Scubadude

Hi Davy. I have one for you (if still needed). PM sent.

... this table from Wikipedia shows a trend that feels intuitively more accurate than Eskom's so-called stats where the zero base, data gaps and flatlines are all red flags.

I saw this on a couple of business sites .... Don't.know why I find myself seriously doubting the stats. It just looks wrong. Maybe UN Comtrade data will give a more realistic view.

As the man said. No grid no power, not even solar. Just get the battery, you'll be glad you did.

I have a contrarian viewpoint ... It would be a terrible waste to have 8kW available from the roof on a sweltering Paarl summer's day (I know - I grew up there!) but the batteries are fully charged so output is choked to zero. What would it be worth to be able to run your a/c for free then? I say put everything on essential but be aware of what you use when, and automate some things (geysers) with timers. My brother-in-law in Courtrai did an install in January and from what I heard they are happy (they also put everything on essential on my suggestion). I can ask who they used.

Family of 6 .. we are about 75% down since we went solar. About half the savings came from a 300L EVT geyser, the rest from a 6.37kWp/10kWh/8kVA system. This could be better if: We had less loadshedding - at higher stages I go conservative and run down my batteries to 60% overnight (20% when there is no loadshedding) I had a higher panel pitch - 12 degrees not enough, especially in winter My family adjusted their lifestyle and habits (as they said they would but didn't)

I'm a mechanical engineer but what follows is strictly empirical experience. I run my pool like a settling tank and let the Kreepy earn it's keep. The pump gets a 1 hour midday slot between the two geysers ... Before solar it was 30 minutes per day. When it gets cloudy I add a flocculant and run the pump a little longer.

I had this on my Deye ... whenever the power came back it tripped. It was supposedly a bad (read badly installed) changeover switch which made voltage spike to 500V. In the end, the switchover *and* inverter were replaced. This and multiple other stuff ups put the man out of business.

I have a single story house but a large family - when my wife and kids get home late afternoon it is not uncommon for 2 showers and 2 baths / 3 showers and 1 bath to run at the same time. Maybe I can get away with a 0.75kW but I think 0.37kW may be a little light

Thanks Jacques. I was thinking the same. What about guys that had booster pumps long before they went solar?

Hi all, Spent my lunchtime at three pump shops across the street, looking for a backup water system. I am happy with a 2000-2500 L tank and 1.1kW booster pump. Question is, two of the three suggested VSD pumps instead of a standard DOL pump because I have solar. I understand about inrush current, but surely 8kW of inverter and 200A of battery supply will easily cope with this? Price difference is R2500 for standard vs R12000 for VSD pump. Is this additional cost 1) warranted and 2) neccesary?

I'm no home automation fundi but I got fed-up of my failing pool timer running down my batteries when not expected, so I replaced it with a CBI Astute ASC. Installation was quick and easy even for my non-electrical brain and setup surprisingly straight forward. In addition to the ability to set up timed operating slots, I also like the manual override for when I do the weekly filter service, and the count down timer for the same reason. That and the ability to remotely turning off when we have 8/8ths cloud cover and loadshedding between the 1 and 2 pm running time. BW price is R 459 until Monday 20 March. Well worth it I think.

Turned out it was only the element gasket. Sorted R500 later, so no decision required now. Would still like to hear any ideas anyone may have.

Hi all! I lost the geyser that feeds the kitchen and two kids bathrooms two years ago and installed a 300L EVT geyser to replace it. In an effort to make the solar heated water go further, it pre-feeds the 200L conventional geyser that serves the rest of my rather large family. This one is the higher usage of the two, and the one that just decided to burst at midnight on a Saturday night ... Why can it never be lunchtime on a Tuesday? Any case I need to decide what to do. My first thinking is to ask for a cash settlement and get a new 200L EVT for the kitchen and kids, and move the existing 300L closer to where the high consumption is. Any thoughts on alternatives or what to watch out for when relocating solar geysers?

Section 12B has been in force for years. Full depreciation in year 1. Not a subsidy but there is some cash flow advantage from the expedited depreciation. Edit: I see the deduction for businesses is now 125% for renewable projects from 1 Mar 2023 to 28 Feb 2025. And not just panels OK that is something.

OK I misread ... It is a rebate not a deduction. That's a bit better. Of course you still pay 15% VAT on those 4 panels, installation, battery, inverter. And you need to get a COC which otherwise may not be required. I'm still not excited about this.

Not much of an incentive. Saving income tax portion of 25% on panel purchase price only. The government is even more broke(-n) than I thought.

Some Vietnamese name I never head of.

Looks like my inverter has only two settings - 10A/20A charge and narrow/wide (something to do with input voltage). Or am I missing something? The supplier now carries this handy notice on their webiste ... seems I'm not the only one.

No idea ... I will check. But I think part of the problem is the charge rate is set to 10A. Just not enough recharge between loadshedding cycles. Will up to max (20A) when I get in.

Hi all. We have a couple of those 200Ah trolleys. One suddenly stopped delivering any output during loadshedding. Floats at 13.6V but won't carry a 200W load when the power drops. Less than a year old. I know we had extreme loadshedding but is this normal?

Your system is relatively large for your average consumption - you should effectively be off-grid in the dry summer months. We are a family of 6. Our municipal consumption dropped 25% when I installed solar geyser (pre-feeding the second geyser plus Geyserwise controllers). Municipal consumption dropped by the same amount when we installed 14 x 455 kWp + 8kW + 10.2kWh. Total consumption went up, partly due to kids growing up, and partly because it is now "free".

Hola sorts! I missed the Valencia bit earlier - of course export is much more feasible in Europe than it is in SA. The inverter cannot see your non-essential loads. So a CT coil is required to measure grid power consumption and selling to grid. Your inverter is not faulty - if it has nothing to do it records zero values.

Two questions: are you 100% sure exporting to the grid is what you want to do (if not don't worry apparently you havnt done so yet), and is your CT coil correctly installed on the main incomer?

For what it's worth I don't think any manufacturer is going to look your way if you have a problem after 9 years and 11 months. I have 2x5.1 kWh Shoto's. I count cycles for my own use by downloading Solarman data and dividing total discharge energy by 8 (10kWh at 80% DOD). All I really want to see is am I using more or less than 1 cycle per day, as the assumption to convert cycles to life is usually one cycle per day. Mine is averaging 0.76 cycles per day.