Bobster.

There is a "temperature difference" setting available via the menu. The operations manual I have says that this is "The temperature difference between measured water temperature and purpose water temperature" and is use to stop/start the the heating. The default setting is 9, which gives a 5 deg difference (0.5 degrees increments). Mine is currently set to 8. I interpret it all of this to mean that if I set my unit to heat the water to 55 degrees, it should, on the default setting, kick in again (timer permitting) when the temperature drops to 50. But that doesn't seem to be happening. I recently saw the panel indicating that the unit was on, that the temperature was 43 degrees, and yet the compressor was not running. First question: Do I understand this setting correctly? Secondly: Which is the more efficient way to operate? Have that difference set low so that the compressor kicks in earlier but, I am supposing, for a shorter period of time?

I'm seeing these popping up around Johannesburg - though Vumacam towers, not home owners erecting their own. So it is certainly a thing that can be done.

Thanks

I'd like to know what the range of that vehicle is. I live in Joeys, work in Centurion. From what I can see, the electric cars available locally would get me to work and back OK. But if I wanted to drive to Durban...

And if I live in Jozi (as I do)?

Here's a thought. If I had a separate system (inverter, panels, batteries) in my garage that is used only for charging an electric car and is not connected to the house in any way, do I need a COC for it?

I would think that in such cases, the customer is the body corporate, and as long as they don't sell to another body corporate or to the fish and chip shop next door then there is no resell. Yes. I wouldn't mind if they paid me back at 50% of retail. I'm currently using about 1 kw/h a day, and with all that spare juice in the PM I'd be laughing all the way to the bank. My installer told me a tale (I can't verify) of a customer who has an old meter with the digits on wheels that is now running backwards and how happy he is with this. This sounds to me like a a disaster waiting to happen. Say the meter was on 3456789.3, then a month later it is on 333456.3, the billing software will assume that the meter ran up to all 9s then kept going around, and will generate one massive bill.

There is an interesting legal case going on in Joeys right now which revolves around the resale of electricity. This is because Vumacam have stuck poles up all over the place, not always with all the correct paperwork having been obtained first. Now they go to the suburbs involved and say they can do all sorts of marvellous things to track villains and suspicious vehicles (or even vehicles moving suspiciously) but they need power. COJ is unwilling to directly supply, so Vumacam are asking residents if they can tie in to the house supply, meter the connection and reimburse them. COJ now say this makes those residents 3rd party sellers of electricity and that is not allowed and any such connections will be deemed illegal. I'd also like to sell back, though I suspect no actual money will change hands, just the meter will run backwards. But isn't there a problem with all this juice being generated in the middle of the day when it's really required in the early evening?

This is interesting to me, because I have two separate strings at the moment, and it seems to me that changing from N & E to W & E should not be a big deal. If I'm going to get more juice in total, it may be worth the cost of the modification. Or maybe I should leave well enough alone

In my case, the cross over point, at which the two arrays are generating more or less equal power, is about 11:30 at present. The east facing array is usually producing a kw about 7:50.

Well this is what the installer recommended and so what I went with. We are pretty unobstructed to the East. However with the benefit of subsequent experience and knowledge gained, if I were starting today I might say to him "how about West and North". I am surprised by how early the North (ish) facing array starts producing power, but we have limited roof facing that way. East and West we have loads, hence the decision by the installer.

It is a nice spot to be when you have to resist temptation for we can take our "hobbies" too far. That, and it gives the batteries an extra chance if the weather is being uncooperative.

Ja. I have two arrays, one facing NNW and the other ENE. I actually don't know how much I get in the PM because the batteries are usually charged by 11:30 and thereafter PV just services the load. I'm trying to think of a way to force a big load at about 3pm so that I can get a better idea of what's available. The dishwasher may come in handy here. I actually have lots of West (actually WSW) roof space available. But already I'm usually running with capacity to spare in the afternoon, so I resist the temptation.

Here we go https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/upshot/why-more-solar-panels-should-be-pointing-west-not-south.html "Pointing panels to the west means that in the hour beginning at 5 p.m., they produce 55 percent of their peak output. So a 10-kilowatt system would make 5.5 kilowatts. But point them to the south to maximize total output, and when the electric grid needs it most, they are producing only 15 percent of peak, or 1.5 kilowatts."

Where abouts do you live? If in the JHB area, try Maiden Electronics in Midrand.

Since we've gone solar, we have learned quite a lot about how we use electricity and how we could do better. Now, for example, we use the timer on the dishwasher. Let it run whilst the sun is high in the sky. I suspect that like many folks, we have a problem (though a nice one) of having PV power to spare in the afternoon when the batteries are fully charged. I am trying to find ways to shift load to that period. But the general idea isn't new. If every household got into habits like turning lights off when you leave a room, showering to get clean not to pamper yourself, boiling the kettle ONCE in the morning (instead of wake up, turn on kettle, shower, turn on kettle, get dressed, turn on kettle, go outside for a smoke, turn on kettle and make a cup of tea), using low power lights, not turning on the TV unless you're actually going to watch it etc then the knock on affect of that would be huge. To veer off topic, this principle applies in many aspects of life. My household seldom puts out a half full wheely bin for collection. My neighbour, who lives by himself, regularly puts out three full to the brim, and he's not the only one in our street. Imagine if we all started thinking a bit about packaging and waste.

Well, that fits with TTT's point, witch which I agree. I know that COJ have the capability to impose time based tariffs (or seasonal tariffs) but don't do that for residential properties. The problem is that a lot of poor people who are already stretched financially will likely get hit hardest by these changes. Meanwhile the rich will carry on as usual, and those of us in the middle will learn to moderate our behaviour.

I read a paper recently that said that people should stop installing south or north (depending on hemisphere) facing arrays and go east/west instead because that will result in a longer, smoother curve. Many countries have a problem at the moment that they are paying for energy fed back into the grid, but there is so much of it during the middle of the day that in reality they cannot use it. So they are subsidising generation of energy that they never get to use. Must try to dig it out.

Use the excess power to drive a refrigeration unit that will cool the panels, thus making the more efficient, thus giving you even more power to throw away.

Well I found this https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/an-eastwest-spit-of-solar-panels-on-a-single-string-can-work-well/ Which says my west facing panels should be paired up with my east facing panels. And certain conditions have to apply (my roof is more steeply pitched than in that example).

This thread interests me a lot. I don't have a lot of north facing roof, so already I have two arrays of panels. One faces east(ish) and the other north(ish). There is lots of west facing roof, so I get ideas about that. But my Goodwe inverter has two inputs for PV arrays, and it seems that connecting west facing panels to the north facing panels is going to result in neither working as well as they could. So can multiple MPPTs somehow be fed into one input of the Goodwe. Another thing I find is that the east (OK.... ENE) array produces good power until just after midday. That surprised me. Obviously they don't do much good in the late afternoon.

Thanks. I did get some things right! I've spent a lot of time tweaking timer switches, and making use of the timer feature on the dishwasher. I know that there's power to spare in the afternoons, but also my thinking is that that's a cushion to give the batteries more time to charge on a cloudy day or when the morning load was heavy (EG lots of appliances in use).

I'm interested in this. Most days my batteries are charged by midday, and thereafter the panels just service the load (unless it gets hell of big) until late afternoon. Is this a problem for the batteries (that's how I read your sentence) or just a case of not utilising perfectly good solar power?

Yes, you also get a few other options to go with it. What are those rain water traps? Do they just allow the rain water to soak into the ground?

Baie lekker. Does the top clip off to allow for removing leaves etc?