VisN

@Jatho, same one from AVF? You'd do yourself the biggest favour ever by engaging with Jaco, do it with confidence.

I have to agree with Jaco here. I run the same inverter with 2 x US3000BS and 6 x 315W panels and it serves me very well. The geyser and oven/hob bypass the inverter. Everything works flawlessly and it is the perfect starter system and can easily be scaled up as required. The Victron hardware and software offerings, large community, frequent updates, good support etc. make a very compelling argument. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go the exact same route.

The SurLok cables i.e. the 25mm red and orange ones are for connecting to the inverter/charger. The cable with the RJ45 connector is meant to be for communication between the Pylon master battery BMS and inverter or other controller but as Jaco said it seems to be surplus to requirements. You only need one of these packs per system. This is the communication cable required for a PylonTech and Victron setup https://segensolar.co.za/product/deval-ltd/storage-systems-deval-ltd/communication-cable-storage-systems-deval-ltd/rj45-s-ftp-5m-lithium-comm-cable-for-victron-installs/ The battery itself comes with cables to parallel with another battery.

Jason, Surely this should be classified as an emergency and warrants immediate attention despite the lock-down. I had a dangerous situation at home and managed to get an electrician out. Neither @Jaco de Jongh nor @Soltaro are trying to be alarmist, just brutally honest. Good luck.

It turned out that someone had interfered with the kiosk box that served my property. There was some dodgy wiring present in the box which was immediately evident to the naked eye due to the presence of what looked to be a rogue wire and insulation tape. City Power's response and fixing of the problem was nothing short of extremely impressive, under 24 hours from logging to closure.

City Power were here and acknowledge it is a problem on their side. Someone will be around tomorrow to rectify the problem.🤞

@plonkster, that measurement was 31.58V However this afternoon, after another tripping incident I measured again and got 159.7V

I'm probably not expressing myself correctly here. What should the reading be when measured as can be seen below?

Thanks @plonkster. I had an electrician over and after much measuring and checking, he found that the voltage coming into the house is around 261V. This is a problem on the council's side.

Thank you very much. I cannot find a stake within my boundary walls, I will look at the incoming box from the council.

We're experiencing some issues at home with our electrical installation. First the plugs started tripping intermittently, some light bulbs started popping and now we're feeling light jolts when touching the taps. What could be the issue? Could anyone recommend a good electrician in Midrand? Thanks.

@plonkster, I think the @SchyffS meant can a Multi II GX 3000 be parallelled with a Multi II 3000.

Is it necessary to have a separate indicator lamp to show that there is alternative power present in the DB if the inverter already has 'Mains on' and 'Inverting' indicator lights on it?

Read Jaco's explanation in this thread. https://powerforum.co.za/topic/4986-recommendations-for-installer-in-centurion/?tab=comments#

Here's Victron's battery compatibility list https://www.victronenergy.com/live/battery_compatibility:start I would stick to what's on the list. You would need 2 PylonTech modules to be compliant with their minimum requirements. I would stay with the tried, tested and trusted combinations. For me that is :- MPII 3kVA, Venus GX device , 2 x US3000B , BlueSolar MPPT, ET112 The Victron stuff might be slightly more expensive but their combination of hardware, software, constantly improving firmware, support etc. makes them worth the extra expense.

How do we protect against lightning damage?

I think the best course of action would be to place your order and wait patiently.

Originally Dolly Parton.

I'd suggest going through this threadhttps://powerforum.co.za/topic/2946-victron-grid-tied-setup-from-scratch/ . It is Victron specific but will give you a good idea of what is needed. I would recommend Victron to anyone who asked though.

https://www.livecopper.co.za/

Multiplus -II 48/3000/35-32. It does the job for me with my geyser and oven bypassed.

Victron.

A few thoughts on sizing of arrays vs battery banks etc. I am using ESS, Optimized (With battery life), Minimum SoC of 75%. Which pretty much gets me through the night with enough juice in the tanks for any early morning load shedding. This works well and by 10:00 the batteries are at 100% SoC. However thereafter the system idles along barely doing anything as there is nobody at home during working hours on weekdays. As it stands adding more panels or even more batteries doesn't make sense but if circumstances change then it is an option. Weekends will be a different story though with the house be occupied for longer periods and household cleaning machines being employed. The highest yield from the panels has been in excess of 2300W from a 1890W array. One should consider these peaks when designing your system and avoid configurations that flirt with the boundaries of equipment specifications. I'm extremely happy with the equipment and installation. The Victron hardware and software offerings are superb and the JA 315W monos have performed beyond expectations. The gist of this post is that one doesn't have to install a mammoth system to reap benefits. A small system consisting of good quality components can offer significant rewards. Hopefully this encourages some members here to go out and install smaller systems that can be built upon and not keep procrastinating. We should all be grateful for a fantastic forum with some truly knowledgeable and helpful members.

Thanks George. I forgot to add that Jaco also fixed the ground relay error that had plagued my installation. I cannot say enough good things about Jaco.

Finally. Thank you immensely Jaco de Jong. What a man. MPII 3kVA Venus 2 x US3000B SmartSolar 150/70 6 x 315W JA Monos (Generating in excess of their rated wattage at midday. 2011W vs 1890W expected) Super happy.