LandyMan

After being lucky enough to win a Sungrow kit, I had it installed today (no panels yet).

After being lucky enough to win a Sungrow kit, I had it installed today (no panels yet).

Yes I am, thanks man. Battery bank is much smaller than I initially thought, had some fine tuning to be done, but the installer was excellent in getting it resolved remotely with Sungrow support.
Curves look, well, curvy

After being lucky enough to win a Sungrow kit, I had it installed today (no panels yet).

Thanks for this @TaliaB. Most of us laypersons have no idea about this stuff, and just let in anybody who says they're an electrician and just nod at everything the electrician says.

Calculate your daily usage and try to ascertain whether most of your load is during the day or night. If it is possible to shift more load to during the day, your savings could be massive.

Most people when they say they don't have money they mean they don't have the cash.
I will echo @GreenFields that it's worth using credit to include pv panels with the installation.

Whilst the window for a tax rebate on panels is still open

Not going to go into too many details, and a lot was already shared in other threads, but thought I would create this thread, should someone want to get some inspiration or ideas when it comes to building your own "Inverter Trolley".

History
During the December 2023 holidays, my dad and I were discussing options to combat loadshedding, having a little 555W portable unit (which worked remarkable well to keep the TV and DSTV on) as well as a 1440W Ellies trolley with 2 X 105Ah LA batteries (standard pre-assembled). Obviously these two were not enough, so we started toying with the idea of building our own trolleys ... and thus the project started

Design
Building off of the trolley concept, with a couple of changes:
1. 3KW inverter needed - to keep at least the fridge going, and to be able to fire up additional appliances, like coffee machine  while running the entertainment area.
2. Definitely Lithium batteries, no contest there
3. Increased battery capacity, so we opted for 2 X 200Ah batteries
4. Battery equaliser to make sure everything stays nicely aligned

The Kit (Note: I am in no way associated with Energy Tech Store, or posting this for financial gains/compensation)
The easiest way to get what we wanted, was to go for a "DIY Kit" option from Energy Tech Store (https://energytechstore.co.za/3kw-24v-must-backup-kit-with-5-12kwh-revov-2life-12v-200ah-batteries/)
I initially looked at getting a trolley from the likes of Geewiz, but their trolleys are not big enough for the batteries, so this will be a full-on DIY job 
REVOV did not have batteries in stock, so we ended up with RAYSTECH 2560S Pro 200Ah batteries (https://energytechstore.co.za/raystech-2-56kwh-lifepo4-battery-12-8v-200ah/)

The Build
Not wanting the inverter to be mounted flat, the trolley would need a "chair style" design.
The trolleys were built using what my dad had in his workshop, including the panels and back that were cut from old Computer/storage boxes
The original design was modified slightly, as when you have the parts on the same panel, things are different to what you expected
 
For the rest I am not going to explain, as it is quite self explanatory how things progressed

 
 
 
 


 


 
 
Last pic shows comparison to the Ellies Trolley
Final installation spot:

Not going to go into too many details, and a lot was already shared in other threads, but thought I would create this thread, should someone want to get some inspiration or ideas when it comes to building your own "Inverter Trolley".

History
During the December 2023 holidays, my dad and I were discussing options to combat loadshedding, having a little 555W portable unit (which worked remarkable well to keep the TV and DSTV on) as well as a 1440W Ellies trolley with 2 X 105Ah LA batteries (standard pre-assembled). Obviously these two were not enough, so we started toying with the idea of building our own trolleys ... and thus the project started

Design
Building off of the trolley concept, with a couple of changes:
1. 3KW inverter needed - to keep at least the fridge going, and to be able to fire up additional appliances, like coffee machine  while running the entertainment area.
2. Definitely Lithium batteries, no contest there
3. Increased battery capacity, so we opted for 2 X 200Ah batteries
4. Battery equaliser to make sure everything stays nicely aligned

The Kit (Note: I am in no way associated with Energy Tech Store, or posting this for financial gains/compensation)
The easiest way to get what we wanted, was to go for a "DIY Kit" option from Energy Tech Store (https://energytechstore.co.za/3kw-24v-must-backup-kit-with-5-12kwh-revov-2life-12v-200ah-batteries/)
I initially looked at getting a trolley from the likes of Geewiz, but their trolleys are not big enough for the batteries, so this will be a full-on DIY job 
REVOV did not have batteries in stock, so we ended up with RAYSTECH 2560S Pro 200Ah batteries (https://energytechstore.co.za/raystech-2-56kwh-lifepo4-battery-12-8v-200ah/)

The Build
Not wanting the inverter to be mounted flat, the trolley would need a "chair style" design.
The trolleys were built using what my dad had in his workshop, including the panels and back that were cut from old Computer/storage boxes
The original design was modified slightly, as when you have the parts on the same panel, things are different to what you expected
 
For the rest I am not going to explain, as it is quite self explanatory how things progressed

 
 
 
 


 


 
 
Last pic shows comparison to the Ellies Trolley
Final installation spot:

Hi all
So I come from an IT/Tech background, but never dabbled in Electronics/Electrical goodies.
During the December holiday period, we (my dad and I) came to the realisation that these Ellies/Mecer trolleys are useless with Lead Acid batteries after a couple of months. For our two households, it would not necessarily make sense (based on our own situations and evaluations - might not be the same for all) to install big systems (R60k+), and we ended up doing some research (hence the "some reading") to get to a comfortable cost vs. benefit solution. And this is what we came up with:
3KW 24V inverter
2 X 200ah LifePO4 batteries
Of course all the trimmings like fuses, holders, balancers, etc
Custom built trolleys with heavy duty wheels for both (My dad is a demon in a workshop, and has all the tools to DIY this :))
Next step will be to look at non-fixed solar panels for each of the boxes.
Its been an interesting journey thus far, and the knowledge picked up by wanting to do this is insane. It is like everyone always say: I learned more about Ohm's Law when I started vaping, than in my whole school career
 
I will share some pics when we get closer to the end result
Ciao

Hi all
So I come from an IT/Tech background, but never dabbled in Electronics/Electrical goodies.
During the December holiday period, we (my dad and I) came to the realisation that these Ellies/Mecer trolleys are useless with Lead Acid batteries after a couple of months. For our two households, it would not necessarily make sense (based on our own situations and evaluations - might not be the same for all) to install big systems (R60k+), and we ended up doing some research (hence the "some reading") to get to a comfortable cost vs. benefit solution. And this is what we came up with:
3KW 24V inverter
2 X 200ah LifePO4 batteries
Of course all the trimmings like fuses, holders, balancers, etc
Custom built trolleys with heavy duty wheels for both (My dad is a demon in a workshop, and has all the tools to DIY this :))
Next step will be to look at non-fixed solar panels for each of the boxes.
Its been an interesting journey thus far, and the knowledge picked up by wanting to do this is insane. It is like everyone always say: I learned more about Ohm's Law when I started vaping, than in my whole school career
 
I will share some pics when we get closer to the end result
Ciao

Good day,
I want to replace my SUL 181H timer with a SONOFF basic, but I am unsure about the exact wiring, and don't want to mess it up, obviously
I see I can't upload pictures here, but my setup looks like @Jack Kitley's 
Thank you