Bluefronted

8kw sunsynk inverter up by R1,4k from last month. Sunsynk batteries up by R1k.
Heard someone saying the best time to have invested in solar was 3years ago and the next best time is now.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Because you must remove it when on the grid. Otherwise you are creating a N to E bridge for the whole suburb. That wire loop will just melt off with dire consequences.

Hi
I found a good explanation on the web for why you should not join neutral to earth at your DB or permanently at your inverter.
"Why not short neutral and ground locally?
What happens if a neutral wire breaks upstream? Everything else downstream of the wire break is trying to return current via neutral. So all that current from all those machines travels the neutral wire to your illegal short, hops to ground, and takes ground back to the main panel, via the official neutral-ground bond, back to source. This means many amperes of current are coming through your little plug. Neutrals don't have fuses, so this burns your house down.
What if a ground wire breaks upstream? Normally if a neutral wire breaks, current can no longer return to source, and this has the effect of "floating" the neutral wire at line voltage. If you have also bridged it to ground, now you are also floating the grounding system at line voltage, at least on your machine. Anybody who comes in contact with that gets shocked.
What if both neutral and ground take a hit? Similarly what if all wires are cut, and the machine has capacitors, or inductive kickback as it spins down? Again neutral floats up toward line voltage which the system would be able to handle normally. Your bootleg bonding means ground floats too, and shocks people."
 

So glad I bought SA instead of Riot. Sounds like riot is a waste of time. 

I just spoke to Blake at Hubble said they busy doing a software upgrade , i assume to the online platform.
He mentioned this is the reason why some can see the cycles and other cannot. Going by my experiences that i have had with them over the past 3 weeks, i think this is
BS %#$

To otimise my system i have 4 x 5.5 Kwh batteries installed .
 
The installed capacity is sufficient for now in winter to carry us from 16h30 to around 06h00 the next morning. 1 more battery would be ideal , but cost wise - is another R27K investment  worth it ?  as i am only using between 0 to 5kwh Grid a day that's roughly a max of R15 a day. R450 a month , down from R3500 to R5500 a month.
Since the system is producing so much extra power in the day, I now encourage my domestic worker to use our tumble drier if needed whilst the PV generation is good and the pool pump times have been extended too.

Hi Guys,
 
Just want to show off my system. I based in the Irene area, Centurion. The system installation was completed the past Saturday by Leshen . Last month he installed the Sunsyk and the batteries , the past Saturday the panels ( 26 x 460w JA's) were installed. Very professional service and top notch installation. He is also available to assist telephonically / Whattsapp too 👌. Highly recommended .
 
 

Hi Guys,
 
Just want to show off my system. I based in the Irene area, Centurion. The system installation was completed the past Saturday by Leshen . Last month he installed the Sunsyk and the batteries , the past Saturday the panels ( 26 x 460w JA's) were installed. Very professional service and top notch installation. He is also available to assist telephonically / Whattsapp too 👌. Highly recommended .
 
 

Hi Guys,
 
Just want to show off my system. I based in the Irene area, Centurion. The system installation was completed the past Saturday by Leshen . Last month he installed the Sunsyk and the batteries , the past Saturday the panels ( 26 x 460w JA's) were installed. Very professional service and top notch installation. He is also available to assist telephonically / Whattsapp too 👌. Highly recommended .
 
 

Hi Guys,
 
Just want to show off my system. I based in the Irene area, Centurion. The system installation was completed the past Saturday by Leshen . Last month he installed the Sunsyk and the batteries , the past Saturday the panels ( 26 x 460w JA's) were installed. Very professional service and top notch installation. He is also available to assist telephonically / Whattsapp too 👌. Highly recommended .
 
 

Hi Guys,
 
Just want to show off my system. I based in the Irene area, Centurion. The system installation was completed the past Saturday by Leshen . Last month he installed the Sunsyk and the batteries , the past Saturday the panels ( 26 x 460w JA's) were installed. Very professional service and top notch installation. He is also available to assist telephonically / Whattsapp too 👌. Highly recommended .
 
 

Neat and tidy as usual !!!

Sunsynk 8kw with 2 x BSL 5.1kwh. 
Panels will be added next month.

Different strokes for different folks.
However, I share @isetech's view.
The reason for monitoring (the Check step in the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle) is to determine what has resulted from the installation's operation. A part of this is identifying system improvement opportunities (e.g. optimising settings), but the other part is noting what adjustment *you* may require (habits, schedules, etc.) in order to improve your power system's performance.
If you'll invest some time to understand your system and its peculiar details, you'll be better equipped to confidently extract maximum benefit. Many owners soon realise that their installer is not an expert regarding their specific system configuration.

You missed out the most critical part ... "monitor".
Buy, install and then monitor. Why I say the most critical ... spending all that money and not know what the system is doing over a period of time, just doesn't make financial sense. 
If the system is designed installed and 100% efficient ... that is great news ... but if not then you need to tweek it until you get it operating as efficiently as possible. 

The day Pylontech makes an actual 1C battery with the same amount of cycles and warranty compared to the likes of Hubble and Bull, I’ll possibly install them. 
 
I have seen too many Sunsynks, especially the 8kw, going into F20 fault as the Dyness or Pylontechs just cannot deliver. 

For R120K with future expandability I would start with the inverter, then panels, then battery's to be added later, possibly a heat pump/borehole as well
For instance
Inverter
1x Sunsynk 8kW Hybrid Inverter
Total : R33K
Panels
Option 1 - 9810W
18x Jinko Solar Panel Tiger 545W @ R 3,590 
Total : R65K
Option 2 - 
470W panels allows more panels to be added, fully utilizing the 2x mttp's, option one seems to be enough for your power requirements.
Battery  - 
1x Pylontech Lithium Ion 4.8kW UP5000 @ R 23,300
Total : R23K
more to be added as budget allows.
Grand Total : R121K plus incidentals, you can likely also negotiate a discount, at least 10% or more
 
 

Thanks all for getting my mind running again, I will look into the setups and brands as kindly suggested. T🙌
So for now my budget is 120K but within a year or so want to push for the 300k mark if not sooner.
One of my neighbours went "completely OFF grid" , well not really as he is still hooked up to Eskom as a back-up. He installed his system in early 2019. Told me that as a family they took a decision , instead of replacing at the time their 7 year old SUV ,all  paid up and in 100% condition, they decided to make an investment into Solar and use the "new Vehicles" monthly payments and their monthly electricity bill to pay off the Solar Setup which they have done.
So if my old lady agrees maybe i will just do similar from the start !!!😎
 
 

What I have learnt so far ... as I scratch deeper and deeper into solar/inverter/batteries ... I need to scratch deep ...my business has already been around for more than 30 years ... and I plan to be around for at least another 20-30 years ... offering warranties of 25 years and lifetime workmanship warranties on solar product seems a bit unrealistic ... I can see it already ... trying to find an installer or get them to return to get their system up to standard has also proved to be quite a challenge ... the same thing with the products ... for example ...try find someone to repair a 3 year old axpert inverter  (NO I dont install systems yet)
The most important thing to consider is the product support ... does the product have support ? ... I dont mean only when it breaks.
It starts at the design  ... then can you add and upgrade the system ... will the product still be available to add to the system in 2-5 years time ... its already happening ... customers are sitting with door stops ... at least some can use them to make lead sinkers with the older batteries. 
I am sitting with customers who have systems installed 3-5 years ago ... and there  is nothing we can do with the systems ... other than strip and replace the entire system.
People say Victron is too expensive ... replacing a R120 000 system because the product  doesnt have support or cant be upgraded ... is a lot of money to piss against the wall ... unless you have a tax problem and need to get rid of large sums of cash (it seems there are a lot more of these people than I thought) ... or maybe a pension payout as the  "investment"  ... be wise with your selection if you dont fall into the big spender category.
Once you have decided on the brand ... then you need to understand what it is you are trying to achieve ... some will say take your electricity account and divide it by XYZ ... but there's another catch ... when do you use the power ... in the morning ... in the evening ? 
do you need more solar power or more battery backup? 
Are you prepared to make a lot of sacrifices and  change your lifestyle to suit your system ... or do you want a system to suit your lifestyle ? 
As many have pointed out ... there is no one system suits all.
An example I completed a load profile for a customer ... 20 % of the power is consumed during the day and 80 % in the evening ... the aircons are not used during the day ... however at night all the aircons run ... there is a lot of cooking going on and no gas. 
Another customer's load profile is completely the opposite ... 20 % in the evening and 80 % during the day. 
One thing I have learnt about customers ... some want to tinker ... install home assistant and a solar system and spend their life trying to fine tune everything ... but most just expect the project to be designed and installed to work ... they want the power on during load shedding and they want to see a  drop in the electricity account. 
To make things even worse ... they have people over for a braai and get talking about their system and whos system is better. 

When I first started with my Axpert /Pylontech system a couple of years ago, I also wanted Victron as my 'dream' system. I then added a Victron MPPT 250/100 and moved all my panels off the Axperts - which was definitely a nice and noticeable upgrade.
But the more I eyed a full Victron system, the higher the cost went...
So I eventually moved to Sunsynk (2x 5kW) and am very happy with my system. It works like a charm - especially the feed to the non-essential side with excess PV.
You could start off with 1x 5kW and then later add more inverters as you need and your funds allow. 1x Sunsynk will give you 2 MPPTs, and if you another inverter later, you will get further MPPTs and additional flexibility.
Same with the batteries. Start with a smaller pack, maybe 2x Pylons or Hubbles, and then later expand.
Something like 1x Sunsynk 5kW, 2x Pylon 3.5kW, and 9x JA 490W will be around R90k. Then add a whole bunch of installation materials (cables, breakers/fuses, combiner boxes, panel mounting hardware) and installation labor (and maybe monitoring software) - and you will quickly hit your budget.
As much as I adore Victron (and have made good experience with their MPPT) - something similar with Victron equipment will cost you significantly more. And I do not see (or know) what more benefits a Victron system would give me over my current setup.

Hi Guys,
 
I will have a budget soon for around 120K . I priced a few systems to give me roughly 45kWh a day , prices range from R250K to R300k. I eventually want my solar / battery system to power our daily needs and just use Eskom for Top-Up's
 I'm based in centurion.
I'm keen on a Victron / Polytech setup. The only reason is that a friend of ours has such a setup . I haven't decided on which Victron Inverter to go for . My mate has the Victron Quattro8000
For a budget of 120K what would you recommend as an interim setup to counter Load-shedding
 
A- Victron Inverter +  3 x Polytech  4.8kW batteries
B- Victron Inverter + 1 x Polytech 4.8kW battery + some Solar Panels or all the required solar Panels
 
Thanks