Help me understand my setup.

wingnut771 said:
What problem does he have?
Click to expand...
His usage seems higher than normal. That’s why he is asking in what positions the breakers should be in. The inverter might be just idling while his house is being supplied with Eskom the whole time.
 
denmendez65 said:
His usage seems higher than normal. That’s why he is asking in what positions the breakers should be in. The inverter might be just idling while his house is being supplied with Eskom the whole time.
Click to expand...
The breakers shoukd be in the positions they are in now or else it wouldn’t work. He should follow @Flanders advice.
 
wingnut771 said:
The breakers shoukd be in the positions they are in now or else it wouldn’t work. He should follow @Flanders advice.
Click to expand...
That is all the OP wanted to know. The breaker positions. Flanders gave a description of how an ideal system should run. Not how the OP must have his breakers etc etup. If you say the breaker positions are fine then thats it.
 
denmendez65 said:
That is all the OP wanted to know. The breaker positions. Flanders gave a description of how an ideal system should run. Not how the OP must have his breakers etc etup. If you say the breaker positions are fine then thats it.
Click to expand...
I think he was asking what they all do. @Flanders was addressing the only “problem” of giving Eskom too much money.
Pv breakers turn solar panels off
Battery breaker turns battery off
Inverter in turns off Eskom feed to inverter that is used to supplement solar and battery charging.
Inverter out turns off inverter loads
Eskom/inverter switch bypasses inverter when on Eskom mode incase inverter blows up.
 
From what I can see your house is running on eskom and inverter is bypassed
 
denmendez65 said:
It’s all nice theoretically by OP wants to know how to do all this with the breakers etc he has. That’s is where the installer should have left some sort of documentation for him.
Click to expand...
I just switch everything off. I changed my earth leakage, did not die.

Afterwords switched everything on again.
 
denmendez65 said:
I can only speak from an industry perspective but no installation is handed over to a client without documentation to explain everything and operating procedure.

Heck a car, phone etc comes with a manual. Solar installers on my opinion are doing the good old “call me when you need help” and they can potentially charge. Verbal doesn’t work in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Take a simple house wiring without solar, do you get a manual for the electrical wiring? You generally just figure it out on your own or if you are confused you will have to call an electrician, right?

Pretty much the same with solar, your guy does the installation and thereafter goes through it with you, you can either take notes or memorize it.

Again I am not against a manual, all I am saying is that it is an extra cost item, some nice guy might compile one for you, but it's really not an obligation. I still agree though, factor it into the pricing under commissioning since it is clearly a necessary thing.
 
TheChamp said:
Take a simple house wiring without solar, do you get a manual for the electrical wiring? You generally just figure it out on your own or if you are confused you will have to call an electrician, right?

Pretty much the same with solar, your guy does the installation and thereafter goes through it with you, you can either take notes or memorize it.

Again I am not against a manual, all I am saying is that it is an extra cost item, some nice guy might compile one for you, but it's really not an obligation. I still agree though, factor it into the pricing under commissioning since it is clearly a necessary thing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the labels almost make it self explanatory. You just need to know the order in to shut down if there is a problem and the order in to switch back on.
 
TheChamp said:
Take a simple house wiring without solar, do you get a manual for the electrical wiring? You generally just figure it out on your own or if you are confused you will have to call an electrician, right?

Pretty much the same with solar, your guy does the installation and thereafter goes through it with you, you can either take notes or memorize it.

Again I am not against a manual, all I am saying is that it is an extra cost item, some nice guy might compile one for you, but it's really not an obligation. I still agree though, factor it into the pricing under commissioning since it is clearly a necessary thing.
Click to expand...
The easiest way to see if a laminated instruction is required is if your wife is at home and she can't reach you, will she know by just looking at the labels what to do in the event something happens? A 10-sentence elaboration on what each item is and in what position it must be costs nothing. It's just a piece of paper with lamination and 30 minutes to type out..

Not everyone is a solar expert/hobbyist or has any kind of interest in this stuff. The OP went years without bothering with the system, which I guarantee is the majority. But I do agree with you.
 
wingnut771 said:
Yeah, the labels almost make it self explanatory. You just need to know the order in to shut down if there is a problem and the order in to switch back on.
Click to expand...
He wouldn't have asked if it was self-explanatory. What is self-explanatory to you isn't to someone else.
 
denmendez65 said:
The easiest way to see if a laminated instruction is required is if your wife is at home and she can't reach you, will she know by just looking at the labels what to do in the event something happens? A 10-sentence elaboration on what each item is and in what position it must be costs nothing. It's just a piece of paper with lamination and 30 minutes to type out..

Not everyone is a solar expert/hobbyist or has any kind of interest in this stuff. The OP went years without bothering with the system, which I guarantee is the majority. But I do agree with you.
Click to expand...
I am afraid of going around in circles, I will conclude by saying, @Hemps should have taken notes and compiled his own manual when the installer was going through the system with him, he probably thought it was easy enough, hence he did not bother and now he has forgotten.

Alternatively the installer could have done the same and charged him for it.
 
TheChamp said:
I am afraid of going around in circles, I will conclude by saying, @Hemps should have taken notes and compiled his own manual when the installer was going through the system with him, he probably thought it was easy enough, hence he did not bother and now he has forgotten.

Alternatively the installer could have done the same and charged him for it.
Click to expand...
I did say at the end...

"But I do agree with you"
 
TheChamp said:
Take a simple house wiring without solar, do you get a manual for the electrical wiring? You generally just figure it out on your own or if you are confused you will have to call an electrician, right?

Pretty much the same with solar, your guy does the installation and thereafter goes through it with you, you can either take notes or memorize it.

Again I am not against a manual, all I am saying is that it is an extra cost item, some nice guy might compile one for you, but it's really not an obligation. I still agree though, factor it into the pricing under commissioning since it is clearly a necessary thing.
Click to expand...
Today one week ago my solar system was installed. Upon completion of the install, the installer went through everything, explaining how the system works, do’s and don’ts, all the different distribution boxes, switch-over procedures and very important, emergency shut-down procedures.

I was also given a file with all the information regarding my install, the design information, a wiring diagram of the install, user manuals of everything that was installed, a document with a breakdown of everything that was put up on the roof and the total weight thereof. Also included was the laminated emergency shut-down procedure to be affixed on the wall next to the inverter.

Everything and anything that one possibly would need to know about my system was included in the handover file.
 
geezer said:
Today one week ago my solar system was installed. Upon completion of the install, the installer went through everything, explaining how the system works, do’s and don’ts, all the different distribution boxes, switch-over procedures and very important, emergency shut-down procedures.

I was also given a file with all the information regarding my install, the design information, a wiring diagram of the install, user manuals of everything that was installed, a document with a breakdown of everything that was put up on the roof and the total weight thereof. Also included was the laminated emergency shut-down procedure to be affixed on the wall next to the inverter.

Everything and anything that one possibly would need to know about my system was included in the handover file.
Click to expand...
I did not have my system installed by an installer, but if I did. This is what I would have expected to be standard practice and places more trust in the installer that he did everything by the book and was thorough.
 
denmendez65 said:
I can only speak from an industry perspective but no installation is handed over to a client without documentation to explain everything and operating procedure.

Heck a car, phone etc comes with a manual. Solar installers on my opinion are doing the good old “call me when you need help” and they can potentially charge. Verbal doesn’t work in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I've installed 12 solar systems
Without exception, the explanation, while politely listened to, goes in one ear and out the other
Manuals are put away in a drawer. About 1/4 of the customers remember where they are when you go back
None read them - far too involved they say

One lady piled a 3m high load of used clothes and blankets in front and around the sides of the inverter, preventing any kind of cooling. It failed within 18 months and when I saw it, it was so hot some of the blankets were scorched, as well as smelling of rodents

It was my fault, she said

I did remind her to vacuum the dust filters once a month. "Oh, the maid forgot" was her response

The insurance co asked me why it had failed. I told them what occurred, but they paid anyway. That was a R28k inverter written off
 
chrisc said:
I've installed 12 solar systems
Without exception, the explanation, while politely listened to, goes in one ear and out the other
Manuals are put away in a drawer. About 1/4 of the customers remember where they are when you go back
None read them - far too involved they say

One lady piled a 3m high load of used clothes and blankets in front and around the sides of the inverter, preventing any kind of cooling. It failed within 18 months and when I saw it, it was so hot some of the blankets were scorched, as well as smelling of rodents

It was my fault, she said

I did remind her to vacuum the dust filters once a month. "Oh, the maid forgot" was her response

The insurance co asked me why it had failed. I told them what occurred, but they paid anyway. That was a R28k inverter written off
Click to expand...
A manual can't cure blatant stupidity, I guess.

Edit: Her husband, if she is married, must be one hell of a lucky guy. I sure don't think he gets blamed for the rain or the cold. Probably doesn't have a drinking problem or take high blood pressure meds
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X