Demo

Good Day
My first installation done.
PV Modules: 40x Canadian Solar 615W panels (8 per string/ 5 strings). Total installed capacity 24.6kW. East/West configuration.
Inverter: 30kW Deye 3phase Hybrid.
Battery: Deyeness Stack 4 Tower 57kW. Operating voltage 230V (4 stacks plug and play in series).
Location: Hermanus.
Check- no surface mounted trunking from panels to inverter and DB to inverter. In conduit under plaster.

@TaliaB is still in high care and sedated while getting some rest. He breathes normally and DR would like his oxygen level to pick up to over 94%.

Sad news that @TaliaB has been admitted to the Christian Barnard Netcare with Pulmonary Embolism. He was fine earlier in the day. He has been put on Echmo.
Please keep him in your thoughts. 🙏🙏

Three comments at this stage:
There is an old Afrikaans saying: "Goedkoop koop is duur koop". It's good to be price conscious, but be aware that the saying "you get what you pay for" is quite true. You will be inverting in a long-term project, and electricity is dangerous if not handled correctly, so rather spend a bit more by buying good quality, proven brands... Also be aware that "upgrading later" can be difficult... Take batteries for example, there are currently 3 "main" battery cell manufacturers (CATL, BYD and REPT) in the World (and perhaps a few other small ones that I don't know about...), but even though they are all LiFePO4 cells, batteries made with one type are not compatible with the other types - this makes it difficult to change "brands" when adding more batteries later on.
Be aware of the VOC (Open Circuit Voltage) of the PV panels that you plan to use vs the maximum MPPT voltage specification of the inverter. Solar panels increase their operating voltage inversely to temperature (read up about "negative temperature coefficient"...) - in practice this means that one cannot connect more than 8 panels (depending on panel and MPPT specs.) in a string, else the MPPT/inverter will be killed by a too high voltage. There is also a minimum MPPT startup voltage, below which the MPPTs won't produce any power. In my case, this is 125V per MPPT (string), translating into a minimum of 3-4 PV panels per string (again, depending on specs.). Inverters work more efficiently (e.g. earlier startup in the morning) at PV voltages closer to the maximum, so in practice one should have 7 or 8 solar panels per string - with your planned 8-12 panels total that would likely work out to two strings (2 MPPTs), one with 7 and one with 5 panels. If you have enough roof space I would suggest you rather plan for two strings of 7 or 8 panels each (again, depending on the actual panels, MPPTs and/or inverter (many have built-in MPPTs...).
Be aware that even a little bit of shade on even just one panel can have a serious impact on your solar harvest whilst that panel is shaded - do a visual survey around your house at various times during the day, and check if you need to trim or remove any trees (or break down chimneys 🫠) that might affect your solar panels during the day (early morning and late afternoon is not so critical...). Also consider that shadows grow longer or shorter depending on the season, and plan for that as well.
Good luck with your installation.

They most definitely should not be the only suppliers. They failed dismally to supply power to the country and cost the country trillions during load shedding, and they still are. 500 billion in loans, and they are passing the bill of that onto people and companies, further putting a strain on the economy. And they have the gall to celebrate and act as if they did us a favour by ending loadshedding and paying out bonuses to each other. They are an utter embarrassment as what sort of company with a monopoly for decades goes broke? With a monopoly!
The sooner they disappear and get replaced by multiple suppliers of electricity, the better. They have held us hostage for too long. No one should have a monopoly over anything, and they proved why. I detest them so much that I went off-grid. They did not deserve another cent from me. And they are in this mess because they raised prices so much that Solar actually became a cheaper source of power than the grid. First, they told us to use less power. Then we did that. Now you get punished for it. I personally want them gone. They serve no purpose anymore, and private generation must take over as soon as possible.

Correct (for now) - and precisely as I stated above: "Eksdom originally required that this document be produced by an ECSA registered professional - they have since changed their corporate mind, now being happy with a report from a department of labour registered electrician.."
My concern is still that they have not published the requirements fully - the very next sentence in the document that you reference here state: "Eskom is working with key national organisations... to simplify and harmonise SSEG rules across the country." So, they are "still working ...to harmonise the rules..." Now they expect persons to apply for registration, without being transparent on what the rules are - and as we all know, once they have your registration then all new kinds of "rules" will follow - witness the continuous morphing of the BBBEEE "rules" since they were first published...
Yes, and from the intro to this document: "The documents below that comprise the resource pack should be seen as recommended templates which can be modified by municipalities."
Again, no clear-cut rules - merely "recommended templates" that's open for modification by any municipality - thus no uniformity of requirements and no "harmonised rules", and what's acceptable for City Power might be unacceptable for the municipality of Pofadder...
I rest my case...

AS far as this goes in interviews done on radio some clever guys were indicating that Eskom/munics can't make their own laws. It was pointed out the law is that the system only needs a valid COC.
Also as it stands a COC deems a system as safe so no need for more. Further the law states ESKOM has no right to disconnect for not complying to THEIR own laws and they may only disconnect for non payment provided you have a valid COC. The same holds true for munics. Refer to other interviews with energy consultant Chris Yelland and others.
We have seen how many back tracking has already taken place around this issue.
I stand to be corrected what I understood during the various interviews. OUTA has my support.
Solar Users shouldn’t register with Eskom or Municipalities – OUTA


OUTA criticises Eskom and municipal threats over household solar registration as impractical, irrational and unfair.
Shifting and unclear SSEG requirements are creating confusion, anxiety and project delays for homeowners and installers.
OUTA maintains that safe, compliant solar installations behind the meter should not face coercive enforcement.

Agree!

I think this pic was taken in Northern Hemisphere?

Yeah, cooling only ☺️

I have a older normal 12k btu AC and a new 12k inverter, the difference in power usage under the same conditions is about 1600w vs 900w .

It is 16k new ... your price is too high!

It is 16k new ... your price is too high!

@Sidewinder @Demo
I see the links are working again today, and the prices are still the same. You can use the links in my first post or just find the items on the website!
Edit: Also I have confirmation that the units are being delivered. The guy from carbonite.co.za that ordered the 3kW unit has received his unit today!

Personal opinion. I would just set the charge/discharge amps to the higher value, 185A.
My thinking is, on a normal day your charge rate will in any case be limited by the approx 5kW of installed solar power (panel specs TBC), so the amps will naturally top out at around 100A at mid-day (less baseload) and be generally gentle on the batteries.
But whenever you choose a grid-charge, you might want to replenish the batteries quickly, like in preparing for loadshedding, and then you might not want to take half the day or longer to do the charge when you could do it in 2 hrs. Rough thumbsucks. As long as the charge rate of 0.4C - 0.5C is then still within the manufacturer's recommendation and the installed wiring, etc supports it.

........ and the criminal is doing the same thing while on bail!! This kind of idiot belongs in jail - forever!

I have always maintained that if you are not planning to sell back to eskom/munic, there is no need to register. what happens in your property is your business, no one else' s.

Interesting discussion about the "Rules"

If Eksdom threaten to cut people with solar from the grid, mission accomplished - no need to ask them to disconnect you - lol 😃

I would rather spend my money on pipe (hot & cold) lagging

You need to bump the price down to get positive bumps 😁

If Eksdom threaten to cut people with solar from the grid, mission accomplished - no need to ask them to disconnect you - lol 😃

I'm on pre-paid, direct with Eskom. When the day comes that they want to move me over to post-paid, and/or register, on that day I will tell their technicians to disconnect me at the street. Everything inside of that, is not their concern. My COC has noting to do with them, and all the wiring aft of the street, has nothing to do with them.

I switched to prepaid because the guesstimate readings were a problem.
I needed a predictable bill and not estimate readings every month.
I need a system that is not open to abuse.
I need a system that cuts me off when there is a problem of excessive usage (eg geyser gets leak and stuck on for a month).
Prepaid is the correct solution for me.
Prepaid is cheaper for lower consumers of electricity.
The argument from CityPower is that prepaid was never meant for affluent suburbs.
There are no bylaws that enforce "affluent only".
I'm "middle income" - does that now count as "affluent".
CityPower trying to increase revenue -
CityPower's own analysis on 2024-03-19 shows:
R20,7 billion revenue, cost of supply was R20,2 billion, surplus (profit) of R495m (2.5%)
expect a 15% surplus (profit) on sales of electricity - R3.1b
getting 2.5% surplus (profit) on sales of electricity R495m
total energy losses (non-payment/theft) were ~27% in FY2122 - R5.6b
NERSA benchmark for energy losses is 10%-12%
Reducing losses from 27% to 15% would increase surplus (profit) from R495m to R3.5b
Just do your job and reduce "energy losses" to NERSA benchmark and stop trying to punish paying customers.
Only 4% of Alexandra, Mountain View, Tshepisong, River Park, Pennyville and Vlakfontein, etc pay for their electricity…
Recent efforts increased this to 11% payment rate.
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/city-power-collects-7-more-revenue-from-customers-in-alex/
https://www.sowetan.co.za/news/south-africa/2024-06-12-a-number-of-city-power-customers-dont-pay-for-electricity/

CityPower must f**** off until  they have reduced theft to NERSA recommended levels.

See attached CoJ-2024-25-ELECTRICITY SERVICES-proposed-tariffs.pdf for details of revenue, revenue losses, etc.
CoJ-2024-25-ELECTRICITY SERVICES-proposed-tariffs.pdf

Definitely something wrong in your software/sensor negative temp on the DC is impossible when AC seem correct at 48