Solarphile

With the experience you already have, is it not possible to do the work yourself and get a certified electrician to sign off on your work?

Was it Microcare themselves who installed the system, or perhaps an installer who just used their products? From my experience I have found Microcare to be very helpful. I have a 10Kw Microcare inverter that has been running nonstop for 4 years. I also have two Microcare MPPT’s that have also been running for the same time. My opinion is that they have fantastic products.

With my Microcare MPPT’s there is a feature where it tells you how much power was produced every day for the last ?? days. I’m sure many other charge controllers have a similar feature.

While I am practically off grid now, I wasn’t always in this position. Years ago I started with one 180w solar panel, a cheapie 20A pwm controller and a 105Ah deep cycle battery. All the rooms in my house were fitted with 12V 5W LED down lights that ran straight off that battery. I also had two 12V 10W LED floodlights into the back and front yards. The idea of having lights on everywhere changed the whole family’s mood and made the load shedding more tolerable. 😊 We would have missed lights the most during load shedding.

I tend to agree with this. I have noticed that after a few years, certain things I have soldered tend to start rusting. My theory is that the heat of soldering compromises the tin plating of the metal.

I was also looking at this same unit about a year ago. After much reading, research and a long inner debate, I decided to scrap the wind turbine idea and rather add more solar panels. For around R18k I am happily producing an additional 14kwh (average) per day. Judging from this thread I think I made the right decision.

This is exactly what I have done. Crimp and solder together. I feel confident that it is now right. 👍

This is where the problem appears to originate. I pulled the connector apart and it appears there was no solder and also I see rust inside. GVC was right too in that there was no crimping The Y-connector itself didn’t have an issue. The connection from the Y- connector to the cables going to the controller was the weak point. Thank you guys, this appears to be solved. 😁

Has anyone ever seen this before? I was asked to inspect a local farmer’s solar array which seemed to him to be underperforming. It was 8 x 150w panels that were only putting out about 550w on a good day. Everything looked fine from the outside until I checked the connector underneath the panels. The two-into-one MC4 adapter was melted. I replaced the adapter and found the panels to be putting out an acceptable 980w. I’m trying to figure out why this would happen....

You are going to get mixed feelings about this. While many forum members say that this communication is mandatory, I have personally never used this feature. I have also seen many installations by other installers without said cables. My personal reasoning is that the BMS takes care of balancing and protection from overcharge or overdischarge. The charge controller only charges to a certain voltage and the inverter switches off at a certain discharge voltage. For me that is good enough. The one area I could foresee a problem arising is if you had too small a battery bank and too big a solar array. In that case communication might help to keep the charge amperage to acceptable level.

I have to agree. I have been using lithium batteries for around two years now and have never had any communication. My inverter has a low voltage cut off at 48V and my charge controllers will not charge past 56V. What will communication accomplish that isn’t happening now?

Bobster, you’re the man!!

I am wondering the same thing. What difference does it make? 🤔

The red alarm light means one of two things. Either the battery is flat and needs to be charged, or the battery has been overcharged. How many green lights are on?

From the feedback on this forum, bloody good!

Will Prowse did a review/test on them on boobtube a while back. He didn’t speak too fondly of them from what I remember, although I cannot remember the exact outcome. Look at his videos and you will find it somewhere. I saw in another post that you were wanting to upgrade your BYD pack. If you are interested, take a look at these guys below. They operate in my town and while they are small they offer a pretty good deal. I got two 6.6kw lithium batteries for R36k (Black Friday special) and went back last Friday to get a third one (R21k now) Gandalf who is on this forum got 4 of their batteries on that Black Friday special, and he has been off-grid since then. Maybe these are not for you, but it’s worth a look. www.solarphile.net

Perhaps not what are looking for, but I see many questions on this forum about decent crimped cables. I reckon if you offered 50mm/70mm/90mm battery cables of various lengths with lugs already crimped on, you should have a good seller. DC trip switches and fuses of around 200A to 250A seem to be a little harder to find. DC clamp meters are all so expensive. If you had one for a good price, that should also sell. A cheaper alternative to the Victron BMV would surely sell too.

I cannot give any feedback on this battery, but I have noticed that majority batteries (including Pylontech) are made in China. The cells are basically all the same, but what changes is the BMS. For many of us, we don’t mind buying a Daly or ANT BMS and slapping it in should the standard BMS give any trouble at all. I took a chance a few weeks ago buying some cheaper “second life” lithium batteries on Black Friday special, and I am really impressed with how well they perform. Another forum member (Gandalf) also bought these same batteries and is happily running off grid with them for the last three weeks. Some people prefer to have communication between inverter and battery, but for me, if my inverter switches off at 48V and my charge controller charges to 56v, why do I need communication? Added complexity and more gizmos don’t make sense to me. (This is my personal opinion) If it comes at good price and comes with at least a 5 year warranty, I would go for it.

This is a new geyser. I pushed the loose wire into the female lugs of the element. Then I inserted the thermostat into the element as usual. Some may argue that this is a “bush mechanic” way of doing things, but it works for me. 😊

Cheap and simple.... lightbulb 😂😂 Geyser on = light on. Geyser off = light off.

Sorry man I only saw this now. I got two of them and for now I have only used them for limited times. I tried them last weekend and while I didn’t run them overnight I had the inverter running from around 7am to 11pm on Saturday and around 7am to 10pm on Sunday. They handled the geyser, tumble dryer, dishwasher, oven and a couple hot washes in the front loader. They performed well at all power levels and I can tell that I will be returning to buy another two as soon as the funds are available. I see the price is now R21k, but that is still a decent price compared to other second life batteries. Maybe they will have pity on me and let me have the next two at R18k each as well. 😂

Doubtful. The pylontech is a 15s battery and as far as I know the Narada is a 16s battery. But even if they are both 15s, it is not a good idea to use different brands in one battery bank.

You have a 6Ah, 48v battery? Or, you have several 6Ah cells making up your ??ah 48v battery? 🤔

Try these guys.. https://www.tesup.co.za/product-page/buy-12v-24v-48v-wind-charge-controllers-south-africa

This is a decent sized array, not too big not too small. This would serve your needs. You could also add to it later if need be. The most cost effective size is around 335w, but if you plan to install them yourself beware, the 72 cell panels are a little heavy. They also tend to catch a lot of wind when you try to install them. Somehow whenever I install panels, the wind magically starts to blow harder than usual... 😂 60 cell panels are a little lighter and catch a little less wind, but you will need to install a few more of them.