RobG

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!

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 I 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.

I'm running 2x 5K Mecer Axperts paralleled, It has been suggested that I start a second bank with the UP5000 and leave the original bank as is with 4 batteries. Does this sound like a good idea?

Hi Jacques Are they US3000C or the earlier batteries without the "C"?

I have a bank of 3x Pylotech US3000 and 1x US 3000C 2 of the 3000's have 1450 cycles the third has 1250 cycles. The 3000C has 900 cycles. Can I safely add 1 US5000C to the bank - making a 5 battery bank. Is it better to add another 3000C I have added PV and current bank is fully charged by 13:00 Any help appreciated. Thanks Rob

I'm thinking of going off grid completely. I have enough PV, batteries, solar geyser with gas back-up gas stove, airfryer oven, to survive sunny or partially sunny days. The only time I require ESKOM is if there's 2-3 days of heavy cloud I want to replace my old 5 KW petrol generator, which charges the batteries and runs the load - with a 5KW Inverter Generator. It has a lot of advantages, especially fuel efficiency, noise pollution etc. I can charge my 14KW/h battery bank in about 3.5 hours currently while carrying the load. Does anyone have any experience with inverter generators?

Thanks for the advice 87 I have a change-over switch - grid/generator - feeding AC into the inverter. So I should put an ON/OFF switch before each inverter? Presently the existing inverter is wired directly into the DB. If I understand: I need to use the same length wire to 2 AC switches then 2 same length wires to the DB? They don't run independent plugs etc. so loads will be balanced. I'm using ICC so would both inverters need to be plugged into the Pi USB?

Hi Coulomb Thanks for the concise reply and pics! I have a set of cables. Why do you feel 2 AC switchers would be an advantage? Rob

I have an existing Mecer Axpert MKS1 5KW. It is about a year old and has a parallel card in it. I have 4x Pylontech 3000, 4725w of PV with 725W on a solar tracker I made. The idea is to parallel the 2 inverters and have the tracker array on it's own MPPT on the new inverter. Will having the 2 inverters MPPT's with different wattage coming in from the PV's create any kind of problem? Is there a cable that connects the 2 Axperts together. How long is the cable? What DC battery isolation switch is recommended? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks Rob

Thanks for the info! My 3000c has faulted a few times. Its older than a month so hopefully this will help

So my 3x Pylon3000B's Firmware was way out of date! v1.3 updated to v2.4. I never knew they had firmware and don't know where to check .. It was picked up at Segen and I took them all in for update I connected a new 3000C as master with new ICC cable and all working as they should.

I took the battery into Segen Solar and they replaced a board under guarantee. Really friendly efficient folk. The tech saw that my 2 year old battery's firmware was way out of date. v1.13 so I had to take my other 2 batteries in as well for the update to v2.4. My 3 batteries now charge/discharge equally now whereas before there were quite large differences of up to 10% which I thought was normal. So lucky misfortune I guess.

You give me hope. Thanks man

I rerouted my pylontech 3000 battery wires from the inverter and decided to rebalance the batteries. The 2 older batteries I connected together but, I don't know where my head was, connected black to black and the red from the bottom battery to the black of the other battery. Turned them on and saw a fault light and my mistake. About 15 seconds I reckon. 😱 Now that battery is not working. Have I cooked it or is there a protection circuit that can be rectified? I feel like such a c#%t

you need to get a new cable from ICC. it has a different connector. Make sure you balance the batteries before joining all together.