Solar generation in rain/cloudy conditions

denmendez65 said:
He had 10, 90kWh a month is 3 a day. So he would wind up using more than the 90. The 20kWh purchase is justified as it saved him from using more units.
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but we can't see the future as you've displayed with accuweather, now don't you think its better to "spend" the R40k on batteries (10% SOC) first before dipping into the 90 units?
 
wingnut771 said:
but we can't see the future as you've displayed with accuweather, now don't you think its better to "spend" the R40k on batteries (10% SOC) first before dipping into the 90 units?
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What about if CP goes down? With 10kWh he would be draining them to 10% everyday. CP goes down then he must do the whole genie thing. Whereas the 20kWh he still has half the capacity left, CP goes down he doesnt care. For the little days he needs extra, just use some 5kWh and batteries are charged.

I dont think anyone likes the process of starting genies and filling them etc. You can automate sure but you still have to fill it and get it serviced.
 
denmendez65 said:
What about if CP goes down? With 10kWh he would be draining them to 10% everyday. CP goes down then he must do the whole genie thing. Whereas the 20kWh he still has half the capacity left, CP goes down he doesnt care. For the little days he needs extra, just use some 5kWh and batteries are charged.

I dont think anyone likes the process of starting genies and filling them etc. You can automate sure but you still have to fill it and get it serviced.
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How often does CP go down when at 10%?
 
Today with all the rain then sunshine ok here.:sneaky:

Last night was Brandewyn + Coke+ Ice. (Hail)

This morning after 7:00

20251125_073754.jpg
 
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wingnut771 said:
Getting max return on ROI would give me peace of mind.
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I think there's a balance. We dont have loadshedding anymore, but when the weathers this bad, i dont love to push my batteries down to below 50ish% overnight, in case something goes wrong with the power supply. Then at least I know i have around 7 to 8 kwh to cover me while trying to generate something.

Same thing on days when the weathers like this, outages can occur early evening. If the solars not topped up my battery, I'll charge from Eskom.

My ROI is more than made up for it during the 90% rest of the year.

If I have to take 5kwh daily from Eskom for a few days out of the year, I'll do it, for peace of mind.
 
Hazy_Living@79 said:
I think there's a balance. We dont have loadshedding anymore, but when the weathers this bad, i dont love to push my batteries down to below 50ish% overnight, in case something goes wrong with the power supply. Then at least I know i have around 7 to 8 kwh to cover me while trying to generate something.

Same thing on days when the weathers like this, outages can occur early evening. If the solars not topped up my battery, I'll charge from Eskom.

My ROI is more than made up for it during the 90% rest of the year.

If I have to take 5kwh daily from Eskom for a few days out of the year, I'll do it, for peace of mind.
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I get that but like I said, we can’t predict the future so start the day with empty battery and dont panic until 4pm then do a top up or whatever, not at 10:30am.
 
denmendez65 said:
I dont think anyone likes the process of starting genies and filling them etc. You can automate sure but you still have to fill it and get it serviced.
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Or like me try and start the brand new gennie because it hasn't been started in a while and then spend 3 hours trying to start it but its broken and needs to go in for repairs.
 
B-1 said:
Or like me try and start the brand new gennie because it hasn't been started in a while and then spend 3 hours trying to start it but its broken and needs to go in for repairs.
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That wouldn’t happen with lpg. :p
 
wingnut771 said:
That wouldn’t happen with lpg. :p
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I think the little stepper motor in the carb is borked so the fuel doesent matter.
I thought it was clever buying a inverter one but now there is just more to break.
 
wingnut771 said:
I get that but like I said, we can’t predict the future so start the day with empty battery and dont panic until 4pm then do a top up or whatever, not at 10:30am.
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Yup, I agree. I told Lupus to give it some time 😀. My cut off is normally around 4. If I dont have at least 85% battery, then ill top it up from the grid.
 
wingnut771 said:
That wouldn’t happen with lpg. :p
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A battery has no moving parts. Genie is kak. I am willing to get a small DC-DC charger and get a 7kWh lithium bank charged by my charge controller. 14k for battery, 2k for charger. Better money spent than buying a generator. If my GEL bank is low, just charge it off the Lithium.
 
Hazy_Living@79 said:
Yup, I agree. I told Lupus to give it some time 😀. My cut off is normally around 4. If I dont have at least 85% battery, then ill top it up from the grid.
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Yeah, sun has been out for the last 1.5 hours now. The weather report is quite accurate. People must just use the UV index to gauge, not the cloudy/rain/partly cloudy stuff.
 
denmendez65 said:
A battery has no moving parts. Genie is kak. I am willing to get a small DC-DC charger and get a 7kWh lithium bank charged by my charge controller. 14k for battery, 2k for charger. Better money spent than buying a generator. If my GEL bank is low, just charge it off the Lithium.
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You will never have enough battery for 7 days of bad weather, maybe its possible for you that uses less power than the dstv decoder.
 
denmendez65 said:
A battery has no moving parts. Genie is kak. I am willing to get a small DC-DC charger and get a 7kWh lithium bank charged by my charge controller. 14k for battery, 2k for charger. Better money spent than buying a generator. If my GEL bank is low, just charge it off the Lithium.
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You'll have better return if you just parallel the 7kWh lfp with the gels. That way the LFP does all the work until they're flat then the gels take over. There I saved you buying a R2k charger.
 
wingnut771 said:
You will never have enough battery for 7 days of bad weather.
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There is no such thing as 24/7 rain and such thick clouds that no solar is generated. Thick clouds where the block the sun out completely are there for maybe 2/3 hours. Then its some generation etc. In those 7 days the clouds will thin at some point. Does not need to be completely for the sun to come out.

If load is managed you will be fine.
 
wingnut771 said:
You'll have better return if you just parallel the 7kWh lfp with the gels. That way the LFP does all the work until they're flat then the gels take over. There I saved you buying a R2k charger.
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Flat vs linear discharge curve, different charging curves, different charging voltages.
 
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