Hi guys....was thinking around R50k budget. Goodwe ES series 5.6kw inverter and 4 x National deep cycle batteries and 6 x Canadian solar panels 330w. 4 bedroom house with essential loads of 2800w give or take. Will my system be correct? Any suggestions welcome.

Edited April 2, 20197 yr by ZAYZAY1

There's a thread on system sizing and solar calculations somewhere, start there first....... (There is no correct, there is what will work for you!)

Also what is you intention? Loadshedding backup, grid tie solar, off grid?, and if it is no 2 or no 3, how many kWh do you use per month or per day?

 

Edited April 2, 20197 yr by DeepBass9

27 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

There's a thread on system sizing and solar calculations somewhere, start there first.

Go to downloads ... start there.

4 hours ago, DeepBass9 said:

There's a thread on system sizing and solar calculations somewhere, start there first....... (There is no correct, there is what will work for you!)

Also what is you intention? Loadshedding backup, grid tie solar, off grid?, and if it is no 2 or no 3, how many kWh do you use per month or per day?

 

Loadshedding backup, cable theft and grid tie solar. Also have prepaid meter so we use about 60 units per day. Will have to work out kw/h.

For loadshedding your are a bit light on the batteries I think, how many Ah are they, and how long do you have loadshedding for?

Edited April 2, 20197 yr by DeepBass9

6 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

For loadshedding your are a bit light on the batteries I think, how many Ah are they, and how long do you have loadshedding for?

They will be 105ah. Loadshedding happens in 2 hour intervals twice or thrice daily

105 ah X 4 will give you 2.5kWh stored down to 50% discharge, so less than 1 hour of essential loads. You will either need more batteries or less load or both.

2800W is an insane backup load. During load shedding, if the family is just doing their normal thing, I can sometimes push 1kw, but generally my essential loads are under 500W. The only essential item that is larger than this is my bean-to-cup coffee machine 🙂

44 minutes ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

They will be 105ah. L

105ah Leisure Deep Cycle batteries like Royals?

26 minutes ago, plonkster said:

bean-to-cup coffee machine

Photo was actually taken during load-shedding. She needs about 1.7kw to make a hot beverage.

1 minute ago, plonkster said:

Photo was actually taken during load-shedding. She needs about 1.7kw to make a hot beverage.

Now that I LIKE, must be pretty pricey?

Just now, Riaanh said:

Now that I LIKE, must be pretty pricey?

You know, yes. And it is all Takealot's fault. They had a special on one of their more expensive Saeco models, and you know how it goes with specials: There's the sense of urgency, it expires at midnight. So shortly before midnight I finally finish my research and decide the smaller model is just fine and orders that one instead. Only thing is I think myself and a number of other buyers have fallen for a common marketing trick: Where an expensive product goes on special so you end up buying it's smaller brother. This was confirmed when the smaller one (which I had just bought) suddenly cost 2k more the next morning, and again two weeks later when I was notified that my order was regrettably cancelled because they can't source stock. Since I was already about the price of an Axpert into it... I added a few more blue ones and bought this one instead. So yes, somewhat pricy, but less than a Multiplus-II and just as important.

The old cheapie Bosch started to consume itself. The smell of melting plastic also implied a sense of urgency. And every time a machine fails we buy another cheapie because it is always at some inopportune time. This time we decided to spoil ourselves 🙂

3 minutes ago, plonkster said:

And every time a machine fails we buy another cheapie because it is always at some inopportune time.

That's me, I plead guilty, Last one I got was a Nespresso, the bigger one admittedly, throther etc incl. Not bad for a cheapie. Looked at the proper machines, but rather bought another Axpert 🤣🤣

4 minutes ago, Riaanh said:

Nespresso

Friend of ours made a good argument for one of these. He said that yes, the pods are expensive (but you can buy cheaper alternatives), BUT... you get the advantage of a cup made from a sealed packet every time. For the average home user who drinks two or three cups a day, this is an acceptable luxury. But I (and more importantly the wife!) have been dreaming of one of these for years, so here we are 🙂

Man can we derail a thread. But coffee is important! That was sort of my main point. Got to have enough power for a cuppa.

Edited April 2, 20197 yr by plonkster

19 minutes ago, plonkster said:

Friend of ours made a good argument for one of these. He said that yes, the pods are expensive (but you can buy cheaper alternatives), BUT... you get the advantage of a cup made from a sealed packet every time. For the average home user who drinks two or three cups a day, this is an acceptable luxury. But I (and more importantly the wife!) have been dreaming of one of these for years, so here we are 🙂

Man can we derail a thread. But coffee is important! That was sort of my main point. Got to have enough power for a cuppa.

I drink too much coffee to justify those pods! But they sure are nice from time to time. 

 

@ZAYZAY1 Your budget is a bit low for what you want to do. You need to try and lower your load, while being load shed, or try and budget a bit more for a bigger battery bank. 

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

2800W is an insane backup load. During load shedding, if the family is just doing their normal thing, I can sometimes push 1kw, but generally my essential loads are under 500W. The only essential item that is larger than this is my bean-to-cup coffee machine 🙂

4 rooms@ 30w of led lighting = 240w
2 pcs @ 100w = 200w
2 tv with dstv boxes @ 300w = 600w
1 wifi router + ap + switch = 100w
2 usb charges (tablets, phones) @ 20w = 40w
1 double door fridge/freezer @ 300w
1 chest freezer @150w
Electric fence, gate and alarm = 300w        1  garage door = 100w.                               cctv = 200w

That is 2230w at full load or 1115w at half load (i.e. only half the lights and equipment which would be a normal situation).

Consider that most 5kva inverters only put out 4500w, this should be sufficient should  I wish to run a full load.

I would rather have sufficient to run everything if needed rather than run around and say that this has to be turned off before I can use that. 

Would 1 x pylontech make a difference?

22 minutes ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

4 rooms@ 30w of led lighting = 240w
2 pcs @ 100w = 200w
2 tv with dstv boxes @ 300w = 600w
1 wifi router + ap + switch = 100w
2 usb charges (tablets, phones) @ 20w = 40w
1 double door fridge/freezer @ 300w
1 chest freezer @150w
Electric fence, gate and alarm = 300w        1  garage door = 100w.                               cctv = 200w

That is 2230w at full load or 1115w at half load (i.e. only half the lights and equipment which would be a normal situation).

Consider that most 5kva inverters only put out 4500w, this should be sufficient should  I wish to run a full load.

I would rather have sufficient to run everything if needed rather than run around and say that this has to be turned off before I can use that. 

Would 1 x pylontech make a difference?

A single 2.4Kw Pylontech battery has 2200W usable power, so that's 1 hour's backup on a single battery. It will last 16 years though if you stick to the recommended 80% Depth Of Discharge. 

So, for 2 hours you need two of these batteries.

That list of appliances aren't necessarily all on at once, or drawing their max rated load. Your first step would be to get an energy meter and understand your usage. 2400W is a lot by anyone's standard, and you'll probably find your usage is actually less so you can size the system appropriately. If you mis-size your system, you will spend a lot of money and be disappointed at the result.

Also with solar, there is a lot of running around switching things off! It is a punishment for inefficiency.

Edited April 3, 20197 yr by DeepBass9

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

4 rooms@ 30w of led lighting = 240w

That's 120W 🙂

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

2 pcs @ 100w = 200w

That sounds right.

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

2 tv with dstv boxes @ 300w = 600w

No ways, they don't use that much. My old PVR1 was like 35W. It's not going to be more than a laptop. 50W or 60W max for each.

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

1 wifi router + ap + switch = 100w

Again, no ways. If it uses 10W each that would be a lot.

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

2 usb charges (tablets, phones) @ 20w = 40w

Doubt that. Most chargers are 5V, maybe 2A. That is 10W, and the dumb ones do only 1A.

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

1 double door fridge/freezer @ 300w
1 chest freezer @150w

Looks about right. In my house I replaced the fridge and freezer with energy efficient models. 90W compressors. 1Kwh a day.

9 hours ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

Electric fence, gate and alarm = 300w        1  garage door = 100w.                               cctv = 200w

I seriously doubt it uses that much. Electric fence energizer isn't even 20W. Alarm will be less than 20W. Garage door uses no power when it is just sitting there, uses maybe 50W when moving the door. CCTV is a computer, that might be a bit more.

It seems to me what you should do is invest in a plug-in power meter and measure your appliances instead of going by the sticker they put on them 🙂

Also, as @DeepBass9 said, they are not all on at the same time, and things like freezers and fridges are only on half of the time as switched by their thermostats (or even less if they are properly insulated energy efficient units).

 

Edited April 3, 20197 yr by plonkster

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

That sounds right.

2 laptops maybe, not PC's with 2 x screens, +-300w.

 

Like the guys said above, decided what must be on when Eskom is off, then the 2.4Kw Pylontech battery which has 2200W usable power, can last 1 day, maybe even more.

You can always buy another one later if you need it.

So R50k, if you shop very hard and focus, plan to add like more panesl / batts as you have more cash, it is doable at a pinch by starting with the right foundation to be able to expand.

EDIT: And you are DIY minded. 🙂

Edited April 3, 20197 yr by Guest

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

 

Again, no ways. If it uses 10W each that would be a lot.

 

 

It depends on what switch he's using The Cisco catalyst lying on my desk is 240V/0.25A or 60W. A POE switch would use more. 

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

 

Doubt that. Most chargers are 5V, maybe 2A. That is 10W, and the dumb ones do only 1A.

 

My Huawei P30 Pro charges at 40W! My wife's P10 charges at 30W And the kids' tablet chargers run at 10W. 

3 hours ago, plonkster said:

 

I seriously doubt it uses that much. Electric fence energizer isn't even 20W. Alarm will be less than 20W. Garage door uses no power when it is just sitting there, uses maybe 50W when moving the door. CCTV is a computer, that might be a bit more.

 

 

Depending on which cameras he has, the CCTV could easily consume 200W. IR cameras normally run 24V/2A or 48V/1A. The high ratings on the alarm is for the siren / strobe, so it would idle at much less than that during normal operations.

 

 

39 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

2 laptops maybe, not PC's with 2 x screens, +-300w.

 

Like the guys said above, decided what must be on when Eskom is off, then the 2.4Kw Pylontech battery which has 2200W usable power, can last 1 day, maybe even more.

You can always buy another one later if you need it.

So R50k, if you shop very hard and focus, plan to add like more panesl / batts as you have more cash, it is doable at a pinch by starting with the right foundation to be able to expand.

EDIT: And you are DIY minded. 🙂

So for BACKUP (STAGE 1) use...the Goodwe ES series 5kw will suffice partnered with the pylontech2.4kw. I ideally would want the lights, tv/dstv, cctv, alarms, gate and garage door operational, wifi/cell chargers as well. We should also accept that not all lights/tv will be ON at the same time.

My fridge and freezer does /should cope with 2hr sessions of loadshedding. Fridge is energy efficient variant as well.

STAGE 2 as and when the budget allows will be to compensate my monthly municipal bill thereby adding more batteries and adding panels. 

Does this sound more reasonable? Or am I still looking for too much with too little?

1 minute ago, ZAYZAY1 said:

Does this sound more reasonable? Or am I still looking for too much with too little?

You are the right track! Having stuff on a dedicated always on DB, powered by the inverter when Eskom fails, limits the size of battery bank you would need, and you can always expand later.

But I have a question: Why 5kva? It "complicates" things when one looks at the regulations and breakers in a DB.

My take is that Goodwe is a damn good product but ito flexibility, 3kva Victron is a step ahead ito more "options" over time, more tinkering if that is your mindset.
And you cut the initial costs further, if you get panels later, by not getting the MPPT upfront. Just the inverter and Pylon's.
And as you go grid tied, then get the VenusGX.

Or go Goodwe one shot.

3kva or 2.4kw covers (I would hazard and guess) more than +90% of the loads in a home, during the day.