Louw

FEEDBACK - Just had the AMI Meter Installed today. So 10-11 Weeks from application. But then, applied for 2 AMI on 2 sites on the same day. The other one still waiting for a quote!!!!

Installation will have the same cost and R4 per month fee

R9,137 Ex VAT - Exactly like indicated in CoCT tariff sheet. You apply and then they send you a quote (No Cost if you are Resi, Small Commercial). Then you can decide if you want to go ahead

Hi All How long does CoCT take to install an AMI meter at the moment? Submitted application around 6 weeks ago, received Quote letter today and made payment. So waiting for the install and just want to get a feeling for how long the wait is going to be. Regards,

Attached a photo Thanks Plonkster

For Sale: Victron MPPT Charge Controller 150/70 R6,000 4 years old, it was linked to 1.4kw of panels for 2.5 years, so didn't work very hard!

Selling a GEWilson GE12000 generator. 100hours on the clock New Battery Was installed in a dental practise, have upgraded to Solar R30,000 (Retails new R41k on Special)

I also received a nasty letter from CoCT a month ago for my wife's dental practise (Trading from Residentially zone property). 2 Weeks ago I linked the toilet (8lt) of the dental practise (3 staff) and the toilet (13lt) from accounting firm (5 staff) next door up to a wellpoint. I put a water meter in because I like stats. Got a fright of my life after the first week. On average 250lt being used per day just to flush the 2 toilets! Saving 5kl per month!

I have looked into possibility of running a heat pump from PV for extra heat on the days that the sun shines (Give PV power) but not hot enough to heat the geyser through EV tubes to 55C. Taking into account that a Heatpump cost R10k and upwards it almost seems more viable to spend the R10k on another 1KW of Panels, change the element to a 1.5kw one and run it directly from PV. You can then use the PV power in summer (when EV is enough) to run other things like swimming pool pump/borehole pump.

Thanks Guy @plonkster interesting that you can't do it with their biggest MPPT's ghatikar - I had a similar idea - Control one of the PV strings with a Relay that switches on when the pump starts. Put then I will only use the Panels when the pump is running whereas currently I have overspec my Panels to allow for the overcast day's and was planning to only run the pool pump on sunny days where I have excess PV power. Currently my best value for money idea is just to double my battery capacity when I have to replace my batteries. Current price are R9,400 for 4 additional T105 vs R7,800 for a CCGX (without cables). 450Ah will allow me to charge at almost 70A which is more than enough to run a 750W Pool pump or 1.1kw Borehole pump (Not at the same time) without drawing from the batteries. And then I get the additional benefit of doubling my storage capacity

HI All I currently have a Victron 150/70 charging 4 x T105 (225Ah; 24V). I limited the charge current to 33A to ensure I don't overcharge my batteries. Taking into account that the inverter use 2A and base load is around 4A I am around 27A maximum charge of my batteries. I am looking into adding my pool pump/borehole pump to solar as well. The problem is that at 750W the pool pump draws 30A Plus, thus drawing power from the batteries. So I am looking for a solutions to increase my charging from my MPPT during these times. Will a Victron CCGX linking the MPPT to my BMV-700 be able to do this (Taking into account that I have VERY LIMITED to NO programming abilities). Or does anyone else have ideas? Regards,

Another Benefit: 2 Geyser = 2 Elements You can change the "cold" geysers element to a 1.5KW element, and link it onto your inverter, and control it with a Relay from your BMV/Charger. When your BMV gets to 100% or your charger goes to Float it switches on.. Result - You dump your excess electricity generation in your geyser. Still having the second "warm" geyser on Eskom.

My brother installed 2 x 200l Geyser in Series. Both have their own 20 EV Tubes connected to it running from 2 Geyserwise. Works perfect. The water entering the second geyser is already warmer so it does heat quicker by EV or element. You also don't need 400lt at 55C, Only 200lt at 55C. Reducing heat loss. Benefit of 2 geyser is that you can set different temps and can change them through the year. ie. In summer you drop the first geyser's element setting to 30C (i.e Does not come on), in winter to 45C. You can also change it if you are having people stay over and you need 400lt at 55C. Back to 200lt at 55C when they leave.

It jumped around the past 18 months (Moved in, Installed Solar Geyser, Installed Solar Panels (From old place), Installed borehole with 2 pumps!) But I am expecting it to normalise around 10-15 units in Summer with 15-20 units in winter per day. Almost viable going fully off-grid - Not sure what the wife will say about it!

So CoCT published their Budget in the paper this morning: The devil is in the detail: "Residensiele kliente met geinstalleerde kredietmeters sal na die tuisgebruiker tarief oorgeplaas word, tensy hulle onder een van die kategroiee vir verlaagde tariewe val" If you have a Prepaid meter you will be moved to the "Tuisgebruiker" tariff if your property value is more than R1m. Main Difference: Daily charge of R8.21 for having access to electricity under "Tuisgebruiker" (vs Rnil previously) for daily charge with the charge per KW reducing for usage below 600kw/month. Being a Residential SSEG the daily charge is R13.03. I think for a lot of people the Daily charge under SSEG was the reason for not going SSEG. But if they bring it in for all users it might change the sum.

On how it is currently worded the property valuation only refer to the second one But there is a chance that the stuffed up the wording and that it will only apply to properties below R400k

According to the Proposed budget for City of Cape Town for 2017/2018 Electricity: increase pf an average of 3,34% – down from 7,78% last year 60 kWh of electricity free of charge per month per household for those using less than 250 kWh per month 25 kWh of electricity free of charge per month per household for those using more than 250 kWh but less than 450 kWh per month on average with a property value of R400 000 or less So there is an additional incentive to cut usage below 250KW/month. Going to be difficult to reach, but maybe a good incentive to make the Financial Sums work.

@superdiy You may want to look into installing a pressure tank. It reduces the amount of time your pump needs to kick in Picked up a 24lt tank from Brights for R660 - Result is that my 1.1Kw pump only kicks in every 2nd time the toilet is flushed. The 1st time it runs from the pressure tank. It has an added benefit for me. I have around 70m of pipe that are pressurised running to 3 points on my property where my 8 irrigation taps and 3 extra manual taps are. With a small amount of leakage on the pipe/connectors/taps the pump would kick in every 15minutes to pressurise the pipe. With the pressure tank it has stopped doing it.

Connected 1 toilet in my house to the pressure pump of the borehole about 6 weeks ago. I was lucky: My outside tap was connected together with the toilet after the toilet stop tap (i.e when you close the toilet tap, the outside tap does not work). So closed the toilet tap, removed the outside tap and connected the water to it. No further plumbing required. Previously we used around 350l/day between 2 people. This has dropped to around 250l/day between 2 people. It is scary on the amount of water is being used by flushing a toilet 10 times a day.

Voltage? 24 or 48?

This looks line a similar product than the one where you bought shipping containers a few years back. In the end the only one making money is the person managing the investment. The documents available on their website are more marketing documents that actual information. My questions: So I buy the panel today, do I pay for it today? If so will i get interest on my money until the project is actually installed (When 70% of the panels are sold)? What management fee with FedGroup earn for doing the "work"? How will my income be calculated? The claim 9% return in the first month? How was this calculated. And when is month 1 (Next month or in 6-12 months time when the installation is completed) Who guarantees the R1,000 buy back (Agree with PaulF007 - Actually nothing in today's terms) In the end a nice idea but I would rather spend the money on 2 more panels on my roof.

One of the issue with filling up the pool with borehole water is the heavy metals in the water. You add more and more water as water evaporate but the metals stay behind which could cause discoloring of the sides in the longer term

The plan is to use it only for irrigation and maybe the pool. Only 2 adults living at the house so not viable to spend money on filters to use it inside the house. That might change in future Putting in a 1.5Kw pump in the borehole. It should produce 3,000lt/hour from the hole into a 4,500lt JOJO tank. After the JOJO tank I am installing a DAB45/50M. It is a 1.1KW pump producing 6,000lt/hour at 3 bar which is more than enough pressure/flow. I theory a 750W pump should also pump enough water (3,600lt at 3 bar) but I have only heard people complain about the performance of a 750w pressure pump.

Drilled a borehole in last week. Borehole pump being installed tomorrow. Pressure pump and irrigation going in over the weekend. Then we should be down to 10Kl per month with a jump in electricity usage of around R150 - That is if I water my garden with 3,000lt per day!