Tim

So the crux of the matter is this: "The Municipality’s Electricity Supply By-Law and National Regulations state that, “No electrical generation equipment may be connected to the municipal electrical distribution network without the express consent of the Municipality”. Also note Knysna Municpality does recognise and allow off grid systems with no tarrif increase / addtional charges So by the defination above, the strictest interpretation would be "there must be no physical conneciton between the Inverter and the Munipal Grid unless concent obtained." Okay fine - how about this then - insert a change over switch between house and the munipal supply and inverter - see diagram below. At no time is there a conenction between the inverter and the grid. Inverter cannot charge from the grid either. Controll the changeover switch with some home automation (eg no loadsheding allow SOC to drop to 10% before change over - with loadshedding keep a larger buffer - say 40% SOC - all depends on Battery capacity. Register system as off grid - happy days.

Thanx - yes have used theses - metal case and a litttle cramped

Surface mount unfortuantely - thx though

Hi looking for a large Din rail flush mount distribution board with smoked plastic clear cover - needs to be plastic for better wifi reception to smart swtiches. 50-60 size Any suggestions please - some thing like this - Hager - cant find a SA supplier:

Hi - after moving from PE who I think have a great SSEG program, scratching my head with Knysna's system which almost seems to be a disincentive system: Here are the rules I can find from their web site - from latest Tarrif docs: "SMALL SCALE EMBEDDED GENERATION (SSEG) SSEG refers in this instance to consumers who wish to fit a Solar generation plant (PV plant) to supplement their energy consumption by harvesting solar energy for their own use. These systems are generally Grid Tied to the municipal network allowing the consumer to draw energy (electricity kWh or Units) from the municipal network when their PV plant does not produce enough energy for their use. In the opposite case where the PV plant is producing more energy than the consumer is using this excess energy is fed back to the municipal network and the consumer receives some credit for this energy they supply to the municipality. All consumers who wish to have a Grid Tied Solar plant must make application to the municipality via the Electrical Engineering Department, and this must comply with the municipal regulations as published. The applicant will be required to sign a contract with the municipality to ensure all conditins are met. All installation work is to compy with SANS10142-1 Rev2, and any new regulation that may be published, and a copy of a valid Certificate of Compliance must be issued to the Electrical Engineering Department. The consumer must remain a net consumer of energy in the year as no cash will be paid to the consumer. The consumer will have to change to a Time of Use (TOU) tariff and will be required to fit a "4-Quadrant" electricity meter with a modum to the municipalities specification for the municipality to read the meter remotely." So by my calcualtions if you go buy back route you woudl need to produce 25kwh per day excess power just to break even on monthly charges for Grid feed in - thats quite a bit given my ave consumption of about 30kwh per day - ie massive solar array required" - Even for for simple Grid with no grid feed in need to produce 11kwh per day excess. My questions : a) Does a non Grid tied system - ie totally at all times disconnected from municipal grid still need to be registed - ie would the SSEG monthly charges still apply? b) Assuming you go Grid tied - you have to install a TOU meter, but why does it say IBT rates apply - makes no sense TOU tarrifs should apply on any Grid draw down. c) Cost of the TOU meter? d) What options are there for breaker size which determins power charge - I presume either 30 or 60 Amp? e) Is the diagram below / atatched still off-grid - has no connection between Inverter and Muni supply ... Thanx in advance Tim

Shout if you need any yaml - happy to share

My sparky that CoCed it when done was happy - just needed to be clearly labelled as such as @plonkster said.

Are you referring to Home Assistant - if so no don't think a separate instance of Home Assistance is needed - I just connected using Modibus in my main home assistance installation and the overhead is not noticeable. To be honest I have subsequently moved my HA install onto docker and an old laptop running Linux - but original my opinion stands - does that answer your question ? Sorry maybe misunderstand ?

Sorry about the title - seems to be a forum rib of sorts ? Anyway here is my install - was quite challenging doing it all myself with little solar experience. Silly things like just getting inverter on the wall (thing ways a ton) , thank goodness for climbing gear and pulleys, made it a steep learning curve. Hopefully the forum wolves will be kind though . System :Victron Inverter - Quattro 10000va / Victron 250/100 SmartSolar MPPT / 20 x 330 Watt Canadian Solar / Victron BMV702 / Revov 10 kWh / Venus GX running ESS / ET112 Grid Meter / Home Assistant Integration. In case you wondering system is limited that it can’t feed more than 4.6kW into grid. Things I would have done differently: - Bigger fuse boxes & bit more spacing - 35mm2 wire is difficult to bend - Wider trucking - same reason as above My average use is 30-35 kWh per day - system is producing 18kWh on average (mid winter) per day - looking forward to summer. The Battery is on paper too small as most use is in evening, however in Port Elizabeth we can Grid tie one to one and we are on Eskom time of use tariffs, so battery only needs to get me through the 2 peak periods, then use the grid as a cheap battery for balance of time. With the home automation (Home Assistant) tie-in, I manipulate a few things on system via Modibus to optimise the return: System makes sure batteries are charged for morning and evening peak using grid if needed - (buys cheaper power or uses credit generated during day). I do this by changing the Grid set point higher for this period. If there is loadshedding (it reads the loadshedding status form Eskom website) - it changes min SOC from 20% to 50% - that way there is enough capacity in batteries to get through any loadshedding episodes regardless of time of day. Also notifies me of grid failure over google home and on phone Pic 1 - Christmas - trying to figure everything out Pic 2 - figuring out cable routes - old inverter/ups in green looking sad Pic 3 - Old Main Db Board (nice excuse to tidy up) Pic 4 - Honey will we have lights tonight ? - no pressure - all stripped out Pic 5 - Main Db Looking bit more tidy - split into 2 - Db1 non critical AC loads - Oven and Geyser on Left ELU - Db3 - Critical Loads - balance of house - plugs and lights (Note Inverter feeds back up to DB1 if grid present so DB1 is on Inverter / solar /battery until there is a grid failure) Pic 6 - Revov Batteries 10 KWh- server rack box adapted with some additional home made welded brackets (its a 50kg load) - but nicely off the floor Pic 7 - DC Buss-bar - cramped DC shunt and fuse box - will know for next time - give yourself more room Pic 8 - AC DB 2 - feeds to and from Db 1/D b3 with 3 way change over switch (can bypass inverter if its faulty) - MPPT on left - Solar DC DB & fuses on right Pic 9 - Solar DB - only partly my work that''s why is so neat - 4 strings of 5 panels - bottom 2 cables have subsequently been increased to 10mm2 from 6mm2 shown here - MPPT was kicking errors - seems happier now Pic 10 - Overview of installation - Inverter quite noisy (I am noise sensitive) - so nice to be in the garage vs in house Pic 11 - Colour GX and BMV installed round corner (more accessible) Pic 12 - Panels - 20 x 330W - 4 strings of 5 - 5 deg - facing NE - raised back 5 because of shading Pic 13 - Home Assistant Home Automation Tie in - Note loadshedding sensor (still working on overall layout but its 100% customisable) Pic 14 - Municipal Grid-tie meter with ET112 Grid Meter on right

Good idea thx for sharing - lights use a surprising amount of my total usage. Reason I have gone Shelley vs Sonoff for most of lights is for the dimers - plus very easy ot convert 2-way switches as shelley can take 230V as a input toggle (sonoff woudl blow up)

@Jatho Hi - athough I am on Eskom time of use, the Tarrifs are the ones from our NMBM metro - as per below - sorry probably doesnt help:

ok answered by own question - thanx for nudge: https://gist.github.com/cliffordwhansen/b9ce886f8942d957e6140b8655f69f46

So @Mark2 how you getting the loadshedding status -that automation I need

@Jakesza - sorry that looks like a glorified remote panel - where the auotmations? (obvisuly I am more an open system guy) - just kidding though if it works thats cool I ve been away from forum for a bit so missed some of the action - some nice dashboards. I ve expanded mine quite a bit in Homeassistant since I posted last. Related to solar I now have a automation which is quite specific to PE Grid tie setup which you might find interesting. If you grid tied you linked to Eskom time of use time periods so you really want to be careful to get your system to only draw from grid in off-peak and standard time. Rate peak is R2.67 vs off Peak R1.24 / kWh. Now since the Peak is never during high sun conditions you need to be able to tell the system to use battery first during Peak period, then ouside this period you tap into cheaper time periods to recharge the batteries for the next peak. Should mention any excess power fed back to grid during the day can be used as credit in evening as long as the rate periods match - effectively you using the grid as a battery. That way Battery only needs to be sized to house consumption during the 2 peak periods - see power wheel image. So home assistant keeps track of the rate periods and battery condition and sends a command to my quattro inverter (well actually ESS) to adjust the grid setpoint up or down depending on what rate is active - works like a charm. Other toggle relarted to solar is a loadshedding switch - basicaly this tells the inverter to increase battery SOC min to a higher level (mine is 40% vs 20%) - to ensure there is enough capacity in the battries at all times to handle a 2hr unexpected loadshed (have toyed with trying to read the shedules but gave up) My other dashboards are actaully quite light on the number of switches but I have over 60 automations running eveything from the geyser, robot vacuum to pumps, alarm system and lights. My newest favourite one at moment is I use the passive sensors in my workshop to turn the lights on and of depending on someone being int there - love it. Have a shipment of Shellys (mostly dimmers and 2 way switch controllers) on their way from Bulgaria, these will convert most of the houses lights that I havent Sonof bassics yet - cant wait

To answer my own question - I have setpoint at 200W and no grid feedback enabled in ESS - no issues with prepaid meter going into tamper mode - waiting for my prepaid meter to be replaced by municipality with grid tied meter to start playing with more settings.... covoid-19 first world problems