Oli4

https://ecodepot.co.za/collections/black-friday-cyber-monday

Thanks! That is very helpful.

Thanks Bernard that is very helpful. How is it working for you, with the 2 strings facing NE and NW? What panels did you choose?

Hi, I am still planning my hybrid system started asking for quotes. I have a question regarding startup voltage for the inverter's MPPT. The setup I have in mind: - 6 72-cell panels facing NE - 4 72-cell panels facing NW (limited roof space) => I need an inverter with 2 MPPTs. The one MPPT will have a nominal voltage of around 160V, is that too close to the usual 150V start voltage of most inverters? One quote proposes the 4.6kWh hybrid Kodak inverter (startup voltage of 125V per MPPT), the other the ES series 4.6kWh Goodwe. I found conflicting info re: the Goodwe startup voltage: 125V and 150V. What is it? I am quite nervous about this - wrong decision could cost me a lot. Thanks a lot!

I am not Surge, but I do filter and drink my rainwater. I would always recommend you first have your water tested for biological and chemical content (Bemlab does it). If you are located in an area where your roof may gather pollutants, you will need a reverse osmosis system. Pollutants may come from being located near fields where pesticides are used, busy roads, factories, an airport, etc. Reverse Osmosis is the only effective way to get rid of metals and chemical compounds. If you can assume your roof is not gathering any pollutants other than organic stuff (leaves, bird poop, dead geckos etc), you can use a more simple system with "big blue" filters (5-micron sediment filter, carbon filter, 1-micron sediment filter) followed by an ultraviolet (UV) purifier. This system is interesting because it is very cost effective, and can easily process a flow of water sufficient for the entire house. An RO system cannot do that: you will need to have a holding tank after your RO system, to keep your filtered water. I would recommend you still put a UV purifier after your holding tank, before the water is supplied into your house. Some local regulations will force you to have an "air gap" to separate municipal water and your own water, to prevent polluting the municipal reticulation system. I hope this helps.

Hi all, I am new on the forum. I am based in Cape Town. I have been researching solar for about 2 years (not an electrical engineer, so I need to read the same thing a few times before I "start" getting it), and I am planning to invest in a hybrid system in the second half of this year, once I have enough savings. In the mean time, I have done a few changes to our house, to get electrical consumption below R1000/month (LED lights everywhere, timer on pool pump, new induction cookers). My next step is probably to install a geyserwise timer and a 1kW element: if that works, the electric geyser will be part of the "essential loads" of the inverter (my electric geyser is stuck under some stairs and cannot easily be retrofitted with a solar geyser or heatpump). My conundrum is how much to put into a hybrid system, when my electricity consumption is pretty low. It would make little sense to invest more than R100k as the payback period would exceed 10 years. On the other hand, I value having a battery bank to have no load shedding impact, and our roof requires a dual array of PV (complicated roof, meaning 3 PVs facing NW and 6 facing NE). As a hobby, I made a small solar pump+filtration system for my 200L water feature, and I am working on a small solar drip irrigation system. I also did our rainwater setup in 2017. We now have 90% autonomy with our rainwater tanks, pumps and filtration system. First step was to bring down our water consumption below 50L/person/day (that was surprisingly easy), then install tanks on both sides of the roof, pumps and filtration system. Best improvement I have ever done to our house. There is something enormously satisfying in using your own water. We could be 100% autonomous if I could find the space to add an extra 5000L storage capacity without ruining my front patio. To be transparent: I am also one of the persons behind EcoDepot, an ecommerce shop that started in 2018, focusing on home improvements. This came after the experience gathered in doing my water setup. Thanks!

Hi NickM, I am not an expert, but I did my rainwater setup 3 years ago - first connecting the toilets and washing machine, then connecting the entire house once the water restrictions kicked in in Cape Town. I did some research at the time. Rainwater can indeed be quite acidic. I measured the pH a few times and it varied from 5.5 to 7.0. So if your copper pipes are long, or difficult to access, you are probably exposing yourself to some annoying leaks after a few years. My best experience is with Cobra pipe. My worst is with PVC pipes (leaks around the glued fittings if the pipes move a bit). In the setup you describe, I am a bit worried that you are using connected piping for potable water and non-potable water. Rainwater is not "clean": the moment you store it in a tank, you will have germs, algae and bloodworms. Running that water through the pipes that are also connected to your potable water at other times of the year could be problematic, from a health point of view and from a regulatory one. In my case, I did a parallel setup with a switch by each toilet (what you described as "that would be madness" 😉) - but I have enough water to never have to use those switches. Hope this helps!