3KW or 5KW setup - please advise

Benedict A55h0le said:
You are an ANC voter and NHI supporter. Fokkof dronkie.

Getting a house with proper solar capability is the best advice ever. The only issue being cost for drunk losers like you. But Rouxenator is not like you.
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The only time I would sell my house to move is if you became my neighbour
 
Try get a quote from an installer and see how much roof space can be covered by panels. I think 5kw will be overkill for the roof space. Look if there are inverters that is capable to split arrays.

The solar geyser can be removed to create more space. Just keep in mind that a dedicated solar geyser is more efficient than heating a geyser with the solar inverter.
 
wingnut771 said:
Why? You now have space for panels and heat the water with solar power with your cheap 5kW inverter.
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Firstly, this solar geyser saved me thousands of rands over the last decade since it was installed. For more than half the year the geyser is switched off, and the other half the municipality switches it off via the ACD so we have cold water.
Secondly, this solar geyser cost me thousands of rands when it burst in May and I replaced the burst fibreglass one with a copper one.

The common denominator being there is thousands of rands - something - and a strong emotional (rage) attachment to my solar geyser. I highly doubt running the geyser off PV will be as efficient as it is now.

Thus, the solar geyser stays. It is just a question now of whether I can get 4 panels fitted for 5kW or rather go 3kW with 3 panels.
 
I see why they are saying to get rid of the solar geyser.
It is essentially a waste of space considering all it is doing is keeping your geyser hot.
Nothing else.
That space could be used for additional PV panels for your array.
Thereby the solar is heating up the geyser for say 2hrs a day.
Then for the rest of the day those pv panels are tied in with your grid.
 
Pineapple Smurf said:
I see why they are saying to get rid of the solar geyser.
It is essentially a waste of space considering all it is doing is keeping your geyser hot.
Nothing else.
That space could be used for additional PV panels for your array.
Thereby the solar is heating up the geyser for say 2hrs a day.
Then for the rest of the day those pv panels are tied in with your grid.
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Makes sense when looking at it that way, but still not gonna happen due to the attachment I have to that infernal geyser.

You could say I am married to it - in a sense.

In my case it makes sense to keep track of my original goal. It was to wire up 1 panel to my 1KW inverter in the event of a grid collapse. The results of that was very encouraging which is why I am thinking of this upgrade.

If I were to come in from a different angle, say going as big as I can on solar power then getting rid of the solar geyser would probably rank higher on the list of options.
 
Build a garage or carport and place them on top, or just build a new structure for the panels
 
Rouxenator said:
Firstly, this solar geyser saved me thousands of rands over the last decade since it was installed. For more than half the year the geyser is switched off, and the other half the municipality switches it off via the ACD so we have cold water.
Secondly, this solar geyser cost me thousands of rands when it burst in May and I replaced the burst fibreglass one with a copper one.

The common denominator being there is thousands of rands - something - and a strong emotional (rage) attachment to my solar geyser. I highly doubt running the geyser off PV will be as efficient as it is now.

Thus, the solar geyser stays. It is just a question now of whether I can get 4 panels fitted for 5kW or rather go 3kW with 3 panels.
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Sell the solar geyser and use that money to buy your 48V battery and more panels and maybe an extra geyser for more hot water storage to get through a couple of days of bad weather.
 
wingnut771 said:
Sell the solar geyser and use that money to buy your 48V battery and more panels and maybe an extra geyser for more hot water storage to get through a couple of days of bad weather.
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Now that you mention it - the old Franke is still up there and disconnected. Been like that since 2013. Might need to sell that. But the solar geyer - I don't think so.
 
Pak Fa Fui said:
Build a garage or carport and place them on top, or just build a new structure for the panels
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Yup, was just about to say exactly this.
Carport on the north facing side of plot to gain as much sun as possibble.
If its in backyard you now have a lekker afdak for shade for summer
 
wingnut771 said:
Then you're stuck with 3kW.
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Nothing wrong with that.
I don't like all my toys in one cot
So far my setup is split as follows:
  1. Fibre ONT and Router is on Gizzu
  2. Lounge including hifi and computers and laptop and outside security lights and bedroom light on Mecer 2400VA with lead acids that I will upgrade to Hubbles when I have cashflow
  3. Ecoflow Delta Mini on standby for kitchen should I need to during long outages (I dont want to waste life cycles with this expensive inverter if I dont have to)
  4. Spare Room speakers and kitchen speakers and kitchen light on AMC UPS, which is also running speakers to bathroom
  5. Next step is to get geyser offgrid (I am going to go PV only with the AC/DC element as I hate the idea of water on my roof)
  6. Then final step is install a small 1KW Grid Tied Inverter to help soften the blow during the day when consumption at home is higher than night time usage.
 
Pineapple Smurf said:
Nothing wrong with that.
I don't like all my toys in one cot
So far my setup is split as follows:
  1. Fibre ONT and Router is on Gizzu
  2. Lounge including hifi and computers and laptop and outside security lights and bedroom light on Mecer 2400VA with lead acids that I will upgrade to Hubbles when I have cashflow
  3. Ecoflow Delta Mini on standby for kitchen should I need to during long outages (I dont want to waste life cycles with this expensive inverter if I dont have to)
  4. Spare Room speakers and kitchen speakers and kitchen light on AMC UPS, which is also running speakers to bathroom
  5. Next step is to get geyser offgrid (I am going to go PV only with the AC/DC element as I hate the idea of water on my roof)
  6. Then final step is install a small 1KW Grid Tied Inverter to help soften the blow during the day when consumption at home is higher than night time usage.
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We don`t care, this advice is not for you idiot. Rouxenator has a life with a wife and kids and your miserable system will never work for him.
 
Pineapple Smurf said:
Nothing wrong with that.
I don't like all my toys in one cot
So far my setup is split as follows:
  1. Fibre ONT and Router is on Gizzu
  2. Lounge including hifi and computers and laptop and outside security lights and bedroom light on Mecer 2400VA with lead acids that I will upgrade to Hubbles when I have cashflow
  3. Ecoflow Delta Mini on standby for kitchen should I need to during long outages (I dont want to waste life cycles with this expensive inverter if I dont have to)
  4. Spare Room speakers and kitchen speakers and kitchen light on AMC UPS, which is also running speakers to bathroom
  5. Next step is to get geyser offgrid (I am going to go PV only with the AC/DC element as I hate the idea of water on my roof)
  6. Then final step is install a small 1KW Grid Tied Inverter to help soften the blow during the day when consumption at home is higher than night time usage.
Click to expand...
How is consumption higher during the day?
PV only for geyser will waste more solar than using PV for everything.
How will you grid-tie with prepaid meter? Grid-tie also doesn't work during loadshitting.
 
My advice is to forgo with the "scattered" or bit-by-bit approach. Go full on 1 time and try to forget about Eskom as much as possible.
 
wingnut771 said:
How is consumption higher during the day?
PV only for geyser will waste more solar than using PV for everything.
How will you grid-tie with prepaid meter? Grid-tie also doesn't work during loadshitting.
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Higher during the day because I do washing in the day as well as cooking. Too drunk at night to go near my stove
Grid tie does work with pre paid meter, there is an additional box you buy for about R6k
Yes grid tie doesnt work during loadshedding, but I am not worried about loadshedding.
I have enough battery backup juice for the essentials
I am not interested in going totally offgrid, too expensive for 1 person
 
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