What Inverter setups you running?

[Confucius]

Hmmm yes haven't thought about that option ....

Will be isntalling a 5Kw LuxPower and 5.12Kw Volta battery and 8 x 460w panels. The quote i got to do the convertion for the geyser is around R20k. so can rather get a bigger inverter and some more panels

Rather take the 20k and get a sunsynk / deye inverter and more panels. That way you have a true hybrid NRS certified inverter and can then back feed into the rest of your house when grid is available.
I also started with the geyser conversion, then installed a heatpump and thought it would be a lot easier on the inverter. Then I installed the inverter and regretted the geyser conversions.

 

[kenny'sgh05t]

# 5.6kw Kodac
# 5.1kw pylontech battery
#no panels yet..

 

[Morne Jordaan]

My setup.

5kw Deye inverter.
5kw Hubble battery.
8x 455W Solar panels.

Looking at a solution to get the Geyser off Grid as I fear with winter loadshedding is going to be proper bad.
But still getting quotes.

If there is a Carbie that can explain more about, Solar geyser PV \ Tube Geyser \ Instant geyser ect.

 

[PJtheKILL3R]

Looking at a solution to get the Geyser off Grid

You could look at installing a backup gas geyser, with the right diverter valve, if the water from the normal geyser is hot enough it goes straight through, if the water is too cold, it reroutes to the gas geyser.
You can have a look here
That or a heatpump are your only real options.

 

[Ageless_ZA]

Nothing, because I have the all-too-common empty wallet problem.

hear hear.

 

[MrPrisoner]

I'm getting the following installed this weekend, cannot wait, so gatvol WFH with loadshedding.

1x Sunsynk 8kW hybrid
1x Sunsynk 5kW LiFePO4 battery
10x Canadian Solar 545w panels

Then add more panels and batteries later. Gonna try and run 2 geysers, pool pump, and 2 small aircons off this and automate the shit out of it using HomeAssistant. Already installed all the smart switches and stuffies needed so the house can run itself depending on generation and usage. Wish me luck with the wife raging about cold water in the morning

 

[PJtheKILL3R]

Gonna try and run 2 geysers, pool pump, and 2 small aircons off this and automate the shit out of it using HomeAssistant.

If you try that with a single 5kWh Sunsync battery you are going to be bitterly disappointed.

 

[MrPrisoner]

If you try that with a single 5kWh Sunsync battery you are going to be bitterly disappointed.

The big stuff (geysers, pool, aircons) won't run on battery. I'll run the geysers and pool alternately during the day from panels and/or grid once the batteries are charged. Batteries are gonna be for evenings especially load shedding times. I'll probably supplement from grid in evenings until I get more batteries.

 

[Daywalker]

This thread proper makes one feel poor!

 

[Joe Banker]

House has a gazillion loadshedding bulbs, getting ecoflow delta to run my stuff while power is off. I can't justify dropping 200k on solar. Makes no sense.

 

[Havoc]

1 X 5Kw Deye Inverter
7 x 455W Panels
2 x 5KW greenrich batteries

Hopefully can add another string of 7 x 455W panels.

Yield of last year (since FEB)

 

[pikolec]

For a family of 4, what are the options around geysers?
I've heard of adding them to inverter, add gas (seems like a huge effort unless you already have gas), solar geyser or just not adding it to any setup and rely on the load shedding gods.

My current thinking is to just leave them tied to grid as that makes the whole set up *much* cheaper. The geyser seems to retain most of the heat even when I've turned of off overnight (that was NOT a fun morning!). So even if there is 4 hours of load-shedding overnight there should be enough stored heat.

 

[Adagio_Leopard]

I have a teeny weeny little setup currently.
Running an 1KW Axpert I got for free and fixed it up.
3 160W Panels
200A 12V LiFePo4

Get around 2KW per day.
But I made a deal on a 5KVA Axpert recently with a 48V 50A Battery
Gonna need to get new solar panels though.

 

[Adagio_Leopard]

1 X 5Kw Deye Inverter
7 x 455W Panels
2 x 5KW greenrich batteries

Hopefully can add another string of 7 x 455W panels.

Yield of last year (since FEB)
View attachment 61857

What do you use to collect your data?

 

[Havoc]

What do you use to collect your data?

HACS with the solarman integration

GitHub - StephanJoubert/home_assistant_solarman: Home Assistant component for Solarman collectors used with a variety of inverters.
With the default wi-fi dongle, I have tried to do the Rasberry PI connection for live data feed-in but I gave up on that LOL!

 

[DuncanBH]

@pikolec I'd say go gas with 4 people using the same geyser and waiting for it to warm up seems like a waste ,but there's no return from it , if you have the cash go big on inverter setup and use as little eskom as possible . Eventually system will pay itself off

 

[Jake92]

2 sunsynk 5.5 kw inverters
4x3.5 kWh pylontech + 1x4.8kw pylontech
8x420wCanadian solar facing east
8x460w jinko facing north
8x390 JA solar facing west
8x360w Canadian solar facing west

Most I generated on a day was 73kwh last year sometime. Now I generate between 35-40kwh.

you went to that cause you were selling to the grid.. now with loadshedding you cant send back into the grid. the CT isn't picking up load so it stops the generating of PV once the load is stable and batteries full..

 

[Jake92]

16kw Deye inverter
4 x strings
8 x 330w panels per string Total of 32 x panels ( adding 2x panels pm)
3x 4.8kw Lithiums

i use to generate 80+kwh but since eskom is on loadshedding most of times im averaging around 45-48kwh day..

 

[Confucius]

you went to that cause you were selling to the grid.. now with loadshedding you cant send back into the grid. the CT isn't picking up load so it stops the generating of PV once the load is stable and batteries full..

No. I have a smart meter and can’t send back.

I just had a lot more load last year. 😂

 

[aiccc]

Pls would you guys add pricing and installer details

 

[Wimmas89]

Looking for installers in CT area, if anyone can recommend, please.

 

[Confucius]

Pls would you guys add pricing and installer details

🤣 I lost count. Installer = myself.

 

[DuncanBH]

So just wondering what setups everyone is running for interest sake and how much yield you getting with solar panels ?

My setup
# 5kw luxpower inverter
# 5kw greenwhich battery
# 8x 455w longi mono panels
yielding from Panels 13-16kw/h per day so far on sunny days

80k installer myself

 

[DuncanBH]

No. I have a smart meter and can’t send back.

I just had a lot more load last year. 😂

Ive seen guys try ,smart meter did not like the idea, neither did transformer in estate XD

 

[Confucius]

Ive seen guys try ,smart meter did not like the idea, neither did transformer in estate XD

I’ve heard that some meters will go into temper mode and get locked and then it needs the municipality / eskom to unlock. Other meters will just bill you even though you feedback.

I have fed back a few kWh over the years and didn’t have any tripping.

I won’t mind feeding back even if I don’t get paid for it but I ain’t going to fork out 10k for a meter that allows feedback.

 

[DuncanBH]

I’ve heard that some meters will go into temper mode and get locked and then it needs the municipality / eskom to unlock. Other meters will just bill you even though you feedback.

I have fed back a few kWh over the years and didn’t have any tripping.

I won’t mind feeding back even if I don’t get paid for it but I ain’t going to fork out 10k for a meter that allows feedback.

not sure what meter my boss had but the solar oaks tried feeding into grid smart meter blew and estate DB tripped.
Took a week for a new meter to arrive at least his solar worked well.

 

[MrPrisoner]

Seems like feeding into the grid and getting paid might become a reality. We'll see if and when this gets implemented... Big changes coming for rooftop solar in South Africa: Ramaphosa

 

[Adagio_Leopard]

HACS with the solarman integration

GitHub - StephanJoubert/home_assistant_solarman: Home Assistant component for Solarman collectors used with a variety of inverters.
With the default wi-fi dongle, I have tried to do the Rasberry PI connection for live data feed-in but I gave up on that LOL!

Friend of mine runs Solar-Assistant, and that appearently integrates well with HASS. I run HASS on a pi and made a little ESP Board to interface with my Axpert.

 

[gavin286]

Just started with my setup recently so just running backup at the moment.

5kW Kodak OGX5.48a Inverter
4.8kWh Pylontech UP5000

Looking at adding around 8 400-500W panels when the budget allows for it and then another UP5000 after that so I can go 1C. For now its not an issue as the kitchen circuit is not on back up.

Careful with the Kodak units. A family member had one that went bang after just over a year...

 

[gavin286]

I'm getting the following installed this weekend, cannot wait, so gatvol WFH with loadshedding.

1x Sunsynk 8kW hybrid
1x Sunsynk 5kW LiFePO4 battery
10x Canadian Solar 545w panels

Then add more panels and batteries later. Gonna try and run 2 geysers, pool pump, and 2 small aircons off this and automate the shit out of it using HomeAssistant. Already installed all the smart switches and stuffies needed so the house can run itself depending on generation and usage. Wish me luck with the wife raging about cold water in the morning

Nice one dude! Its an absolute life changer having power to carry on with things with this load shedding.