Solar opinions

Major Boredom said:
That is a normal gas geyser , not circulating hot water in the tank ?
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yes but it would be the same temp of the water coming into the normal geysertank
Major Boredom said:
Minimums last night were fairly low.
That unit is probably in the shade , hasnt been on in a long time and and still warming up from the low minimums we have had this week.
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again not everyone lives in Hothazel -
Major Boredom said:
That is not the temp of incoming water. It is the outgoing water which has cooled down since you used it prev evening
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it is the temp of incoming water - and this wasn't the first use but it is the incoming cold water - which would also be the water going into the geyser - in winter its moerse cold in summer its not(lol warm actually)
Major Boredom said:
Temp underground does not fluctuate as much as above ground as soil does insulate to some degree so the temp variation between high and low is much smaller
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even before it gets to me the pipes are very shallow Joburg water did a kak job - yes burst pipes are common.

either way the water coming in to my home in winter is colder then 25C
 
Major Boredom said:
So just one thing on this. It may be minor and outweigh other considerations

An inverter has in internal usage of 50W to 100W depending on the make and model you get. Some of the cheap inverters can be higher. The kodak (axpert clone) abortions I started off with were.
Over a 14 hour period per inverter that equates to 700W to 1.4KW per inverter

In a case where you have no grid power outside solar hours you will need to cater for 1.4 to 2.8KW of power usage just for your inverters to run in those 14 hours per day.
Just something to keep in mind making a choice between a 1 or 2 inverter setup. The graph below is from my 8Kw system and you can see in the nightime hours where solar is not in use and grid is not being used the stable difference between house load and battery output
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That's a very good point to consider the self-consumption of the inverter. I hadn't considered it when installing mine, but I certainly wouldn't be happy to have a second inverter consuming that same amount of power all night long.
 
1am7h30n3 said:
That's a very good point to consider the self-consumption of the inverter. I hadn't considered it when installing mine, but I certainly wouldn't be happy to have a second inverter consuming that same amount of power all night long.
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I have seen too many "adverts" where installers are selling a small system guarented to save you money where it is 1 or 2 cheap inverters paired off a single 5 battery. And completely ignoring the fact that 30 to 50% if not more of the available battery capacity will be used just to keep the inverter powered on overnight. yes you will save money because of the solar. GL with the rest
And yes some cheap axperts only power from battery, not from grid
 
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isie said:
TBH they use at worst 100w each
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if you use 1kw ( cheap inverters specs themselves say 90% efficiency)
I know for a fact the cheap inverters I started out with were higher than 100w
 
isie said:
it is the temp of incoming water - and this wasn't the first use but it is the incoming cold water - which would also be the water going into the geyser - in winter its moerse cold in summer its not(lol warm actually)
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Does it show 60C when you actually use water ? The temp sensor is on the output , not input , ie after the heating fins
After a whole night that little bit of stationary water will be taken down to surrounding air temp
isie said:
even before it gets to me the pipes are very shallow Joburg water did a kak job - yes burst pipes are common.
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News flash - Burst pipes underground is not due to cold , but lack of maintenance and age
Burst pipes above ground are normally only attributed to cold when the water actually freezes and expands

The temp of water coming from underground has never been my discussion point
 
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Major Boredom said:
UH huh . As I said before you can fill in kw or kwh where needed.
Carry on being a pratt
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If calling out fake news and misinformation on public forums is considered prattery, then I'm happy to wear that hat.

As for pointing out your lack of understanding I was trying to aid you in realising you are overestimating your comprehension of electrical principles. A simple, oops I made a mistake would've allowed you to learn, but your continued push back tells me that you're not the most teachable guy around.
 
Speedster said:
If calling out fake news and misinformation on public forums is considered prattery, then I'm happy to wear that hat.
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So it is fake news / misinformation that inverters use power internally to keep themselves on :D lol

I understand completely the difference in kW and kWh . I just cant be arsed in being scientifically correct when typing quick messages where the meaning is clear.
 
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Major Boredom said:
So it is fake news / misinformation that inverters use power internally to keep themselves on :D lol
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As I said, I'm pointing out to you that you don't properly understand the fundamentals of electricity. It's pretty alarming that you don't even care. Anyway, what would you say if someone posted a thread about a car they were looking to buy and I posted the following:

With that car you can go 450km/h for 14 hours.
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Would you consider that to be misinformation?
 
Speedster said:
As I said, I'm pointing out to you that you don't properly understand the fundamentals of electricity. It's pretty alarming that you don't even care. Anyway, what would you say if someone posted a thread about a car they were looking to buy and I posted the following:



Would you consider that to be misinformation?
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Not outright no .
There are cars, that are claimed, can do more than 450km per hour. Whether they can sustain that for 14 hours , who knows.
The fastest land speed record , as far as I am aware, is 1,227.986 km/h

You see , you on the other hand provide no context
Anyway now tired of talking to prats
 
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Major Boredom said:
Not outright no .
There are cars, that are claimed, can do more than 450km per hour. Whether they can sustain that for 14 hours , who knows.
The fastest land speed record , as far as I am aware, is 1,227.986 km/h
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That's exactly what you posted. I see you've corrected your post since (well done), although you still say kWh of power. This, once again, shows a lack of understanding.
 
You need to see your actual consumption before you decide on what to get. it is better to get 1 inverter.
 
Major Boredom said:
I know the guy that did the house test and spoken to him a few times.
He wouldnt use a pos element and would have tried to create as close to apples/apples comparison that he could.
he is very active on the power forum and involved in the home assistant automation with inverters.
I wrote the solution that gets data from the sunsynk website into the home assistant platform
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Why did the element have 1mm of lime scale on it? I thought this was a scientific test comparing 2 elements?
 
isie said:
TBH they use at worst 100w each
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100W doesn't sound like much (you're using a worst case, I agree many inverters are better) but if you think of it in context of a 4.8kWh battery bank and 16 hours of the day where you're not producing enough solar power to cover your loads, that's 0.1kW*16h = 1.6kWh, which is 33% of your entire energy storage capacity wiped out just by having your inverter running.
 
Major Boredom said:
if you use 1kw ( cheap inverters specs themselves say 90% efficiency)
I know for a fact the cheap inverters I started out with were higher than 100w
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I'm not Afrikaans but goed koop is duurkoop
Major Boredom said:
Does it show 60C when you actually use water ? The temp sensor is on the output , not input , ie after the heating fins
After a whole night that little bit of stationary water will be taken down to surrounding air temp
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not tested today but when No gas in winter guess what the temp shows
so geyser gets filled with water its <25 - gas geyser incoming is <25

Major Boredom said:
The temp of water coming from underground has never been my discussion point
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If the PTC element needs to heat up from cold at what temperature would it need to heat up from
and as per the information I received from the manufacture at <25C it will use more KW then its rated for - which defeats the purpose of using less Power at least in that case which honestly is problematic for me as in winter my PV is lower in summer its a non issue.
wingnut771 said:
I’m sure the 5kW inverters that we are talking about are more efficient. Who adds 2 8kW inverters together?
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1am7h30n3 said:
100W doesn't sound like much (you're using a worst case, I agree many inverters are better) but if you think of it in context of a 4.8kWh battery bank and 16 hours of the day where you're not producing enough solar power to cover your loads, that's 0.1kW*16h = 1.6kWh, which is 33% of your entire energy storage capacity wiped out just by having your inverter running.
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honestly cant recall my inverter ever using close to 90w even when it pushed to the limit
some changes to your calculations - your worst day would probably 14/15 hours and that's say 3 months of a year - even a cloudy/ rainy day will get enough to cover the inverters own load - so the amount used will be less if you count it over a year.
tetrasect said:
Just one of the reasons why 5kwh battery capacity is not enough.
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100% this
 
Reading all the comments here as going solar is a no brainer now with Eskom pushing their prices up now and just makes sense to go this route. I am confused to an extent and maybe there is justification in 2 x 5KWinverters as opposed to 1 x 8KW inverter, but I have heard great things about Deye and not so great things about Sunsynk. Also keeping the inverter and batteries the same from a manufacturer point of view is best, but the price is almost double with another brand



1722583948809.png
 
duderoo said:
Reading all the comments here as going solar is a no brainer now with Eskom pushing their prices up now and just makes sense to go this route. I am confused to an extent and maybe there is justification in 2 x 5KWinverters as opposed to 1 x 8KW inverter, but I have heard great things about Deye and not so great things about Sunsynk. Also keeping the inverter and batteries the same from a manufacturer point of view is best, but the price is almost double with another brand



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link?
 
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