Cape Town - Solar Install Quotation

SauRoNZA said:
They sit at the bottom don’t they?

But yeah that should just be a case of going you or down. And it’s still an open air space I reckon not like a cupboard or something.

Will definitely keep it in mind.
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I ran a washing machine, pool pump, air fryer and oven today and the system fed almost all of it on solar. about 20% was pulled from Eskom. Very interesting to see how it works.
 
RonSwanson said:
If it was my place, I'd get rid of the old kitchen cupboards. :D Inverter to the left of the DB, remember that the display should be at eye level when you are in your slippers (and jarmies).
Batteries below. Not sure how waterproof your garage door is, but I would start out at the left and populate towards the right.
Battery fuses between the two (remember that DC is separated from AC). Switchgear can fit to the right, above and below the existing DB. I agree with your installer, it's a good great idea to trim the plaster, it's cute and a nice touch when you have few boxen, but it becomes a pain when you consider that there are a whole lot more in a solar install. Don't forget a dedicated plug and circuit for the prepaid meter, and possibly a genny input for the Aux.
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He he, you and my wife both. They were there when we moved in and serve a practical purpose. But I may just paint them as well at some point. Once I painted the rest of the garage that is.

Will definitely never be putting a generator in, that’s for sure.

Water not a problem, it basically can’t get in there even with the air gap in the worst rain due to the eaves out front.

Could well up on the floor, but obviously not installing anything that low.

Dedicated plug and all that I leave up to them.
 
neoprema said:
I ran a washing machine, pool pump, air fryer and oven today and the system fed almost all of it on solar. about 20% was pulled from Eskom. Very interesting to see how it works.
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You mean all at the same time?

Or just overall?
 
Chris.Geerdts said:
I'm taking the plunge on Monday morning - with what seem to be typical for many forumites : sunsynk 5kw, Hubble 5.5kWH

I'll have 10 x 460W JA panels. in 2 strings (East / West). There are some large trees on the east/west which I appreciate but don't help with the panels much.

Consumption has been around 550-650kWh/pm so I'm going for a partial solution - certainly in deep winter.

I have a gas hob and solar geyser

I got help from Steve@Powerforum. He's overworked so I've had to wait a while but will let you know how it goes.

Price, with installer and CoCT, is R124k.

I had a generator before so I'll also be hooking that in. I decided that after looking at those Eskom capacity availability % trends over the years.
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Why not north?
 
SauRoNZA said:
Sorry I meant bottom of the left, but thanks for that.

Reason I wanted it more to the right is purely from a security perspective. But anyone with half a brain can see there are panels on the roof and know there are batteries inside the house I guess.
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Yep, but that means that your security is at the mercy of a garage door (if you have nothing else). So always good to think about security, and I agree with you in principle that what the eye does not see, the heart cannot covet.
Brings us to a whole new discussion on the security of garage doors in general. Most of the sheet metal panel types are atrocious, a 15 year old can pull the door at the bottom (in the middle), causing the door to bend and come of its rollers, especially if it's a double garage door. A simple locking mechanism in the centre (floor level) should mitigate against it, and I am not sure why the suppliers don't provide one (obviously automated to open with the remote control).
 
RonSwanson said:
Yep, but that means that your security is at the mercy of a garage door (if you have nothing else). So always good to think about security, and I agree with you in principle that what the eye does not see, the heart cannot covet.
Brings us to a whole new discussion on the security of garage doors in general. Most of the sheet metal panel types are atrocious, a 15 year old can pull the door at the bottom (in the middle), causing the door to bend and come of its rollers, especially if it's a double garage door. A simple locking mechanism in the centre (floor level) should mitigate against it, and I am not sure why the suppliers don't provide one (obviously automated to open with the remote control).
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Will be interresting to see the first theft of solar stuff from a house. Normally the house guys buy stolen batteries.
 
RonSwanson said:
Yep, but that means that your security is at the mercy of a garage door (if you have nothing else). So always good to think about security, and I agree with you in principle that what the eye does not see, the heart cannot covet.
Brings us to a whole new discussion on the security of garage doors in general. Most of the sheet metal panel types are atrocious, a 15 year old can pull the door at the bottom (in the middle), causing the door to bend and come of its rollers, especially if it's a double garage door. A simple locking mechanism in the centre (floor level) should mitigate against it, and I am not sure why the suppliers don't provide one (obviously automated to open with the remote control).
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I mean there is also a massive gate in front of it, but that can be scaled of course.

Fortunately I know my door is quite secure having had to forcibly (attempt to) open it on one occasion.

And I have a PIR in the garage as well alarm wise so when it’s armed nobody would have enough time to get anything done with the alarm blaring.

But I was more thinking along the lines of maybe forgetting the garage door open and someone trying to do a quick sneak job over the gate.

Unlikely, but risk mitigation where possible you know.
 
itareanlnotani said:
With a small system like yours I'd suggest take a look at SSEG feedback.

The costs have changed (or are about to), so might be interesting for you to look into.

I've put a post up here with more details -
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Thanks for the suggestion. Your view in the article seems to conclude the CoCT deal is still not a good one, which is what I had thought (although I don't fully understand it).

To pay R10k upfront means a cost-of-money amount of about R125/month, and then you add R90, so you are at least R200/month down before you start and I don't have a track record of my system to see if will also be generating 200kWHz monthly to break even on that.

Surely that R10k +R90 per month is better spent saving towards a second battery?

I'm open to ideas though as I haven't finalised with the installer yet.
 
Does anyone know what i need to allow Siri to be aware of the Sunsynk? In particular to be able to ask her what is the current load from Panels, Batteries, mains etc.

And ideally to be able to ask her to do things like prioritize battery charging over solar for the time being etc.
 
RonSwanson said:
Good call. Steve may be overworked, but his insight, advice and integrity is legendary, well worth the wait IMHO.
I hooked my genny up at more or less the same time as the install, I combined it with the install of my second set panels because it was cheaper that way. Although I have never had to use it practically, I do test it every 4-6 months and rotate fuel. There are some dark weeks and months ahead, you won't be sorry if you get the installer to hook it up properly to either the Aux port of the Sunsynk or the classic way with a changeover switch on the grid side.
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Thanks for the vote of confidence and suggestions. We've hardly used the gennie since the blackouts of 2007 or so but Eskom's graphs seem to be indicating some action in the near future
 
Chris.Geerdts said:
Thanks for the vote of confidence and suggestions. We've hardly used the gennie since the blackouts of 2007 or so but Eskom's graphs seem to be indicating some action in the near future
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Yep, it gives you more options, plus it allows for black start capability if the batteries are flat and the grid is down. A dead inverter is pretty useless even when the sun is shining.
What capacity is your genny?
 
RonSwanson said:
Yep, it gives you more options, plus it allows for black start capability if the batteries are flat and the grid is down. A dead inverter is pretty useless even when the sun is shining.
What capacity is your genny?
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It's an embarrassingly large 6500VA - 14 years after purchase it has yet to work up a sweat.
 
Chris.Geerdts said:
It's an embarrassingly large 6500VA - 14 years after purchase it has yet to work up a sweat.
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Would have been better if it were slightly larger, people often forget that charging batteries and servicing loads simultaneously taxes a genny to the extent that it usually croaks. Fortunately with the Sunsynk you can "shave" the gen input to not exceed 5K, so it should still work.
 
RonSwanson said:
Would have been better if it were slightly larger, people often forget that charging batteries and servicing loads simultaneously taxes a genny to the extent that it usually croaks. Fortunately with the Sunsynk you can "shave" the gen input to not exceed 5K, so it should still work.
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Good point. I wouldn't like to invest more than that for capacity for a gennie which ideally will never be needed.
 
RonSwanson said:
Yep, it gives you more options, plus it allows for black start capability if the batteries are flat and the grid is down. A dead inverter is pretty useless even when the sun is shining.
What capacity is your genny?
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You should configure the inverter to shutdown before you flatten the batteries.
i.e. if capacity is less than say 10% shut off (or set at 50% for Dead Acid)

Soon as you get some solar, the inverter will start back up regardless of battery state anyway.
i.e. Even if you have completely flat batteries the inverter will come back on when it has sufficient input (via solar or grid or gennie).


Personally I wouldn't bother with a generator at the moment.

You'd need to have a few things go wrong - no battery, no sun, and no Eskom.
Not saying it couldn't happen, but you can mitigate against it needed (i.e. it's rainy day, eskom is off, lets run the washing and tumble dryer another day...)

If you do have one though, it should be configured to turn on when the relevant conditions are met - i.e. severely low battery (say < 20%), no grid, then run till batteries are charged to a sufficient level.
 
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