Carl Anthony

Posted a similar time to you and looking at a similar set up it seems - I guess I should be deciding between an 8kw and 12kw inverter now.

I haven't had solar but I have had gas in my last 3 homes - one was fortunately municipal/building piped gas, the second was the set up you describe with a bottle outside and then I have also had the set up where the gas bottle is in a vented kitchen cupboard. All have worked really well, with no issues (save for the gas running out while cooking) and I actually prefer cooking on a gas hob than an electric.

Hey @Chickenlip , I can vouch for Bernardus Rossouw - 0824160614. He wasn't my initial installer (unfortunately). He was the installer the insurance company sent out when we had the lightning strike in 2024. All I can say is that he is really passionate about his craft and workmanship is top quality. I used him again last year when we expanded the system.

Looks legit 😂

No issues, I have the Powerbox Pro's and have been all good. Using comms via CAN but they are also capable of comms via RS485, but not at the same time one or the other.

No issues, I have the Powerbox Pro's and have been all good. Using comms via CAN but they are also capable of comms via RS485, but not at the same time one or the other.

I had a Freedom Won Lite Home 10/8 installed in May 2021. Towards the end of 2025 I noticed that it discharges normally until about 48%, and then the SoC suddenly drops to 10%. And then it will charge normally until about 55%, stay there for a while, and suddenly jump to 100%. So I basically had half of the original capacity.
In January 2026 I contacted the original installer, who logged a call with Freedom Won. The installer came to my house with his laptop and the Freedom Won guy connected remotely to diagnose. He said there were 3 cells at a lower voltage. He updated the firmware and said I should monitor it for a week or so.
There was no improvement, so at the beginning of February the installer took the battery to Freedom Won's offices (no small feat because the battery weighs almost 100kg and is mounted on a wall). Freedom Won had it for 4 weeks, and they replaced all the cells and the BMS. So now I basically have a new battery in the old box.
The only cost to me was the installer's fees. So I think Freedom Won's support is pretty good (albeit a bit slow). They responded each time the installer asked for an update.

Then on top of it I shot myself in the foot after I switched of my PV 1 evening during an electric storm and forgot to switch it on the next morning. Bad to get old.

Update:

Cylinder #8 : 31 January - 19 April

Update:

Cylinder #8 : 31 January - 19 April

Sounds like your neighbour is trying to over compensate for something 😆

On the real though, very difficult comparing an apple with an orange, as the rest of the forum have already commented.
I have 18 x 550w panels, and most days my peak is in the 8kw range.
Once batteries are charged I have a steady load of about 3500w for the pool pump and heat pump + base load.
So there are times when I have no extra load to run to make use of the PV so then the system is only pulling enough for that load of 3500w
Then I have days usually weekends when everyone is home and we have pull every bit of PV available which makes me smile.
I run the batteries down to 50% across all time slots so just to charge the batteries is about 15kw daily.

Would be good to understand your load requirements throughout the day, battery SOC during the time slots etc. all plays a part...

I bit the bullet and bought the Steco 7.5 Silent inverter generator in January 2026.

With City Power not allowing solar users to go pre-paid it seems the only alternative is to go off grid completely.

My solar system comprises of:

6250w of PV 3800w fixed on tile roof and 2400w bifacial PV on a solar tracker ( generates 25 kw/h on good days in summer 22 in winter)

2x 5KVa Axpert inverters paralleled

5x Pylontech 3000C 17.5kw/h

200L solar geyser

20L/hour gas geyser back-up

Gas stove

Airfryer oven.

Fridge, washing machine, dishwasher

10L 220V hot water kitchen geyser

I work from home recording studio, have 750w swimming pool pump runs for 8 hours a day

Rainwater harvesting pump 1000w used about 20 minutes a day to water vegetables and garden

We use about 30kw/h over 24 hours and generally have 40% battery in the morning

In January I generated 33 kw/h and used 18L of fuel which is about R380.

I run the genny at 75-80%, charging @ 4.7kw per hour

I am still on post paid and after using no utility power in January I received the bill for R1600 just for being connected to the grid!

To go off grid they charge crazy amounts to remove the service.

Another rip off by the corrupt City of JHB!

Noooo, lets put a little more focus on this I think its almost there and you will absolutely love it.

Start from scratch but this time follow the method of not using WIFI or Ethernet to get started...so you connect directly to the Pi via the SA SSID it broadcasts, then once you in we can get it setup and then connect it to your WIFI as a start and then figure out the LAN afterwards.

https://solar-assistant.io/help/getting-started/start-device-wifi#start > this method...

Morning members and friends. It is with sadness that I have to inform you that @TaliaB had another big blood clot in his right lung. He is in the Netcare Christian Barnard Memorial hospital ICU. Let's us be with him in prayers and thoughts
As and when news is received I will share it here
🙏🙏🙏🙏

Surprisingly even with all the rain in December production was pretty good. Additional 6 panels were installed 19 September, 3rd battery was done 9 October. New loads from 3 November is pool pump (8hrs a day) and heat pump (5hrs a day).

Update:
Cylinder #6 : 28 August - 10 November

Hey guys, I have run my Cat6 ethernet cable in the same trunking as all of the solar system cables. Zero issues in the 2yrs since. The Pi itself is sitting on/against the 50mm battery cable within the trunking.
Again, Zero issues in 2yrs.

It sits within the green rectangle space...surrounded by DC and AC wiring and earthing cable.

Depends how you flip it, flip it slow then yes power will drop and return.
Flip it fast enough and there is no break in supply.
Use to do this with my change over switch when I use to run the generator, when grid restored I would flip it fast enough so there is no drop in power.
Disclaimer: this is my process to use and unsure if this is the “proper” way to do this. I have done it for years on the change over with the generator and since I got solar have done this a good few times already without issue. *touch wood*

Dyness Powerbox Pro - already checked with SA about it as well.
"With all the battery models below, if an inverter is already reading them via CAN then SolarAssistant can not read them via RS485 at the same time. Set SolarAssistant to "Use inverter values"."

So some of us fortunate enough - me included - who got this new Beta that has the PV Forecast in it, will only be prompted to license at the next Stable release.
Not all Beta enabled users/devices received this Beta and as such are delayed from receiving the request to subscribe to license...at this point.

So some of us fortunate enough - me included - who got this new Beta that has the PV Forecast in it, will only be prompted to license at the next Stable release.
Not all Beta enabled users/devices received this Beta and as such are delayed from receiving the request to subscribe to license...at this point.

I've been on Beta ever since I started with SA.

There's two new features that I like, one is the PV Forecast for the day, they added a Cell Imbalance metric on the battery stats. If they can pull more Battery stats from the inverter that would be awesome. I can't use the battery cables on the Dyness as I had with the BSL battery.

Cool functionality: There's finally Dark Mode 😎 for the Dashboards, all Charts now align to the times, you also get a a cross-section on all graphs if you point to a specific point on any of them. Totals now show 2 x decimal places.
Really not badly priced for their licensing structure R419 for 2years = R17.46 a month, less than buy a 2L Coke a month 🤪

I know Solar Assistant has had Automations for a while now, I have never used it myself, there's quite a few options to choose from in their Automations Run Table.

Playing around with it now and there's an Option to control the Work Mode Setting based on Time of Day...this could work...haven't tested it myself though.

It’s a straight swop basically, they bring a filled cylinder and take your empty one.
Gas guy we use regularly for our 9kg cylinders for the gas hobs and heaters said its R1250 for the 48kg delivered. Haven’t found it this cheap anywhere else. GBGas also assist with gas and if I recall correctly their pricing is R1550 delivered.

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.

Hey all,
So in November 2024 I made the decision to move our water heating requirements to Gas.
I used a company called https://gbgas.co.za/ as a friend of mine used them to do his a few months prior to me.
From the get go the interaction with these guys was awesome, and refreshing.
A real pleasure to deal with them pre-sales and after-sales their response and helpfulness never changed. (No I am not sponsored by them for writing this post 😆)

So we are a household of 3, with 6 x hot water taps in the house to cater for. Two of us shower in the mornings and one baths in the evening.

The quote I got included everything:
plumbing work
Dewhot 20L Fan Forced
a cage for the cylinders
2 x 48kg cylinders
all the materials needed
labour
COC on completion
Rounded up the cost was R31000.

I had a plug point installed prior to the install and I had the mini-concrete slab done for the cylinders and cage to sit on.

Installation date was confirmed and like clockwork the team arrived, install was completed in about half a day a small challenge due to the galvanized pipes but the team got everything sorted.
Super neat work and very meticulous from the guys, which again is quite refreshing to see and experience from a service provider.

One issue was that the pressure post-install for hot water wasn't what it use to be, which to their credit they came back a couple of times to try and assist and check.
Eventually we agreed to use a higher temp so that we could mix cold water to have decent pressure when showering. The alternative would be bypassing the electric geyser completely.
We are on borehole water with a booster pump and a three stage Big Blue filtration system.

Not related to GB Gas install but to the pressure issue: couple of weeks ago the valve on the inlet pipe to the geyser was leaking which was just before the pressure control valve, had this replaced.
Then I had no hot water coming out the taps, the plumbers went back up and checked and like a magic wand we had hot water again and the pressure was back to normal pre-gas install.
The issue was a build up in the catchment/filter on the PCV, due to galvanized piping alot of debris was caught in this. Once they cleaned that out pressure issue was resolved. 🥳

Usage:

Install was done on the 12th Nov, a couple of days later I bought the EyeGas monitoring tool which claims a 99% accuracy of a reading.
During that heatwave period in Nov/Dec I showered twice on some days, also we set the temp a bit higher so we could mix to accommodate for above mentioned pressure issue.
Gas cylinder #1 lasted from 12 Nov - 26 Feb, it was empty empty the alarm signaled on the Dewhot controller.

I'm pretty impressed with that return.

Not having to run our geyser which is a old donkey with a 4kW element is saving at the very minimum 12kWh a day.
We are also no longer reliant on the grid or sunshine for hot water which is awesome.

Gas cylinder #2 according to the readings I am seeing from EyeGas is dropping a bit faster than #1 did, but will monitor and update on this usage as well. So far its 26 Feb - TBC.

Some pics attached, the offending catchment/filter circled in green.

Anyway just thought I'd share in case this helps in your decision to go the gas route.