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Willem

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Everything posted by Willem

  1. I have two 200A JBD BMSes for sale. Bought them through TTT who imported them. Since cancelled my batt build as I picked up to good condition BSL 6.4's. They have bluetooth built in and also has RS485 port, comms possible with Victron if you load a driver on Venus OS. Wanting to see if I can get R2000 per bms..., will courier anywhere in SA...
  2. No 22000 / 1.15 = 19130 You can just buy it without a tax invoice, so then the price is just R22k or make me an offer. It's a private sale in that the company is not a solar company or anything, but I bought it on company books...
  3. Not sure why I can't edit my posts but Price to come down to R22k vat inc.
  4. I have got one Victron Multi 5kVA for sale. R24 000 Vat inc Unit was used in a 3 phase UPS setup for about a year. Still have 3.5 years left on warrantee confirmed by Victron SA. The Inverter is still spotless and in "as new" condition!! I bought the set of three for an installation only needing 2... so selling off the extra one. Vat invoice will be supplied with sale.
  5. Super excited, went to pick up my 3 5kv multiplusses and venus gx from the couriers... Remembered now, the unit has been used for a short while as loadshedding backups but not used hard at all, and they still have bulk of the warrantee left, so happy with the purchase... A huge shoutout to [deleted by mod, commercial suppliers are to register with Powerforum] for an awesome deal on these, and sorting out the courier costs!!
  6. So a brief background... I've been on the forum for a while, although relatively silent. I almost bought a solar installation company in 2012, but things turned out completely different, maybe for good but still my keen interest in solar was still always there... In 2014 I had some capital and was planning to do a solar install but then 2016 the decision went to drill a borehole first, so solar was delayed again... mid 2020 I decided to take on the solar once more, and this time it looks like things will happen. My budget, around R120k for starters, then we'll see over time where we go. I planned initially to go for batteries with warrantees, but am now strongly thinking about building a bank myself as I can about double my capacity with the same money... Planned system: I planned a system with a 8kw Sunsynk, 7kw PV and 10kwh batts for starters. Then last week an add popped up for three 5kva multiplus units. A year old but never been installed and still under warrantee. So I picked up the units for R15k ex vat each, including a Venus GX. And there goes my budget... haha So I'm picking up he inverters from the couriers this morning. Secondly I am busy with a deal for a smartsolar 250/100, which will hopefully go through today, holding thumbs. If i get the mppt then I'll stick with that for the start. So this weekend it will be making lists of hardware needed. Current planned day for switch flip is 31 March 2021... Let's see how it progress. I will update the thread regularly for those interested and also I'll appreciate if those that have done this can give me pointers and warnings where they see needed, if they so wish..
  7. I'm just hanging on for a day or so with the order to wait for someone else to add to the order to get courier costs down... send me a message or a mail to [email protected] with what you want... Will take it from there...
  8. As far as I could see the Shelly EM for DB board monitoring does have one contactor control switching possibility but you don't need to use it to measure power. You use p1 and p2 to connect your clamps, so you can measure two channels, which you clamp over the wires you want to measure. So no switching done on the channel you are monitoring. The contactor control is handy to have, but is a seperate function to the power monitoring. I will still keep my current cost power monitor to visually see what is happening... but will use the shelly for the accurate logging. The Shelly PM with the relay is for single smaller appliances and not for the whole house application.
  9. Still planning to order end of this week... If there's still someone that wants some shelly stuff...
  10. Very aware that it can quite easily be done but I have too many other projects, so want to get something that I can connect right away with an existing portal... Want to relook my usage profiles and shift it around a bit before starting with my final solar system planning to implement later this year... But before that my water filtration system, the building and plc programming, is taking up most of my time... Just too many projects currently...
  11. Posted a group buy thread with cut off dates when I'm going to order if anyone wants to club in. I'm going to order for myself in anyway, so let me know. Shelly Group buy, direct import - Group Buys - Power Forum - Renewable Energy Discussion @Singh GP @Vassen @PaBz0r @langou
  12. Hi All I'm going to order a few items from shelly europe... with DHL delivery. I'm interested in an energy monitor for my house as well as a few switches. Using sonoff at the moment but keen to try out something else as well... Main reason is my current cost energy monitor doesn't have a supported portal anymore... If you're interested in something you are welcome to let me know. I'm going to place the order on 29 January 2021. Final day for orders, 27 Jan. I will send you an e-mail of the estimated amount according to the total amount and exchange rate at that stage by 28 Jan. I need an EFT payment reflecting in my account by 18:00 29 Jan in order to include your items. I will do a recon once the actual amount reflects on my bank statements and once the items has arrived to know if there's tax payable etc and let everyone know of the differences. I'm in Durbanville Cape Town, so you can pick up if you're down here, other wise I can send with postnet, R100 postage... The DHL courier cost seems to be between 35 and 45 euros. I will split this between the number of devices ordered in order to fairly distribute the courier cost. Not sure if we'll get this through without paying tax or how much it will be. Will not make a cent from this... just see there's some people interested to club in...
  13. Might also be interested. My old monitor is done, and the online portal also got shut down so need a new monitor...
  14. Have anyone bought anything from this store? http://www.bonanzatech.co.za/index.php?id_product=7894&controller=product The price on the infini is really good and I'm seriously considering ordering one... Does anyone have warrantee info on the infini?
  15. Would have liked the normal infini 5kw (not the plus) with two smaller mppt trackers... but at a decent price please!! would have gone for it around or below the R32k mark... Which I would think is possible if you look at the cost of the 3kw plus. Think you can get the 3kw plus now for R18000? So then a resonable price for the 5kw or plus should be around R27k to R32k? a bit dissapointed at the price tag!!!! Would so like a SMA hybrid all in one... that should also be one very nice inverter...
  16. Batteries are still very expensive for the effective units that they can provide. I will try to definitely minimize or eliminate battery usage. After all I have a wife that likes loadshedding.... hahaha My main aim at this stage is more of a solar assist system. I must admit I haven't done anything practical on the solar side for the past 18 months due to holding on to capital because of employment uncertainties. Hopefully that will be sorted out in the 2 months to come and will make the capital available for use of a solar system and borehole. For now it's doing its part in reducing interest at the bank... I got a energy monitor about 18 months ago to play with and help manage and reduce electricity use in and around the house. I have tried to write a program to experiment with a management theoretical system using real the data from the monitor with the idea to implement it and manage loads like geysers in the future when there's some solar on the roof. Due to the "dirty" data that the monitor gives out and the fact that my hdd with the code on got stolen I have since given up on the idea, partly because the data was not nice to work with and the fact that I would have to re-write everything. I am quite interested to see what people are doing with the infini on that front! In the end, the more advanced your load management can be, the more you can utilise from your panels and get closer to 100% panel use without needing input from the grid. SMA has quite a nice system if you install their power meter and smart home manager with controlled sockets. You can then very actively manage loads like you want. The only two downfalls for me is that they don't have a hybrid inverter, and the hardware is on the pricey side if you look at a complete setup with smart load management. As for the next two months I'll keep an eye on the forum to get more ideas and after that list the solar on my projects list... a list that I have to make shorter... haha
  17. TTT it's not that complicated at all!! For me that's the whole problem about solar, people tend to make it too complicated by what they expect and want to do with solar. If you have a greater need for what solar can provide comfortably then yes it can become very complicated, as flying with a car can become very complicated... ;-) To start off with, if the inverter was tested and acting like it should (if it's on the list for being tested and passed the test) there is no safety risk. So you are still abiding by the regulations and safety standards. I would not install an inverter which doesn't adhere to the safety specs. I will even go so far as to maybe using it if I at least tested it myself to make sure it conform to the spec. and in turn abiding by the regulations of only installing the right type of inverter. And there's devices which you can install to make off spec inverters acceptable, like the limiters for the microcare units I think. I'm fully aware that some inverters are more complicated to get working when the grid is off, simply because they are not primarily designed to do that. That's why you need the right unit for what you want and need. You can add a small battery bank without damaging the batteries. BUT on your part you need to know what you can and can't expect from the batteries. If you have solar available but also need a batt bank to keep the inverter running, and also need the batt bank for when you start up devices that has a spike when starting up like electric motors, nothing will happen to the batteries. It will simply draw the spike for the few seconds from the batteries. After all when the solar goes down when the sun set and you still want to continue using electricity you'll only have very little capacity before the inverter shuts down the battery bank at the safe discharge voltage that you will set to discharge the batteries to whatever pre-decided level in order to reach a certain life span on the batts. My point with the battery bank was that in the case of the axpert for instance, you do not need a large bank to make the inverter work, but you do need one. even during the day when you'll never pull anything off the bank. It will be complicated and very difficult to use all electricity that the panels generate while the grid is off without batteries. Actually in might be impossible. What you are trying to do then is creating your own little supply network that's being used at as close to 100% of capacity as possible. And that's the definition of an unstable system. Will all due respect, I think what might be making it complicated is what you expect from your solar system?? That's why the SunnyBoy greatly reduce the rating off the inverter when grid is off (and call it emergency power), to keep the inverter stable. It goes without saying that you cannot or will have to pay a lot of money to just continue using electricity after sunset when the grid is out. But this should be obvious and not expected from anyone that knows the basics of electricy use and demand. And for me the electricity demand management and cutting thereof is important to understand and implement long before you even install or spec your system. And that's the other problem, some people just want solar without changing their elec. use and habits. You can do that but it will be very costly. For me it's all part of one thing, wiser electricity use. Solar is simply a small part of that, which is cheaper and cleaner supply of a part of the supplied electricity. I've started long ago changing to solar water heating, efficient lighting, and gas cooking etc, adding solar to that whole picture is merely the last step for me in completing a switch to more sustainable electricity use. And in the process over the long run I also aim for some saving on electricity bills. I downed the house in summer from 24 - 27 units a day to 11 - 14 and winter from 35+ to around 18 - 20. If you have a gas stove, and don't use a geyser element or oven etc and don't switch on or use hair dryers and washing/dishwasher machines etc. after dark then you'll be surprised with how little you can get along basically for lightning and other small stuff. You can even turn of you freezer, and maybe keep the fridge running. My need from a potential battery bank is simply keeping my inverter stable when the sun is shining (so not effectively using batt capacity) and inhouse lighting for after dark. I'm not bothered for the rest concerning power outages. I realise that this is not the case for everyone, but it's some of the things that makes my solar setup not that complicated and easier to spec... ;-) Like I mentioned before, I will have two parallel circuits of which one will switch off when the grid goes, automatically reducing the load on the inverter and batteries to the bare necessities, that way I'll be using the panels and batt bank only as a backup system. I'm fully aware of the demand changes of solar being added to the grid. But remember articles like the one you posted the link to is not applicable to south africa. our situation here is very different to developed countries with a large part of the population that will never go solar, nor can they afford to. Also if they use the frequency management on the inverters like also mentioned in the article this problem can be managed. So it's not as much the solar as it's the management thereof. And that in turn for me is the challenge from the authorities side that they embrace and manage this in a way that makes it attractive to specifically home owners to use solar more. And currently they are not doing that. The way I have my usage organised and changed to fit a solar supply curve better I very seldom have a huge spike in the late afternoon, most of my use is during the day when there's normally some amount of sun... so my idea with solar is to level out my high demand during daylight to get to a more flat curve of low basic use.
  18. If I have feedback disabled or a limiting device they can go fly a kite... The R400 plan is for the admin fee for bi-directional metering. If you chose to go solar and register without going on the R400 plan then as far as I can remember they come and install a plain prepaid meter. It's actually the same as the bidirectional one but with feedback disabled. So then what happens is if you do feedback it will also subtract units. So it's then in your best interest to make absolutely sure you do not feed back as you'll be paying for every unit that you feed back. What is non negotiable for them is to have an inverter certified for use in SA so that when the power is switched off you don't electricute a person maybe working on the box outside. It's a safety issue for them. So the inverter must be certified that it will shut down to the grid once the grid drops. So I'll comfortably use a feedback disabled inverter with my normal disk meter. If they give me hasles then they are welcome to come and install a prepaid meter if it gets to that. The question for me is if you can run it off solar only without batteries. If you can I would only use it for basic power so not starting any pumps or heavy loads. The way I'm planning on doing this is to run two supplies in my db after my inverter. When grid drops it must drop the contactor for the "luxury" circuit. Alternatively just get a very small battery bank for backup purposes.
  19. If I don't feed back I don't see a reason to even let them know. Capetown is a bunch of skelms and it will then be an offline unit... they can come and find me... ;-) Will do some research again... last time I checked the inverter needed to have some sort of certification... 097-2 or something like that.
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