Geoff.D

I also came here to see what others' thought about the idea of "upgrading" UPS units with larger batteries. I generally advise against this idea as well. Mostly, the effort is just not worth it.
I am going to if I may, refer guys to the power forum and this thread in particular for a "second opinion".
 

I have been designing systems and discovered that clients can change the goalposts sometimes more than once a day. I was using the Midnight solar sizing tool and ended up tired of re-entering panel specs. So I designed my own.
The yellow fields are for the user to alter. There is a drop down list of inverters and if your inverter is not on the list you can go to the inverter sheet and add your own specs. The same with panels there is a open column to add your specific panels. Canadian solar 260W and probably 265W are set to disappear from our shores so I will remove them from the list and add others.
Having set you inverter  then you can set minimum and maximum temperature. Remember these are panel temperatures and although panel minimum and ambient minimum will be the same panel maximum is likely to be 20-30°C higher than ambient temp. Minimum temperatures are important as panels voltages INCREASE with lower temperatures. I know several folk who exceed their SCC's Vmaxbut if you want to do it by the book this spreadsheet will help you. When your panels Vmp is below the MPPT minimum you are warned with pink text as this may or may not be a problem.
You can then play around with number of panels per string and number of strings to find a combination that works for your inverter. 
PV String Tool.xlsx

I agree 100% with Paul. All questions I have seen on the forum relates to what is required by law, SANS, etc. to get a better understanding of what is required and why. Not to find loopholes and see where we can take shortcuts. 
In the last year I had 2 jobs done by "Professionals":
1. Electric fencing with 2 energizers - I just had a feeling that it was not performing as it should. Bought myself a high voltage and tested the electric fence. Huge voltage drop. They used stainless steel wire. One of the worst conductors of electricity. I read somewhere South Africa is the only country in the world making use of stainless steel wire for electric fencing. Why? Because it is a little cheaper than aluminium wire. I had a 50% voltage drop on my fence. I replaced the stainless steel with aluminium wire, now I have a 0% voltage drop. 
2. Solar geyser installation - A month later I went into the roof and had a look at the wiring. According to me they used the wrong size cable and very untidy job. They come in here and rush to get everything done in record time. I found 2 wires that were not even fastened at all - lose connections. I installed the right sized cabling and redid all the wiring myself.
In my opinion, if you want something done right the first time and and to standard, do it yourself. 

I'm so glad I installed DIY so I know exactly who to blame for any stuff ups!

I would rather rerun a whole new cable, than join a cable in the roof or even in the open. Adding "joints" of any kind tend to be problematic over time. 

A few "rules" passed on to me by an old style electrician.
(1) Use multistrand cable in conduits because of flexibility and ease of drawing in wires.
(2) Surfix is quite brittle and stiff to work with in small boxes, so avoid if at all possible.
(3) Use the correct gauge according to regulations. 1.5 mm for lights, 2.5 mm minimum for wall sockets, 4 mm for stoves hobs, geysers.
(4) Avoid ALL hidden connections. Hence why the standard is to diasy chain because all connection points are easy to reach.
(5) "Never" join cables and then hid the joints ---- they must be in boxes where they can be accesed if necessary. and use crimpee ferrules and insulated for "straight" joints. AND please use a proper crimping tool NOT a pliers!
(6) Avoid connection strips if you are able to --- use screwits of the correct size for the cables. I personally hate both types.
(7) If you do use connection strips - get good quality that are the correct size for the cable and current rating.
 
 

Jaco I don't appreciate your insult. 7GPU motherboards didn''t exist in 2009. But we built 7GPU capable systems in 2012 using PCI-E x1 to x16 riser cards. There are many posts scattered on the internet on how to build a 7 GPU bitcoin miner. Don't insult people unless you know the facts behind everything.