Tim003

What load did you power that only used 88Wh during a load shedding cycle? Is this not close to what the self power load of the inverter is during 2.5hrs.
New batteries cost only R2500 each from Geewiz. 

Hi hope I don't qualify as a "bakkie-brigader" however, I think this article may have a good intention but the explanation is a bit inaccurate. 
I have seen this arguement being had a lot and once again it's a little lack of what is the actual risk. What is risky here ? The MPPTs are a DC driven device. It extracts power by the product of Voltage and Amps. What is the limitation to observe the Volts or the amps and what happens to either if you exceed them??
The MPPT will have a 500V max voltage for example. If you go and connect enough panels in series like 10 in series at 52V per panel (520V) you will exceed the raw voltage input & the MPPT can be damaged.
Let's say there is a amperage total expressed as 11A on the MPPT. What happens if I use a 550W JA Mono panel rated at 52V per panel Voc and Imp at 14A. What will happen to a string length of 8 panels??
A lot of ppl and probably the author of that article believes that we ok in the Voltage range because 52V x 8panels = 416V total. So voltage is GOOD. What about the current? They believe the MPPt will blow and get damaged because the panels at Max power current will deliver 14A and fry the MPPT. This is grossly incorrect!! The MPPT will drink 11A from the panels because that's all it needs. It won't kill itself trying to get drunk. 
If someone including this author feels anything differently let's try to compare logic if not science. You have a 5kWh or 100ah battery attached to this same inverter. It's rated battery max input current draw is 100A. If I attached another 5kWh (100ah) battery to this is parallel what will happen?? Everyone knows the inverter doesn't blow up. However if you connect them in series to get 100V you have a problem and will damage the inverter. 
Some ppl mock the humble Bakkie Brigader, however, there are some basic fundamentals that need to be understood before we point fingers. 
Now we can argue further that there will be losses with the 550W panel because it will never reach full rated power and I agree with that. The 460W panel is a better fit because it has 11A Imp rating. But let's just say the message to pass on is that poorly integrated equipment can cause damage and losses in production but the fear mongering of ppl saying the amps will damage the MPPTs is just a camp fire story. 
Sorry to be a pain but even an electrical engineer at a Multi million rand project wanted me to connect an Atess inverter at 1100V. The max MPPT voltage is 1000V and the MPPT range is 450V to 800V. I was carrying out the commissioning & I refused. So the moral of this story is that Solar is a relatively new technology and a lot of operators/ installers/ electrical engineers/ Bakkie Brigaders and plumbers know what they are doing and a lot don't know. I couldn't care less the title of the person, we don't all know the same things neither do we have the same experience levels.

I've never heard of this brand , If you are not planning to install huge number of panels I don't think it is worthy to search and try unmown brands 

Good afternoon all,
First of all @TaliaBis doing much better and is now in the general ward awaiting pathology tests that has been sent to Paris 'Laboratoire Cerba" operates on the French and international markets of specialized clinical pathology. The reason the physician had made the decision to seek specialized intervention is they can't find any traces of DVT( deep vein thrombosis) where the blood clots could have originated from and no injury or surgery that could have been the causes of the clots in the lungs.  According to @TaliaB brother they are not comfortable to discharge him until the results is known from the pathologist in France. He is taken off all oxygen and breathing freely and comfortable. He is still on blood thinning iv as a precaution measure. By the sounds of it he is now desperate to get back home to Cpt who can blame him.
Hopefully this will be my last update as i am sure he will be back on the forum soon then he can share more detailed information about the cause of the sudden blood clots.
Regards
Derek.

You are in our prayers @TaliaB  for a speedy recovery. 🙏
Strongs for all family and friends. 🪔

Morning all,
Spoke to his wife this morning, he is moved from high care to Icu and placed on a ventilator as the high flow oxygen treatment is no longer viable. They will surgically ( Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE) ) remove the 2 clots in his right lung that has not been dissolved by the IV medication. He is scheduled for 12 today in Mauritiun time 2 hours ahead of SA. The specialist is positive for a favorable outcome. I will report any further news.
Have a good Saturday.

Good afternoon forum members,
Update regarding @TaliaBprogress in hospital. I spoke to his wife this morning and was given permission to post what happened his symptoms and his progress. He suffered a pulmonary embolism and had difficultity breathing. He was placed under sedation for the past 2 days and is currently receiving high flow oxygen therapy and was placed on an Streptokinase drip to dissolve the blood clots in his lungs. He is still in high care unit and not out of the woods just yet but doctors are positive of a full recovery after blood clots are dissolved and clears. 
Derek.

He did contact me as well last night & was in high spirits albeit not in the best shape. Godspeed to him & his family in this difficult time. He has been such a massive contributor to this forum & I hope he continues to do so. If I hear from him I will also revert.

I am house renovating and last year I simply wasn't ready with a proper place to mount a system.  Then in January, with the storm of load-sh!tting events, I went into overdrive getting an education and attempted shopping spree.  I spend 2 weeks nearly solid, trying to source equipment.  I'm a electronic engineer, so I understand tech, but I was new to this market and had to pick up the ropes.  THREE times I placed orders with different suppliers and each order failed.  Normally the final purchase price was still pending due to some sort of variable delivery charge, so the order needed to be accepted (by the supplier) and a formal invoice to be sent.  I am still waiting for answers from some of these.  Luckily I never made any payments.

My initial gut told me to go for a 3KVA 24V system.  Every time an order failed, I revisited sites and pricing and reconsidered my options.  A friend said I should rather go for a 48V system.  So at one stage I wanted to place an order for a Kodak 5.48 with ONE Pylontech at Powerforum shop.  I was told the supplier is not willing to sell one battery.  I would at least need to submit a power budget.  Time was ticking.  No example of a power budget was provided.  Communications where slow, taking 2 days turn-a-round.  I moved on and scrapped my 48V idea.

I ended up ordering a clone on Takealot.  A MCE 2.5KW VM II with a 3KW 60-400V MPPT.  I paid R 6200.  A very good price considering the high voltage MPPT.  I then decided on a Hubble AM4 battery.  It is rated at 110Ah with a max discharge of 100A.  Rated at 1C.  Well, at 1C and 110Ah it should actually have a max discharge current of 110A, should it not?  But let's not split hairs.  I order the battery from Liteglo, paid 20K.  I should add that the MCE inverter's status on Takealot altered between sold-out and available multiple times over a period of about 2+ weeks(!)

I intend getting panels later.  Yes, I am concerned of a possible total meltdown of Eskom.  Then I would sit with my finger you-know-where.  Funds are not the problem, but again, my renovation is lagging and I am not really ready for roof dances.  More importantly, I simply do not have the energy to go through another similar purchasing exercise, hitting my head against closed doors.  So I want to take a breather for 3 months and wait for stocks to replenish before I venture into this market again.  I do have a 5KVA gennie to fall back on, in a worst case scenario.  However, the inverter self-consumption (inefficiency) is a problem.  Thus I am a big fan of running as much as possible from 12VDC.

Today, it is NOT about what you WANT but what you can get.  That is my experience.  I could not even get a fuse holder(!)  I looked EVERYWHERE, including Auto electricians.  Later I did manage to order one from Communica.

You need to see what is in STOCK and realise, that even if you phone to confirm, next day the stock might be zero.  I would recommend suppliers that are not dedicated solar system sellers as I think they are more likely to have stock.  I think a solar seller is everyone's obvious first stop.  Also watch out for scheisters out to scam you, as I expect more and more of them will be crawling out of the woodwork in these times.  I see on Gumtree there are some guys asking an absolute fortune for total junk.

When deciding on batteries, make sure that they can handle your required discharge rate, for whatever max power that might be required.  For a 2.5KW inverter you want at least 100A.  And then we haven't even factored in the 10% inverter losses.  Those Mecer Second Life 200A batteries that @Red Falconmentioned, I think, are 0.5C or 100A peak.  If those can be sourced for a good price, do consider them.  Just know that they will not give the full rating of your RCT, Kodak 3.24 or whatever 3KW inverter you decide on.

What equipment? Residential or C&I? Many residential installers going out of business as the massive slow down has taken effect. Lots of suppliers also struggling on reserves. For the Companies that didn't have a Rainy day account that was full are all but gone. 

I came across simulation software from the US NREL, and just want to share for anyone else looking for something like this.
This is useful to estimate how much power could be generated throughout the year, and what the effect is from different placement of the panels - for example comparing a roof facing NE vs N, or using different tilt angles.
1. A simple online calculator: https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php
This supports basic calculations of monthly generated energy, based on historical weather data for the location, position of solar panels, solar array size.

Hourly data can be exported.
2. For more advanced simulations, they provide desktop software: https://sam.nrel.gov/download
It's a bit of a pain to figure out initially (weather data has to be downloaded separately), but it has full support for simulating based on historical weather data for the location, position of solar panels, solar array size, inverter and MPTT parameters, shade based on 3D models, and a lot more that I haven't explored.
There are lots of options for simulations - I picked "Photovoltaic => Detailed PV Model -> No Financial Model".
 


(Times are in UTC in these graphs)
 
 
 
 

If you are taking your solar system with you, make sure that you document it in the sale agreement that the equipment will not be part of the sale. Remember that the removal of the solar system needs to be completed before the electrical inspection is done ahead of the transfer of the house to the new owner. 

@hannesvnJust as a side note to the above, should you remove your solar panels from the roof the estate agent could ask for a roof inspection from a professional roof installer to obtain a certificate of compliance to guarantee the integrity of the roof and that could be for your account.

We're what, 119 days now without load shedding. The appetite for solar is diminished. I remember when I got my system, my wife thought I was having a mid life crisis, the neighbours saw it as a curiosity. We hadn't had load shedding for a few weeks. I sold my trolley inverter, but I didn't get a good price for it. The next week load shedding returned and now everybody was green with envy as my lights stayed on, and the price of trolley inverters shot up.

Reports in the press are that the current period of stability is hurting the solar installers. When we were having stage 6, Solar was an easy sale because sure it cost a bit, but you could carry on living your life. Now it's not so desirable.

I'd take it with me. If nothing else it will save you some money, for a smaller outlay this time as you are not buying the main components.

Estate Agents should be recognising that there is still value. The buyer will be saving on their bills. My system is already registered with the municipality, there are no legal issues with it, nobody is going to come and get cables. Sure we have that infamous surcharge on pre-paid meters in COJ right now, but for a small family in my house, their electrical spend is going to be R400 a month. That's a nice saving when the admin fees on the default tariff are a grand before you use any electricity.

If I were you, I'd leave the panels in place, which the new owner, if he's not keen on the complete installation, can utilise when he wakes up to the fact that this is a money saver and allows you to have lights when the neighbourhood may be down... and move the batteries and inverter for a re-install with new panels at the new location... I figure the potential hassle with removal from roof (I assume they are roof mounted) and making good on possible entry points for cabling and the actual mounting hardware may not be too far off from paying for new panels, mounting hardware etc.

https://standbygenerators.co.za/product/hubble-lithium-wall-mount-am-2-51v-5-5kwh/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwh7K1BhCZARIsAKOrVqHJAJ7QbL7HYFOw2ZfaIBxlqJbPBZQ8u7B9ZWPg3roGdx3TBFampOwaAmKPEALw_wcB#gad_source=1

What a mess. Whether there is any distortion represented by this post the most important thing as an installer is to offer an assurance & get ppl on your side. Sometimes there are lots of questions & concerns but you need to make the end user feel safe & comfortable with where their money has gone. 
Also you can't have 5 different ppl working on a single DB or set of switch gear. However, there are those that carry out 1 day installs & this is the quality or lack there of that you get. 
@Gooney Birdsorry for this poor experience but this type of slap dash work is common place. 
 

The above is also not lawful! How is the remote friend electrician going to supply a test report if not on-site. COC is not valid without a test report. There is many tests that need to be done before issuing any COC. Attached test report that needs to be completed by an IE or MIE.
2020-TEST-REPORT-GENERAL-Template.pdf

@TaliaB100% correct. I once had an IE try to recommend the same to me. I absolutely refused his offer. I told him if you not there physically to carry out the testing of the test report I will get someone who is willing to visit the site. To me this is borderline fraud. 
 

SOLD

@GJ Cronje I used and sold some of the Seplos MASON 280 boxes. But currently seems too expensive due shipping overhead and prices that came down.
A friend of mine manufactured these boxes using 3mm aluminum:




The JBD 300A BMS was used on this.

Why don't you use any battery power during night time? It looks like your setup is more as a ups for loadshedding and not to save max money.
What battery do you have ? Because a working (regularly used, but not abused) battery is a happy battery.  

I live in Randburg. The specific company I'm thinking of is in Kyalami. Both locations are a long way from George. Though if people want service badly enough...
As I have told many times, I used to work on a bench for a distributor of electronics goods. One day a man arrived and asked if I could look at his electronic organ straight away. I was warming up for the usual speech about how there's a backlog etc, but then he told me he'd come from Zambia and he needed the organ for a church service this coming Sunday. And he said he'd wait whilst I did my investigations. So you help out a guy who is in that sort of position (he showed me the stamp in his passport as proof that he wasn't just taking a chance).

After I'd dislodged many insects and spiders and a scorpion, and blown all the dust and webs out, I found a blown transistor. I had to impose the minimum charge of one hour's labour, but he was happy enough, loaded the organ back onto his bakkie and set off on the return trip.

I am getting wayyy too old to solder 🤣 that dam crystal pins are soooo small.
Anyway followed the steps on the github page connected everything up to my JK BMS and Sunsynk5k inverter and BOOM it works as described.