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Posted

I have been dreaming and trying to go solar for some time now, but the budget always seemed to get in the way. Anyhow I have freed up some cash to enable me to get my home/shop/office and my factory less dependant from the Eskom grid.

Hoping that in the long run this will bring about some savings as well as ensure the survival of my business in increasingly hostile business conditions.

So far I have a 2nd hand RCT Axpert 5K and a pile of dead 100ah lead batteries. Should I sell the RCT Axpert 5k and rather invest in something new?

For the home/shop/office I think 5-8kw should be good.

The factory will require 3-phase power and I estimate 30 - 50kw

Would be great if I can use the same brand technology at both locations so that certain items can be interchangeable.

Looking for an Efergy energy monitor I can connect to both sites to get a clearer picture of my requirements.

Posted
12 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

I have been dreaming and trying to go solar for some time now, but the budget always seemed to get in the way. Anyhow I have freed up some cash to enable me to get my home/shop/office and my factory less dependant from the Eskom grid.

Speak to your accountant. For business premises you should be able to write the system off as an expense.

12 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

Hoping that in the long run this will bring about some savings as well as ensure the survival of my business in increasingly hostile business conditions.

So far I have a 2nd hand RCT Axpert 5K and a pile of dead 100ah lead batteries. Should I sell the RCT Axpert 5k and rather invest in something new?

For the home/shop/office I think 5-8kw should be good.

There's your answer. You either need another Axpert, or sell it and use the money towards an 8Kw Sunsynk.

The batteries aren't much use. Even if they're in good shape they won't last nearly as long as lithium batteries, so in the long run the extra outlay on lithium is justified.

12 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

The factory will require 3-phase power and I estimate 30 - 50kw

12 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

Would be great if I can use the same brand technology at both locations so that certain items can be interchangeable.

Looking for an Efergy energy monitor I can connect to both sites to get a clearer picture of my requirements.

That last step is an important one. It may also show where you can optimise your current usage. It is advice that is given over and over again on this forum. Look at the savings you can make BEFORE you lay your hard earned cash down. Most households can reduce their electricity bill with some simple measures and a bit of discipline. 

Posted
2 minutes ago, Bobster said:

Speak to your accountant. For business premises you should be able to write the system off as an expense.

There's your answer. You either need another Axpert, or sell it and use the money towards an 8Kw Sunsynk.

The batteries aren't much use. Even if they're in good shape they won't last nearly as long as lithium batteries, so in the long run the extra outlay on lithium is justified.

That last step is an important one. It may also show where you can optimise your current usage. It is advice that is given over and over again on this forum. Look at the savings you can make BEFORE you lay your hard earned cash down. Most households can reduce their electricity bill with some simple measures and a bit of discipline. 

Hi Bobster, I think what you are saying makes sense. As far as measurement is concerned I think everything is mostly optimised except some lighting in the home/shop/office. The factory has all new LED high bay lights and the geyser there has been disconnected. The factory needs, what the factory needs.

 

Hoping that Sunsync will have a 3 phase solution that can be daisy chained.

Posted
17 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

Hoping that Sunsync will have a 3 phase solution that can be daisy chained.

Not sure  I'd go for a 3 phase inverter, they do have, but your consumption may be such, that 3 X 8kW X 2 or so, may be a better solution, so 16kW per phase made up by 3 units in 3 phase config with a second unit tied to each of the 1st (dit maak seker nie baaie sin nie...)

Either way, for the factory, you may get away with a lot less battery capacity, since, I assume you will be operational mostly during daylight hours, where, hopefully, enough solar panels will provide the power... but I echo @Bobster's sentiment, I just wish Sodium Ion batteries were ready for prime time, instead of LiFePO4's...

Posted
1 hour ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

Not sure  I'd go for a 3 phase inverter, they do have, but your consumption may be such, that 3 X 8kW X 2 or so, may be a better solution, so 16kW per phase made up by 3 units in 3 phase config with a second unit tied to each of the 1st (dit maak seker nie baaie sin nie...)

Either way, for the factory, you may get away with a lot less battery capacity, since, I assume you will be operational mostly during daylight hours, where, hopefully, enough solar panels will provide the power... but I echo @Bobster's sentiment, I just wish Sodium Ion batteries were ready for prime time, instead of LiFePO4's...

Thanks Meerkat (more cat for less money), I am open to all suggestions. At the factory have a couple of 3 phase machines that only really use a lot of power on start up, but I will be better able to monitor this once I get a power monitor running and seeing what our peak usage would be.

Then to check it again under loads shedding conditions when we are limited by the output of the generator. Battery would be there to cover peaks during the day, but we have a fairly big North facing roof of 18x10m that can accommodate a fair whack of panels.

Has anybody had any bad experiences with wind? Struisbaai is known for a few things ..... wind, rust and crusty locals that drinking and sea legs .... sometimes only 1 leg.

I was thinking of adding a 3kw wind turbine and have my own design for something new as well to test on the roof. Municipality approved the previous set of building plans showing 2 wind turbines as long as I stay within the height restriction.

Anybody have an Efergy 3 phase power monitor they want to sell / borrow or rent out ?

Posted
1 hour ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:
and teach you how to braai.

🤣 welcome...
But don't underestimate the forumites ability to do a good braai too :)

I figured you lectric types would be more into solar ovens and gas, but I guess nothing beats the load shedding busting braai fire for keeping up spirits and keeping everyone in high spirits. 😆

Posted
14 minutes ago, InfinityStainless said:

Battery would be there to cover peaks

Ok, just to put down the law 🙂 no inverter can function with solar panels alone, either a battery or commercial power is required for the inverter to supply power to your load. The solar/MPPT side is not quick enough to respond to changes on the load end, starting a motor etc. would require, fairly short term, lots of current, before things calm down again, that's where either commercial power can fill in the shortfall or a correctly specced battery can sort you out, since the commercial power is not a given, a battery of reasonable size will have to do... but since you'd mostly run during the day, I'd imagine you would not need to totally go overboard i.t.o. battery capacity. Also realise if you have cloudy days, then the solar won't be able to produce all that well, here in Orange River Valley/southern Kalahari, we mostly have blue skies, but this rainy season, we had quite a few cloudy days, we still did ok, I think, but I will have to consider a small generator to help get the batteries full, for when the sun is in hiding. Luckily this amount of rain and cloud cover is something that comes around for 3 out of 11 years and probably really only 2 rainy seasons, where extra electron flow will be required.

As for the wind turbine... go for it, but I suspect that is even less reliable than the sun, there you will also need batteries to take up the slack, with wind gusts etc. and if you're unlucky, the windy times are when you don't need the power/night time...

So, time to measure your consumption including peak, although you can already get an idea of your daily need, by looking at the kWh's used per month (see your Eskom/municipal bill) and also, probably a good idea to put up a wind speed meter and log this, to get an idea, whether it has any value spending time and effort on wind turbine(s), here for sure, not enough wind mostly, although, I also need to get off my butt and put together some wind speed measuring units and log it, @30m there may be enough wind that its viable to generate 500+W more regularly than I think is likely... no measurement, no real knowledge...

Posted
2 hours ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

Not sure  I'd go for a 3 phase inverter, they do have, but your consumption may be such, that 3 X 8kW X 2 or so, may be a better solution, so 16kW per phase made up by 3 units in 3 phase config with a second unit tied to each of the 1st (dit maak seker nie baaie sin nie...)

Either way, for the factory, you may get away with a lot less battery capacity, since, I assume you will be operational mostly during daylight hours, where, hopefully, enough solar panels will provide the power... but I echo @Bobster's sentiment, I just wish Sodium Ion batteries were ready for prime time, instead of LiFePO4's...

So talking about Sodium Ion batteries ....... what happened to the South African Zebra innovation? Check 4 min in .....
 

 

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