Warning about balcony solar systems in South Africa

mylesillidge

mylesillidge

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RaptorSA said:
" its entry-level balcony solar system was priced at R7,500 for 2x EcoFlow 100W panels and a PowerStream micro-inverter, increasing to R14,000 for an 800W system."

Jisses, that's not what saving money looks like.
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Those are ultra portable systems for camping etc, horribly expensive, tiny and pretty much useless for this use case
 
As far as I know, if it's not integrated into your household wiring it is 100% none of their business.

"South Africa currently has no electrical installation regulations".

Well, there is no "installation" any more than there is a for a normal standalone PC UPS or, for that matter, a power bank. You plug it into a normal wall socket and plug whatever you want to power into the device. It is in no way integrated into your household circuitry.

These things are really just glorified portable power banks with an integrated inverter. If they try to regulate this, then they're going to have to regulate pretty much any UPS.
 
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I'm all for the trend so use solar wherever possible.

But we all know the kind of person who lives in a small flat and would benefit from saving R250PM using a solar suicide connection hooked up to their wiring generally has a bedroom or living room power cord setup that looks something this:

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Suprise, surprise; people that would lose out financially from this asserts it isn't wortwhile. Yet, the UK is actively encouraging use by their citizens....

Why exactly wouldn't we use something that is affordable and helps reduce electricity costs!?
 
RaptorSA said:
Exactly, not sure why they're even mentioned.
Overpriced camping gear has nothing to do with the balcony solar trend.
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Because they come with optional solar panels that you can plug in and many people are using them domestically. Nevertheless, this is not integrated into your household wiring so there is no rationale to regulate them any more than they could a cheap 1000va Mecer UPS.
 
MrGray said:
Nevertheless, this is not integrated into your household wiring so there is no rationale to regulate them any more than they could a cheap 1000va Mecer UPS.
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Where does one draw the line on integrated, these systems plug into a wall socket and uses house wiring to distribute the power it generates. They cannot regulate it, when they show up at the gate you unplug it, shrug your shoulders and tell them to piss off.

For some clarity/myths that are sure to be spouted by some.
 
biena said:
Where does one draw the line on integrated, these systems plug into a wall socket and uses house wiring to distribute the power it generates. They cannot regulate it, when they show up at the gate you unplug it, shrug your shoulders and tell them to piss off.

For some clarity/myths that are sure to be spouted by some.
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It's not complicated or a grey area. Obviously, anything that back feeds or is permanently wired into your home grid is where the line is drawn. The only Ecoflow product that does that is the PowerStream and their marketing specifically says "Installation must be completed by a qualified installer/electrician and supported by a valid CoC."
 
I bought 3 panels. No mountings etc and threw them on my garage roof. Ran cables to inverter and 4 batteries. No COC, just LS backup.

Worked well until I started doing things more professionally. Was like that for 2 months.
 
MrGray said:
It's not complicated or a grey area. Obviously, anything that back feeds or is permanently wired into your home grid is where the line is drawn. The only Ecoflow product that does that is the PowerStream and their marketing specifically says "Installation must be completed by a qualified installer/electrician and supported by a valid CoC."
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That last statement is to protect themselves
 
Falls into the same category as people with generators who use a "suicide" extension cable to power their homes.

Most people buying these things simply use them as UPS's with solar generation for additional charging and not powering their homes via the nearest outlet.
 
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