Eugenevz

Ok i need to ask Mr Coetzee from melkbos, what are you selling here? Could you also keep your story stright...as now suddenly all this is achieved with 30 panels and some additional inverters popped up magically? Saw a article on mybroadband from today with a very suspiciously similar values. Great for you, but as already pointed out...these savings and benefits don't apply to all of us.

From my understanding this is based on how profitable your business is, the rebate gets deducted from the tax on your profit. I know a few small business owners which essentially do not qualify as their business showed little to no profit

Very cool competition

You will need to check if you can get a shading analysis done on your roof, as it's pretty hard to base this off a drawing especially if things like trees are excluded. But looking at the pitch on the roof i would be worried about shading in your proposed red area, i would personally suggest the section above the x, but I'm not a pro here only a guy trying to escape eskom.

The one ring...uhh i mean...inverter to rule them all... Don't think that exists mate, but you can checkout geewiz's trolley options. https://www.geewiz.co.za/2464-geewiz-inverter-trolleys Without knowing the usage of the TV (router/modem/OTN should be less than 10watts each), you would need to check the required watts per hour times the number of hours plus check which one falls in your budget. But fairly sure most of the offerings there should cover the requirement

You can check out solar advice, they do a rent to own option as well. Not sure how their rent to own contract is structured though Ps...personal experience with getting a quote and almost a system from Hohm energy...be very very careful, i was attracted by their "low deposit" advertising but they hide a lot in legalese, which ended up in them essentially requiring 100% payment upfront before installation starts which this 22k "management" fee was part of...which i did not like. I realize a lot of installers require a big deposits to cover the cost of the equipment, but be upfront about it and don't hide it in contract t & c's.

Calculate your daily usage and try to ascertain whether most of your load is during the day or night. If it is possible to shift more load to during the day, your savings could be massive.

I can only assume I84RiS meant when it gets shutdown mid heating rather than a controlled timer shutting it down. To be fair though, i cannot see that getting variable spikes between 230V and 250V could be good for any electrical device's life span

About 30 to 60 years ago i guess it was mandatory, not really sure now. I do remember hearing the ripple switch turn on and off in my first place back when loadshedding just started. My concern is, having moved now, that i do not know whether this place has a ripple switch or whether the previous owners removed/disabled it, so i would see it very unfair if they expect us to carry the cost directly

I kind of agree with the people that say they can manage their own consumption better than COJ, if the most recent debacles with COJ loadshedding schedules is anything to go by. But then again i understand the need also as so many people just have such a wasteful attitude of "i pay for electricity so i will use electricity" type of thing. Personally i just think it will be an exercise of futility, people will pretend not to be home or actually not being home when they do come by, some will argue with the municipality staff and others will just out right refuse them entry. Not too mention all the delays that will be caused by people like me that will want to verify whether they are actual employees. Side question, did they indicate who would be carrying the costs of these devices if it is found that none are installed or that they have possibly been disabled?

You will need to provide some more detail on the entire quote. As the number of panels that are required as well as number of batteries and such affect the total price. Most installers price increases with each panel added. You can check comparisons online with solar advice/hohm energy/alumo energy to get a relative idea. But from my research 2300 for a 550watt panel are in the ball park of good to decent pricing. Longi is one of the best brands you can get, so no worries there. For the rest as i said we need to know more detail

You can, recent randburg water issues proved that....well it was 10L...just not a great way of washing dishes. So yes, its one of those it depends things, i found that the more people you are in a house, the dishwasher turns out to be a better option, or if you are less people and only put it on once it is full. But for our 2 people in the house usage scenario the once a day washing dishes works out great. But all of this doesn't matter if you have your dishwasher running off solar

Not have data points, just personal experience from a few years back and the electricity bills. Dish washer alone will be more efficient as it takes less energy to warm up a smaller amount of water, regardless of how inefficient your dishwasher is. The issue with drawing water from the geyser is that the temperature will not be a guaranteed say 50C (50C is my dishwashers eco mode) as you will be hard pressed to time your dishwashing for exactly after you geyser completed heating. So what will happen in most cases is you will be drawing water from your geyser which will be heated again by the dishwasher and will result in your geyser needing to heat up sooner to replace the lost heat. All in all better just to let the dishwasher heat it up on its own, or better yet...although for most a big no no, handwash you can save between 1kw and 2kw a day by doing so.

Has anyone bought the longi solar panels from leroy merlin, they are a fair amount cheaper than anywhere else at R1999 a panel, trying to figure out if this is a bargain or a possible scam https://leroymerlin.co.za/longi-solar-panel-mono-555w-81482623

Thanks for the response, i will keep this one in mind on my next purchase. I purchased https://www.takealot.com/ecomlight-solar-flood-spot-light-strobe-series-60w/PLID73308903 about a month ago and it seems to be working very well for the moment, i guess i will have to see when it gets to the 6/12 month mark. A number of people complain about it's brightness, but it serves the purpose i needed from it, using it at reduced brightness and last about 12 hours so far.

Thanks not familiar with this website, but it at least provides an idea. My parents are pensioners that stay in the northern cape, so something at a decent price point that doesn't require too much specialized installation is right up their alley

Interesting product, do you know who stocks this and what the pricing is? Asking for a friend...family actually

I've been considering this https://www.takealot.com/ecomlight-solar-flood-spot-light-strobe-series-60w/PLID73308903 to illuminated the dark spots in the garden And then this for the walkway https://www.takealot.com/gigabloc-motion-sensor-solar-flood-light-led-garden-spot-light/PLID90598263 But would like recommendations/ideas/alternatives

Can anyone recommend any standalone solar lights that have backup battery?

Can anyone recommend any standalone solar powered flood/spotlights that comes with backup battery that can be used in the garden to light up dark areas. It doesn't have to be extremely bright, but something that would last most of the night ie 8 to 12 hours.

Yea, saving R550 a month for 3 to 4 months a year is going to take a long time to justify the 60k that the extra batteries alone will cost you. I guess it will all depend on the annual electricity price increases

This question is two fold, first off most inverters have a minimum voltage requirement to actually start up, i think the one you mentioned has a 150V start up requirement. So you are going to require the minimum number of panels to achieve this. Other important considerations to make is whether you want to off load some of your current usage onto the solar energy so that you can offset some of the cost via your electricity bill, will the solar panels produce enough energy for all situations to charge the batters ie cloudy days and so on, or are you simply content with charging the batteries from the grid. Secondly tho and honestly this decision can only be made by you, do you want to simply "survive" loadshedding, do you want to become semi self sufficient, will your system cover worsening stages of loadshedding, do you aim to go off-the-grid on day, can you afford what ever setup you decide to go with ie don't go with short term loan/bond repayment, you'll end up paying back a multiplier of 2.5 times depending on interest rates and terms of the agreement. Finally also consider that there is cost associated with installing panels on a roof (unless you do it yourself), these costs are often so large that it rarely makes sense to get them installed if you go with a small number of panels

Cape town also announced they are going to drop the grid feed in charge to R5 as per below article https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/495295-massive-cost-cut-for-home-solar-power-producers-in-cape-town-from-r350-to-r5-per-month.html A lot can be done quickly if you aren't trying to benefit your buddies and yourself from a horrible situation rather than simply fixing the issue. Devils advocate here though, the benefitting here might be a political move. Ie to show the rest of SA ct governing party can end loadshedding if you give them a chance

I guess financial sense depends on each person. For example, 200K at fixed interest rate of 10% is pretty decent, but it provides you with a rand value of R1666 a month, if this covers your electricity bill than great, if you cover you electricity bill and make a small profit from it fantastic. But now the reveres logic applies, if i spent 200K on a solar setup and it saves me R1666 a month in electricity, its a bit of a either or situation, but add in the possibility of a average annual increase of 15% a year in electricity price, a 200K investment sounds a lot better with a 15% interest rate. Factor in the fact that most homes and apartments do not come standard with gas geysers, which will require a conversion cost and that this adds an additional monthly running cost and a bit of a logistics headache as you are only legally allowed to store 100kg of gas on a domestic property, you need to balance this with your usage requirements, add in the fact that gas itself is subject to prices fluctuations as well as availability issues. And if you use a service which handles the logistical headache for you, this comes with its own set of charges I do feel that if we are going to advise someone on options, we do need to point out that other capital expenditures where made, and the running costs need to be weighed up. I realise counter arguments for solar maintenance and replacement applies, as you essentially become your own utility service provider, but factoring in a "maintenance" plan becomes a bit of a headache to calculate, so i will leave it there.

Does anyone know if the rules surrounding solar registrations have changed in jhb. Ie are you required to register your solar powered system yet?