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Hi Everyone

Been running a 4.2kva generator for a few months, pretty much runs my whole house we turn the geyser/stove/pool pump off while running the generator and the generator runs great and handles the load. I want to slowly move to solar but do it in a modular way. I have a couple of questions. I want to start by buying the inverter now then next month 2 x 12v 100ah batteries, then after that buy the panels.

I am looking at the following inverter does anyone have any bad experience with these brand? I can connect my generator to this as well right?

Axpert 5Kva – VP – 5000w Inverter

How much +/- would it cost to have the inverter connected into the mains obviously once I have the batteries? Just trying to work out my costs so I can budget accordingly.

 

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Is that 24V inverter? 50V is better - more battery choices, and an easier upgrade path.

The battery choice you have made will give you 2.4kW max if they are C1 batteries.

The C number is a ratio of the battery capacity to discharge rate. If you have a 100ah battery, and it is C1, you can draw 100a. If they are C0.5 you can only draw 50a per battery, and so in your case you would be limited to 1200W.

In either case you have 2.4kWh, but the instaneous peak your system can manage will be higher with C1 cells.

If they're not C1, then a regular electric kettle will trip them.

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Cost is same as the question how long is a piece of string, it can be from R1 000 to R10 000 etc, depending who quotes you.

I have seen in the region of R3k which includes a CoC, maybe members that recently got this done can comment better.

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Thanks Everyone

Obviously the idea here is to add onto the system, we never use the kettle and things like that in load shedding so would do the same with the inverter until the system can manage that.

Any pros/cons on the luxpower or axpert inverters?  

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2 hours ago, airtite said:

Thanks Everyone

Obviously the idea here is to add onto the system, we never use the kettle and things like that in load shedding so would do the same with the inverter until the system can manage that.

Any pros/cons on the luxpower or axpert inverters?  

I prefer the Luxpower but have a great Axpert clone working for us. 

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7 hours ago, airtite said:

I want to start by buying the inverter now then next month 2 x 12v 100ah batteries, then after that buy the panels.

I am looking at the following inverter does anyone have any bad experience with these brand? I can connect my generator to this as well right?

Axpert 5Kva – VP – 5000w Inverter

A 5KVA Axpert inverter by definition is a 48V system.  So 2x 12V batteries are no good.  For 48V systems you should rather use one or more 48V batteries than fiddle and trying to connect 4x 12V batteries in series.  Separate batteries would require you to purchase a battery balancer which would cost another R 1000 or even more.

I have no personal experience with connecting generators, but from what I hear on this forum, it is unlikely that your new inverter would accept such power.   It has to do with the generator hunting and not keeping a constant speed when loads change abruptly.  Altering speeds result in changing mains frequency and thus unstable 50Hz.

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7 hours ago, airtite said:

Thanks Everyone

Obviously the idea here is to add onto the system, we never use the kettle and things like that in load shedding so would do the same with the inverter until the system can manage that.

Any pros/cons on the luxpower or axpert inverters?  

Do proper research as the Axpert we know has made it a hobby to reject the quality of supply from a number of generators. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, airtite said:

any advice on a gel 48v battery? I know I should be going to lithium but I really dont have the funds to go that route right now

Silver calsuim could also be considered when going for 4x100Ahx12V. 

PM for more details if in Gauteng. 

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1 hour ago, airtite said:

any advice on a gel 48v battery? I know I should be going to lithium but I really dont have the funds to go that route right now

I had a quick google. There don't seem to be many choices, there doesn't seem to be much stock. On the face of it they are half the price of a lithium with similar capactity BUT remember that you can discharge a lithium battery a lot deeper than you can a gel.

So I looked at what seems to be a 48V 9.6kWh gel battery. It's actually4x12v (maybe in one package, it doesn't say).  If you regularly take them past 50% you will reduce the life span. For a grand more you get a 5kWh Hubble that you can regulary discharge to 90%  and still have a longer expected life (number of cycles) than the Gels being run to 50%. The Hubble will also have a BMS that gives comms between battery and inverter, and which will take care of balancing of cells. And it's ONE unit that you can mount on a wall if you wish. 

The lithium has half the plate capacity, but, with current stages of shedding, really the same effective capacity as you can discharge it so much more deeply. Can the gel offer a 100A discharge? That's not clear to me.

So you probably won't save much in the short term, and long term you will spend more.

Edited by Bobster.
clarity (I hope)
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11 minutes ago, airtite said:

which hubble were you talking about teh 5kva hubble I saw was R32,880.00 ??

My point was really SLA v Lithium. I must say that the numbers surprised me. I am not recommending a specific brand/model. I used Hubble because it's a popular option and that's what Google presented me with first.

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I understand, but my idea was to start with lower cost batteries now as its really only for the 2 hour load shedding slots at the moment and then save towards proper lithium batteries for my long term goal which is to be self powered but still linked to the grid.

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