HUGE thanks in advance to anyone willing to look at this and comment.

This is my DB in the attached picture. To me it looks like a complete mess and I am not sure how this passed inspection before I bought the place last year. Maybe it's compliant, I don't know. 

I bought myself a 3k Lalela Inverter and 2x Mecer 12.8V 200Ah LIFEPO4 Batteries. I wanted to get someone to help me install it but every electrician I speak to has a lead time of weeks, if not months.

I want to exclude the geyser and stove completely and, if possible, one of the plug circuits (all my high draw things like the washing machine, microwave...etc... are on the same plug circuit). Other than that I want everything connected. I have done an audit and with everything on my maximum draw is around 1440W and there is no reason for everything to be on at once. How easy would it be to reconfigure the DB to exclude those and only connect everything else? What other safety precautions do I need to make in terms of breakers and fuses to ensure nothing blows up or causes a fire. Don't laugh at this question - How does a three phase board like this connect to the inverter with only 1 live and 1 neutral inputs? Did I get the wrong inverter? Should I have bought a 3 phase inverter? Do such things even exist?

I would love some general tips and advice and some discussion around this. 

Related questions:
The inverter says that it switches over between the inverter and Eskom automatically. Do I still need to (or can I even) install a changeover switch? If so, would a 40A one work (I have a NSIS-63 that the electrical shop man sold me telling me I need it)

The same electrical shop man sold me a 100A fuse to go between my battery and the inverter. Do I not perhaps need two fuses? One for the neutral and one for the live?

You guys rock! Any tips or advice would be welcome. 
 

Turns out my oven is single-phase, so two of those breakers are unnecessary (The stove top is gas). So, as far as I understand it, I can put the oven and geyser on their own phase and then put the stove lighter and the one plug circuit that I don't want on the inverter (with its own earth leakage) on the second phase and put all the other plugs and the lights on the last phase with the inverter. Right? I'd then just disconnect, insulate, and label the unused heat pump and the unused stove wires. 

How I imagine rewiring this should work:

 

2 hours ago, Toast said:

How I imagine rewiring this should work:

 

Why no earth on the inverter and a fuse on the battery positive? 

11 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

Why no earth on the inverter and a fuse on the battery positive? 

Thanks Scorp. I haven't drawn any of the earth wires in but it will be there. So do I need a fuse on both the live and neutral between the battery and inverter?

Yes 3 phase inverters are quite common especially for industrial applications. There are very few reasons to have 3 phase in a home these days.

First of all I am not an electrician 

Your DB does not look to bad, but I cannot really see wire sizes and the writing on the breakers to know if the breaker will trip before the wire melts, seems within spec for the most part. It does not need to be neat for a COC just correct

Working on the DB yourself is very dangerous and a slip of a screwdriver can cost you your life. The main feed stays hot unless you switch it off in the street. You should have a multi-meter and always double check. use electrician screw drivers that covers everything with an isolator except the tip

Look up what a hot connection is, we do not want to melt your DB or start a wire.

Know how to size wire and breakers.

Looking at your DB you have 3 busbars to the left for the 3 phases. There seems to be no RCD (earth leakage) for the ones to the left.

To The right you have a RCD and several smaller loads on a common busbar that appears to be powered from one of the phases. You could opt to only power the right side of the DB from the inverter but you will have to carefully watch your loads as 3KVA  is easily tripped when someone switches on a hair dryer. You could install a change over switch that power the right hand side from either eskom or inverter and manually change it over.

The "mix circuit" to the left appears to be part of the right side but there was probably no space left, so it was fitted to the left. 

The neutrals will also need to be split (if they are not already) and cannot be common with the right so the backed-up circuit can be independent and not cause any RCD trips. Earth should be common and shared everywhere

 

 

9 hours ago, iiznh said:

Yes 3 phase inverters are quite common especially for industrial applications. There are very few reasons to have 3 phase in a home these days.

First of all I am not an electrician 

Your DB does not look to bad, but I cannot really see wire sizes and the writing on the breakers to know if the breaker will trip before the wire melts, seems within spec for the most part. It does not need to be neat for a COC just correct

Working on the DB yourself is very dangerous and a slip of a screwdriver can cost you your life. The main feed stays hot unless you switch it off in the street. You should have a multi-meter and always double check. use electrician screw drivers that covers everything with an isolator except the tip

Look up what a hot connection is, we do not want to melt your DB or start a wire.

Know how to size wire and breakers.

Looking at your DB you have 3 busbars to the left for the 3 phases. There seems to be no RCD (earth leakage) for the ones to the left.

To The right you have a RCD and several smaller loads on a common busbar that appears to be powered from one of the phases. You could opt to only power the right side of the DB from the inverter but you will have to carefully watch your loads as 3KVA  is easily tripped when someone switches on a hair dryer. You could install a change over switch that power the right hand side from either eskom or inverter and manually change it over.

The "mix circuit" to the left appears to be part of the right side but there was probably no space left, so it was fitted to the left. 

The neutrals will also need to be split (if they are not already) and cannot be common with the right so the backed-up circuit can be independent and not cause any RCD trips. Earth should be common and shared everywhere

 

 

Thanks iiznh That helps a lot. I am getting an electrician to some and do it for me. He is registered and comes with great referrals, he just can't do the COC so I'll need someone else to come and do that.  

Hi guys 

Finally got onto the forum ...after thinking the moon actually revolves around the sun ( technically it does ) s the security question is somewhat , ambiguous 

I digress, I have a Synerji 5 Kva , 48 volt system that i purchased ( 2nd hand but works ) 

I am busy setting it up and whilst the wiring out of the Inverter ( and battery connection ) , is simple, it tends to get a bit tricky thereafter . 

I have set up an Isolator switch for the output and input in case one needs to work on a particular wiring .

I have set up a consumer DB board and rigged another earth spike in the ready just for this board .

I do not want to wire up the entire home, just two plug circuits and a light circuit.

Once I have completed the setup, i too , will get an electrician to check my work, connect to the Main DB board so that I can get it signed off .

In the interim, I would appreciate it if someone could better inform me, of the suggested wiring map and if i require any other items that should be pertinent .

Thank you in advance 

Richard 

Hi, 

Toast

Where r u located.

 

Toast, you are overcomplicating it.  Merely supply your Inverter with the 40Amp bi-pole.  You could easily stick it in next to the Earth Leakage.  Bring the supply from the inverter to the Earth Leakage and make sure all the breakers fed by the E/L is on the same Neutral! You have two nice big Neutral bars where you can match your loads.  You can even stick a new Neutral bar in above the plug breakers, ample space. 

Richard. I don't think you need an Earth Spike, yet.  Leave that for when you install panels.  

21 hours ago, Quasiengineer said:

Toast, you are overcomplicating it.  Merely supply your Inverter with the 40Amp bi-pole.  You could easily stick it in next to the Earth Leakage.  Bring the supply from the inverter to the Earth Leakage and make sure all the breakers fed by the E/L is on the same Neutral! You have two nice big Neutral bars where you can match your loads.  You can even stick a new Neutral bar in above the plug breakers, ample space. 

Thanks. I'll send photos later today of what I (the electrician actually) has done. We decided on a separate DB for the inverter protections and then essentially what you have described with putting everything from the inverter E/L onto the same neutral rail. 

23 hours ago, BruceL said:

Hi, 

Toast

Where r u located.

 

Cape Town

Update: Everything is installed and running well. The only problem is that the batteries seem to be almost constantly charging even though, from what I can tell, they are full. So that fan turns on every couple of minutes. I'll let it run for a few days and see what happens. Especially after load shedding tonight when it should in theory discharge slightly and recharge by the time I wake up. Updated DB photos...



So we removed and terminated the disused circuits for the stove and heat pump, moved the essential lights and plugs to the same circuit, and put the non-essential plugs on another circuit with their own earth leakage. A new DB was installed with the inverter as added protection and to isolate it. 

Batteries might not necessarily be charging all the time. 

This kind of inverter's fans tend to run most of the time. Actually it will run more when you have AC power compared to when running on battery during loadshedding. Thats what I noticed in my similar type inverter. 

There is a thread somewhere here regarding these Axpert type Inverters explaining or rather discussing the constant fan use.