jdido87

Thank you for all the comments guys. While I wait for the funds can I please get an indication of what I should be paying for a 5kw Deye, 5kw battery and 8 panels in Cae Town. I am seeing similar setups installed for around the R90k mark. Essentially want to know if I am being ripped off at R99k. https://www.facebook.com/share/ccubLAQckCRSXxqF/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Deye it is then. First hand experience is important and that is what I was after. Thank you.

Thank you for your detailed response. It is not the first time I hear about the Amp issue and blown fuses. It is making me think twice. I have since gotten another quote from the company that is busy with my neighbours installation. Its a 5Kw Deye, 5kw Volta and 8 550w Canadians for R99k. I am now more inclined to go with his quote give the reference and the quality of the installation they have done. I dont want issues with the inverter later on. The installer next door also told me that he prefers not to work with Luxpower SNA5000 inverters as they had a few comeback in the past regarding fans that seize.

Thank you for the reply. We have an airfryer. Generally we use the most electricity during the day. I work from home but we most use gas for cooking. At night it's just 5 LED tvs and outdoor LED lights and cctv. We tend to turn off the lights inside the house when we get into bed. I am hoping to 10kw battery bank will carry us through the night on most days. I just cannot wait to end loadshedding.

Hi Guys I am in the process of commissioning a solar backup system. Just sorting out the finances before pulling the trigger. I have gotten a few quotes now and would like advise on which one to choose. The aim is to rely on the grid as little as possible. We use about 13-14kwh per day. Quote 1: 5kw Sunsynk 5kw Volta x8 550w Canadians =R105k All come in at about this range for a similar package. Quote 2: 5kw Luxpower SNA5000 x2 5kw Volta x8 550w Canadians R113k I need to decide between these options now. I am leaning towards the Luxpower and the 2 batteries. I am not worried about noise at all as I have an outbuilding where the equipment will be installed. Another reason is that I have friends who have solar installations and they all regret not going for 2 batteries from the outset. I know the Luxpower SNA5000 is inferior to the Sunsynk but I am not intending to backfeed or anything like that. I just dont want loadshedding and to further reduce the cost of electricity. There is also no need to split essential loads. The house is operating very efficiently now or rather the energy consumption is low. The pool pump is on a smart switch, the irrigation I control manually. The only high draw items are 2 energy efficient fridges, 1 oven and an electric geyser that is turned off and only used if I run out of gas at an inopportune time but even so I have other smaller 9kg tanks that can cover a quick shower. Is there any real reason, aside from nice to haves, as to why I should not get the SNA5000. Further to this, the low price of the SNA5000 will allow me to add a second one in near future.

Thank you for the response. I am relieved to hear this as I did not want unnecessary complexities. My brother send me pictures of his DB. His is clearly 3 phase. It has 3 level main switches and earth leakage as well as the switch on the meter. Everything is labelled 3 phase as well. It is odd that my house is not 3 phase or maybe the previous owner had it rewired.

I have no idea but my brother who lives around the corner from me definitely has 3 phase. He has those wide lever main switch and earth leakage. He just confirmed to me that the City also told him that it's 3 phase. The pics below is the new junction box they installed from the road and the existing DB box.

I know the supply to the houses in the area is 3 phase. The City recent removed the overhead power lines when they installed a new distribution new underground in the road reserves. The electricians who made the new connection from the street confirmed that the houses are supplied with 3 phase. I don't think all 3 phases are being used.

I checked the label in the fridge now. Rated at 320w, I do know if this is just for the freezer or combined fridge and freezer. It is a double door Samsung with automatic ice and water dispensers.

The wiring in this house is dodgy as hell. I do not know how a CoC was issued when I purchased. I checked the DB now and The is only 1 live and neutral going to the main switch (separate from the DB) and the same to the main switch on the DB. If I put either off everything is off. My main switch is similar to this but 63A.

Your water temperature situation sounds terrible. Hell I even take lukewarm showers in winter, I do not understand how people come out of the shower looking like tomatoes. We do not have nearly as much devices running as you, not even remotely close. It is literally a few LED lights, a few TV's, 2 fridges, internet, alarm, cctv and that is that. Oh and a laptop with an external hard drive for a Plex Media server.

That is great advise which I will certainly heed. I need to Google the energy ratings of these fridges but the do not consume a lot of power in any event. We use very little electricity if we don't cook, runs the pumps or shower. The pool and well-point pumps are both 0.75kw pumps which I assume can easily be run during the day off solar. I am alone at home during the day, I work from home.

All I hear is redtape. This option is off the cards. As you suggest, I will rather make use of the power myself.

Thank you for your response. Option 1 is what I will go with. I was under the impression major rewiring is required to connect the inverter and solar to my house. As I indicated above, I do not think all 3 phases are being used here. The main switch and the earth leakage does not look like 3 phase equipment.

I had a look at the DB board and there is nothing to suggest that all 3 phases are being used. It looks identical to the DB board at my other house which is single phase. As I understand the main switch and the earth leakage will be wider (3 arms or levers) than the current main switch and earth leakage which only has 2 levers. I have normal single phase electronics. I don't think all 3 phases are being used. Regarding the panels what I am going to do is go with x6 or x8 545w panels instead of the 460w panels. Will this make a significant difference? The roof is mostly north facing and in the afternoon the north-westerly facing sections of the roof still gets sun late into the evening. I note that most people in the area install their panels on the north-western sections of the roofs. I have options in this regard. I will install a separate string on the north-western facing roof but that I will determine in the winter to see what the sun does. We hardly have any electronics that will cause more that 1kw draw at any one time. The current electric geyser, hob, oven, microwave, pool and well-point pumps and the airfryer certainly will but I will never run those things on battery power. We either take lukewarm showers, which we do in any event or we braai, even though my wife don't like braaing lol. I guess we will have to adjust our behavior which we already did for loadshedding in any event. There is too much lighting installed here, some 80w LED floodlight which is not necessary and will be removed. It looks like Cape Town stadium here at night. The backfeeding is off for now until the City makes it attractive. Is a budget of R150K realistic for an installation of this nature. I really appreciate your response.

Thank you for the response. Yes the fridge is in the back of the mind but for now the budget wont allow for added battery capacity. For now the most important is to deal with loadshedding. We only have 1 geyser on the property and that will be switched to gas as well as the electric hob.

Good morning Any advice will be appreciated.

Good morning everyone Firstly apologies for the long post. I am finally setting the wheels in motion to install solar and battery backup in the next 2 months. As you can understand the level of power outages are getting too much now. I am sitting without electricity for half of my work day today (8H00 to 12H30). We got a quote from The Power Forum Store for the gear which consists of x6 460w JA Solar Panels, 5kw Sunsynk, 5kw Hubble and the accessories needed for the installation for R99k. On average we use 750kwh per month which includes running a pool and wellpoint pump, 1 electric geyser (will be switched to gas in the future), electric stove (going gas in future) and oven. We also have 1 double door Samsung and 1 single door Hisense fridge/freezer and 2 microwaves. These are all the high draw items which are not essential and can be split at the DB. The pool pump generally runs for an hour each day and the wellpoint pump for 1 to 2 hours each day, if not every second day. The critical items are LED lights (indoor and outdoor), ONT and router, POE switch and 5 IP cameras, 4 LED TV's (x1 55", x2 40" and x2 30"), alarm and the plugs in the house. Besides the alarm and cameras these devices are not all on at the same time. In fact, the majority of the essential items are off for the most of the day. At night the lighting amounts to about 300w though this can be reduced by about 100w as I have some unnecessary lights running at night. The intension is not to go off grid but to deal with loadshedding and reduce my electricity bill at the same time. I have a few questions regarding the solar and battery backup installation. 1. My house currently has 3 phase electricity, what implication does this have on the installation? 2. Will the x6 460w JA Solar Panels generate enough electricity to power the some of the nonessential loads and charge the battery during the day. I work from home but hardly anything is on during the day, only the fridges, 2 TV's, internet, CCTV and sometimes the alarm. 3. Will I struggle to generate enough electricity in winter? I can possible push the number of panels to 8 at this stage. 4. Is the 5kw Hubble sufficient to power my essential loads during loadshedding? 5. Do the CoCT credit your municipal account if you backfeed? Looking forward to the responses. I know there is a wealth of knowledge here.

Thank you for your response @GreenFields. The idea is not go completely of the grid but to deal with loadshedding and reduce the cost of electricity. We had use any internal lighting at night, mostly just 2 out of the 4 LED downlights in the bathroom and the LED light in the kitchen. In terms of television, only 3 LED tv's are on at night. Then it is just the alarm, POE cameras and outdoor LED lights. The outdoor lights accumulate to a total of 400w but this will drastically be reduced, down to around 200w. I assume that a 5kw battery should be sufficient to cover this during loadshedding. I will in future get more battery capacity but for now I want to make sure I have decent solar yield. Can you perheprs refer to me a website, I have looked but I cannot seem to find a good one.

Good afternoon Folks. Planning on installing a similar system but with a Sunsynk 5kw inverter. Question I have is 6 460w JA Solar panels to little. I am worried about solar yield in winter. We use about 20kw per day or less. No big draw items on during the day besides the pool and wellpoint which runs for an hour or two each day. The panels will all face north or north-east. This section of my roof is in the sun whole day. Sorry for the hijack.

Good morning everyone I am busy arranging the finance to install a 5kw solar and battery back up system at our home. I just have a couple of questions in the interim. 3 Phase Grid Supply: My house currently has 3 phase power, what difference does this make when it comes to installing solar? Backfeeding: I am based in the City of Cape Town, do the City credit your rates account if you backfeed excess power to the grid. I saw a video where the Mayor says this is the case and that in future they actually pay residential consumers for excess power. Looking forward to your responses.

I have a problem. I have the Sonoff 1 channel self-locking / itching wifi switch. The switch is connected to the app and ticks when tested on the phone but the gate is not moving. I connected the com on the switch to the com on the motor and the N/O to BT. This is the ET 500 Drive with the LCD display. This motor has N/C and N/O ports as well and I connected the switch to them but nothing. Any advice?On my ET 500 Plus the above setup works fine.