Late to the party solar thread

airborne said:
@Crowley amazing setup, if you don't mind me asking , approx what did it cost?
Click to expand...
It was very close to 300k. The install took a week with all the little unplanned extras that had to be fixed. The previous owner had plugs wired up together, light switches that were tripping the breakers etc. The installers are coming back this week to install a neutral bar in the main switch board as at the moment it is just a bunch of wires spliced together and covered with electical tape. I have no idea how the COC was issued when we bought the house.
 
Crowley said:
The solar installer explained to me that the 100 x 40mm trunking houses separate trunking for the different cables. One is fixed to the top and the other one running along the bottom.
Click to expand...
The electrical engineer who installed my system, explained to me my whole system and why he did what he did. I forgot 99% of what he said. But I do remember him telling me the ac and dc wires should be separated in different trunking. I cannot recall tje exact reason why, but mine is separated.

So the top is AC and the bottom is DC?
 
Crowley said:
It was very close to 300k. The install took a week with all the little unplanned extras that had to be fixed. The previous owner had plugs wired up together, light switches that were tripping the breakers etc. The installers are coming back this week to install a neutral bar in the main switch board as at the moment it is just a bunch of wires spliced together and covered with electical tape. I have no idea how the COC was issued when we bought the house.
Click to expand...
Some lekkertricians, like to take their certifications for a joke, and are willing to issue an COC for some under the counter money.
 
Very nice setup.

On the generation side and pv peak, maybe give it a bit of time to see the pattern there. We're fast approaching the shortest day of the year so although you should see good averages, those south-facing panels are going to be suffering a bit right now.

Mine are north-facing and even with my slightly OCD approach to keeping them clean, I'm struggling to see 80% of peak right now. I have 10x 550w and best I've squeezed out in the last 3 weeks or so is around 28.5kWh in a day. Usually around 26-27ish and from around Sep/Oct I'm able to get ~10kWh more than that in a day. Thery're relatively unobstructed with only slight shading until about 8am (at this time of year).
 
Last edited:
rh1 said:
The electrical engineer who installed my system, explained to me my whole system and why he did what he did. I forgot 99% of what he said. But I do remember him telling me the ac and dc wires should be separated in different trunking. I cannot recall tje exact reason why, but mine is separated.

So the top is AC and the bottom is DC?
Click to expand...
I honestly have no idea which one is which. I made a trunkingception joke when I saw that they were putting trunking inside trunking, that is probably why I remembered it. he did explain that they didn't need to use the 100 x 44mm trunking but running both sets of wires inside their own trunking inside the larger trunking made it look neater. Made sense to me at the time.

Flanders said:
Very nice setup.

On the generation side and pv peak, maybe give it a bit of time to see the pattern there. We're fast approaching the shortest day of the year so although you should see good averages, those south-facing panels are going to be suffering a bit right now.

Mine are north-facing and even with my slightly OCD approach to keeping them clean, I'm struggling to see 80% of peak right now. I have 10x 550w and best I've squeezed out in the last 3 weeks or so is around 28.5kWh in a day. Usually around 26-27ish and from around Sep/Oct I'm able to get ~10kWh more than that in a day. Thery're relatively unobstructed with only slight shading until about 8am (at this time of year).
Click to expand...
Today is a miserable cloudy day in JHB so we are only sitting on 12kWh solar yield for the day. I did speak to the installers about lifting the south facing panels to get a bit more sun every day. Thinking of something that will lift the panels to a more horizontal position instead of almost angled away from the sun like they are now.
 
The sun has treated us well, with our best generation reaching 54.7kWh, and our batteries consistently fully charged every day between 1 and 3 PM.

1758439837778.png


We've been mostly free from Eskom for the past few months. Our prepaid electricity costs have dropped from around R6000 a month to about R1000 a month, including the absurd service fees and all.

We experience an unusual power spike every morning around 1 that consumes a lot of energy. It happens at roughly the same time, but there are some days when it doesn’t occur at all.

Any thoughts?

1758440278561.png

Orange = consumption
Green = battery
Pink = SOC
Red = grid energy used
 
Not the geyser kicking in maybe?
Sometimes these switches get a bit confused.
 
Crowley said:
View attachment 1849997

Well, it's not the geysers.
Click to expand...
Strange, anything new bought since? is this the first time it's happening?
Maybe get some smart plugs on key appliances to see, cause I mean that amount of power is akin to a kettle, stove, microwave.
A freezer or fridge startup is around 1200 never that high and never that long that it registers. Do you have aircons?
 
Lupus said:
Strange, anything new bought since? is this the first time it's happening?
Maybe get some smart plugs on key appliances to see, cause I mean that amount of power is akin to a kettle, stove, microwave.
A freezer or fridge startup is around 1200 never that high and never that long that it registers. Do you have aircons?
Click to expand...
I reviewed the data, and it has occurred every day this month except on the 2nd, 4th, and 10th. No aircons and the only new thing is a server that stays on 24/7.

I plan to turn off the plugs at the breakers one section at a time starting tonight to see if I can pinpoint the issue.
 
Crowley said:
I reviewed the data, and it has occurred every day this month except on the 2nd, 4th, and 10th. No aircons and the only new thing is a server that stays on 24/7.

I plan to turn off the plugs at the breakers one section at a time starting tonight to see if I can pinpoint the issue.
Click to expand...
What server is it? Don't see it using almost 3000w.
 
Lupus said:
What server is it? Don't see it using almost 3000w.
Click to expand...
It is a Dell R730. On startup it pulls 550W from the plug but during normal operation it is running at a constant 150 to 200W, nowhere close to 3000W.
 
mmm is the wife using a straightener or hair dryer. Those things easily over 3000 w together.
Perhaps a kettle?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X