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PhatWheZ

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Everything posted by PhatWheZ

  1. Was just the one. Am waiting to see when the next round of goodies is up for grabs
  2. Congrats @Meerkat Hopefully there are some nice goodies in store for Tuesday! I am trying to get quotes for equipment as my grid-tie setup was recently stolen, so time to bite the bullet and get a proper setup + a better boundary fence in the process. Lota $$$
  3. Looking forward for the comp! Fingers crossed
  4. @Gavin286 I was at the place yesterday with the electrician and basically the entire place has to be redone for the CoC to be issued. The prepaid meter was even cut off from the previous tenants. Have told the electrician what my plans are and that a natural needs to be present everywhere
  5. Welcome Sonoff Africa!!! I was actually looking at sourcing a bunch of light switches and mini3's for my newly purchased house. Can you provide us with a link to the pricelist for local ordering. Crossing thumbs for some freebies
  6. Hi all, i have been pondering and wanting to pull the trigger on a setup to help protect me during load shedding but also to reduce as much of my municipal bill as possible. I currently have a Hoymiles MI-600 with 2x80w panels in series on one of the inputs. This currently covers my base load during good summers day with very little export back onto the municipality side. The CitiQ prepaid meter that is in the house cannot register negative watts (export) so I end up paying for the little bit that exports back. I have never wanted to purchase the DTU unit with limiting function as that alone is more than I have already spent just save a few watts. So having this setup for the last 3 years it has been good as it has cut about 1KW daily off my bill, so now for me to upgrade! I have been looking to invest in a Victron Multiplus II. I want to bite the bullet and buy the 5KW for some headroom and future growth, but I am struggling to make piece with the fact that I would need to buy 4 x 2.4Kw Pylontech / Dyness batteries. For the panels, I can only install 2 x 370W panels as I have limited space available but this would be more than enough for my use case. My expectation is to build a system with 1 x 3.6K Pylontech / Dyness battery with a MPPT for 2 x 370W panels, connected to a 5KW (ideally) Victron MultiplusII-GX. My initial critical load would only be lights and a plug for all my wireless and internet equipment so nothing more than 100-150W. During the night I would like to use the battery for 1-1.5KW as my overall household usage is 2KW per night and about 5-7 during the day. So the excess power from the panels could charge up the battery during the day. The other thing I would do is install a CT or Single phase meter at the DB to allow bi-directional flow from the inverter to provide the excess energy into the non-critical loads. Suggestions and recommendations are what i am looking for. I would have a qualified electrician setup the entire thing so not worried about the misc items. Im more concerned about: 1. Can the Victron 5kw with 1 3.6kw battery work for lights and 1 plug running wifi kit, so that i can save up for the other batteries (looking at 4 x 3.6Kw at the end of the whole project) 2. Will it do as I believe it will by consuming the battery to a set value (~50-60% DOD), then switching to mains 3. If the batteries are full, it will 'blend' power with mains to reduce the overall dependency on the municipal electricity Thanks for any feedback and suggestions.
  7. This will be amazing! Ive looked at those boards before but never pulled the trigger on getting one of them. Really like your dashboard, so might end up biting the bullet once and for all
  8. Can you share what custom sensors you are using. I got a few 30A CT clamps i have been playing with along with converting a 9VDC adapter to AC and reading that into a ardiuno
  9. Is this still available? if so, were about are you based? I am in GHT, EC
  10. The biggest thing to remember if you are going to have this much power available to be "wasted" is that what do you do when your thermostat kicks in and stops you from dumping power into your geyser. This approach in my research is only feasible where: 1. you are only going to have a few panels to cover your base load during sunlight hour. 2. net metering is applicable in your areas but, why waste your time with this approach then The efficiency comes from using the power that would otherwise be exported and billed against you, which is my pain point. I ran a Sonoff POW R1 few a few months, until it gave way to turn the geyser on and off as you mentioned. This gave me some useful telemetry in identifying how long i actually need to run the geyser to be warm enough and at the same time, how much KWh it uses. Since then, it burnt out and have gone to manually turning on and off which works perfectly fine for my use. I only run the geyser for 2Hrs once a week to burn out potential bacteria. Another approach could be to, in the morning turn on the geyser before you leave work and let the solar help cover the bill, then when you get home, just turn it off. With the numbers Greglsh is talking about, he would save around 1KWh atleast
  11. So i have been actually working at the same issue. I got myself a Hoymiles MI-600 and did not opt in for the DTU unit which can be programmed to read a CT clamp and reduce the total production value from the microinverter, giving you essentially a zero export system. I only installed 160W worth of panels onto it so far (as i picked up two 80W for cheap and decided to join the solar club), and i end up some days exporting around 50-60W when the fridge is idle. Because of the pre-paid meter installed in the place im renting, i am actually paying for the power that is being exported, and the muni meter behind that spins backwards!!! So just being a DIY doer, i went ahead and built the circuit on openenergymonitor and used the mk2pvrouter version 3 code with a ardiuno and a SSR attached to a 70W Halogen bulb. Taking daily readings for the last week, it seems im saving about 200-300W on the pre-paid meter by running the light bulb. I intend going the full distance and building or buying the actual thing and attaching it to the geyser, so that i can max out with 600W and in theory, i would be able to provide around 2kWh worth of power into the geyser. Feel free to contact me
  12. you will need to look at the infinisolar range, the Axperts are UPS devices with the "added feature" of having a MPPT solar charger built in
  13. What you could do also (if your a tinker), is grab an ardiuno, RPI and a CT and follow the guides on Openenergymonitor.org I took a old 6VAC charger from a dead portable drill and calibrated my device to read the AC voltage and calibrate accordingly
  14. Im busy working on installing a DIY mk2pvrouter system for myself. I am grid tied but get charged to export back to the grid (Thanks Pre-Paid meter). So in attempts to not purchase a inverter and batteries just yet. This is my next logical step. The system can run with a trigger to turn the geyser on and off over a specific period of time so you can ensure you have nice hot water
  15. Hi all, So me as a average Joe started tinkering with Solar power about 4 months back and have been doing my own research along the way, and have been following feeds on this forum for some time now, soaking up all knowledge that i can. Key notes about my DB board Municipality MCB (25A) with street-side running meter Two pre-paid meters attached (House on 1, Flatlet on another) - I am renting the house and the flat is rented out to another party 3KW Geyser 1KW = R2,49 My approach is as detailed Phase 1: (PURCHASED AND RUNNING) Items: - Hoymiles MI-600 (R2500) - Hoymiles Plastic bits (R250) - 2 x 80W Panels (R600) - Cabling and Misc (R500) Total: R4450 As a individual who doesn't have capital to go out and buy everything one shot, i started off with a "micro" grid-tied PV system after establishing what my base-load is. This allowed me to invest in a non-expensive Hoymiles MI-600 and drop 2nd hand panels onto it to cover my base load (2x 80W in Series). My ROI so far works out to be less than 40 months with zero change in lifestyle, thanks to paying R2,49 per unit (and thats the cheap rate!). Being stuck in a hard place of how do i continue to grow. I have a prepaid meter that does not trip when exporting, but does charge when going backwards (tested this for sanity sake)... Phase 2:(CURRENTLY TESTING) So still not having capital to invest in a Axpert or Multiplus II but wanting to reduce my consumption even more. I have been reading about diverting power on Openenergymonitor.org and on Mk2pvrouter.co.uk Ive built a similar system and have calibrated it successfully and am busy testing the logic on a 1000W Oil Heater using a Solid State Relay. This Phase of my system will allow me to go from running my base-load off solar to covering my consumption during the day and feeding all excess into the Geyser. The intention is that i will be able to feed ~400W p/Hr into the Geyser on a good day. Therefore looking at feeding 2KW per day into the Geyser and switching the Geyser on then for maybe 30 minutes a day. My geyser uses about 4.6KW from ambient to 60deg. Ideally this is where i would stop as im not worried yet to protect myself from Load Shedding. However this is where this feed peeks my interest. Phase 3:(CURRENTLY RESEARCHING) This is where i would now need to look at a Inverter (Axpert or Multiplus II) around 3KW. And the battery system to go along with it. This is where the capital spend would be around R50k-R60k for just inverter, batteries and electrical work Phase 4: Add Solar incrementally in 1KW increments and start using a ESS system to extend on the investment Its a bit of a tangent, but I think it could add to that initial start for the smaller players such as myself. provided of course grid-tie is an option for you
  16. So far, i have purchased a HoyMiles MI-600 Microinverter and made up a circuit using a Ardiuno and a CT split-core to measure my municipal consumption. At this moment i still draw power from the municipality and am saving ~126W per hour. Im looking into a device to divert excess PV power into the geyser so that i can increase the capacity of the system to accommodate my fridge and freezer for when the compressors kit in.
  17. I am also interested in finding out what the community has to say. Im looking into a smaller scale scenario as you are.
  18. From a entry level point, the Solis 0,7 or 1 seem good, but looks like i would need to try sell off the 2 x 80W panels and buy 2 x 250W. Electrical requirements seem less complex. Any suggestions?
  19. Thanks for the suggestion Chris, I sadly cannot seem to find anything on a SolarEdge Microinverters You got anything i could look at?
  20. Hi All, Im new to the group but have been watching and reading from everyone's experiences. Want to find out if anyone can shed some light onto a system i am looking at from the point of a renter. I live in Grahamstown and have the ability to mount 2 x 300W panels onto a flat surface on the roof where i stay (have asked from landlord). I have measured my base load which is no less than 200W with the essentials only plugged in (Fridge, Freezer, Alarm, DSL). My readings point me in the direction of purchasing a Hoymiles MI-500 or MI-600 which will allow me to use one panel for now and can add another panel at a later stage as it has two MPPT outputs. What i am planning on doing is putting up 2x 80W 36 cell panels in series which will connect into one of the MPPT inputs, feeding directly into the house. Knowing that i am under the base load, will this work without a limiter and not trip the prepaid. In the future i would like to purchase another panel to help when the fridge/freezer kick in and ultimately just cover my electricity usage during sunny periods. At this point i would need to look at the Hoymiles DTU unit which a rep has said to me does provide Zero-Export to the grid. The connection of this is a CT clamp over 2.4Ghz or 433Mhz to the DTU unit. My only other option that i could think of is getting a SMA Sunnyboy 1.5 but would be a reach with my current budget. I was given the 2 x 80W panels so i would prefer to Grid-Tie than investing in a Battery and PWM charger All comments are welcome
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