Vaal

Now I missed you. You get a surge from grid side, due to what ever reason. As soon as the spike hits the spd it divert it down to earth and no more spike and possible the spd is no more anymore. On the drawing there isn't any mention of pv input but I would think it will work the same way. If you get more than one decent spike and the spd is blown then the next "soft/sensitve" spot in line will take it on the nose and go poef.

But if the breaker trips, then there is no spd in that line. That sounds counter productive. There is no mcb in front of my spd's. The spd is a sacrificial device.

What would the reason be to install the four 25A MCB in front of the SPD's?

When I had to decide what panels and how, my problem was a 10deg pitch north facing roof. I could spend money on brackets to raise the panels to 26deg or I could rather buy 2 more panels. I bought 2 extra panels and now there are 5 (JA 535w about 49v at 11A ) per input. Continuously get about 210v dc. If I need to fiddle I can put all on 1 string but currently I generate much more than I can use. Advantages of flatter panel angles: less chance of wind getting in under them and no place for bird nests. Disadvantages are they run hotter due to lower ventilation and you need more space. I used P2000 rail screwed into the rafters as base and P2000 as cross members. Six of the one and half a dozen of the other. I installed my system alone: to get my 10 panels on the roof, I tied the 2 halfs of my sliding ladder to the edge, bound the dogs blankets and shade netting around the ladders to protect the panels, tied a rope cradle around the panels and pulled them up when there wasn't any wind. I'm quite proud of my handiwork.

Jacques, I don't agree with you on this statement. If you have 2 EL's in series you get a whole bunch of nuisance trips. To the OP, yes it is legal to have multi EL's as long as it is not in series and everything is protected by a EL. It is actually very nice to have it this way because if I you trip the EL in the garage you don't "upset" the people in the house. To do fault finding, it makes it a lot easier.

Haha. The users who doesn't pay for electricity, why would the save or do loadshifting? LoL, another scheme to plunder and steel.

Aha, the suicide plug. Eish

We are 2 in the house with a 300L PV geyser on the roof which regularly reach 90deg according to the display. Most of the time there is more than enough warm water. LoL

I have seen a couple of pictures where the tennant built a loose standing frame for his panels which he anchored in his lawn. The big advantage was that he could change the angle to adapt to the seasons. But I think he didn't wire it into his house system.

I have thought about using a car radiator and a 12v fan connected to my solar geyser with a circulation pump. I wond if it will work.

Currently there is a very interesting chat about Rocket mass heaters on the AVforum. https://www.avforums.co.za/threads/rocket-stove-mass-heater-for-those-really-chilly-mornings.104735/#post-1144834

I think you have to give a lot more info on your current system and what you are trying to accomplish before anybody can give you a sensible opinion. Bigger is always better till it becomes too big, then it becomes bad.

My current kettle is a 1.7L 2kw with a minimum level of 800ml which is a pain as you only use about 300ml per cup. What a battle to get the family to only heat what you need except if it is less than the minimum level. I am thinking of getting myself a 900ml 1.3kw Picollo kettle with a minimum level of 500ml or otherwise a Siena with 1500w element and 800ml capacity. Does anybody use a mini kettle?

I use the protector plug just for the 3min delay before startup.

I would suggest you use a dedicated refrigiration surge protected plug on all your fridges and freezer. They are different to a "normal" surge protected plug, in that if the supply goes outside the parameter settings of (170 >275V) it switches off and will only switch on again 3 minutes after the supply is back in the parameters. This stops your refrigiration compressor from trying to start againt back-pressure. You get the plugs in different price brackets eg. Clearline, Ellies etc. What I don't know is how fast the plug reacts to any power deviations? My Ellies unit has never tripped/engaged whit any fluctuations from my Sunsynk's side.

My Waeco CF80 fridge/freezer works from 230v ac or 12V dc or 24V dc. The 230v ac gets converted to 12v dc which runs the 12v dc Danfoss compressor. The original power supply stopped working on 230v Ac and cost a arm and a leg to replace. I bought and wired a cheap 230v to 12v dc 20A powersupply, from the china mall, in its place and it has been working wonderfull sofar.

A long shot: have you tried Rabtron?

I would say panels. Currently you will never get return on your investment. If the grid is off, how would you charge your battery?

You can use a Cable Mate waterproof connector. They are quite nifty.

Hmm, then you must register your system and in the future they cannot get enough sin tax revenue so they might bring in a sun tax for pv users. Nope, my system will not be registered at the moment or any time soon.

A couple of years ago when I still worked at a steel mill, we used closed loop water chillers (made by Daiken if I remember correctly) to cool lazer heads and measuring equipment. It was basically a closed loop water system where there were "aircon" tubes inside the cold water storage vessel. I don't know what you want to cool, but what about a vortex air panel cooler? You only need a dry compressed air supply.

I think it is a very appropriate time to send a request to you body corporate that you want to install pv panels because the generator noise is irritating. What would they rather have noise or a couple of "black" roof tiles? Otherwise what do they say about a "shade port", nobody said you may not substitute IBR sheets with PV panels? If they say not above boundry wall height, can't you make a plan with a frame standing on the ground? I would ask the BC what, who, why etc you can or cannot do and then take it from there. When is the next agm, have it as a point in the agenda and start mustering up the neighbours. It might be possible to have building guidelines amended and panels installed but with certain criteria. Something to look out for are BC members which doesn't stay in the complex. Hope you have success.

To the best of my knowledge you need to br registered to be able to do COC's. If you install it yourself up to Sans standard and the electrician can't find fault he must sign it off or you get somebody else to test and sign off. During installation install a 3 level db board with at least 25mm (preferably bigger) conduit to the roof and other places like generator etc. Conduit price difference is negligible.

I hammered a 1.8m long earth rod into the ground, in a south east, shaded corner outside my house where the soil is always damp. If your soil is soft you can connect 2 rods together for a better deeper earth. I used 10mm² cable to connect all the panels together, connect panels to frames, frames to roof sheeting. 10mm² from db to inverter and earth neutral bond relay. I then bolted all that cables to a start point on a "ground clean/paintless" roof sheet and from there used 16mm² earth cable to the earth pin. It is preferred to use as thick as possible earth cable, double or more than your supply cable. I installed another pin where the municipality grid enters my house after previous earth problems with grid supply. I would install an earth cable from the generator to the earth pin also. NB the only device to protect you as user is the earth leakage. For your own safety, install one asap and test it oftenly.

What size breaker/s does trip? You say breakers, is it the same 1 or different breaker? Or is it the earth leakage which trip? How thick is your supply cable and how long is it? If your start-up current is a bit too high for your breaker you can always use a curve 1 breaker, it takes about twice as long to trip for the same overload. It is the breaker with a orange toggle, it works quite well for motors, aircons and certain welding machines.