PJJ

I think so too.
At R167K its about the price of 5 x US3000's and a 8000VA Victron Quattro.
The Quattro obviously has a bigger inverter (6.5KW) and another big benefit I think is that second AC Input.
And then there is just the chemistry differences, NMC cells will have a lower cycle life compared to Lifepo4.
So with those things considered, I will still go blue  

You can't go on a road trip without your keys

My AntBMS is on the way, once I have it and my pack built I will give you some feedback.

All the parameters are working nicely. I'm busy making the changes so the driver will be installed and started with the serial-starter script.

 
Most of these changes was done over the weekend, but then I also tackled by DB. It was on the todo list to cleanup and install a bigger box since before the lockdown when I added the ET112 meter.
If anyone has done some fishing you would know a "kraaines". The 12 place DB could only fit 8 in slots of CB and when I added the double slot ET112 meter push wires into all the corners to make space. Here is my "kraaines" being taken apart. No way to know which neutral and live goes together.
 
It was a full day of work! Every person turning the corner would have a comment like "Spagetti!" "Spiderweb" or "Is it going to work" 😬
 
In the end I finished 5:20pm. (made it just in time for the braai  ) Much nicer now and my change over switch actually fit inside the DB.

Thanks for all the tips guys.  Mostly incorporated and seems to work quite well.
Here is a preview for anybody who wants to review it for me  :
// HIGH VOLTAGE LOGIC if(bat_maxv > BAT_MAX_V) { // over - shut off charging... Serial.println("OVERVOLTAGE!"); trg_chg_i = 0; trg_chg_v = bat_v * 10U; trg_chg_v -= (bat_maxv - BAT_MAX_V) * 200; // retard by 200mV for each mV above target... } else if(bat_maxv > BAT_DERATE_V) { Serial.println("HIGH VOLTAGE!"); // derate voltage trg_chg_v = bat_v * 10U; trg_chg_v += 16*(BAT_MAX_V - bat_maxv); // set the target voltage = current voltage + whatever is required to make the max cell full // derate current delta = bat_maxv - BAT_DERATE_V; f = delta; f /= (float)(BAT_MAX_V - BAT_DERATE_V); // (min derate) 0 < f <= 1 (full derate) f = 1.0 - f; trg_chg_i = (float)(BAT_CHG_I * 100U) * f; } else { // restore target trg_chg_i = BAT_CHG_I*100; trg_chg_v = BAT_CHG_V; } // ramp functions if(trg_chg_i < bat_chg_i) { // going down? rapid derate delta = bat_chg_i - trg_chg_i; delta /= 2; if(delta == 0) delta = 1; bat_chg_i -= delta; } else if(trg_chg_i > bat_chg_i) { // going up? very slow bat_chg_i += 1; } if(trg_chg_v < bat_chg_v) { // going down? rapid derate delta = bat_chg_v - trg_chg_v; delta /= 2; if(delta == 0) delta = 1; bat_chg_v -= delta; } else if(trg_chg_v > bat_chg_v) { // going up? very slow bat_chg_v += 2; // 500 s per volt... 50s per unit that the inverter can notice } Serial.print("bat_chg_v: "); Serial.println(bat_chg_v); Serial.print("trg_chg_v: "); Serial.println(trg_chg_v); // LOW VOLTAGE LOGIC if(bat_minv <= BAT_MIN_V) { // any cell <= minimum? shut off discharge Serial.println("LOW VOLTAGE LIMIT!"); bat_dis_i = 0; bat_soc = 0; bat_soh = 0; lv_lockout = 1; lv_lockout_ms = millis(); } else { // otherwise wait for lockout interval then release if(lv_lockout) { Serial.println("LOW VOLTAGE LOCKOUT"); bat_dis_i = 0; bat_soc = 0; bat_soh = 0; if(millis() - lv_lockout_ms >= LV_LOCKOUT_MS) { lv_lockout = 0; } } else { bat_dis_i = BAT_DIS_I * 100U; } } Still crude and messy and requires tuning.
Inverter hates rapid changes in charge parameters and puts battery into standby... So added ramp functions, which seem slow enough to keep the inverter happy.
Need to tweek the current derate function to make it steeper in the early stages. Otherwise works quite well so far.

Hang on, not so fast... 🙂
You must have both 1) overcurrent protection, and 2) residual current (aka earth leakage) protection. You do get combination overcurrent/rcd devices, but they are quite costly, so in most cases your house will be fitted with individual breakers, a 60A main breaker for overcurrent protection, followed by a 30mA RCD. It is unlikely that you have overcurrent protection on that RCD (due to cost factor), so it is NOT as simple as just removing one of them.

Put them on the back of your bakkie, drive into town. Park somewhere in an area known for alternative shopping. Go and have lunch.

First, I'd like to encourage you to get the units right, cause it's a little confusing now. The units are kWh (for energy, eg, if you turn on a 2kW kettle and leave it on for an hour, it will consume 2kWh of energy), and kW (a measure of power).
It sounds like you want a 5kW inverter, not a 5kWh one 🙂
Regarding gas: If your goal is to become independent of Eskom, have hot water during  load shedding, or you're running a guest house and absolutely must have hot water at all times, then gas is a good idea. If your goal is to save money, then don't do gas. Gas is the most expensive heating option (unless you have a very efficient "geyser" and a natural gas piped to your estate). A heat pump and or solar water heating (depending on how much sun you've got) saves far more money.
I agree with the comment about installing an A++ rated fridge. Three pluses is even better, of course, but diminishing returns and all that, each + means 10% less energy, but you get to a point where an additional + doubles the cost... not worth it imho. Bosch A++ unit are common and affordable.
As others have said, Victron does not make the only hybrid. But they do make the best one... (yeah, I know... I know... 🙂 ).
Getting back to gas again, seriously. 14.6MJ of energy in a kg of LPG. Convert to kWh, that's around 113kWh in a 9kg bottle. Divide the cost up, around R2/kWh per unit of energy. Compare yo what you pay for electricity, chances are it's very close (Cape Town is R2.56/kWh, so gas is technically a tad cheaper). But a resistive element inside a tank of water is close to 100% efficient, and gas is nowhere near 80%... so it's a simple high school physics question that some teacher really should slip into the matric paper: Gas is not cheaper.
🙂

Of course I am a tad bemused by the budget inverter paired with a sizeable investment in batteries, but to each their own 🙂
 

Very well executed self install. Nicely Done!! 

Sorry about the title - seems to be a forum rib of sorts ?
Anyway here is my install - was quite challenging doing it all myself with little solar experience. Silly things like just getting inverter on the wall (thing ways a ton) , thank goodness for climbing gear and pulleys, made it a steep learning curve. Hopefully the forum wolves will be kind though   .  
System :Victron Inverter  - Quattro 10000va /  Victron 250/100 SmartSolar MPPT /  20 x 330 Watt Canadian Solar  / Victron BMV702  / Revov 10 kWh / Venus GX running ESS  / ET112 Grid Meter / Home Assistant Integration. In case you wondering system is limited that it can’t feed more than 4.6kW into grid.
Things I would have done differently: 
- Bigger fuse boxes & bit more spacing - 35mm2 wire is difficult to bend
- Wider trucking - same reason as above
My average use is 30-35 kWh per day - system is producing 18kWh on average (mid winter) per day - looking forward to summer. The Battery is on paper too small as most use is in evening, however in Port Elizabeth we can Grid tie one to one and we are on Eskom time of use tariffs, so battery only needs to get me through the 2 peak periods, then use the grid as a cheap battery for balance of time.
With the home automation (Home Assistant) tie-in, I manipulate a few things on system via Modibus to optimise the return:
System makes sure batteries are charged for morning and evening peak using grid if needed  - (buys cheaper power or uses credit generated during day). I do this by changing the Grid set point higher for this period. If there is loadshedding (it reads the loadshedding status form Eskom website) - it changes min SOC from 20% to 50% - that way there is enough capacity in batteries to get through any loadshedding episodes regardless of time of day.  Also notifies me of grid failure over google home and on phone 
Pic 1 - Christmas - trying to figure everything out
 
 
Pic 2 - figuring out cable routes - old inverter/ups in green looking sad
 
 
Pic 3 - Old Main Db Board (nice excuse to tidy up)
 
 
Pic 4 - Honey will we have lights tonight ? - no pressure - all stripped out
 
 
Pic 5 - Main Db Looking bit more tidy - split into 2 - Db1 non critical AC loads - Oven and Geyser on Left ELU -  Db3 - Critical Loads -  balance of house - plugs and lights
(Note Inverter feeds back up to DB1 if grid present so DB1 is on Inverter / solar /battery until there is a grid failure)
 
 
Pic 6 - Revov Batteries 10 KWh- server rack box adapted with some additional home made welded brackets (its a 50kg load) - but nicely off the floor
 
 
Pic 7 - DC Buss-bar -  cramped DC shunt and fuse box  - will know for next time - give yourself more room
 
 
Pic 8 - AC DB 2 - feeds to and from Db 1/D b3 with 3 way change over switch (can bypass inverter if its faulty)  - MPPT on left - Solar DC DB &  fuses on right
 
 
Pic 9 - Solar DB - only partly my work that''s why is so neat   - 4 strings of 5 panels  - bottom 2 cables have subsequently been increased to 10mm2 from 6mm2 shown here - MPPT was kicking errors - seems happier now
 
 
Pic 10 - Overview of installation - Inverter quite noisy (I am noise sensitive) - so nice to be in the garage vs in house
 
 
Pic 11 - Colour GX and BMV installed round corner (more accessible)
 
 
Pic 12  - Panels  - 20 x 330W - 4 strings of 5 - 5 deg - facing NE - raised back 5 because of shading
 
 
Pic 13 - Home Assistant Home Automation Tie in - Note loadshedding sensor (still working on overall layout but its 100% customisable)
 

Pic 14 - Municipal Grid-tie meter with ET112 Grid Meter on right

I have had my eye on getting a secondhand i3 once I can get a 120Ah version for a decent price (That even us commoners can afford)
But combined with the recent drop in fuel prices I can't even in my wildest dreams justify the expense.
My Up is already extremely fuel efficient, my monthly fuel bill is now about R800 and on that R800 I get 50% back from my discovery fuel rewards.
I think my cost per KM for fuel is now about 70c and after the 50% cashback its 35c per KM
If I assume the i3 is as efficient as the BMW website says and it uses 13.1kWh / 100 KM I would use about 1200KM / 100KM = 12 x 13.1kWh = 157kWh
If I assume this entire 157kWh would be added to my most expensive bloc of my prepaid bill (It probably won't since I can manage it and have a little solar as well but lets assume for a moment) this would cost me R2.5 p/kWh. So that's : 157 kWh x R2.5 = R392 worth of electricity.
Which is 32c per KM.
Even if I could finance the car at say 10% with a capital cost of R300K the monthly interest alone would be R2465.
 
So I am not even lying to myself, the i3 belongs in my "Wants" column not in the "Needs"
 

I have had my eye on getting a secondhand i3 once I can get a 120Ah version for a decent price (That even us commoners can afford)
But combined with the recent drop in fuel prices I can't even in my wildest dreams justify the expense.
My Up is already extremely fuel efficient, my monthly fuel bill is now about R800 and on that R800 I get 50% back from my discovery fuel rewards.
I think my cost per KM for fuel is now about 70c and after the 50% cashback its 35c per KM
If I assume the i3 is as efficient as the BMW website says and it uses 13.1kWh / 100 KM I would use about 1200KM / 100KM = 12 x 13.1kWh = 157kWh
If I assume this entire 157kWh would be added to my most expensive bloc of my prepaid bill (It probably won't since I can manage it and have a little solar as well but lets assume for a moment) this would cost me R2.5 p/kWh. So that's : 157 kWh x R2.5 = R392 worth of electricity.
Which is 32c per KM.
Even if I could finance the car at say 10% with a capital cost of R300K the monthly interest alone would be R2465.
 
So I am not even lying to myself, the i3 belongs in my "Wants" column not in the "Needs"
 

My father's third name is "le Roux". So he is Mr. A. B. le Roux Venter (not his real name).
So there was this funny case of a newsletter he received which was incorrectly addressed to Mr. le Roux. He asked them to correct it. The next month he received two newsletters, one for Mr. le Roux, and one for Mr. Venter.
He gave up...

Do they have a website, permanent address, shop, offices you can visit, listed phone numbers? 
If not, rather keep your money. 
Personally, I have never heard of them..... 

Here in attendance!
I have a Sonoff basic on my pressure pump and its been there for over a year now like Jaco says, I also have the POW on my geyser, its not been in there for as long as the basic has been on my pressure pump, but so far so good.

@anotherbrownbear should be able to help you.

Sorry to derail your thread but I am pretty sure if it says Averge you might have stolen telecommunication batteries.
Its been said on here a lot but that Carte Blance piece a while back made it clear that Averge don't sell to the public, I am not sure if that has changed since then, but maybe ask your installer where he bought them from just to give you peace of mind. 

Hi. PJJ.
Averge are currently selling to the public.
 
I phoned them and confirmed that the batteries are not stolen and they confirmed that the installer bought directly from them. 
 
The publicly sold batteries are branded differently and are labeled as Averge Solar Batteries. Not Averge Telecommunications Batteries. 

Very much possible, just inefficient.
You would be doing double conversion the whole time AC-DC-AC.
This would also make your potential charging current pretty bad, let me explain.
Say your loads are 150W AC
You go and buy a 12/30 Bluesmart charger.
So now you have 30A of charging current, not too bad, except  you will use around 12A (150W / 13.5V =  11.1A But there are also inverter efficiencies to take into account) just powering your loads.
So only the remaining 18A can be used for charging, obviously this quickly spirals out of control as your loads increaase, if your loads are say 300W
You will be using 22A of the chargers 30A capacity only power your loads, and there will only be 8A left for charging.
If your loads are say 400W you would need the entire capacity of the charger simply to keep the loads powered, and you won't have any real charging happening.
 
I would say go with a busbar because then you can easily fuse the connection going to the battery. 

Very much possible, just inefficient.
You would be doing double conversion the whole time AC-DC-AC.
This would also make your potential charging current pretty bad, let me explain.
Say your loads are 150W AC
You go and buy a 12/30 Bluesmart charger.
So now you have 30A of charging current, not too bad, except  you will use around 12A (150W / 13.5V =  11.1A But there are also inverter efficiencies to take into account) just powering your loads.
So only the remaining 18A can be used for charging, obviously this quickly spirals out of control as your loads increaase, if your loads are say 300W
You will be using 22A of the chargers 30A capacity only power your loads, and there will only be 8A left for charging.
If your loads are say 400W you would need the entire capacity of the charger simply to keep the loads powered, and you won't have any real charging happening.
 
I would say go with a busbar because then you can easily fuse the connection going to the battery. 

Update:
Hi guys, so I decided to redo the Pylontech stacking test once again.
Powered everything OFF, including all the US3000 bricks with their mechanical ON/OFF switches. Wired 9 units of US3000 together, using their RJ-45 link ports. All the DC ports were connected to a common busbars. Started master brick via SW button -> First 8 bricks went online one by one, as ususal, but the brick #9 stayed OFF. Manually started brick #9 using its SW button -> It went online without any error. Attached BatteryView to the master brick and instructed it to search for 9 bricks running in paralel -> BatteryView connected okay to the first 8 bricks, but indicated brick #9 as offline, despite the brick #9 was already running in reality. Screenshot:

 
Result:
The maximum of US3000 bricks that can run in a single stack, without having a top-of-rack LV-HUB, is 8 units. Tested and verified.
A statement that US3000 is able to combine 12 units in a single stack is either a bullshit, or it is related to some newer HW/FW revision that I never heard of.
Could someone redo this test with the newest US3000 samples, please?
 
 

Your two 800VA units make up the 1600VA I used to have. I ran an 850W well point pump on that, two pressure pumps of 450W each, fridge, freezer, and of course the usual essentials (lights, internet, TV... 🙂). It is more than adequate... EXCEPT... as I've said a few times, you miss the ability to run the microwave oven. You don't realise the convenience of that appliance until you want to make a sandwich and the butter is hard, or when you have a hungry infant who's just gone onto solids and needs two tablespoons of mildy warm pumpkin and beans.

Also I would not recommend you do a install without a MPPT.
If your system had a shutdown event (lets say you hit minimum SOC) and the AC falls away there is no way to start the PV Inverter again (Because it needs the AC from the Multi to couple to) so you would sit in a deadlock position where the sun could be shining but since your batteries are too low to start the AC Inverter, you also can't by proxy start the PV Inverter.

From memory:
1. Victron states that exceeding the 1:1 rule will damage their inverter, no exceptions.
2. Victron also states that there should be a minimum of 5kWh of lead acid batteries/1kW of Fronius or 5kWh of Lithium batteries/1.5kW of Fronius.
Caveat: I am crystal clear on 1. and just pretty sure about 2.
This has to do with system being sized to absorb the surge of excess power during load and grid switching, (as the power control is not instantaneous).
The bi-directional inverter has to have a big-enough charger and the batteries have to be able to take it as well, (even if they're already fully charged).
Plenty of literature  for this rationale on the Victron website.