SauRoN's SomeWatt Solar Install

So interestingly now that I have 4 Dyness batteries and had a 4:30 hour load shedding in the night I didn’t adjust for my batteries went down to 12% instead of bailing at the usual 15%.

Shutdown is still set at 10% so I’m just going to leave it alone and see if it ever reaches that.
 
SauRoNZA said:
So interestingly now that I have 4 Dyness batteries and had a 4:30 hour load shedding in the night I didn’t adjust for my batteries went down to 12% instead of bailing at the usual 15%.

Shutdown is still set at 10% so I’m just going to leave it alone and see if it ever reaches that.
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Jirre, I'm not brave enough to go that low in winter. Sun availability is just too unpredictable here.
 
AfricanTech said:
Jirre, I'm not brave enough to go that low in winter. Sun availability is just too unpredictable here.
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I currently have mine set to 60%, that is a bit too conservative but I'd rather not stress about it.

Getting a third battery next month which will give me some more breathing room.
 
SauRoNZA said:
So interestingly now that I have 4 Dyness batteries and had a 4:30 hour load shedding in the night I didn’t adjust for my batteries went down to 12% instead of bailing at the usual 15%.

Shutdown is still set at 10% so I’m just going to leave it alone and see if it ever reaches that.
Click to expand...
Wow, you run 4 Dyness batteries down in a 4 & 1/2 hour slot? We have a lightweight household, my 1 Hubble now down to 70%, 2 hours into a 4 & 1/2 hour loadshedding slot.
 
SauRoNZA said:
So interestingly now that I have 4 Dyness batteries and had a 4:30 hour load shedding in the night I didn’t adjust for my batteries went down to 12% instead of bailing at the usual 15%.

Shutdown is still set at 10% so I’m just going to leave it alone and see if it ever reaches that.
Click to expand...
Nice, let's see if you can get to 100% in winter. I struggle even though we get more sun than you guys. 28 kWh is a good day running flat out, and even then it's about 80% by evening when factoring in daytime load. Definitely need more panels...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Nice, let's see if you can get to 100% in winter. I struggle even though we get more sun than you guys. 28 kWh is a good day running flat out, and even then it's about 80% by evening when factoring in daytime load. Definitely need more panels...
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Yeah 80% is easy but the 100% I’ve only seen twice since the new battery came, outside of force charging from grid that is.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I currently have mine set to 60%, that is a bit too conservative but I'd rather not stress about it.

Getting a third battery next month which will give me some more breathing room.
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Mine also set back to 60% with the latest LS.
SauRoNZA said:
No no I only reserve 10% for load shedding.

They were at 25% when the load shedding started.
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You a brave man. I checked i use about 10% per hour of LS. At night and early mornings i got caught out a couple of times. Now I leave a bit more juice in them for when LS starts.

With normal conditions of minimal/no LS I set them to 40% to be prepared for outages etc. This means I use more eskom than I would like but it is what it is.

I had to run my generator once since I had my system installed. Felt like a dumbass.
 
W@P said:
Mine also set back to 60% with the latest LS.

You a brave man. I checked i use about 10% per hour of LS. At night and early mornings i got caught out a couple of times. Now I leave a bit more juice in them for when LS starts.

With normal conditions of minimal/no LS I set them to 40% to be prepared for outages etc. This means I use more eskom than I would like but it is what it is.

I had to run my generator once since I had my system installed. Felt like a dumbass.
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Not brave at all, just very finely calculated.

My reserve is set to 25% across the board except for 16:00-19:00 which is 30% because I’m likely to be cooking in that slot so just keep a little bit extra.
 
SauRoNZA said:
In retrospect due to the above the only thing I would have done differently is putting in 2 x Sunsynk 5kW units rather than 1 x Sunsynk 8kW because it would have meant 4 charge controllers instead of just 2 which now makes it a bit more tricky to add more solar.
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Something you could consider is swapping with someone who has a 5 kW system (with some extra cash sloshed in somewhere). It looks to me as though they're the same physical size so it should be straightforward enough. Then you could just buy another 5kW.
 
newby_investor said:
Something you could consider is swapping with someone who has a 5 kW system (with some extra cash sloshed in somewhere). It looks to me as though they're the same physical size so it should be straightforward enough. Then you could just buy another 5kW.
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Much easier to simply buy another 8kW then.

Problem is rather the failing to plan as to where to fit it, but this also isn’t the end of the world as my wife would love to get rid of the cupboards currently in the way.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Much easier to simply buy another 8kW then.

Problem is rather the failing to plan as to where to fit it, but this also isn’t the end of the world as my wife would love to get rid of the cupboards currently in the way.
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Another 8kW would probably be the easiest, if not the cheapest. Then you'll have a lekker 16 kW peak power.

I'd have loved to go with a single 8kW but my budget wouldn't stretch that far. I may add another 5 later, but I can't fit more panels so it would just be for those odd peaks.

I have had a couple of occasions even so far when someone is using a hairdryer while aircons are running and someone else switches on the kettle, then there's a minute or two of darkness and cursing...
 
newby_investor said:
Another 8kW would probably be the easiest, if not the cheapest. Then you'll have a lekker 16 kW peak power.

I'd have loved to go with a single 8kW but my budget wouldn't stretch that far. I may add another 5 later, but I can't fit more panels so it would just be for those odd peaks.

I have had a couple of occasions even so far when someone is using a hairdryer while aircons are running and someone else switches on the kettle, then there's a minute or two of darkness and cursing...
Click to expand...

I reckon the loss on selling the 8kW to buy a 5kW would likely balance out or be near as makes no difference.

But I think for now I’m sticking to what’s working well enough.

In the future if electric cars become a reality I would start looking at a second inverter and more solar panels.
 
T
Snyper564 said:
Some unsynk no matter what... you need a dedicated plug for this. @RonSwanson can shed more light on it.

My system needed a dedicated plug - get it when doing the install dont do it after the fact.

View attachment 1315520
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Thanks for this tip.

My installer had not included it because I neglected to tell him that I had a prepaid meter so he included the plug as the meter no longer worked when plugged in the house.

IMG_9322.jpeg
 
Lupus said:
Weird mine works
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Look it's a bit hit and miss mine topped up ofter switching it on off on off turning three times and waiting for the next moon phase. Dedicated plug is always safest
 
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