I hope and trust that you will all have a great prosperous and sunny 2026 😀

After quite a few years running solar, my system is finally getting to the point where everything is running optimally.
Eskom only got R115 from me in December and in my books that is almost a big win :)

This year I have planned and budgeted to add another 10 solar panels to get ready for winter and to add my 4th JK powered battery to the system.
Winter 2025 showed me that I am way short of charging power and ended up where I had to give Eskom R400+ for 2 months (June/July) to top up my batteries.
I have north facing roof space to add the 8 new panels, so this should hopefully be enough to keep the batteries topped up nicely through June/July.
The added bonus of the new additions will be when Eskom start implementing fixed fees, I should then be able to disconnect and go fully off-grid.

For all the HA users here as some really nice animated sensor cards and switches.
https://github.com/Anashost/HA-Animated-cards

45 minutes ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

I hope and trust that you will all have a great prosperous and sunny 2026 😀

After quite a few years running solar, my system is finally getting to the point where everything is running optimally.
Eskom only got R115 from me in December and in my books that is almost a big win :)

This year I have planned and budgeted to add another 10 solar panels to get ready for winter and to add my 4th JK powered battery to the system.
Winter 2025 showed me that I am way short of charging power and ended up where I had to give Eskom R400+ for 2 months (June/July) to top up my batteries.

Thanks for sharing your stats and great to see how well your retrofit BMSes are at work.

It seems like you have a 50W load always drawn from the grid?

As I have been sensitive to look at grid "saving" from the time I used my 1st panel just some observations. I view the constant 50W from the grid as a parasitic load that can be managed. This is if you having all your loads running from the UPS side as it appears. This is how I manage to use as low as 3 kWh during my best months.

The constant 37 kWh from the grid could perhaps be reduced down to close to 4 (it might even be 0 in summer) if you automate the grid being switched off from say 40-100% SOC. I do notice that some days you are using less battery power. I assume that the battery is fully charged most/all days. As an example I only used 2 kWh from 24-31 Dec and that is due to the rainy season and food preparation.

I am aware with my much lower load profile it is perhaps easier to run with the grid switched off via a smart switch.

Please indicate if I miss an important point with this input.

May all our members happy a sunny, healthy and peaceful 2026!!!!!

38 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

It seems like you have a 50W load always drawn from the grid?

Yes, that is to mitigate the back-feed when high loads switch off (mostly the geyser) and to have the benefit of the extra amps if I ever need to startup big loads. I tried zero and 20watts before but ended up over-running by 100 to 200 watts back to the grid for split second. The sweet spot for my setup seems to be 50watts. Goal is to give Eskom as little of my power as possible. This will all only change when I am ready to try fully off-grid again or when I am "forced" by Eskom to go that route.

45 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

This is if you having all your loads running from the UPS side as it appears.

No, All my loads are on the grid side with only my home-lab server on the Essentials side. When/if the grid goes down then all the loads are automatically switched to the essentials side.

Yeah December was a good month for solar 👍

1 hour ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

Yes, that is to mitigate the back-feed when high loads switch off (mostly the geyser) and to have the benefit of the extra amps if I ever need to startup big loads. I tried zero and 20watts before but ended up over-running by 100 to 200 watts back to the grid for split second. The sweet spot for my setup seems to be 50watts. Goal is to give Eskom as little of my power as possible. This will all only change when I am ready to try fully off-grid again or when I am "forced" by Eskom to go that route.

No, All my loads are on the grid side with only my home-lab server on the Essentials side. When/if the grid goes down then all the loads are automatically switched to the essentials side.

It makes sense. Luckily I don't have high enough loads so I can run my system on UPS only but when mowing the lawn if I remember I switch my Grid on.

18 minutes ago, Demo said:

Yeah December was a good month for solar 👍

Dec does not stand out for PV production. Due to the rainy days in Nov and Dec they are about the same as my winter time. In winter i do loose out due to 1 string on a flat car port and shade after 12h on this string. The 2nd string is great and faces north with no shade.

My figures for 2025. Only upgraded from Axpert to Deye in Feb.

Edited January 2Jan 2 by Scorp007

Surprisingly even with all the rain in December production was pretty good. Additional 6 panels were installed 19 September, 3rd battery was done 9 October. New loads from 3 November is pool pump (8hrs a day) and heat pump (5hrs a day).

December 2025 was my highest yet in production.

0 Grid from Oct 2025 (the Dec 2025 2.1 was to correct the reading on the meter due to accumulated micro feedback over time so a nett 0 still on the account). Usually I only start using grid round about Apr-May.

Had a little speed bump in the middle of the year when 2 batteries had to go back to get them fixed hence the higher units during 2025 but below is a broader scope of my solar journey.