Hi Guys

I am in the process of commissioning a solar backup system. Just sorting out the finances before pulling the trigger. I have gotten a few quotes now and would like advise on which one to choose. The aim is to rely on the grid as little as possible.

We use about 13-14kwh per day.

Quote 1:

5kw Sunsynk
5kw Volta
x8 550w Canadians
=R105k

All come in at about this range for a similar package.

Quote 2:

5kw Luxpower SNA5000
x2 5kw Volta
x8 550w Canadians
R113k

I need to decide between these options now. I am leaning towards the Luxpower and the 2 batteries. I am not worried about noise at all as I have an outbuilding where the equipment will be installed. Another reason is that I have friends who have solar installations and they all regret not going for 2 batteries from the outset. I know the Luxpower SNA5000 is inferior to the Sunsynk but I am not intending to backfeed or anything like that. I just dont want loadshedding and to further reduce the cost of electricity. There is also no need to split essential loads. The house is operating very efficiently now or rather the energy consumption is low. The pool pump is on a smart switch, the irrigation I control manually. The only high draw items are 2 energy efficient fridges, 1 oven and an electric geyser that is turned off and only used if I run out of gas at an inopportune time but even so I have other smaller 9kg tanks that can cover a quick shower.

Is there any real reason, aside from nice to haves, as to why I should not get the SNA5000. Further to this, the low price of the SNA5000 will allow me to add a second one in near future.

15 minutes ago, jdido87 said:

Is there any real reason, aside from nice to haves, as to why I should not get the SNA5000. Further to this, the low price of the SNA5000 will allow me to add a second one in near future.

Luxpower no doubt. More value and savings for your use-case by a big margin

You are right to think about the extra battery. My rule for explaining this is that panels save you money by grabbing free electricity, batteries protect you against outages. So more battery gives you more protection.

Those fridges are not going to draw a lot. The oven you will have to control, or get an air fryer which is quicker and cheaper to run.

I don't feel I can offer an opinion on the inverter question. 

Here's the graph for my system so far today

Now from midnight to just on 6:00 you see a fairly flat line. This gets close to 300W but never that far. That is the house ticking over at night. Deep freeze (modern), 2 fridges (both inverter drive), external lights, wifi, security system, stuff on standby (EG TVs). That's why I say your fridges shouldn't use much if they are fairly new, efficient models. 

Now at 6:15 the water heating (heat pump) turns on. At that point I have 63% of the battery left. 

Rule of thumb for batteries - you get 90% of them. The BMS usually doesn't allow the battery to get all the way flat. I have a 10kWh battery. So at the point the water starts heating I have an effective 5.3 kWh available. Because the outbuildings (which includes the pool pump) are not backed up, I won't be using a lot more in the house if we are disciplined so I can go a few hours yet - especially if the sun shines. I recently survived a 10.5  outage starting at 2 am, with not very good weather.

But if the battery were 5kWh the picture changes. I'd have used the same amount to get me that far - 3.7 kWh. I'd have had 1.3 kWh left, and effectively 800kWh after knocking off that 10%. I'd have had much more of a fight on my hands. Most days I don't need all of that 10kWh, but we don't always get 2 hour outages as per schedule, so when there's a long outage and the weather is not so good I'm happy to have it. 

There's just two of us in this house, so we can keep the consumption very low after hours. The more you use, the more that 5kWh battery will get stretched. 

So another thing all new owners have to go through is figuring out WHEN you use electricity, how much, and how much of that you can move into the daylight (free electricity) hours. So we run the pool pump during the day, the dishwasher during the day, the air fryer during the day where possible. If I turn the 2nd geyser on (it's on a time switch), then I do that during the day as well. Then at night when we are relying on batteries we can stretch them a long way, and that buys us protection in the early morning when the system is at it's lowest charge. We all have to go through this learning curve and figuring out how to optimise things. The pay off is making best use of the free electricity when the sun is shining (EG running the dishy during the day), and best use of the stored power (battery) when the sun goes down.

Edited February 15, 20242 yr by Bobster.
spelllin

Other than not being part of the cool kids club with the pumped up kicks, I joke ofcource. 

You seem to have all the bases covered.

38 minutes ago, jdido87 said:

There is also no need to split essential loads

Ummmm.... Think of my worst case scenario. Early morning outage, bad weather. Now when your pool pump kicks in it's going to be taking the best part of a kW and that will all come out of your battery. 3 hours of pool pump can be 20% of the battery. If that smart switch will disconnect the pool pump when the grid is down then that sounds OK. But think about this. In the example I gave earlier the pool pump would have seriously increased the load on my battery. OK... I could always get off my lazy butt and throw the circuit breaker on the DB, but that would have to occur to me whilst I'm making coffee and talking to people at the office. 

46 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

You are right to think about the extra battery. My rule for explaining this is that panels save you money by grabbing free electricity, batteries protect you against outages. So more battery gives you more protection.

Those fridges are not going to draw a lot. The oven you will have to control, or get an air fryer which is quicker and cheaper to run.

I don't feel I can offer an opinion on the inverter question. 

Here's the graph for my system so far today

Now from midnight to just on 6:00 you see a fairly flat line. This gets close to 300W but never that far. That is the house ticking over at night. Deep freeze (modern), 2 fridges (both inverter drive), external lights, wifi, security system, stuff on standby (EG TVs). That's why I say your fridges shouldn't use much if they are fairly new, efficient models. 

Now at 6:15 the water heating (heat pump) turns on. At that point I have 63% of the battery left. 

Rule of thumb for batteries - you get 90% of them. The BMS usually doesn't allow the battery to get all the way flat. I have a 10kWh battery. So at the point the water starts heating I have an effective 5.3 kWh available. Because the outbuildings (which includes the pool pump) are not backed up, I won't be using a lot more in the house if we are disciplined so I can go a few hours yet - especially if the sun shines. I recently survived a 10.5  outage starting at 2 am, with not very good weather.

But if the battery were 5kWh the picture changes. I'd have used the same amount to get me that far - 3.7 kWh. I'd have had 1.3 kWh left, and effectively 800kWh after knocking off that 10%. I'd have had much more of a fight on my hands. Most days I don't need all of that 10kWh, but we don't always get 2 hour outages as per schedule, so when there's a long outage and the weather is not so good I'm happy to have it. 

There's just two of us in this house, so we can keep the consumption very low after hours. The more you use, the more that 5kWh battery will get stretched. 

So another thing all new owners have to go through is figuring out WHEN you use electricity, how much, and how much of that you can move into the daylight (free electricity) hours. So we run the pool pump during the day, the dishwasher during the day, the air fryer during the day where possible. If I turn the 2nd geyser on (it's on a time switch), then I do that during the day as well. Then at night when we are relying on batteries we can stretch them a long way, and that buys us protection in the early morning when the system is at it's lowest charge. We all have to go through this learning curve and figuring out how to optimise things. The pay off is making best use of the free electricity when the sun is shining (EG running the dishy during the day), and best use of the stored power (battery) when the sun goes down.

Thank you for the reply. We have an airfryer. Generally we use the most electricity during the day. I work from home but we most use gas for cooking. At night it's just 5 LED tvs and outdoor LED lights and cctv. We tend to turn off the lights inside the house when we get into bed. I am hoping to 10kw battery bank will carry us through the night on most days. I just cannot wait to end loadshedding. 

Would also be inclined to lean towards Luxpower in this case due to your low consumption (some of my family members have them - and are all happy.) If everything’s on essential then the ability to zero-export-to-CT simply isn’t necessary.

As long as you can manage your loads to keep them under 5kW of course; but this applies to both of your options. (Ovens can use 2kW depending on temperature; and check your pool pump’s rating.)

Also with defeating load shedding being a primary objective, you definitely want another battery if you’re subjected to 4-hour stints (I’m saying that as someone who added a second 5kWh yesterday!)

The panels will aid your other objective in dropping your utility bill.

Go for it…

 

 

1 hour ago, jdido87 said:

Hi Guys

I am in the process of commissioning a solar backup system. Just sorting out the finances before pulling the trigger. I have gotten a few quotes now and would like advise on which one to choose. The aim is to rely on the grid as little as possible.

We use about 13-14kwh per day.

Quote 1:

5kw Sunsynk
5kw Volta
x8 550w Canadians
=R105k

All come in at about this range for a similar package.

Quote 2:

5kw Luxpower SNA5000
x2 5kw Volta
x8 550w Canadians
R113k

I need to decide between these options now. I am leaning towards the Luxpower and the 2 batteries. I am not worried about noise at all as I have an outbuilding where the equipment will be installed. Another reason is that I have friends who have solar installations and they all regret not going for 2 batteries from the outset. I know the Luxpower SNA5000 is inferior to the Sunsynk but I am not intending to backfeed or anything like that. I just dont want loadshedding and to further reduce the cost of electricity. There is also no need to split essential loads. The house is operating very efficiently now or rather the energy consumption is low. The pool pump is on a smart switch, the irrigation I control manually. The only high draw items are 2 energy efficient fridges, 1 oven and an electric geyser that is turned off and only used if I run out of gas at an inopportune time but even so I have other smaller 9kg tanks that can cover a quick shower.

Is there any real reason, aside from nice to haves, as to why I should not get the SNA5000. Further to this, the low price of the SNA5000 will allow me to add a second one in near future.

 

Luxpower an 2 batteries without any doubt. I have a Luxpower and one battery and not a day goes by that I do not wish I had two. Even with my minimal load 1 battery is just not enough to last through the night. I have to run the loads off Eskom until 11:00 at night to keep the battery's SOC from going below 40%.

42 minutes ago, eugenedp said:

Luxpower an 2 batteries without any doubt. I have a Luxpower and one battery and not a day goes by that I do not wish I had two. Even with my minimal load 1 battery is just not enough to last through the night. I have to run the loads off Eskom until 11:00 at night to keep the battery's SOC from going below 40%.

Agreed; even just 4 hours of load shedding can be a bit stressful on 5kWh; doubling up also gives the opportunity to do some kitchen appliances without stressing about SoC

 

Another thread with settings to do more-or-less what @jdido87 is after:

 

 

4 hours ago, jdido87 said:

Is there any real reason, aside from nice to haves, as to why I should not get the SNA5000. Further to this, the low price of the SNA5000 will allow me to add a second one in near future.

I'll admit I'm biased in favour of on-grid hybrid inverters and splitting out non-essential loads, and I know nothing personally about the Luxpower. Just, with a 2-year warranty - it might mean nothing - but it doesn't inspire confidence. Ek weet nie wat hulle weet nie.

Just browsing components on this site: the Solis S6, with a 10.4kWh Magneto battery, and keep the 8x550W Canadian Solar panels, in a single string on one MPPT. Priced at approx R75K, and maybe add the optional warranty extension from 5 to 10 yrs at around R3K. What would it cost to have this installed vs the other options? Might be a simpler layout.

Reliable good reputation seller
I bought all my goodies from DIYGEEK
Mention Morne referred you then you may get some discount
5k sunsynk
2 x 6.4kwh bsl batteries 125ah each
8 x 550w Canadian Solar

About R101k

I believe his quotes are with Mark up and installation. The R101k is going to be about R130k with installation. 

It's better to go with the installer quote since they have to sort out warranty claims. I previously bought the equipment myself that I had to arrange shipping back to the shop myself.

Next one I went with installer quotes.

Edited February 16, 20242 yr by Buyeye

So I have 2x SNA5000 in parallel and while they are good inverters, if I had additional funds at the time and having the experience I have now I would have opted to go for a Solis S6 inverter over the SNA5000.

 

Don't get me wrong, the SNA5000 works well and is a good budget option. I do have my concerns in terms of longevity of the inverter though, the transfer time does not seem to be as quick as I had hoped and my lights do flash when grid goes down and the inverter switches over to batteries and when this happens some of my equipment does not like it and the fuses blow (this happens with my subwoofer) and I suspect this might have blown my vacuum cleaner motor as the vacuum cleaner suddenly stopped working while being in use...

Luxpower support are unable to assist and do not have a solution to this issue either.

 

Another thing to consider is that the MPPT is limited to 13A on the SNA5000 and there has been a bit of a debate on the Luxpower whatsapp groups about the panels which should be used with these SNA5000 inverters, a lot of people recommend nothing more than 450W with lower current.

I am personally running 620W panels and have not experienced any issues (yet at least), however that is something to consider and double check the current on the Canadian Solar panels - too high and you risk blowing the MPPTs.

Also Jinko panels are generally better priced compared to the Canadian Solar panels and I think their current might be a little lower as most of the higher wattage Canadian Solar panels are from the Haiku range which is around 17A and will not work with the SNA5000 MPPT.

 

I would also suggest going for Svolt batteries instead of the Volta batteries, performance has been great with my Svolt batteries and with the cost savings of Svolt vs Volta you may even be able to afford a 3rd battery! Svolt 106ah 51.2v battery for R16 500 is a brilliant price! The Voltage stage 1 batteries seem to go for R20k or more per battery.

1 hour ago, PsyCLown said:

So I have 2x SNA5000 in parallel and while they are good inverters, if I had additional funds at the time and having the experience I have now I would have opted to go for a Solis S6 inverter over the SNA5000.

 

Don't get me wrong, the SNA5000 works well and is a good budget option. I do have my concerns in terms of longevity of the inverter though, the transfer time does not seem to be as quick as I had hoped and my lights do flash when grid goes down and the inverter switches over to batteries and when this happens some of my equipment does not like it and the fuses blow (this happens with my subwoofer) and I suspect this might have blown my vacuum cleaner motor as the vacuum cleaner suddenly stopped working while being in use...

Luxpower support are unable to assist and do not have a solution to this issue either.

 

Another thing to consider is that the MPPT is limited to 13A on the SNA5000 and there has been a bit of a debate on the Luxpower whatsapp groups about the panels which should be used with these SNA5000 inverters, a lot of people recommend nothing more than 450W with lower current.

I am personally running 620W panels and have not experienced any issues (yet at least), however that is something to consider and double check the current on the Canadian Solar panels - too high and you risk blowing the MPPTs.

Also Jinko panels are generally better priced compared to the Canadian Solar panels and I think their current might be a little lower as most of the higher wattage Canadian Solar panels are from the Haiku range which is around 17A and will not work with the SNA5000 MPPT.

 

I would also suggest going for Svolt batteries instead of the Volta batteries, performance has been great with my Svolt batteries and with the cost savings of Svolt vs Volta you may even be able to afford a 3rd battery! Svolt 106ah 51.2v battery for R16 500 is a brilliant price! The Voltage stage 1 batteries seem to go for R20k or more per battery.

Interesting post recommending a higher spec inverter for warranty reasons then recommending a lower spec battery for budget reasons. 

I also have 2 sna5000 inverters and I never notice when loadshedding starts. I did however have to troubleshoot a strange behavior when stage 6 started. It turned out we really did not have enough electricity as the grid voltage and frequency were dropping which caused lights to flicker. It was not a switching problem but an actual problem with the grid. 

Here is proof. Look at the grid frequency. 

5 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

Interesting post recommending a higher spec inverter for warranty reasons then recommending a lower spec battery for budget reasons. 

I also have 2 sna5000 inverters and I never notice when loadshedding starts. I did however have to troubleshoot a strange behavior when stage 6 started. It turned out we really did not have enough electricity as the grid voltage and frequency were dropping which caused lights to flicker. It was not a switching problem but an actual problem with the grid. 

Here is proof. Look at the grid frequency. 

Haha, yes - higher end Inverter & cheaper batteries.

 

Not knocking the SNA5000 due to its warranty, what bugs me more is this fuse issue and the transfer time. I have heard transfer time does increase when you parallel the inverters so might be the difference between your situation and mine. Also the design aspect with the fans not running at night when you are running off grid only until temps reach a certain setpoint (which is high). I have had to add some extra fans to keep my inverter temps down at night when the inverter is basically sitting idle.

Heat is never good for electronics. During the day when there is a high load on the inverter the inverter temps are lower than at night when the inverter is sitting idle and just passing Eskom power through to the house. This does not make sense to me and decreases my faith in the inverter.

I have been monitoring my grid frequency & voltage around loadshedding time and it has never been an issue like in your above screenshot. I experience the same issue if I turn off my Eskom mains breaker - the lights still flash & fuses can pop. I suspect the fuses blowing is possibly due to the transfer time being a bit slow but cannot confirm this.

 

I also had the misfortune of having a 4 day old SNA5000 blow on me, I eventually managed to get a brand new replacement but it took 4 weeks and having to go to the distributor and speak to them and explain the situation. I understand out of box failure can happen (not quite out of the box in my situation) and the same could happen with just about any other inverter brand out there but that also did not leave me with a lot of faith in the inverter.

When I was at the JHB Luxpower distributor I was speaking to the one guy there and he said they had quite a few warranty claims on the Luxpowers, most due to incorrect installs and also voltage issues due to loadshedding. It seems as if the Luxpowers can be sensitive to under voltage / over voltage and he recommended a under/over voltage protection device and another installer told me that his supplier would force you to purchase a OVP/UVP device with the Luxpower otherwise they would not honor the warranty - despite me not having voltage issues in my area I purchased such a device for added peace of mind afterwards.

 

As I have said, apart from the above mentioned issues and concerns my SNA5000 inverters work well. They are loud with the fans but in my garage its less of an issue.

Functionality is great, easy to integrate into Home Assistant too. Probably the best budget inverter with some "smart" functionality.

 

As for the Svolt batteries, I do not feel Volta is a high end battery and their pricing does not say this either. I also have no clue who manufacture the cells in the Volta batteries.

Svolt manufacture their own cells for their batteries, they are a larger cell manufacturing company and have secured a contract to supply BMW with cells for their upcoming EVs. I have no reason to doubt the quality of life expectancy of my Svolt batteries and I will happily purchase more Svolt batteries once funds allow and I have added more panels to my system. I have dealt with Svolt support and they are fantastic and a warranty claim would not be an issue. I see the Svolt warranty as a no nonsense warranty, no need to jump through hoops and I would rather have a 5 year warranty where I know I will get a replacement battery under warranty if need be vs having a 10 year warranty where they may look for loopholes to get out of a warranty claim or not want to honor the warranty due to "incompatibility" between the inverter & battery or because I did not use comms between the inverter & battery or some other BS.

Based on my experience, I have faith and trust in Svolt. I do have my concerns regarding my Luxpower SNA5000 inverters and those concerns are listed above.

I am simply providing feedback based on my experiences and what I have heard as well. I own a SNA5000 and Svolt batteries. I am not saying that I would never recommend the SNA5000 inverter as that is not true, value for money it is a great inverter but I would definitely recommend having an OVP/UVP device in place if not just for peace of mind and that one be careful with what panels you pair with it.

With a 2.5 year warranty and being roughly half the price of a Solis S6 5KW and SunSynk 5KW inverter, if it dies after the 2.5 year warranty is up you could buy another Luxpower and be sitting at the price of a Solis S6 or Sunsynk. So for someone in a budget, it is still worth considering but there are some things to take into consideration first I feel.

Rather go into it knowing the possible issues you may experience and make an informed decision.

3 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

So I have 2x SNA5000 in parallel and while they are good inverters, if I had additional funds at the time and having the experience I have now I would have opted to go for a Solis S6 inverter over the SNA5000.

 

Don't get me wrong, the SNA5000 works well and is a good budget option. I do have my concerns in terms of longevity of the inverter though, the transfer time does not seem to be as quick as I had hoped and my lights do flash when grid goes down and the inverter switches over to batteries and when this happens some of my equipment does not like it and the fuses blow (this happens with my subwoofer) and I suspect this might have blown my vacuum cleaner motor as the vacuum cleaner suddenly stopped working while being in use...

Luxpower support are unable to assist and do not have a solution to this issue either.

 

Another thing to consider is that the MPPT is limited to 13A on the SNA5000 and there has been a bit of a debate on the Luxpower whatsapp groups about the panels which should be used with these SNA5000 inverters, a lot of people recommend nothing more than 450W with lower current.

I am personally running 620W panels and have not experienced any issues (yet at least), however that is something to consider and double check the current on the Canadian Solar panels - too high and you risk blowing the MPPTs.

Also Jinko panels are generally better priced compared to the Canadian Solar panels and I think their current might be a little lower as most of the higher wattage Canadian Solar panels are from the Haiku range which is around 17A and will not work with the SNA5000 MPPT.

 

I would also suggest going for Svolt batteries instead of the Volta batteries, performance has been great with my Svolt batteries and with the cost savings of Svolt vs Volta you may even be able to afford a 3rd battery! Svolt 106ah 51.2v battery for R16 500 is a brilliant price! The Voltage stage 1 batteries seem to go for R20k or more per battery.

Thank you for your detailed response. It is not the first time I hear about the Amp issue and blown fuses. It is making me think twice. I have since gotten another quote from the company that is busy with my neighbours installation. Its a 5Kw Deye, 5kw Volta and 8 550w Canadians for R99k. I am now more inclined to go with his quote give the reference and the quality of the installation they have done. I dont want issues with the inverter later on. The installer next door also told me that he prefers not to work with Luxpower SNA5000 inverters as they had a few comeback in the past regarding fans that seize.

2 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Haha, yes - higher end Inverter & cheaper batteries.

 

Not knocking the SNA5000 due to its warranty, what bugs me more is this fuse issue and the transfer time. I have heard transfer time does increase when you parallel the inverters so might be the difference between your situation and mine. Also the design aspect with the fans not running at night when you are running off grid only until temps reach a certain setpoint (which is high). I have had to add some extra fans to keep my inverter temps down at night when the inverter is basically sitting idle.

Heat is never good for electronics. During the day when there is a high load on the inverter the inverter temps are lower than at night when the inverter is sitting idle and just passing Eskom power through to the house. This does not make sense to me and decreases my faith in the inverter.

I have been monitoring my grid frequency & voltage around loadshedding time and it has never been an issue like in your above screenshot. I experience the same issue if I turn off my Eskom mains breaker - the lights still flash & fuses can pop. I suspect the fuses blowing is possibly due to the transfer time being a bit slow but cannot confirm this.

 

I also had the misfortune of having a 4 day old SNA5000 blow on me, I eventually managed to get a brand new replacement but it took 4 weeks and having to go to the distributor and speak to them and explain the situation. I understand out of box failure can happen (not quite out of the box in my situation) and the same could happen with just about any other inverter brand out there but that also did not leave me with a lot of faith in the inverter.

When I was at the JHB Luxpower distributor I was speaking to the one guy there and he said they had quite a few warranty claims on the Luxpowers, most due to incorrect installs and also voltage issues due to loadshedding. It seems as if the Luxpowers can be sensitive to under voltage / over voltage and he recommended a under/over voltage protection device and another installer told me that his supplier would force you to purchase a OVP/UVP device with the Luxpower otherwise they would not honor the warranty - despite me not having voltage issues in my area I purchased such a device for added peace of mind afterwards.

 

As I have said, apart from the above mentioned issues and concerns my SNA5000 inverters work well. They are loud with the fans but in my garage its less of an issue.

Functionality is great, easy to integrate into Home Assistant too. Probably the best budget inverter with some "smart" functionality.

 

As for the Svolt batteries, I do not feel Volta is a high end battery and their pricing does not say this either. I also have no clue who manufacture the cells in the Volta batteries.

Svolt manufacture their own cells for their batteries, they are a larger cell manufacturing company and have secured a contract to supply BMW with cells for their upcoming EVs. I have no reason to doubt the quality of life expectancy of my Svolt batteries and I will happily purchase more Svolt batteries once funds allow and I have added more panels to my system. I have dealt with Svolt support and they are fantastic and a warranty claim would not be an issue. I see the Svolt warranty as a no nonsense warranty, no need to jump through hoops and I would rather have a 5 year warranty where I know I will get a replacement battery under warranty if need be vs having a 10 year warranty where they may look for loopholes to get out of a warranty claim or not want to honor the warranty due to "incompatibility" between the inverter & battery or because I did not use comms between the inverter & battery or some other BS.

Based on my experience, I have faith and trust in Svolt. I do have my concerns regarding my Luxpower SNA5000 inverters and those concerns are listed above.

I am simply providing feedback based on my experiences and what I have heard as well. I own a SNA5000 and Svolt batteries. I am not saying that I would never recommend the SNA5000 inverter as that is not true, value for money it is a great inverter but I would definitely recommend having an OVP/UVP device in place if not just for peace of mind and that one be careful with what panels you pair with it.

With a 2.5 year warranty and being roughly half the price of a Solis S6 5KW and SunSynk 5KW inverter, if it dies after the 2.5 year warranty is up you could buy another Luxpower and be sitting at the price of a Solis S6 or Sunsynk. So for someone in a budget, it is still worth considering but there are some things to take into consideration first I feel.

Rather go into it knowing the possible issues you may experience and make an informed decision.

Deye it is then. First hand experience is important and that is what I was after. Thank you.

On 2024/02/16 at 3:12 PM, jdido87 said:

Thank you for your detailed response. It is not the first time I hear about the Amp issue and blown fuses. It is making me think twice. I have since gotten another quote from the company that is busy with my neighbours installation. Its a 5Kw Deye, 5kw Volta and 8 550w Canadians for R99k. I am now more inclined to go with his quote give the reference and the quality of the installation they have done. I dont want issues with the inverter later on. The installer next door also told me that he prefers not to work with Luxpower SNA5000 inverters as they had a few comeback in the past regarding fans that seize.

I do not have first hand experience with the Volta batteries but have recently seen people complaining about them again and having issues with SoC and the battery not taking charge after the firmware update was applied previously.

 

If you do not want to go Svolt, I saw that BSL Batt is doing a bit of a special on some of their batteries and I have not heard anything bad about the BSL batts and I personally would pick BSL Batt over Volta and pricing is similar to the Volta at the moment.

 

BSL Batt: https://www.diygeek.co.za/product/bsl-battery-51-2v-3u-100ah-canbus-5-12kwh/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=All Products&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=21967&cmp_id=18046938637&adg_id=&kwd=&device=c&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAlcyuBhBnEiwAOGZ2SwKmoWwJd2Jsni-6Eug2AQoxHbJd-tx2_puCei6CZrGkzpf5jEUUkBoCtjwQAvD_BwE

 

Svolt Battery: https://www.snaga.co.za/product/svolt-51-2v-106ah-5-43kwh-lifepo4-battery-wall-mounted/

 

 

I have not ordered from DIY Geek before but have heard others on the forum have before without issues.

I have personally ordered from Snaga before and all was good and went smooth.

Thank you for all the comments guys. While I wait for the funds can I please get an indication of what I should be paying for a 5kw Deye, 5kw battery and 8 panels in Cae Town. I am seeing similar setups installed for around the R90k mark. Essentially want to know if I am being ripped off at R99k.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/ccubLAQckCRSXxqF/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Edited February 21, 20242 yr by jdido87

22 hours ago, jdido87 said:

Thank you for all the comments guys. While I wait for the funds can I please get an indication of what I should be paying for a 5kw Deye, 5kw battery and 8 panels in Cae Town. I am seeing similar setups installed for around the R90k mark. Essentially want to know if I am being ripped off at R99k.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/ccubLAQckCRSXxqF/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Inverter, battery & panels would come to around R52k to R60k depending on brands and each supplier would have slightly different mark up.

 

There would then be costs for the labour, switch gear, cables, panel mounting equipment and sundry items and this would vary based on each install and situation.

I'd reckon you're looking at a minimum of R20k upwards and R20k is definitely on the cheaper side. So R90k to R99k is not unreasonable but you may be able to get a contractor to do it for a little less. Whether its worth trying to find a contractor who offers better pricing is up to you, you definitely do not want them to cheap out on the switch gear or cables or avoid having certain protections in place such as AC & DC SPD's, E/N Bonding etc.

 

The link is a good price, adding an additional 2 panels should not increase the price by an extra R15k+ though.

Edited February 22, 20242 yr by PsyCLown

On 2024/02/16 at 3:12 PM, jdido87 said:

 The installer next door also told me that he prefers not to work with Luxpower SNA5000 inverters as they had a few comeback in the past regarding fans that seize.

I find the comments and reasons of our members very interesting. 

We have a number of installers as clients. 1 of them is highly rated in Pta. One other guy has installed over 40 Luxpower inverters and he has only had 2 with faults and he got them replaced real quick via his supplier. Interesting that none have the blowing fuses in PSUs as we have seen from a few members. 

I have weekly chats about 2 brands of gate motors. One customer has installed over 4000 of our brand and does not install the other brand. Then you get other guys who are 50/50 about these 2 brands and then the anti our brand. A lot of times it's not knowing the product that gets people to battle and knock a product. Very few also bother to read manuals with installation guidelines. 

That is life and choices makes it interesting. 

On 2024/02/22 at 11:57 AM, Scorp007 said:

I find the comments and reasons of our members very interesting. 

We have a number of installers as clients. 1 of them is highly rated in Pta. One other guy has installed over 40 Luxpower inverters and he has only had 2 with faults and he got them replaced real quick via his supplier. Interesting that none have the blowing fuses in PSUs as we have seen from a few members. 

I have weekly chats about 2 brands of gate motors. One customer has installed over 4000 of our brand and does not install the other brand. Then you get other guys who are 50/50 about these 2 brands and then the anti our brand. A lot of times it's not knowing the product that gets people to battle and knock a product. Very few also bother to read manuals with installation guidelines. 

That is life and choices makes it interesting. 

Please share contacts of the Luxpower installer in Pretoria and Johannesburg, if any.

18 minutes ago, Morena said:

Please share contacts of the Luxpower installer in Pretoria and Johannesburg, if any.

Deist Solar in Pta. Karel.