Is adding just two more 545w Canadian solar panels to our array worth? We currently have an array of 8  East and  6 West 545 Canadian solars, making 14. This is run on two 5kwh Deye inverters and two  6.14 Deye batteries. The intention was 20, but that will be overkill in the summer. We are averaging just over 30kwh daily, and a chunk of this goes to two geysers. I did tell them I intended to add panels, so it is set up to plug and play the additions, or so they said. However, instead of adding six like we originally planned, adding two more to make eight on each side should be fine. Our whole house is on the system. Our flat, usually reserved for guests or short-term rentals, is temporarily occupied by family who will move out later in the year. When the flat is used as a short-term or guest unit, the electric demands are minimal, but with a 3-person family, it consumes more than we do. Unlike the main house (gas), the flat has an electric hob, and occupants still need to adapt habits to solar. However, with panel prices at an all-time low, we could benefit from additional panels before prices increase.

1 hour ago, Kory said:

Is adding just two more 545w Canadian solar panels to our array worth? We currently have an array of 8  East and  6 West 545 Canadian solars, making 14. This is run on two 5kwh Deye inverters and two  6.14 Deye batteries. The intention was 20, but that will be overkill in the summer. We are averaging just over 30kwh daily, and a chunk of this goes to two geysers. I did tell them I intended to add panels, so it is set up to plug and play the additions, or so they said. However, instead of adding six like we originally planned, adding two more to make eight on each side should be fine. Our whole house is on the system. Our flat, usually reserved for guests or short-term rentals, is temporarily occupied by family who will move out later in the year. When the flat is used as a short-term or guest unit, the electric demands are minimal, but with a 3-person family, it consumes more than we do. Unlike the main house (gas), the flat has an electric hob, and occupants still need to adapt habits to solar. However, with panel prices at an all-time low, we could benefit from additional panels before prices increase.

Yes at current prices it is a great time to add even if not needed. Who knows if it can come in handy in future selling back at a good rate and having cheap bi-directional meters. 

Yes PV does allow one to adapt and still do everything like before but cutting out wastage and make hay while the sun is shining. 

Go for it. Rather too much than too little.
Those extra panels are really useful on the not so sunny days.

Like the others have already said, go for it. With extended periods of bad weather, you can never have to many panels or batteries. Always dependent on budget constraints of course.👍

Might even be a thought to put the 2 panels on the West-side, ie. change the string of 8 into two West-strings of 5, each on its own MPPT, since you have two inverters.

All depends on time of use, ie. to heat the two geysers and make lunch in the afternoon might need more power readily on tap, whereas recharging the batteries in the morning might be okay to do on the 6-string facing East over a few more hours.

5 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

Yes at current prices it is a great time to add even if not needed. Who knows if it can come in handy in future selling back at a good rate and having cheap bi-directional meters. 

Yes PV does allow one to adapt and still do everything like before but cutting out wastage and make hay while the sun is shining. 

Thanks everyone, originally what I would really have loved is another battery but I just realised when I pushed our dependence on the solar a little more and allowed our battery to discharge lower ie to 40% that the panels struggle to actually carry the full load of the house and charge the battery during the day with this Cape Town  autumn weather. Meaning in winter it will be even worse. This explains the relatively high eskom cost despite the solar as the installer had set the battery discharge at 50% meaning 1 full battery capacity was always available in case of loadshedding. This meant my system kept depending on eskom instead of discharging batteries. With the prices of panels it makes sense to add more. Just a tad weary of doing too much before my “tenants” move out as the second geyser will essentially be off mostly when they do. 

On 2024/04/16 at 10:00 PM, GreenFields said:

Might even be a thought to put the 2 panels on the West-side, ie. change the string of 8 into two West-strings of 5, each on its own MPPT, since you have two inverters.

All depends on time of use, ie. to heat the two geysers and make lunch in the afternoon might need more power readily on tap, whereas recharging the batteries in the morning might be okay to do on the 6-string facing East over a few more hours.

So we added 4 more panels on the west side. It is winter so I assume the only benefit will be just to make sure we get enough charge on those cloudy days and generally winter days. My question to all is in summer will we have enough to sell back to CoCT? In all we have 18 545w panels now  8 E , 10 W/NW.  I read now the meter price is halved. This might mean registering and getting all the ducks in a row ready to go by next summer.  In summer with our original 14 panels out 12kWh battery pack was always charged by 11am. 

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by Kory

Batteries have also come down and rumours are saying they will go even lower towards end of the year. How are you holding up with 12kw of battery?

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by Jakac

2 hours ago, Kory said:

So we added 4 more panels on the west side. It is winter so I assume the only benefit will be just to make sure we get enough charge on those cloudy days and generally winter days. My question to all is in summer will we have enough to sell back to CoCT? In all we have 18 545w panels now  8 E , 10 W/NW.  I read now the meter price is halved. This might mean registering and getting all the ducks in a row ready to go by next summer.  In summer with our original 14 panels out 12kWh battery pack was always charged by 11am. 

Just as a high-level thumbsuck, you could be generating around 50-60kWh per day during summer, and your usage may have dropped from 30kWh to maybe 25kWh, due to less heating and lighting needs. There should be a surplus you could sell off if it makes financial sense. Try finding a solar calculator online to give a more accurate projection.

2 hours ago, Jakac said:

Batteries have also come down and rumours are saying they will go even lower towards end of the year. How are you holding up with 12kw of battery?

Not going so well as currently we are a two family household. The flat is on electric stove and the main house is on gas. We running two geysers also and the flat is fully occupied by family who are a family so our consumption is quite high since winter started my SOC is always at 40% by end of day and  in the morning we have to pull from grid. However, family is moving out just at the end this this winter, relocating. So I am not in a hurry to add battery capacity. As a guest room which is occasionally used for short term rental the consumption of the flat is very low. We average 30/39 summer/winter now but historically we are 18/25. That was when we had an electric hob I expect to drop to 15/22.

I placed an order for another 6 panels today to add to my 8 existing panels. We are generally lower consumption users ( below 20 a day). At current panel and battery prices I've decided to just add more panels and when summer arrives get the bi directional meter and sell back to the City. I'd rather have more panels and not need it then less and hope I had more.

Bidirectional meter costs R6k, il generate around 20kw extra per day and sell it back making about R600 per month in summer months. Bi directional meter should pay itself within 3 years or so and then should mean extra profit from the extra panels.

Edited May 22, 20242 yr by CTskollie

My 4 additional panels went live yesterday and already seeing the impact this morning. So usually at this time we will barely be making enough to cover the house use and charge battery. So the battery charges after the morning peak. Then it starts discharging after the geysers kick in. Today at 10:30am  battery has already moved from 30% it started in the morning to 53%. Hopefully it will produce enough to ensure it doesn’t discharge while the geysers get on.

Edited May 23, 20242 yr by Kory

On 2024/04/16 at 2:20 PM, Kory said:

Is adding just two more 545w Canadian solar panels to our array worth? We currently have an array of 8  East and  6 West 545 Canadian solars, making 14. This is run on two 5kwh Deye inverters and two  6.14 Deye batteries. The intention was 20, but that will be overkill in the summer.

It will be overkill on a clear day. But on overcast days you will do a lot better than you currently do. I've occasionally found myself wishing I had a few more panels. 

The problem I have after 4.5 years is adding more of what I bought back then. In reality I'd probably have to replace whole strings and hope I can offload the old panels.

So don't be like me and let this idea take years to sink into your head.

30 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

It will be overkill on a clear day. But on overcast days you will do a lot better than you currently do. I've occasionally found myself wishing I had a few more panels. 

The problem I have after 4.5 years is adding more of what I bought back then. In reality I'd probably have to replace whole strings and hope I can offload the old panels.

So don't be like me and let this idea take years to sink into your head.

Nope, not like you already added 4. I am dreaming of adding 1 more battery to feel more confident, the sunk cost is already been done these addition while the do take the total cost up significantly decrease the marginal cost.