Gerrie

I’m not sure of the Hex meter but some meters will need a special code to switch on again. There might be a cost for the activation code.

Looks like eventually a step in the right direction no licenses hopefully also means no bribes need to be paid. There is mention of a “roadmap for our energy sector for the next decade” Looks like we won’t be packing our inverters away soon🙂

PV wiring should be inside bosal conduit or a steel trunking, that might be the solution and also earthing the bosal conduit, If that is not possible another option is a 40x40 galvanized channel with a steel cover it should also be earthed.

This is probably the way to go replace the 32A with a 40A circuit breaker. I haven't seen a 44A breaker though. I think your electrican might of played it a bit too safe by installing a slightly smaller breaker. Personally I also like to get the protection just right and not go oversize from the start, as now you know that the protection works although touching on the upper limits of the 32A breaker. I think the electrician played it, rather safe than sorry which is always a good thing with 200k🙂

Has anybody actually used these dry contacts successfully ? I measured a 4VDC between the (in+ and GND). The other three contacts seem to always be in NC state, do they switch to NO position only if the Pylontech experiences a alarm or fault condition or are they programmable with some software?

I would go for option 1. Solar geyser, but a 200Ltr EV tube unit and would also get that heat pump fixed for backup on rainy days. I am happy with my own EV tube geyser and cannot complain, winter days it normally does go above 50degrees and summer it’s a bit over hot, yesterday it went to 84Degrees. But than the R28K is allot to spend I would get more quotes.

My prepaid meter worked great for more than 3years than I got new neighbours who installed electric fencing and than problems started, I had a problem for more than a year that when I tried to load prepaid units my meter would not except the newly purchased tokens, after calling the municipality the municipal electricians would come over take the keypad directly to the municipal mains breaker, connect it there and it would load units the first time, After about a dozen of times of coming out they had enough so they installed a socket outlet directly below my main breaker no earth leakage. They said in future I must just load it there myself. It was a nuisance as I sometimes had to go out at night with a torch, keypad and voucher number to load units, So what I done is cut off the plug top and installed a small 6A circuit breaker next to the main municipal breaker and feed my keypad directly from there, Fortunately this is just on the outside of my bedroom wall so I drilled through the wall the keypad now inside my room but connected directly outside. Legally wise, I think its ok now with the 6A breaker a bit safer than the loose hanging socket these guys gave me as a quick fix🙂 (By the way this is a Landis and Geyer prepaid meter, I heard they are known for this funny behavior)

I experienced this problem because I normally run completely off-grid during the day, so my prepaid display in my home would be fed from solar power during the day when my system switch over to solar, and that caused lost comms with the outside meter at the utility kiosk. I ended up moving the prepaid display to my utility main breaker that now works very nice as it is illuminated when Eskom is on and when it is off I know there is no Eskom power.

This data would probably also never be the same even if it could be measured due to everyday the conditions of clouds and loads are different. I also tend to agree with Jay-Dee it sounds like over voltage from the panels.

See below photo, the blue is the RJ45 and plugs into the remote display at the “Com out” port and the other end with the serial plug and converter goes to the laptop usb.

Sorry I mean the remote display

Mine is powered from RS232 at keypad to serial cable plugged to (serial to usb converter) than to laptop usb. This works at inverter or keypad, my inverter do not have usb connectors.

Did you manage to get it to work? You can try this what I’ve done. There is a 2core cable that comes with the remote panel you need to plug it in on the remote panel and the other end at the inverter just cut the plug off and soldered it parallel over the inverter on/off switch and it should work. (I had to solder mine direct as it did not want to work any other way and it has been working for more than a year now)

Can you connect watchpower directly on the inverter, just to make sure everything is setup correct, if that works it should be able to connect on the remote panel as long as the remote panel is connected to the inverter. Mine works without any problems, I’m not sure if the remote panel’s power supply must be on for it to work as mine is powered aswell.

That I did not know do you keep your normal meter and is an engineer sign-off required?

The problem is we are basically forced by the utility company to install solar, that’s if you want some sort of order and planning in your life. If you have kids studying online where you pay massive school fees and they fail due to power outages it becomes very viable to have solar.

This was a big factor during the hard lockdown. I experienced a big jump in usage with wife and kids computers running almost 24/7, luckily I installed a slightly bigger inverter from the beginning, although I’m slightly under specked on PV and batteries but it had that extra capacity to add as funds become available. The money I saved at the end of a year I put back into more solar, so that way it’s almost like not digging out extra cash every year for expansion every year just uses the saved funds. My biggest portion of savings came from a 200Ltr EV tube high pressure geyser that I installed myself, that is at least R600+/month that I can through back into solar every month.

Problem with grid tie is you have to pay the monthly fee to the municipality to be allowed to give them power. And if you want to feed back it actually mean you have to over-spec your system to enable enough PV for feed back. Grid tie could be an option but the regulations and extra charges on a bill scares me away for sure, I think a pre-paid meter that won’t give you surprises at the end of the month with a off-grid system that works with no reliance on Eskom just make more sense for someone who wants to save on installation and monthly cost.

I think the compressed air vessel will also fall under additional SANS regulations due to pressure vessels that need to be pressure tested every few years. This type of storage would probably only be viable for big industrial type applications if looking at their target market - “ Eco-mc² Storage Systems ranges from 40KWH to many MWH stored. “ At a minimum of 40KWh compressed air system that is equivalent to a lot of batteries. That Seems to indicate where it becomes cost effective to install compressed air storage.

Most first time buyers don’t know they are buying a clone and I’m sure they would think twice before making that purchase. I was also caught out with a clone and only found out about six months later. All I can do now is make the best of a bad situation and use it till it blows and not support that solar supplier again. Unfortunately these clones are selling like hot cakes and many more buyers will still get the surprise.

Hi Nico, I have a pylontech 3.5 and am very happy with it and will add as I grow my system. I would rather buy 3 x pylons than 1 x revov for the simple reason of putting all the eggs in one basket, if that Revov fails its lot of money if one Pylon go it’s bit less damage and as far as I know the Pylons have quite a good reputation.

Is the recommended 37A per battery the maximum allowable charging current, what if I only charge at 10A charging current or even lower would it have any bad consequences for the battery or would it benefit the life of the battery.

I think we are looking at different inverters, are you looking only at solar inverter and I am also mentioning frequency drive inverter that is used to make eskom single phase to three phase for electric 3phase motors. I suggested installing a single phase solar inverter to run all loads except three phase loads, and then also install a frequency drive inverter that makes three phase from Eskom single phase to run the borehole maize grinder and compressor.

What Calvin has done to change to a single phase connection might be a good way of saving some monthly charges. That single phase could act as backup when there is bad weather and also run your three phase equipment if you install a separate three phase inverter purely for the electric motors. That would enable you to install a single phase solar system that you can expand on later. The only thing to look out for is if you decide to use the Eskom single phase and convert it to three phase, is the KW size of your equipment, as I think the inverters to three phase only go up to 7KW. So motors bigger than 7KW becomes a problem to run. Then also the saving might be reduced again due to the high Eskom rate but I’m sure as a backup lifeline Eskom is definitely still worth having.

This will require batteries for the night use, It would be best to measure the load drawn during the night to get an idea on what equipment needs to run during the night in order to get a better idea of the size batteries you will need for the hatchery. Is the borehole three phase and do you need three phase on the farm?