Toxxyc

Yeah overall it doesn't really change anything, except now it feels to me like something is wrong in the system. I have this constant worry that something is amiss, even when everything now works perfectly fine. Voltage mode works. System was optimised as bit more as well, and now the batteries also charge a lot faster. Dunno why, but they set the batteries to only charge at something like 680W max per battery, so it took the whole day to charge. Turns out they can charge a lot faster than that, and can now go from almost dead to full in like 4 hours, which is epic and opens up my mornings a lot more.

Good morning, everyone.  I'm new here, and I'm hoping to mine a bit of the knowledge on here.
My story is simple.  I currently stay in a small town in a house with a small backup solar setup.  I bought the house with 2 x 450W panels, a Mecer 2.4kW inverter and 2 x 12V100AH gel batteries installed.  I hated the setup from the start as it's installed in the living room and the inverter isn't particularly quiet, but alas, I needed the backup in case of loadshedding (I work from home).
Eventually the gel batteries couldn't keep up with Stage 6 and so on load shedding, not getting enough time to charge to float between uses, and they gave up the ghost.  I DIY-replaced the two gel batteries with a Sunmagic 25.6V 150AH LiFePO4 battery.  The new lithium battery allowed the inverter to actually use it for what it was made for, and I set it to use the absolute minimum power from the battery, and charge via solar.  It's been working well-ish.
Anyway, time passed and we viewed a smallholding outside of town, put in a bit of a lowball offer (based on the work the place needs) and it got accepted.  So now we're moving.  However, the transformer costs on the smallholding is simply outrageous, so I'm going to take the place off grid.  It's not a big place and we don't use a lot of electricity (we work smart, using around 20kW a day, max 30kW a day when it's really cold and we run some heaters around the place.  Stovetop is gas, everything is LED and energy efficient, but the geyser is still electric.  We're not going to change that right now, it's a future thing.
So, what I want to do is simply not register the Eskom pole to my name when I buy the place, and they'll then cut the house off.  I then want to install a solar system that'll run the house.  The house has plenty of roof space (around 450 square meters), the DB is in the garage (so I can put everything in there, under roof, outside the house), and we're good to go.
However, the finances are a worry.  I need to finance the whole shebang as all cash we have is going into security on the smallholding.  So I searched around and found Solar.co.za and I'm wondering if they're legit, how it works, etc.  They have a rent-to-own system that's essentially financing the whole thing on their side, but I can't find much about them online, except for mixed reviews on HelloPeter.
So, here I am.  Can anyone recommend me a rent-to-own solar company that'll do what I need at around R3k per month?  From the solar.co.za guys I can get 16 x 455W panels, 2 x 5kW LuxPower inverters, and 3 x HinaESS 5.14kW batteries for ~R2,900 per month.  That's perfectly in my budget, and if I install a generator I have alongside that, I should be fine even on rainy days, right?
I hope to learn a lot, and expect a TON of questions from me!

Saturday was a hot, sunny day, and we had a kid's party.  That involved people camping on the grounds in a caravan with an AC, as well as a jumping castle thing.  Because a lot of power was drawn the whole day, we actually produced more than 50kW during the day from the panels.  Incredible!

Saturday was a hot, sunny day, and we had a kid's party.  That involved people camping on the grounds in a caravan with an AC, as well as a jumping castle thing.  Because a lot of power was drawn the whole day, we actually produced more than 50kW during the day from the panels.  Incredible!

Saturday was a hot, sunny day, and we had a kid's party.  That involved people camping on the grounds in a caravan with an AC, as well as a jumping castle thing.  Because a lot of power was drawn the whole day, we actually produced more than 50kW during the day from the panels.  Incredible!

Saturday was a hot, sunny day, and we had a kid's party.  That involved people camping on the grounds in a caravan with an AC, as well as a jumping castle thing.  Because a lot of power was drawn the whole day, we actually produced more than 50kW during the day from the panels.  Incredible!

As an update, today is Day 34 off grid.  So far I've had blasting sunny days, and days with so much cloud cover it's hard to get the batteries to 100%.  So far I've generated 1.06MWh, and I've had to use the generator only once.  Only once because I chose to run it when cloud cover was thick, so I can get batteries a bit fuller before bedtime.  I could have skipped it, but I figured the generator needs to run anyway, and "today's as good a day as any", so went with it.
So far, I'm not sorry for a second.  It's worth every single cent.

As an update, today is Day 34 off grid.  So far I've had blasting sunny days, and days with so much cloud cover it's hard to get the batteries to 100%.  So far I've generated 1.06MWh, and I've had to use the generator only once.  Only once because I chose to run it when cloud cover was thick, so I can get batteries a bit fuller before bedtime.  I could have skipped it, but I figured the generator needs to run anyway, and "today's as good a day as any", so went with it.
So far, I'm not sorry for a second.  It's worth every single cent.

As an update, today is Day 34 off grid.  So far I've had blasting sunny days, and days with so much cloud cover it's hard to get the batteries to 100%.  So far I've generated 1.06MWh, and I've had to use the generator only once.  Only once because I chose to run it when cloud cover was thick, so I can get batteries a bit fuller before bedtime.  I could have skipped it, but I figured the generator needs to run anyway, and "today's as good a day as any", so went with it.
So far, I'm not sorry for a second.  It's worth every single cent.

I think I bumped it up to 30A charging.  The batteries allow up to 75A charging, but recommend no more than 50A, so I think 30A is a good middle ground.

Re : battery charging close to full SOC, that's normal and dictated by the BMS. I think you can do 25 amp charging without any issues tbh

OK, latest update, my system was changed to the same inverter, 18 x 555W JA panels and 4 x Dyness batteries, for just under R169k.  The problem now is getting the property on our names.
In very short, the property was never changed to a smallholding when the original farm was subdivided.  It's still registered as a farm, and farms can, by law, not be registered in two people's names.  So this was a huge fight because the place is under 5Ha and in a municipal zone (so taxed at municipal rates).  So registration hasn't even started.
 
Friday we got news that this farm is exempt from that law though because it is under 5Ha and in a municipal zone, so we're hoping they'll hand in soon.

OK, latest update, my system was changed to the same inverter, 18 x 555W JA panels and 4 x Dyness batteries, for just under R169k.  The problem now is getting the property on our names.
In very short, the property was never changed to a smallholding when the original farm was subdivided.  It's still registered as a farm, and farms can, by law, not be registered in two people's names.  So this was a huge fight because the place is under 5Ha and in a municipal zone (so taxed at municipal rates).  So registration hasn't even started.
 
Friday we got news that this farm is exempt from that law though because it is under 5Ha and in a municipal zone, so we're hoping they'll hand in soon.

Most recent quote I got seems to be inclusive of 4 batteries, so I shouldn't have issues in the near future.  The money I'm saving is being kept in an account should one inverter fail - I can get a replacement or loan unit in ASAP.
 
Anyway, I'm now looking at an 8kW Deye, 4 x 5.12kW Shoto batteries and 18 x JA Solar 550W panels.  Should be good enough to keep me from using the generator too much, and should also allow me plenty of backup overnight.  We don't use high-drain devices overnight, so no geyser or oven or electric heaters and stuff, so we should be fine.

Was just wondering.  Would be cool to heat your water and cool your house at the same time

OK so a lot of water has run into the sea in the past few weeks.  I've gotten quotes upon quotes and finally got bank approval on a loan for both the property and a solar system.  The solar system's allowed price is, for all intents and purposes, R200,000.  That would include a generator connection, but not the generator, I have that already.  It it strong enough to produce twice my load easily, and around 3-4 times the load of my entire house when it's idling.  In other words, if I'm not running high current appliances like the stove or geyser, the generator can run my entire house's usage 3 to 4 times over, maybe even more, with regular use (water pumps, lights, fans, computer and internet access, TVs, etc).
What I planned on getting is the following:
1 x 8kW inverter.  Right now Deye looks to be the most promising, although Sunsynk seems to be a bit cheaper for some reason on my quotes.  I prefer the Deye software though, and Sunsynk's app looks like it's offline a lot these days.
4 x 5.12kWh batteries.  I planned on Deyness for the 10 year warranty, but I can get 2 x 10kWh from Sunsynk with the inverter for the same warranty as well.  I was quite set on this, but now I'm considering actually reducing this to 3 x 5.12kWh batteries and using the R18k from the battery to purchase and install a heatpump for hot water instead of just brute forcing the water heating through the geyser.  To me, this makes a lot of sense as I can get a 3.6kW heatpump with installation for that price, and it uses around 860W nominal, or around 1.1kW peak.  That's power I can easily run off the generator or even sacrifice 3kWh on the batteries for, if need be, to get a full geyser boiling hot.  The heatpump also works at night, when there's no solar, and it works even in rain, cold, etc.  I need advice here for this.
16 x 550W panels.  Brand doesn't matter much, this seems to be a common factor in terms of pricing so I'm happy with this. I'm planning two strings, one facing East-North-East and one facing North-North-East, but this is debatable and optional and whatnot.  I can tweak this, but I'm clueless as to how to plan for it.
 
 

According to my Eskom guy, once a smallholding has solar power installed, they refuse to install a prepaid meter, because they know people only use it for emergencies.  So instead of pocketing their R9 per unit, they just don't want any money at all.

Good morning, everyone.  I'm new here, and I'm hoping to mine a bit of the knowledge on here.
My story is simple.  I currently stay in a small town in a house with a small backup solar setup.  I bought the house with 2 x 450W panels, a Mecer 2.4kW inverter and 2 x 12V100AH gel batteries installed.  I hated the setup from the start as it's installed in the living room and the inverter isn't particularly quiet, but alas, I needed the backup in case of loadshedding (I work from home).
Eventually the gel batteries couldn't keep up with Stage 6 and so on load shedding, not getting enough time to charge to float between uses, and they gave up the ghost.  I DIY-replaced the two gel batteries with a Sunmagic 25.6V 150AH LiFePO4 battery.  The new lithium battery allowed the inverter to actually use it for what it was made for, and I set it to use the absolute minimum power from the battery, and charge via solar.  It's been working well-ish.
Anyway, time passed and we viewed a smallholding outside of town, put in a bit of a lowball offer (based on the work the place needs) and it got accepted.  So now we're moving.  However, the transformer costs on the smallholding is simply outrageous, so I'm going to take the place off grid.  It's not a big place and we don't use a lot of electricity (we work smart, using around 20kW a day, max 30kW a day when it's really cold and we run some heaters around the place.  Stovetop is gas, everything is LED and energy efficient, but the geyser is still electric.  We're not going to change that right now, it's a future thing.
So, what I want to do is simply not register the Eskom pole to my name when I buy the place, and they'll then cut the house off.  I then want to install a solar system that'll run the house.  The house has plenty of roof space (around 450 square meters), the DB is in the garage (so I can put everything in there, under roof, outside the house), and we're good to go.
However, the finances are a worry.  I need to finance the whole shebang as all cash we have is going into security on the smallholding.  So I searched around and found Solar.co.za and I'm wondering if they're legit, how it works, etc.  They have a rent-to-own system that's essentially financing the whole thing on their side, but I can't find much about them online, except for mixed reviews on HelloPeter.
So, here I am.  Can anyone recommend me a rent-to-own solar company that'll do what I need at around R3k per month?  From the solar.co.za guys I can get 16 x 455W panels, 2 x 5kW LuxPower inverters, and 3 x HinaESS 5.14kW batteries for ~R2,900 per month.  That's perfectly in my budget, and if I install a generator I have alongside that, I should be fine even on rainy days, right?
I hope to learn a lot, and expect a TON of questions from me!

I'm not going to tell them anything.  I'm just not going to register the pole on my name.  At all.  The Eskom guy said that's how it works.  You don't register the pole and you don't run any risk.  They'll come switch it off when they get to it.  Until that happens, I just leave the mains off and that's it.
 
Where I'm going, the weather patterns are sunny.  Sunny sunny sunny.  It's bushveld, so the cloudy rainy days that last days on end are few and far between.

I'm shocked at how much money they make from farms and smallholdings.  I got a quote today, to keep the transformer active.  The transfer of the transformer/point/pole to my name carries a cost of R1 376, and then there's a deposit of R30 330 also payable.  This would then include me in the contract to pay that R117,22 per day for the duration of my connection.
To transfer to prepaid, they charge around R7,000 for the installation of the meter, but they don't want people to do that, so they bump up the electricity price to R8,89 per kWh.  I just got the fees now from Eskom directly.  It is absolutely insane, but the prepaid option might be a "last resort" type option.  Load 100 units and keep them there purely if the sun fails, generator is empty and you desperately need power NOW.  I'm chewing on the idea...

I'm not going to tell them anything.  I'm just not going to register the pole on my name.  At all.  The Eskom guy said that's how it works.  You don't register the pole and you don't run any risk.  They'll come switch it off when they get to it.  Until that happens, I just leave the mains off and that's it.
 
Where I'm going, the weather patterns are sunny.  Sunny sunny sunny.  It's bushveld, so the cloudy rainy days that last days on end are few and far between.

I'm shocked at how much money they make from farms and smallholdings.  I got a quote today, to keep the transformer active.  The transfer of the transformer/point/pole to my name carries a cost of R1 376, and then there's a deposit of R30 330 also payable.  This would then include me in the contract to pay that R117,22 per day for the duration of my connection.
To transfer to prepaid, they charge around R7,000 for the installation of the meter, but they don't want people to do that, so they bump up the electricity price to R8,89 per kWh.  I just got the fees now from Eskom directly.  It is absolutely insane, but the prepaid option might be a "last resort" type option.  Load 100 units and keep them there purely if the sun fails, generator is empty and you desperately need power NOW.  I'm chewing on the idea...

Thanks.  The bigger one would be a Deye, and the two smaller ones would be LuxPowers.  This is the choice I have to make.
Regarding keeping the grid connected - I can't do that.  The smallholding is powered by Eskom direct, which incurs fees.  As I have it, those fees are payable, if you use their electricity or not, and they are at LandRate 1:
Network capacity charge @ R64.03
Service charge @ R53.19
For a total of R117.22 per day, just to keep it connected.  Over 31 days in a month, that's R3 633.83 per month.  Unless I'm mistaken, that's payable even if you don't use the grid at all, with the mains switched off.  For that money I'd rather run a generator.  R3 600 is a tidy amount of diesel to burn through.

And that takes the two biggest loads in most homes out of the equation.

Another option is to use a heatpump for water heating. This will still use electricity, but less, so, again, you reduce your loads. 

Downside: Will need maintenance and you should bank on 10 to 12 years life.

First of all welcome to the forum.
My personal opinion on going with rent to own option comes with risks if you look at the current solar industry climate. Since the miraculous disappearance of load shedding many solar companies including rental companies are taking strain to keep head above water. There are many solar companies that has applied for voluntary liquadation and should your solar system be part of the company assets they could remove the system should you not be able to come up with the capital. I would much rather try to own the system via a bank loan or as @Bobster.suggested through your bond repayments. 
The above suggested system falls in the mid range of quality and storage capacity. Off grid is quite a diffrent ball game and i would not settle for less that 20kwh battery storage and 8kwp solar backup. Redundancy is the operative word when it comes to off grid systems and needs careful planning and load considerations.