Mark

My Eskom costs around R2.50 if I include all the service charges etc...

For its price point the Axpert works well. Agreed Chris!!

My suggestion as well. Nice new profile picture Chris...

I love BIG toys...

Hows this project going? Keen to see some pics of the installation.

OK - So if they should have provided crates then I would ask for new batteries and crates. I would not trust the old ones given they have bulged already. Protect the investment. If they believe the old cells are fine then they wont have an issue swopping them out .

I would contact the supplier... either they need a specific installation support framework or there is a problem. Bulging is not good. Alot of money to take a chance.

Do you have personal experience or recommendations...

I see it slightly differently... Pump up to storage (or better still capture small catchment on top of mountain). Solar for as many hours as possible - maybe with extra panels to drive pump. Wait until battery bank drops to X SOC. Open value and let pelton pump run to charge/cover load until sun rises. So 8 hours per day. This is really just a power storage solution (instead of more expensive batteries)

A loan - exploring that at the mo... money is tight though... BUT I totally agree and just need to convince "vroutjie" I think there is a huge gap for solar finance organisations or installers offering bridging finance... (hint: Mike - Free holiday accommodation on an Eastern Cape Farm before during and after an install, 25 mins from the sea) For example: January 2016 At this stage I would even consider good 2nd hand equipment to get this off the ground...

Eskom "fees" before usage on the farm are 2/3 of my Bill.. Difficult to feed back and save money...

I think a good head (40m plus) and a solar pump will do just fine to the the water. Cheaper than a wind turbine, I would guess. Pelton Wheel Design: Brazilian Video: Spanish but you will get the point 1.4kw per hour Some divide the water stream and have a top and bottom jet OR send the divided stream to 2x Pelton Wheels.

Fused each positive bridging wire (between banks) with a 5a fuse. After doing some measuring at different times and mid point voltages I see I don't get more than a 0.5 amp flow on these links. Some insurance (R50) is never a problem. My average daily MidPoint Voltage has settled at between 0.09% and 0.16% (from between 0.25% and 0.5%)

"4v 3300ah batts" - no typo

Now that's a good question Ed... I also have the lovely wheel meters... mmm M

If you have vertical height then a pelton wheel would work well mounted on a generator above the lower resevoir. Need some height to work with though... Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Do you have ball park costings... Could you use a microcare mppt 40a controller for the turbine. They do have an option for wind but dont know about dump loads... Mine is unused... Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Pics Please Did you need muni permissions...

Scary stuff... http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/high-power-hikes-seen-until-2022-1979167

Think carefully before you answer

I have taken the plunge and installed a state of the art battery temperature monitoring system on a battery on the bank. The challenge has been to do this without a BMV sensor as the MidPoint Voltage is more NB for me on the BMV702. It took a while to install but Chris Hobson will be proud ("draadkar" haunts me ) Called the BOYU BT-05 Aquarium Digital Thermometer The term digital can be taken with a "sack of salt". Could only afford the 1 but plan to buy another if this works... R29.90 wow...

How often do you actually use the load shedding gennie Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

What size bank and generator do you have. I am considering this but have 3 house to manage. 2 tenants so I need to have a little quality consideration. Salem also has less cloudless days than the karoo?Sent from my SM-P605 using Tapatalk