d3nominat0r

Also, forgot to mention, I am on a prepaid system, Landis Gyr+, seems they are very sensitive to feeding back into the grid and the correct inverter and settings are important. Can someone perhaps elaborate on the issue, what should be done not to get disconnected from the grid.

@phil.g00, roof space not an issue, 450 m^2 house, roof about 180 m^2 available for fitment North facing at 20 degrees. So budget is probably the only constraint. My entire house has got mono pitch roof sections which means I have a lot of usable roof space, facing in multiple directions, thinking if the inverter supports 2 MPTT's, is it worth while fitting an additional array of panels facing in NW to catch more of the afternoon sun?

Thanks, the closing argument holds “hot” water excuse the pun. Is it 4.6kw in total or per phase? I have 3-phase power albeit only using 1-phase. The previous owner has a 3-phase point in the garage for a pottery oven.

Next step based on the replies and from some other threads. Buy an energy monitor, had this one in mind - EFERGY Electricity Energy Power Monitor, will this do the job? Still not convinced about converting Electric Geyser to Solar. Seems some people prefer rather investing in a larger PV array and powering their electric geyser from the inverter. It seems to more or less equivalent PV vs. Tubes at around 20K to get the job done, but you get the benefit of excess PV power generation when the geyser is not running other than the additional cost for a larger inverter. Your thoughts?

@phil.g00, thanks. I assume the 4.6kw limit is what is currently imposed in Cape Town. I could easily generate in 10kw based on space and panel capacity. Should this be a concern for me in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng? Fronius really looks like awesome kit, will it automatically supplement the PV with Grid Power during days when the PV is lower? I know some inverters purely only switch between two inputs and cannot merge them.

@viper_za, are you still running this configuration? If so, how long does it take to heat your water from cold? Considering this rather than going solar geyser.

Any opinions on the InfiniSolar: On-Grid Inverter with Energy Storage?

@Jaws Just want to check in on this comment, do you mean in stead-off getting a solar geyser, might be worth while running the electric geyser of PV if you have excess energy?

Thanks Point 1, is in place. Point 2, Solar Geyser next up, need to shop around for a good deal. Point 3, Already have a generator with manual switchover CoC'ed, albeit not an inverter. Will take a look. Point 4, Any recommended panels? Can the Fronius be monitored with an App?

Hi all, I am new to the group, thank for letting me in. I am based in Alberton, Gauteng. The sheer amount of information on this forum is mind blowing, difficult to find straight answers as everyone's needs are different and as as result the amount of permutations on solutions is mad. I basically have a green fields solution, albeit existing home which will require DB Board wiring etc.I 'm attempting in building a google spreadsheet to figure out solution with calculations etc, hopefully something other people could find of use. Essentially, if you could start clean today, how would you design a system based on what is currently available in the market. To outline what I would like to achieve. Saving Money Generating Cleaner Energy hopefully becoming less and less dependent on Eskom, but always have them as a grid-tie backup, if they go down I can always power up the generator. Current power usage pattern and requirement. These are not exact measurements, but will give more or less an idea. We currently pay around R 1.92 (incl. VAT) per kwh from Ekurhuleni in Gauteng. Monthly usage: 1400 kwh units (Don't have a solar geyser or geyser timer, but have a gas stove top), R 2700 per month on electricity. Constant daytime usage: 45 kwh per day Electric Geyser (averaging 9 kwh per day), 5 people in the household Pool Pump (0.75 kw - running for 8 hours, 7 kwh per day) Iron (2 kw for 2 hours, 4 kwh per day) Other stuff like Fridge, PC, Fans, Oven, Microwave, TV's, decoders, vacuum cleaner, etc (1 kw for 24 hours, 24 kwh per day) If geyser is removed from the electricity requirement, and our behaviour changes a bit to around 1 kw average usage per hour in total, this would be ideal It would be great if I can take care of the this off solar, and still charge batteries to take care of the nightly requirement. I am comfortable to keep a plug or two permanently connected to the Grid for Ironing and the Microwave if really needed. Naturally, my bank account does not have indefinite funds, currently looking at limiting my spending to around R 150 000. Based on what I have read: First step, I need to start off with a solar geyser, it will be the best bang for buck with cost saving in mind. - At 279 kwh units per month for the geyser alone, if all of this can be swapped out with solar (minus 3 months of winter sun - basic modeling ;-)), the payback looks to be around 4 years (R 5000 p.a savings) for a R20k investment without even taking into consideration the annual increases in the electricity unit cost. - Are there any recommendations for solar geysers? Make, provider, pricing? - Also, I'm not to keen on a conversion kit with pumps etc, would probably prefer going single unit, although I am open to be convinced otherwise. - This will ultimately remove 9 kwh from the daily requirement Second step, start with solar panels. The Canadian Solar 355W Poly PERC KuMAX panels look like good value, seems the PERC panels are the best of bread, not to sure, any advice would be appreciated. Based on my roof area and angle, I can easy fit 24 panels based on their size (2m x 1m), but would probably prefer starting out with 12-14 panels. - My calculations brings the max generation capacity on a good day to 4.2 kwh to 5 kwh. - This is where I start tripping up, I'm unsure what hybrid inverter I should get. (ultimately I want to go with a lithium battery pack, see step 3 but still be able to fallback to the grid or a generator if needed) - What other parts are required? I would like to have app monitoring etc. as well as I'm a bit of a data freak and of course be able to monitor my investment. Third step, add some batteries to start moving off the grid for even more savings. It seems there are 3 options for lithium battery packs: Freedom Won Lite, BYD and PylonTech. The Pylon US2000B Plus 4.8kwh Lithium Battery seem very popular on the forum and the ability to expand and stack is very appealing. - What I am unsure of is, how fast these can be charged, work out how much excess solar power is required to get it done, etc. If all fails, at least fallback on the grid during high peaks, as I don't want to build the 20% use case, but more cover the 80% use case. - Generally it seems that payback on a system should be around 5-6 years, with panels lasting 20 years and the Lithiums around 10 years. - I read somewhere that PylonTech can probably get close 15 years if looked after. - At least there should be around 5 years of totally free electricity, of which 1 year should be able to fund the replacement batteries. So far I have the following in mind: Solar Geyser @ R 20 000 12 x Canadian Solar 355W Poly PERC KuMAX panels @ R 30 000 2 x Pylon US3000B Plus 3.5 kwh (7 kwh Lithium Battery Rack) @ R 40 000 Hybrid Inverter (not sure about this one, probably a 5KVA model) @ R 30 000 Total: R 120 000 plus R 10 000 for bits and bops (R 130 000 in total) Any advice would we highly appreciated. Thank