and could i put this together better?

Aha! Usefull to know now that I actually think this through. Splitting out circuits would only make sense if running of batteries and load spikes would be an issue I guess. I guess now next steps would be to find a decent installer in Jhb / Pretoria and get a quote