Generator vs backup battery price comparison

Not AFAIK, it can also start with a little remote. But he prefers the whole gennie to be switched off completely. So he has the battery on a trickle charger the whole time. If he wants to start it he has to turn it on and let it start up on the screen. Let it prime and then ignition. So a couple of steps are involved. Also with the auto start, it might start when he's away from home or in the early morning hours when it's not needed.

A couple of my neighbors have big auto-start diesel gennies and they start at the most kak times. Ultimately i think having battery backup is the better option with panels. And IF you have a big gennie that can carry the whole house at any given time you are pretty much sorted for anything.
 
Neuk_ said:
The house has two separate wings, three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the one, bedroom, domestic quarters and two bathrooms in the other with the kitchen in the middle of the house so I presume a geyser for each wing and the kitchen is fed from one of them. The double garage was built to be able to be converted in to a flatlet so it has a geyser which is not used and I am hoping the kitchen is fed from the main bedroom wing so I can switch off the other main house geyser.

Yeah, hopefully the Sunsynk can work without a battery else I will have to include at least one and then add at a later stage.
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Yup double check that, ah now that makes sense, but 60units a day is a lot, I'm sure with the 3 of you it will be less, unless you start getting tenants.
 
Lupus said:
Yup double check that, ah now that makes sense, but 60units a day is a lot, I'm sure with the 3 of you it will be less, unless you start getting tenants.
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Yep, it is a lot, and there is now way I want to be a landlord dealing with tenants issues.
 
Battery replacement costs needs to be factored in as well.
My 6500kva generator runs everything - quite reassuring to not have to plan your life around load shedding.
It must be bad having an event at your house and the power goes out.
 
I have a 12kva diesel genset and it starts via the ATS. Pain in the ass when power goes out at 00h00 at night and in the early hours :(
Still better than loadshedding, but with the price of diesel it's anything from R1500-R2000 a week on stage 3 and up. You also lose power for a minute or so between switching.

These are the reasons I recently switched to solar. Much more expensive of course, but if it's within your budget it's a no brainer.
 
BuckRogers said:
Battery replacement costs needs to be factored in as well.
My 6500kva generator runs everything - quite reassuring to not have to plan your life around load shedding.
It must be bad having an event at your house and the power goes out.
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Decent lithium batteries will last up to 10 years and even then it's not like they just run out they will still hold you for some years after that.
Fuel costs over that 10 years will far exceed battery costs.
 
zeb said:
I have a 12kva diesel genset and it starts via the ATS. Pain in the ass when power goes out at 00h00 at night and in the early hours :(
Still better than loadshedding, but with the price of diesel it's anything from R1500-R2000 a week on stage 3 and up. You also lose power for a minute or so between switching.

These are the reasons I recently switched to solar. Much more expensive of course, but if it's within your budget it's a no brainer.
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Yup and my 5kva inverter, power goes out, it beeps at me and that's how I know it's out :-)
 
Lupus said:
Decent lithium batteries will last up to 10 years and even then it's not like they just run out they will still hold you for some years after that.
Fuel costs over that 10 years will far exceed battery costs.
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I am not sure why people ignore or simply don't understand that with an ESS you get a lot more back for your money spent versus a generator where if there is no load shedding the generator is essentially an expensive eyesore while the ESS provides pay back each and every day. Sure, an ESS is a lot more costly up front and many simply can't afford to install one...
 
BuckRogers said:
Battery replacement costs needs to be factored in as well.
My 6500kva generator runs everything - quite reassuring to not have to plan your life around load shedding.
It must be bad having an event at your house and the power goes out.
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You can power a whole suburb with a 6500kva generator :)
You obviously meant 6.5
 
Neuk_ said:
I am not sure why people ignore or simply don't understand that with an ESS you get a lot more back for your money spent versus a generator where if there is no load shedding the generator is essentially an expensive eyesore while the ESS provides pay back each and every day. Sure, an ESS is a lot more costly up front and many simply can't afford to install one...
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Well I don't have an ESS yet, I've just got the batteries and inverter for now :-) but went with the most expensive option first.
 
jetlee said:
Excluding costs of fuel and maintenance is a false economy, load shedding 3 times a day at the rate of fuel consumption of the 2.8kv Mac is around 7 litres if you are load shed 3 times a day. At todays petrol price thats about 160 rand. So if we go through a week of stage 4, you are looking at a shade over a thousand rand, excluding maintenance.

I'd say that can become pretty expensive pretty quick ..
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So 1.5 years of load shedding 3 times a day every day to spend the cost of a battery-backup on gasoline

Not exactly a false economy. I get the point - but you're being a little disingenuous
 
Lupus said:
Yup and my 5kva inverter, power goes out, it beeps at me and that's how I know it's out
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Opted for mixed envioroment.

Mecer 24V + 2 x 250W solar panels for general household (Tv & lights)
Gas for heating & cooking
2.8 Kva Generator if need something more/longer/night.
 
AlphaJohn said:
Opted for mixed envioroment.

Mecer 24V + 2 x 250W solar panels for general household (Tv & lights)
Gas for heating & cooking
2.8 Kva Generator if need something more/longer/night.
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Got the 2.8kva generator, will look at gas for heating and cooking :-)
 
PsyWulf said:
So 1.5 years of load shedding 3 times a day every day to spend the cost of a battery-backup on gasoline

Not exactly a false economy. I get the point - but you're being a little disingenuous
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Not sure I'm following. If it costs R1500 per week of loadshedding at stage 4 (3 times a day for a week), thats 10 weeks = 15k .. which is the price of one of the systems in the article ? Unless I'm completely misunderstanding or my maths is shot ?

edit: OK .. maybe not quite R1500 .. but 7 litres a day * 7 days at R23 per litre (whats petrol at now .. cant recall off the top of my head) = R1127 + service at R150 (50 hrs) = R1277 per week (so not quite R1500 per week). so 10 weeks costs R12.7k besides the actual cost of the genny ?
 
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jetlee said:
Not sure I'm following. If it costs R1500 per week of loadshedding at stage 4 (3 times a day for a week), thats 10 weeks = 15k .. which is the price of one of the systems in the article ? Unless I'm completely misunderstanding or my maths is shot ?
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15k backup system wouldn't really cover the same load as the generator would to be fair.
 
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jetlee said:
Not sure I'm following. If it costs R1500 per week of loadshedding at stage 4 (3 times a day for a week), thats 10 weeks = 15k .. which is the price of one of the systems in the article ? Unless I'm completely misunderstanding or my maths is shot ?
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Nah your numbers are fine based on the article,the article didn't consider that 10K generator can run an entire house,those baby kits they list for comparison are not really capable of that
It's a bit like comparing a Car to a powered-moped :laugh:
 
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