We finally want to pull the trigger & go Solar

[spit]

I still love this idea and have been looking into the GeyserTech range of products for a next step upgrade path

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My sister bought a house that already had a similar system installed—specifically, the Geysertech Pi2R iX SMART geyser solar controller combo, hooked up to 3 solar panels.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been the great investment it claims to be. Every 10 to 12 months, the controller either breaks or something goes wrong and stops heating the water. Because of this, all the money she "saved" on her electricity bill goes straight into buying a replacement controller. After replacing the unit twice, she gave up. She had an electrician bypass the controller and the solar panels entirely. Her geyser is now just running directly from the grid like a standard, normal geyser.

This is just one person's experience and maybe others have had better luck, but I thought it was important to share it with you.

 

[Tomtomtom]

Every 10 to 12 months, the controller either breaks or something goes wrong and stops heating the water. Because of this, all the money she "saved" on her electricity bill goes straight into buying a replacement controller. After replacing the unit twice, she gave up.

That's bad. Did she attempt a warranty claim at least one of those times? I would start to suspect an installation issue though, maybe panels not grounded.

I have the Geyserwise Solar Eco MPPT 72V DC and have had no serious issues so far, but it's only been 18 months or so.

These are relatively simple devices so in principle there should be little that can go wrong. There are a couple of bigs caps that are probably the only "wear" items.

 

[SafariTin]

So i mentioned to the installer I am having to almost micromanage certain loads during the day to avoid over cycling of the battery although the system handles the geyser fine I dont like beating the battery with 6Kw sustained load, maybe I am being too cautious with it all being new to me, I dunno? He recommended the 2Kw element as a more solar friendly option, yes it needs to run for twice as long but could mean the difference between it running from panels versus the combination of battery and grid, I am trying to avoid grid as much as possible for geyser since we have to cook and the stove/Oven combo is on non-essential load for the timebeing while we try to save up towards gas conversion (every penny saved from non grid usage is going to help fund this) we've been supplementing alot of stove use with some skottel here and there as well (every bit counts)

This is the reason why I only drive my car max 100km/h. I also downclocked my CPU and GPU in my gaming rig and never run the microwave for longer than 60 seconds. Rather luke warm food than beating the microwave with load.

/sarcasm off - my opinion is that I bought the batteries to get the consumption savings. The small amount of degredation may make a difference of a year or two in the lifetime of the batteries, but by the time I need to replace them technology may have changed so much that I'd be happy to get rid of the batteries I bought in 2021 in favour of newer technology as opposed to having paid for consumption in 2026 and extending the life of my batteries by a few months.

That's bad. Did she attempt a warranty claim at least one of those times? I would start to suspect an installation issue though, maybe panels not grounded.

I have the Geyserwise Solar Eco MPPT 72V DC and have had no serious issues so far, but it's only been 18 months or so.

These are relatively simple devices so in principle there should be little that can go wrong. There are a couple of bigs caps that are probably the only "wear" items.

What would be the reason for using the Geyserwise Solar Eco MPPT 72V DC over my existing Geyserwise Max with Tuya Module? As I understand it my existing MPPT and inverter is already doing the DC to AC conversion and optimising the geyser. What am I missing?

 

[spit]

That's bad. Did she attempt a warranty claim at least one of those times? I would start to suspect an installation issue though, maybe panels not grounded.

Great question. I'll let her look into that as I have no idea. The company that handles the replacement also did the installation, since they are the only company in the area. She didn't pay for the replacement last time, only for the labour.

 

[BLG]

it's not too bad for now I mean we are offsetting quite a bit to the panels, today has been another crappy PV input day but overall - at least 3 quarters of that geyser load is being covered by the sun on most days with 1 quarter from grid (not perfect, but not bad at all either)

 

[BLG]

And when the Geyser is done doing what it does, we still have 2 hours or so to run the house and topup battery (battery also receives a bit charge BEFORE the geyser kicks in, as well as other things like normal houseload) and Dishwasher we got away with running twice in a day and still got a full charge by afternoon, today was pretty surprising with the PV up and down constantly, but a few Cloud edge bursts I think helped top up battery (we usually hit 100 SOC around 12pm or so, but today only hit 100% at roughly 2pm

 

[Tomtomtom]

What would be the reason for using the Geyserwise Solar Eco MPPT 72V DC over my existing Geyserwise Max with Tuya Module? As I understand it my existing MPPT and inverter is already doing the DC to AC conversion and optimising the geyser. What am I missing?

If you already have your geyser on evacuated tubes I wouldn't necessarily retrofit.

If you have no solar yet then an MPPT for your geyser gives the fastest ROI. A geyser is a large resistive load. It does not need 230 V, so it does not need an inverter. So it doesn't need a battery either (it is a thermal battery itself essentially). So ~10-15% of the capital outlay can get you the first ~40% saving.

But if you already have a full house inverter setup and you are short on inverter headroom then moving the geyser onto its own MPPT could still be a reasonable upgrade.

 

[bwana]

Getting quotes for solar next week. What sort of questions should I be asking them?

 

[acidrain]

Honestly I've never asked any questions, none that would've been at all pertinent but the invoice should have all the information you would need to compare. If not then those would be the questions you would ask. Manufacturer and model names, batteries 0.5c or 1c. Solar panels Mono or Poly (you'd want mono).

Also depending on your future plans, if that includes working towards being as off-grid as possible, then look for an inverter that has 3+ MPPT's (generally 12kw range and higher). I say that because I've now capped out my 8kw so if I want more, i'd have to get a micro-inverter. #winterisabiatch

 

[bwana]

Honestly I've never asked any questions, none that would've been at all pertinent but the invoice should have all the information you would need to compare. If not then those would be the questions you would ask. Manufacturer and model names, batteries 0.5c or 1c. Solar panels Mono or Poly (you'd want mono).

Also depending on your future plans, if that includes working towards being as off-grid as possible, then look for an inverter that has 3+ MPPT's (generally 12kw range and higher). I say that because I've now capped out my 8kw so if I want more, i'd have to get a micro-inverter. #winterisabiatch

Thanks for that. I’m trying to avoid looking like a total noob next week.

My immediate plans are as little reliance on NMBM as possible for my electricity on a budget of between r150-r190k.

 

[Crowley]

Thanks for that. I’m trying to avoid looking like a total noob next week.

My immediate plans are as little reliance on NMBM as possible for my electricity on a budget of between r150-r190k.

Will you be running everything on batteries or using gas for the stove, oven and geyser?

A lot of people swear by Sunsynk and Deye but there are other cheaper makes that will do the job just as well.

 

[Hazy_Living@79]

Thanks for that. I’m trying to avoid looking like a total noob next week.

My immediate plans are as little reliance on NMBM as possible for my electricity on a budget of between r150-r190k.

Thats a quite a big budget. What's your average daily consumption and average monthly consumption?

Post the specs that you looking at here or get quoted on and well chime in

 

[kolaval]

Will you be running everything on batteries or using gas for the stove, oven and geyser?

A lot of people swear by Sunsynk and Deye but there are other cheaper makes that will do the job just as well.

I've been wondering about other brands since it's been a while since the boom.
Luxpower?

 

[bwana]

Thats a quite a big budget. What's your average daily consumption and average monthly consumption?

Post the specs that you looking at here or get quoted on and well chime in

Monthly consumption is around 600kWh. I'm looking to (immediately) add some A/C to the mix.

Will you be running everything on batteries or using gas for the stove, oven and geyser?

We've got a gas stove/electric oven so everything else needs to be catered for.

A lot of people swear by Sunsynk and Deye but there are other cheaper makes that will do the job just as well.

Ok - thanks.

 

[purrr]

Monthly consumption is around 600kWh. I'm looking to (immediately) add some A/C to the mix.


We've got a gas stove/electric oven so everything else needs to be catered for.


Ok - thanks.

We've got gas geysers, they work well. If you did that your electrical requirement comes down by half.

 

[B-1]

Monthly consumption is around 600kWh.

Thats about the same as me.
5.7kw PV
20kwh batteries
8kw sunsynk

I want to add a few more panels for partial cloudy days but Ive been lazy.

Green: PV
Pink: load
Orange: grid

 

[JerryMungo]

Getting quotes for solar next week. What sort of questions should I be asking them?

Warranty, warranty, warranty… and who supplies them and what their experience is like when things go wrong. How long is repair turnaround.

 

[Crowley]

I've been wondering about other brands since it's been a while since the boom.
Luxpower?

Exactly that. We have 3 x 8Kw Luxpower inverters that hasn't given any problems in more than a year. One of the Revov batteries did develop a issue but it was repaired. It did take a few weeks to get it back but it's been happily purring along since then.

 

[bwana]

We've got gas geysers, they work well. If you did that your electrical requirement comes down by half.

I'm not sure I want to dump a perfectly good geyser right away.

Thats about the same as me.

Our use is set to expand with the addition of A/C, but by how much I don't know.

 

[B-1]

I'm not sure I want to dump a perfectly good geyser right away.


Our use is set to expand with the addition of A/C, but by how much I don't know.

I have an 18btu one in the bedroom but only need it a few hours to cool things down in summer.

The issue with the old compressor type was their start up current the new inverter ones are much gentler on the inverter.