Guss Davey

I'm switching to Home Assistant. 
Both are very good.
I originally chose OpenHAB only because its Java based, and I'm a java developer.
But Home Assistant is much more active, and I like the interface more. SO I guess I will just have to "Phyton" now.
I'm looking into using QuickSwitch, as Z-wave is so pricey in SA and Zigbee and the others I have to fiddle to much.
There's a binding (add-on) for QS and HA. Just ordered a Pi4 4GB, and a Pi4 SSD HAT for the HA install (At last Pi4 can now boot from SSD)

Your choice.
My choice: The ANC do not owe the sun. Bye.
But then I'm the "dwarstrekker" (non-compliant) type.
Get a jab, buy long sleeved tops, closed shoes, wear your mask, pay your tax, dont smoke, dont drink, pay your vat, pay your road use, pay, pay, pay....
Its just not stopping. They going to tax as soon for usage of the sun and CO2.

In the future, if they ever going to introduce carbon points, and give me discount for having solar, I will register.
But if its a trick to squeeze more money out of me, then tsek!

See it became a home automation topic now 🙂
Agree with the smaller element in the geyser.
I maintain 400W to 550W during night time, without having a timer on geyser. (it has a blanket, and inside greenhouse... so I guess its not getting cold), We just 2, but when someone bath, we share the water... else we shower. Heaters are managed like a dictator. Everything LED Dishwasher, AirCon., Washing, Drying,  Fridge / Freezer, even oven is INVERTER type, low energy.
(Oven is Siemens, it uses normal 16A plug, stove top is gas,
Dishwasher only have water water line, so that internal heating is not required) Espresso machine (screw the energy... everyone should have a little pleasure) PC, switch it off when done (my media server and NVR is on a intel NUC - it uses less power than PC)

And the last one, that may have a huge response. Learn form the people in Europe. If you work from home, do not sweat a lot, and wipe your ass thoroughly, there is no need to have long showers each night 🙂 For the younger crowd.... this will also teach you not to have sex 10 x a day 🙂

PS: On the dishwasher.
I have a Smeg and I hardly see a difference when its running. My PC with i9 CPU uses more power.
PS: Only the hotwater line is connected to dishwasher, and my geyser is set to 55.
Normal cycle of dishwasher is 60 and I guess the internal water heater never comes on, because in the beginning of my solar journey I did note down the deltas of power consumption as I used different appliances, and I did not see an effect usually caused by heating elements.
Washing machine and tumble dryers is just as bad as a bar heater. But then again, why complicate it by putting it on non essentials?
JUST impose a "curfew" on the laundry area when the power is off 🙂
We sometimes forget that we having blackouts.... as the only indictor in the house is the clock on the oven which is off during load shedding.
You will also have to teach your fellow house residents some new "skills".

@phil.g00
Man, has that definition become twisted now days.

The downspikes 00:00 to 06:00 is:
When I walk pass the damm heater, I put it off. Next time I walk past it, "a ghost" have switched it on again 🙂 some people just like sleeping with the heater on... I will never win.

PS: On the dishwasher.
I have a Smeg and I hardly see a difference when its running. My PC with i9 CPU uses more power.
PS: Only the hotwater line is connected to dishwasher, and my geyser is set to 55.
Normal cycle of dishwasher is 60 and I guess the internal water heater never comes on, because in the beginning of my solar journey I did note down the deltas of power consumption as I used different appliances, and I did not see an effect usually caused by heating elements.
Washing machine and tumble dryers is just as bad as a bar heater. But then again, why complicate it by putting it on non essentials?
JUST impose a "curfew" on the laundry area when the power is off 🙂
We sometimes forget that we having blackouts.... as the only indictor in the house is the clock on the oven which is off during load shedding.
You will also have to teach your fellow house residents some new "skills".

Hi Jason
Just did something quick and dirty.
25x25x1.6 square aluminium tubing (dead cheap). Connect-it connectors to join everything together. Will later wrap the whole thing in a PVC cover (with enough ventilation)  

If your frame will have feet to the floor, the 25x25x1.6 alu sq tube is good.
If its going to float off the ground, just with wall fastening, this structure is too lightweight. 
I would then (floating / no ground legs) rather go mild steel, 25 x 25 x 2, all welded and then also do not forget about the height of the wall fasteners head... like some bolt flanges somewhere.

I guess I can't ask for better.
There is 7 x 405's on the east face of the roof,
and 7 x 405's on the west face roof.
Hitting 2.8kw already early morning.
 

Great Combinations : https://mailchi.mp/3a4de8af68d4/sunsynk-55-kwsuper-hybrid-zte-96-kwh-lithium-battery-5072570
PF Store

Been using Openhab now for almost four years .  Here is a LINK of the setup I posted on another page. 
 
Personally I tested both and the reason why I went OH is that they have a Proxy server that works out of the box. You install the plugin register the on the site and add your UUI and Secured code. No need to port forward and it is for free. But apart from that I could not see much difference for what I an using. Also after three years you tend to know the interface so it is "easier" to setup 

I think back to back with the old board is a great idea - I guess the trick is to chisel through without damaging the cabling.
For ours we put the new board on the side but it did require extending many of the tails to reach.  Back to back the cable lengths wouldn't need to change.
 

Amazing Guss. Such a clean install. Well done.
Sincerely
Jason

It will be nice. 
Here are some other things we have to appreciate:
Even though on an affordability index which make solar out of reach for many, we in South Africa have very affordable solar prices. Compare the price to the US and we have 3 times lower prices. So even in the US, where they get a rebate, our prices is still lower. The rebate thing in US is also changing quickly and differ from state to state. It would have been nice if certain sustainability things where VAT exempted. (solar systems and components, greywater systems, rainharvest systems and components, etc) Other
I agree with that the licensing thing is BS. Electricity compliance should the only paperwork. The government can't claim the sun. Leave me alone 🙂 If it was the SABC, they would have force us to have a yearly license for consumption from the sun. (sun-tan-tax)   
But, I guess, all of the above is only possible in a well run government, which unfortunately is not the case in South Africa.

This is my install done by Suidsee Electrical & Solar.
The attached pictures was taken over the 5 days of the install, so this is not the final picture. Those pictures I will take after I did some rounding off work (paint, cover for battery, etc)
Take note, the installation is mostly done by the owner of Suidsee himself, which you can hand your house keys to and go on holiday.
Here we go:
 

Take note: 
This is a East and West install. I have no north facing areas. I left space for two more panels on each array in case I want to take both strings from 7 each to 9 each (maybe 8, voltage??) Then I have another east roof that can maybe take another string later. My battery frame is just a quick 25mm square tube aluminum frame, put together in 60 min, with connect-it connectors.
I allowed for a second battery on top, and also a flat orientation against the wall.
I will in my own time make a nice cover (with enough ventilation) so that it looks more rounded. The photos in not "state agent" type photos. Just quick pics with phone while the guys are working, will post better pictures later. Its a Sunsynk 8.8, 14 x JA Solar 405, and a 6.4 battery

It will be nice. 
Here are some other things we have to appreciate:
Even though on an affordability index which make solar out of reach for many, we in South Africa have very affordable solar prices. Compare the price to the US and we have 3 times lower prices. So even in the US, where they get a rebate, our prices is still lower. The rebate thing in US is also changing quickly and differ from state to state. It would have been nice if certain sustainability things where VAT exempted. (solar systems and components, greywater systems, rainharvest systems and components, etc) Other
I agree with that the licensing thing is BS. Electricity compliance should the only paperwork. The government can't claim the sun. Leave me alone 🙂 If it was the SABC, they would have force us to have a yearly license for consumption from the sun. (sun-tan-tax)   
But, I guess, all of the above is only possible in a well run government, which unfortunately is not the case in South Africa.

Take note: 
This is a East and West install. I have no north facing areas. I left space for two more panels on each array in case I want to take both strings from 7 each to 9 each (maybe 8, voltage??) Then I have another east roof that can maybe take another string later. My battery frame is just a quick 25mm square tube aluminum frame, put together in 60 min, with connect-it connectors.
I allowed for a second battery on top, and also a flat orientation against the wall.
I will in my own time make a nice cover (with enough ventilation) so that it looks more rounded. The photos in not "state agent" type photos. Just quick pics with phone while the guys are working, will post better pictures later. Its a Sunsynk 8.8, 14 x JA Solar 405, and a 6.4 battery

It will be nice. 
Here are some other things we have to appreciate:
Even though on an affordability index which make solar out of reach for many, we in South Africa have very affordable solar prices. Compare the price to the US and we have 3 times lower prices. So even in the US, where they get a rebate, our prices is still lower. The rebate thing in US is also changing quickly and differ from state to state. It would have been nice if certain sustainability things where VAT exempted. (solar systems and components, greywater systems, rainharvest systems and components, etc) Other
I agree with that the licensing thing is BS. Electricity compliance should the only paperwork. The government can't claim the sun. Leave me alone 🙂 If it was the SABC, they would have force us to have a yearly license for consumption from the sun. (sun-tan-tax)   
But, I guess, all of the above is only possible in a well run government, which unfortunately is not the case in South Africa.

Take note: 
This is a East and West install. I have no north facing areas. I left space for two more panels on each array in case I want to take both strings from 7 each to 9 each (maybe 8, voltage??) Then I have another east roof that can maybe take another string later. My battery frame is just a quick 25mm square tube aluminum frame, put together in 60 min, with connect-it connectors.
I allowed for a second battery on top, and also a flat orientation against the wall.
I will in my own time make a nice cover (with enough ventilation) so that it looks more rounded. The photos in not "state agent" type photos. Just quick pics with phone while the guys are working, will post better pictures later. Its a Sunsynk 8.8, 14 x JA Solar 405, and a 6.4 battery

Thank you so much I have changed the settings and the system is working no more errors, switching over to Solar automatically.
We are so happy to see it working automatically.
Thank you to everyone that assisted me. I have gained alot of knowledge on how this works.
We plan on expanding by adding more solar panels hopefully by next month. 

Build has started.
The album is here: 
 

Hi
Dreaming about solar... not because of Escom, but because it's cool stuff. Never got so far to make the jump. The >100K always found another place where it was spend (sometimes on very big white elephants).

Today, I made the dive and transferred the payment of my first solar system. (With luck on my side, I will be dead before the panels read their end of life)
Sunsynk 8 6.4 BSL Bull JA Solar 405 Mono's and all the other related goodiest
  A very big thank you to the guys from Power Forum Store for the good prices, good courier costs and excellent service.
I will start a post on my build so that other can see how a newbie tries to figure out all this nice goodies.

 

Hi
Dreaming about solar... not because of Escom, but because it's cool stuff. Never got so far to make the jump. The >100K always found another place where it was spend (sometimes on very big white elephants).

Today, I made the dive and transferred the payment of my first solar system. (With luck on my side, I will be dead before the panels read their end of life)
Sunsynk 8 6.4 BSL Bull JA Solar 405 Mono's and all the other related goodiest
  A very big thank you to the guys from Power Forum Store for the good prices, good courier costs and excellent service.
I will start a post on my build so that other can see how a newbie tries to figure out all this nice goodies.