Thulane

https://cs.jinkosolar.com/app/index.html#/customer-complaint/authenticity
Put your panels serial numbers through this verification just to be sure

Been using gas geyser for 10 years. Had to replace the first Atlas geyser 4 years ago because PC board blew and they didn’t have parts. My usage is about the same as yours. 6 weeks on a 48kg during winter and about 3 months during Summer. Decided to find ways to save on gas and wasn’t keen on the solar geysers with the evacuated tubes. I decided to install the Magneto Thermo tank in June 2025. It has a heat pump above the water tank and can be installed standing upright outside instead of having it in the ceiling. Currently it feeds the gas geyser 60C water and gas geyser will only go on when water drops below 50C. My 48kg during Winter is already lasting 2 months and hasn’t finished yet. Will see how long it lasts before changing it. But what is better is that I don’t have to wait as long for hot water to some of the bathrooms. Also one of the biggest issues I had with gas geysers is that if you mistakenly close the tap, you get a brief session of cold water before it gets hot again. In winter that is an issue for the wife. Also with the smaller taps, no issue with slower flow rates not able to activate the flow rate sensor on the geyser as the water is already hot coming from the Thermo tank.
But the best thing is the heat pump is 750W and runs about 5-6 hours a day for me. So that is 4-5kWh of electricity to heat the 200L tank and this is in winter. I would imagine this translates to a COP of about 3. Should be better with summer as there is more heat to extract from the air. The main gripes with heat pumps is mainly the longer heat times compare to a heating element. But this is solved by supplementing via the gas geyser.
If I reduce gas consumption to about 2X48kg per year, effectively saving about 6 bottles per year, R1300 per bottle is about R7800 per year. Break even will be about 4 years.

I would still not ignore the registration stuff and "hope for the best". A smart person would make sure they are ready to be disconnected if they don't want to register. If you know you still need power from Eskom dont cry when you get hit with big fines etc. At bare minimum, have a system that does not require the utility. Otherwise just register, its their infrastructure and their rules. People just shouldnt cry when they face consequences for not following the rules Esko laid out.
I dont have a particular care about the registration stuff, it is the ever rising cost of the fixed charges and electricity. That is my motivation for going off-grid.

Hi There
 
There is a firmware update that needs to be done for new voltage parameters.
With update, OVP will not kick in that low. 
I'm able to assist remotely if you have the rs232 to usb (see below). if not. we do sell them and can be couriered to you.
Please PM me and we can take it from there.

Update:

23 February - 18 April for cylinder #2
18 April - 1 June for cylinder #3

Factoring in the colder water temps and longer shower times now that its cooler/colder, shower temps are now also at 45 and 50 degrees...some people like to burn in the shower 😶

So since I no longer need to run the geyser which has a 4kW element...grid usage has dropped. Now averaging about 10kWh a day, majority of that is from the other geyser for the 2nd house.
If I get more panels and another battery that should take us off grid during sunny days.

My 1st suggestion would be to try and get the standing load of over 2kW 24/7 a bit lower. Based on results from various members this level is above average and perhaps worth it to explore means of reducing it. 
The above could help reducing the grid use for the 3-4 hrs per day that you happens in the early morning. This could help to not having to add more panels or 1 or 2 more batteries. 
As you still have capacity left on the 2 Inverters. Extra panels plus more battery power could also reduce this grid use as a 2nd area to improve matters. 
Even if using PV for heating the geysers and being idle the rest of the day will still help and achieve charging the 7 batteries full and reduce grid. 
The 4kW grid tied geyser inverter/controller(R4000) from The sun pays plus 4 panels per geyser would have a great ROI. 
There are actually some adjustments you might do on the inverters. It depends on how much of your PV goes towards non essentials and if you have a setting to prioritise charging the batteries to 100% during the day. It's one thing to check. 

Disable PV&AC Take Load jointly. All charge times and AC first set to 00:00. Then it will move from house consumption to backup power (EPS).

I just look back. 10 yrs ago I was using 1200kWh a month. I brought it down to about 270. The fact that I now use less than 100kWh per month from the grid I feel I have done my bit. For 8 mnths I charged only from grid but less than 2kWh per day when it suited me after each LS session. Just for my limited LS needs. After getting 2 more panels I am back to charging only from solar. 
I doubt that I have to be told to use less from grid at a time that it suits them. 
So a few of us are pointing in the same direction for the current state of power supply. Compare it to SAPO. Just not as easy to convert industry to go private/self generation for all their needs.
I fully support the view of @GreenFields on hybrid or more than 1 inverter for grid tied and back up. Allow export within the limits to keep supply reliable.

I did this change over the weekend. Changed the 4kw element to 3kw. Installed a timer and change over switch to toggle the geyser in and out of eskom. My 5kva Luxpower doesnt have the Aux so I had to improvise. A 2nd CBI astute timer is at the geyser to allow for morning eskom water temp topping up. Nice thing about the smart timer is that it allows you to set rules for days when there is cloud cover and not draw from batteries. Will probably also change the other timer to a smart for more remote control. Laundry days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday until 3pm. I'm not home at those times so to void tripping the inverter for those days I switch the geyser on from 15h00 to 16h00 to allow battery to be topped up before sunset. On the no Laundry days, switch on is programmed from 11h00 as battery is fully charged by 10h30 from 34%.  Still early days and I will tweak the eskom usage after making sure that there is enough hot water in the morning. Three people on a 200L should be okay in the warm months ahead. This allows me to make better use of the panels that just decorate the roof during the day as the base load from the fridges is very low when no one is home or battery is fully charged. Will buy a 2nd inverter with the saving and be less restricted on the other days.
See the difference in solar usage before the geyser change, almost double solar and will get better as I gain confidence. 

@JohnCT Glad it is set to 230v, that sounds a lot better than 208v.
You could try connecting to your inverter "locally", in order to do this you need to connect your phone to the Luxpower dongle WiFi (you will see the same code as on the dongle, it would read something like BA13512350). Then once you are connected to that WiFi, on your Luxpower app click on logout and then on the login screen click on Local Connect and it might give you this option then.
 
If not, reach out to your installer and they can check and make the change for you remotely.

So just my take on the matter. I work from home. I run a fully fledged TV studio… 3 Apple Macs, a server, a charge bay for Tv Cameras and batteries, a VHS analogue duplicating bay, a fridge, Microwave , air fryer, 1800w over and a PS5 - obviously not all the high current item at the same time, but the TV studio runs 80% of the time. The tv 3 to 4 hours a day. The fridge is on all the time. Air fryer I run at times 2 to 3 times a week mainly at night. I don’t have a stove or geyser as both are gas.
 
I am off the grid 100%. With a 5Kva LuxPower unit 2 lithium batteries 2 x 5 panel solar strings running on the inverter and its is solid. I generate around 2500 - 3000 W of charge power  during the day on 5 panels at a time as I get morning sun on one side of the house and afternoon sun later. 
 
I would definitely do LuxPower. But add a few solar panels if you can. 3. Might be a small for the system. If you do 4 you will get at least 2000W of charge on solid sunny day which means your batteries should be charged by 1 each day depending on what sun you get. 
My system allows me to run my studio and the entire house 100% off solar 
my entire system cost me R155k and it’s the best investment ever. 
 
 

Hi, this was the quote I got over two years ago when I installed mine. The installation included the gas hob which I supplied, you can negotiate a lower price. No complaints in the last two years and the 48kg last over 6 months, cooking and water heating. 
 

You could also get one of these
https://www.eyegas.co.za/products/eyegas-pro
 

Hey Guys Check the New Prices on the Magneto LFP Batteries price changes loading for the Super Caps soon... and solar panels etc... remember we don't yet list everything we can supply on the online store so if there is something related to solar power wind power and all accessories please don't hesitate to contact us we offer very good prices and also installers are welcome to get installer prices on a lot of the products like the Magneto Specials we are running.
www.powerforum-store.co.za 

Hey Guys so its that time of the year again and we have a whole Host of Giveaways lined up some to watch out for would be the New Solis S6 6KW Advanced Hybrid (Beast) we are busy with a long term review in real world conditions with the Solis S6 the Unit we are giving away has already gone through a preliminary review but we may give more of this brand away in the future. 
Magneto has given us some wonderful product to review and give away MAGNETO Lithium-LiFePo4 Rack Mount 48V 5.1 KWh also note the great prices on those units  and a  Magneto Thermo Tank also promise of more nice items to give away in the future. 
Then we Have the Revo Inverter and battery Combo (not listed on our online store yet but soon) there will be some terms and conditions on this giveaway however an exciting product squarely aimed at Sunsynk and Deye.
We are also receiving a very nice Battery from Halo Energy to give away the 113AH HALO Eclipse WM-5 48V 1C however this will only be in about 5 Weeks time but still a very nice compact battery.  
Power2SA is giving us one of their VTC Vxl5100W 5.1kWh LifePo4 battery 51V/100Ah Rack Mount to review and test this is also a very nice rack mount battery with Bluetooth and WIFI features decent cycle count compatibility and scalability and we will give this away to a lucky forum member. 

Yeah it's a server component, so not something you purely run on a phone. 
 
https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/

home asisstant and lxpBridge is free; just requires your time

I don't know the Luxpower inverters but it maybe that it needs a certain State of charge in batteries before it starts.

Go with extra panels on your solar PV system. This should not even be a debate. Just use a 2kW AC element. 

Yes but that’s completely different solution and requires a lot of up front capital. 
 
We are just checking at the moment, if it’s worth replacing a normal element with a PTC one. Direct swap and no need to spend additional capital on anything else. 
 
Regarding worthiness of heat pumps, completely different tests need to be performed.

Hi Raiden2912
Just a suggestion. Before you decide to pump for a long time, make sure the borehole is filling enough to fill the borehole. You will need to know how much water your borehole actually produces. You can ask and pay to have this done or you could test this yourself by measuring the amount of water used over a specific period with an inline meter, eg, over an hour. You can also monitor the output over a long period that you want and see if the output drops. When the borehole is full (at the top of the water table) it will take time to empty the borehole to see the actual flow of water into the borehole. This is directly from the borehole pump not from the jojo. If the flow does not drop it would be great as this means that the borehole is filling faster than it can be pumped out. If the flow drops it can be measured again over a shorter period to determine the actual flow from the filling borehole. 
This is important as you can burn out your borehole pump if the borehole is pumped dry if there is no protection for this.
Also adding another comment on VSD or DC pumps. If you do not use these pumps on the output of your JoJo tank, it would be advisable to put a bladder tank in line with the pump as cheaper standard pumps do not like to be started many times over a short period (shortens the lifetime of the pump). The bladder tank stops this by setting a lower switch on pressure for starting and a higher switch off at a set pressure. Depending on the size of the tank about 50% of the size of the bladder tank must be used before the pump switches on. This prevents switching on using small amounts of water usage. 
I have done these tests on my borehole and I can only pump for 1hr15min before my borehole is empty and my flow drops.
I hope this helps.
 

I'm in central Sandton but after many water pipe breaks in the area we got fed up and decided to look after ourselves. We are still connected to municipal water but have installed a manifold where we can switch between that and borehole. The installer suggested still switching over to the municipal feed for short periods over the next few month so that we slowly use less and less, that way the estimates they charge on water usage will also get smaller.
I essentially want the best of all worlds and be connected to the municipal water for an extra back up. The chance of both systems going down at the same time must be small (touch wood). So will see what CoJ does.
One other point to remember when running the borehole water into your house long term, the water quality is normally quite easily and cheaply made drinkable, however there might be more required to protect your pipes from corrosion of that water.

So here my further thoughts.
I draw about 10-15kW from Solar, and also use solar to charge batts up, and run all heavy loads.
My Eskom consumption less than half.
If I hit a loadshed at night previously, eskom when back would charge.
Okay so any 2 hr nightly loadshed equates to about 500w - 600w per two hours.
So my 600w causes strain, but my removal of 10kw doesnt cause relief. They need to look at the flip side of their argument.
As stated earlier (by @Scorp007), if every PV user suddenly removes their PV for a day, and then add their PV back to eskom usage, mega chaos.
 
So swing it the way they want, only inverters, yes additional "maybe" strain, but they can thanks their backsides for the PV users, actually keeping the country from stage 8 or worse!

Due to the load shedding, let's be honest (they own creation) they forced South African to (make a plan) so, lots of people have installed UPS's they need to be recharged after every 4 hours of load shedding. EishKom fix you Shi^&%^t and that will never happen.

I have to agree. So while we helping ourselves by having PV systems they want high fees because we use less power and help them and the country. Then they want to spend big on rural areas to buy votes. Not have a will to improve and create better systems. 
Here i feel I will use what I need when it suits me and change based of the time of use. Somehow I don't belief in just want want want from others. It has to be a give and take plan.