Bobster.

Hmmm.... one can currently get new 10/8s for not much north of 40K. EG https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/batteries/products/freedom-won-lite-home-10-8-lifepo4-battery-n

The inverter can't handle this really. Charge limit for the hardware is 100A, and the Goodwe agents won't set it past 80A as per - they say - an instruction from FreedomWon. Though if the hardware can't go past 100A, there's not a lot more that can be done. The bus bar is the main piece of the puzzle though. Batteries connect to this, and the bus bar feeds the disconnect. The two batteries would have to talk to each other as well. FW want a minimum distance between the batteries, so I need to measure to see if I can meet that requirement.

Hmmm.... this tempts me. But it's going to need some work on my side. What's required here? A network connection between the two? How do the batteries get connected? Does each need a disconnect? And I need to figure out what that little lot is going to cost me.

This is a request that British consumers may get this summer. They already have what we are moving towards: multiple suppliers, emphasis on renewables,one grid. And that grid and the available power needs managing. I wonder what sort of leas time they will give. I know that my family in Spain will run the dishwasher on a timer to take advantage of low prices during the early morning. But what is foreseen in the UK looks a bit more dynamic. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/14/uk-households-power-renewables-soar?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Did you stipulate this in the contract? It's not unreasonable for a buyer to expect to take ownership of what he saw and inspected. So if there were panels on the roof then either he can say "where's the panels and all the other stuff that goes with them?" or there's a stipulation made in the contract. I get what you're saying, but a house can be on the market for a while, and I would not disconnect the PV and take everything off the roof and out of sight whilst I'm waiting for a buyer.

You are free to choose anybody you like to produce the test report, though they should have the appropriate qualifications. One of the gripes OUTA had with the registration process was that it required an ENGINEER to sign off on the report. OUTA argue that an electrician should be able to sign off. I have no idea about the merits of OUTA's argument, but when I asked my regular electrician if he'd do this for me he said no, it's not the sort of work that he does and he thinks I should get somebody who knows what they are doing and what they are looking at (one of the reasons he's my go to guy is that he doesn't promise to be able to do any sort of work for all people). But still.... you can shop around for somebody to do this and you can make the choice on whatever basis you see fit. All that said, the utility may do their own checks. In my case - City Power, not Eskom - an engineer from City Power came out and pointed to various things on the line drawing that is part of the report and said "please show me that". City Power didn't charge a cent for this, nor for the eventual registration. As you'd expect, I did have to pay the guys who represented me and produced the drawing and the report. Another possible cost is if the engineer you appoint inspects and then says you need extra things to bring the system up to code. This will be for your account. In my case it was warning labels. I suspect the cost of making good some cowboy's short cuts is the source of some of these stories about it costing twenty grand to get registered. My registration was handled by a company called Pure Energy Consulting. They did EVERYTHING. I signed a document appointing them to represent me in the matter of SSEG registration and then they took over, spoke to the various offices at City Power, did the line drawing, got the test certificate and everything else that City Power required. They also liaised with City Power to set the date and time for inspection, and were there for the inspection to answer any questions that City Power had.

The inverter test certificate is routine and made available by the manufacturer. Somebody has to get it but they don't have to do any testing. The manufacturer should have had the system tested (probably in the EU) and there will be one certificate for all instances of that make and model. When my system was registered the guys who did it for me downloaded the certificate from .... somewhere, I'm guessing from Goodwe. There are a batch of tests that must be performed by a reputable laboratory under controlled conditions. You will not have to do the tests that produced the certificate - a laboratory did them already. My system is registered with City Power as that's who supplies the area I live in. They did reserve the right to check for compliance, though unless you've been fiddling with things you shouldn't fiddle with you should be OK (because everything has been tested by a certified test facility). I mention all of this to give an idea of the sort of things that the certificate deals with and that the inspector may verify. What CP decided to test was that the inverter must NOT reconnect to the grid the moment that power is restored. It must wait. The wait period is randomised. The idea being that if an area loses power and the power is then restored, the inverters do not all connect and potentially start demanding power at the same time. So this requirement mitigates against surges at restoration time (it also means that if there is such a surge, your inverter is likely to be disconnected from the grid anyway). The certificate also tests things like islanding to make sure that the inverter doesn't try to export when the grid supply is down. My test certificate specifies NRS 097-2-1:2017 Edition 2.1. The actual testing and certification for that make and model was done in Germany. The test report for the installation is basically to check compliance with safety requirements. So you must have properly earthed solar panels, you must have a way to isolate the inverter from the rest of the house's wiring, you must have appropriate warning labels so that an electrician is warned that there are multiple power sources for the property. One of the installers who frequent this forum would be able to give you a fuller list of what is required. I imagine that there is a core set of requirements, and maybe local extras that the utility may impose.

You may have to re certify. If your system is registered then you would need to de-register it and register at the new address - a system is registered as an inverter (identified by serial number) at a physical location, and the registration covers all the electrical connections. You'd probably have to "un split" the DB (cost) and may have to patch walls where the equipment is removed. Those costs are unlikely to be close to the cost of a PV system, but you should still figure them into your costings.

You don't say where you are. If in Randburg / Sandton / Midrand then check out https://www.maidenelectronics.co.za/ Batteries are what they do.

Thanks. I have no solar geyser to compare against, but since I put in some CBI smart controllers I can track my heat pump. We used 46.63 kWH for the month of January, 46.92 in February, and 65.87 in March. Hmmm.... I need to try and factor in weather to see why the big increase in March. So on a bad month we are using about 2kWh a day to heat electricity - still double what you report with the VAC. Our situation: Two adults, each showering once per day. Dishwasher does its own heating, washing machine is always run on cold cycles. Geyser is clad with isotherm, and all hot water pipes between the geyser and walls are similarly clad. The pump runs twice a day. First run is 6:00 to 7:00 in the morning. Second time the timer switches on at 12:00 and off at 15:00, but the pump will not run for all of that (typically 15 to 20 minutes in the summer) and may not start at 12:00 on the dot.

I would start either with the installer (if that's not you) or with Solis. Solis will have a way to connect to the inverter and check all the settings, check log files on the inverter and tell you if they see anything concerning.

Electricians have more options than the likes of me. One is to use a two part switch with levers/button on a plate over the box, and the actual smart part up in the roof where there is less electrical noise and no surrounding metal box - IE more reliable WiFi communications.

This is not unusual. If you were to start buying IOT light switches you will find that many models specify that you don't need a neutral wire in the switch box. In this sort of wiring scheme the neutrals are in the roof, connected directly to the light fittings, and the actual switch is on the live connection between the DB and the fitting(s). You say "one gang", but how many separate fittings are being switched here?

They have already installed the latest firmware.

They do have a lot of installs, but they also have multiple products. Some commercial, some domestic, and in the domestic space they have at least two product lines. I have the FreedomWon LiTE which I like a lot, but FreedomWon batteries are not all the same and the E-Tower has a different BMS and the cells are sourced from a different factory. So I would say that if you are looking for reports from owners, check which FreedomWon they are using. There are reasons that you pay less for E-Tower than for LiTE.