If you are looking into going off grid this is the video that I would say sums it up very nicely.
(PS. for the conservative okes out there do'nt be fooled this tannie is talking a lot of sence  ) 

 

33 minutes ago, PaulF007 said:

If you are looking into going off grid this is the video that I would say sums it up very nicely

We have run off grid for almost 9 months and although we had to make some adjustments and had to manage things, we never needed to go this extreme. What I can't see on their system is a battery monitor, so i guess they are over conservative because they don't really know what the state of the bank is. They know they have to look after the battery's , but i would have liked to see some kind of monitor. I don't think I would have been able to run off grid without the 702 guiding me. 

I have to laugh. Because we are off grid we use more power than we use to. Running a gennie is expensive so now an electric blanket is one of the perks of having power 24/7. The Pylontechs were called on to power the Microwave TWICE. We know we're spoilt.

The "pienk bokkie" and her man don't totally agree

 

I get her message but I'm sorry, she need to visit SA guys for some lessons on how to do it.

Pool pumps, geysers, microwaves, fridges and freezers ... bring it on!

Good one @Chris Hobson for spotting that video.

 

41 minutes ago, Chris Hobson said:

The "pienk bokkie" and her man don't totally agree

Also wanted to post this...

8 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

The "pienk bokkie" and her man don't totally agree

Nee man kom nou ouens . .  Some times I wonder -  - 

The Pink girl illustrated what can be done to fit in with a system as they just started and they were over cautious  , in fact hubby mentions it in the second video as well and at the end of the video (5.19) he sums it up very well.

When we started with our solar system , that was also off grid in the beginning , we did a lot of the same stuff. He he , the whole family would move from room to room during night time in order not to have too many lights on.I would sit with the laptop on my lap () with Team Viewer connected to the Laptop in the battery room still running AICC. The wife would turn something on and I would make a note of what it was using then calculate as to how long we would be able to run it before the batts would get to 80 soc. TV was out , I never realized how much power a flat screen LCD draws until I was on Solar. The kids quickly associated the sun with TV time ,  as we had plenty available during day time , so the question was something in the line of , "pappa die son skyn kan ons tv kyk" , that could only happen during weekends as both the wife and I was at work during the week so ja the kids watched TV on Sundays() .

 I still maintain that , if one is looking into Solar , the videos is very practical and there is a lot one could take from it in terms of what impact solar can have on a household.

Unless you have a wallet as big as Bill Gates then it does not matter . 

37 minutes ago, PaulF007 said:

The wife would turn something on and I would make a note of what it was using then calculate as to how long we would be able to run it before the batts would get to 80 soc. TV was out , I never realized how much power a flat screen LCD draws until I was on Solar.

I'm not on solar yet and I'm already doing this, its almost consuming my day just checking on how much appliances take and for how long its left on, hell if someone wants coffee, they have to check with everyone else, because the kettle will only be switched on once and then the kettle must have the exact amount of water in it.

This sounds all so familiar, like people have been spying on our household . The Mrs knows the hair dryer doesn't run if the coffee machine is on or the dishwasher and nothing else , so that runs at about 11 am when we're at work. And once you've made coffee it is switched off. Lights don't worry us too much. But when we have a two cloudy days I get stressed we might have to switch over to Eskom . Yip we live and learn and try and convince the family to adapt accordingly. 

The more I learn the more I realise I have still to learn.

20 minutes ago, seant said:

The more I learn the more I realise I have still to learn.

the weirdest is that the need for knowledge ever increases and never tapers off... ever

imagine the sight of those tattoos when she's all grey and the skin is flabby... at least the panels will still be flat and doing their thing...

but let's not get personal, trump style , they have the right idea, 1st is to cut down on consumption and inculcate energy awareness THEN go for a solar/wind... solution

32 minutes ago, Antony said:

because the kettle will only be switched on once and then the kettle must have the exact amount of water in it.

In the beginning we only had a 3 kw kettle and as a result we could not use it on the solar system (Only have a 3kw array) So we used gas to boil the kettle. I bought a Stanley Flask and every morning I would boil water and what was left over be placed in the flask. When the mrs got up she would the just "top up" the water again. I actually measured the temperature decline at one stage to see how long it would stay warm in the flask. BTW boiling point here by us is  98 deg. 

1 hour ago, Antony said:

I'm not on solar yet and I'm already doing this, its almost consuming my day just checking on how much appliances take...

somewhere on this forum this syndrome was called "chasing watts...", it is the temporary and initial state of shock which drives many of its victims into overspending on energy efficient and solar stuff. the good news, if you in some way can hold on, is to spend a lot of time on this forum, not only reading, but also asking a lot of seemingly stupid questions

Let's go Trump at least he shows some outrage at the farmers murders and land grabs etc in our beloved country sorry  I couldn't resist @gabriel

Edited August 23, 20186 yr by seant

3 minutes ago, seant said:

Let's go Trump at least he shows some outrage at the farmers murders and land grabs etc in our beloved country

I suspect that whatever he is going to do will only hurt us. Likely invoke some things in AGOA...

Leave Trump, he has enough drama on his hands right now ... I'll tweet him and ask for his consideration as he does what he wants, not what his advisers tell him, they just get "You're fired." :-)

 

45 minutes ago, gabriel said:

"chasing watts...",

And getting NEEDS vs WANTS confused. It is not easy keeping the reigns tight.

 

1 hour ago, Antony said:

I'm not on solar yet and I'm already doing this, ...

That is the first step in saving on Eskom, and the very first most step in the reducing of your solar estimated budget, this thing called "chasing watts".

The part I found that kicked me on the backside, the loads on when everyone is asleep. It can be a shocker. ;-)

25 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

It is not easy keeping the reigns tight.

that's a fact, the 'budget-cart' not being build for speed

29 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

I'll tweet him

presi to presi

1 hour ago, gabriel said:

somewhere on this forum this syndrome was called "chasing watts...", it is the temporary and initial state of shock which drives many of its victims into overspending on energy efficient and solar stuff. the good news, if you in some way can hold on, is to spend a lot of time on this forum, not only reading, but also asking a lot of seemingly stupid questions

I have already spent R1200 so far on Efergy home hub and a kill-a-watt meter,.

Last night I figured out that the "fancy" lights above my kitchen island has these small 12v/20Watt element bulbs (not sure if you get LED) and these consume over 480 W/H versus all my under cabinet LED lights in the kitchen which only consumes 12 W/H and gives us better light, go figure. But I'm holding for the big spend, however my next guaranteed spend is solar (tubes) for the geyser, now just to find the right one at the best price.

9 minutes ago, Antony said:

solar (tubes) for the geyser

the way to go if climate and surroundings [trees&vulcanos] permit, MUCH more energy efficient than flat plate for a bit more financial outlay - good results on cloudy days and low incoming sun rays! wish i had gone that way... 20/20 hindsight...

6 hours ago, PaulF007 said:

Nee man kom nou ouens . . 

She published that video on  Jul 10, 2018. Upgraded response by him on Aug 15, 2018 ... I did say she needs to come for some solar training. ;-) 

She, like you, where over cautious and in that process, learned at a breakneck pace. 

To save on Eskom without solar OR to not overuse a solar system, you need to "become one" with your loads.

If I had the inclination to run our house off an inverter, me, I would have gathered data over a few weeks / months, asking everyone at times to do their best to use reasonable power to get the max possible power draw and duration, and installed a invert that can handle that. 

Panels obviously to match the daily load, not the peak load, unless that was justified.

Fitting this and that to balance the load out, bleh, too much effort and complicated system ... or just go grid tied and basta with it all. 

 

2 hours ago, Antony said:

... consume over 480 W/H ...

Adding to your observation.

I removed 4 x 3foot CFL tubes in our kitchen replacing them with one 11w LED tube. LED tubes comes with that green thingy for easy in-place installation, right?

Could NEVER understand why we had no savings whatsoever! I mean, 4 times CFL tubes drawing about +-400w, down to 1 x LED tube that is 11 watts ... drawing +-411w really!!!

Fake News I said ... 

Then late one night a penny or two dropped.

Remove. The. Four. Transformers.

That cost a pretty penny as the electrician had to come and undo and redo all the wiring. Quite a confluent of wires in the original setup in my case.

Edited August 23, 20186 yr by Guest

3 minutes ago, Antony said:

480 W/H 

 

3 hours ago, Antony said:

I'm not on solar yet and I'm already doing this

 

1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

That is the first step in saving on Eskom

And I will add to TTT statement, its also the first step in designing your solar system. I did this for some time before taking the step to go solar. My first estimation/quotation on a solar system, including my existing 2.4kW of lights at the time,  was halved by changing those lights with LED lights (Total of 220Watts for complete house now)

You are on the right track, by doing what you are doing, you are getting into the routine of managing and watching your power and also spending small amounts now to prepare for solar, will save you big bucks when you finally install solar as your demand will be less after this process...

45 minutes ago, Antony said:

these small 12v/20Watt element bulbs (not sure if you get LED)

I have about 18 of them around my kitchen and other areas. Had 2X50W of those and the rest 20W. You get LED version, Got mine from ACDC and will be the first to admit Better light at like 8-10% of the energy. one string of 10 aka 200W was replaced with LED, and now sit on less than 20W for all. (little expensive I know, but they LAST)

Edited August 23, 20186 yr by Riaanh

1 hour ago, gabriel said:

the way to go if climate and surroundings [trees&vulcanos] permit, MUCH more energy efficient than flat plate for a bit more financial outlay - good results on cloudy days and low incoming sun rays! wish i had gone that way... 20/20 hindsight...

There was a time here on this forum, that we argued blue murder for and against tubes. Even with clouds, and volcano's, EV tubes will do better. 

Trees, naaa, both lose. :-) 

You are quite right. In i.e. Cape Town with winter rains, EV tubes work much better than PV panels for geysers.

A solar installer did the sums for that, I posted that somewhere yonks ago here on the forum.

But, if you don't have EV tubes, to mitigate the costs, go grid tied (legally) and let the house and geyser benefit.

Edited August 23, 20186 yr by Guest

28 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

There was a time here on this forum, that we argued blue murder for and against tubes. Even with clouds, and volcano's, EV tubes will do better. 

Tress, naaa, both lose. :-) 

You are quite right. In i.e. Cape Town with winter rains, EV tubes work much better than PV panels for geysers.

A solar installer did the sums for that, I posted that somewhere yonks ago here on the forum.

But, if you don't have EV tubes, to mitigate the costs, go grid tied (legally) and let the house and geyser benefit.

 

Our geyser burst about a week ago, and I decided to go ev-tubes solar. Had my Efergy monitor going the whole time, and I'm happy to report that even in winter, we're down by about 4-6KW a day just because of going solar on the geyser. And on the bonus-side, I have hot water even if there are power failures

 

-G-