Solar system - what lifestyle changes have you made

Snyper564

Snyper564

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RonSwanson said:
:love:

Which thread was this? Linky?
Click to expand...
Here you go :)

Smart light switches

Personally loving the sonoffs. Whole house has been set up and all the lamps in the house have been hooked up as well. Loving the automation. Some of the scenes used are as follows: 1. Movie lighting (voice command and one click button on home screen) - main lights in living room/library go off...
mybroadband.co.za

I was going to import all the sonoffs from Banggood but the price difference from Geewiz was R300-R500 in total for the 10 light switches so just bough local. They are super quick with next day delivery too!
 
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Saba'a

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Snyper564 said:
I just realized solar drove a lot of my home automation which started with this.

With the 4th hubble I dont care about some additional lighting - going for pure comfort/convenience now!

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If you love your switches, install other smart stuff eg irrigation and cameras. Geysers for timers and other devices on smart plugs.

Water leak detectors. Door sensors on main toilet door to switch on lights at night.

Viewing reolink cameras on TVs via chromecast or on the google hubs is great. Just a slight lag sometimes. Use it mainly for visitors at the gate.

If I had HA or another smart home hub. I would be able to do even more.

I'm invested in Google Home BUT if I had to start afresh, Amazon Alexa better option OR if you have time, Home Assistant is the way to go.
 
Snyper564

Snyper564

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Saba'a said:
If you love your switches, install other smart stuff eg irrigation and cameras. Geysers for timers and other devices on smart plugs.

Water leak detectors. Door sensors on main toilet door to switch on lights at night.

Viewing reolink cameras on TVs via chromecast or on the google hubs is great. Just a slight lag sometimes. Use it mainly for visitors at the gate.

If I had HA or another smart home hub. I would be able to do even more.

I'm invested in Google Home BUT if I had to start afresh, Amazon Alexa better option OR if you have time, Home Assistant is the way to go.
Click to expand...
I'm looking into the rest but my geysers and irrigation are also "smart"
 
ADrunkTeddyBear

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Snyper564 said:
I just realized solar drove a lot of my home automation which started with this.

With the 4th hubble I dont care about some additional lighting - going for pure comfort/convenience now!

View attachment 1280002
Click to expand...
That home address thing is an amazing thought! Gonna do that to mine as well!

I also have an automation to turn off all indoor lights when I leave home
 
RonSwanson

RonSwanson

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The Darkness said:
Unlikely. The Victron is a superior product, and coupled with their controller is even better. Support for Victron is direct and with a huge usergroup, easily diagnosed during installs etc.
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We are talking about lifestyle changes here, and that means residential unless you live in your office or factory. For the residential market, Victron's offering is decidedly poor, particularly considering that they are held to be the world leader. Just take a look at their Sunsynk equivalent: the EasySolar, which comes in 1600, 3000 and 5000 VA. Compare it to the Sunsynk's 3.6, 5.5, 8, 12kW 3 phase and 16kW models. To add insult to injury, they are overpriced, so nothing superior here except the price :p
On support, the Sunsynk is great, I have no complaints.
 
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calypso

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RonSwanson said:
We are talking about lifestyle changes here, and that means residential unless you live in your office or factory. For the residential market, Victron's offering is decidedly poor, particularly considering that they are held to be the world leader. Just take a look at their Sunsynk equivalent: the EasySolar, which comes in 1600, 3000 and 5000 VA. Compare it to the Sunsynk's 3.6, 5.5, 8, 12kW 3 phase and 16kW models. To add insult to injury, they are overpriced, so nothing superior here except the price :p
On support, the Sunsynk is great, I have no complaints.
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Derailed. But Victron has history, SunSynk does not. Some people prefer a European company over a Chinese one just like a BMW over a Geely.
SunSynk is by far better value for money, no doubt but modularity comes at a cost.

Either way, people can decide how to spend their money.
 
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P924

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calypso said:
Derailed. But Victron has history, SunSynk does not. Some people prefer a European company over a Chinese one just like a BMW over a Geely.
SunSynk is by far better value for money, no doubt but modularity comes at a cost.

Either way, people can decide how to spend their money.
Click to expand...
I would take a made-in-China inverter over the inefficient, overpriced made-in-India one...
 
Mike Hoxbig

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calypso said:
Derailed. But Victron has history, SunSynk does not. Some people prefer a European company over a Chinese one just like a BMW over a Geely.
SunSynk is by far better value for money, no doubt but modularity comes at a cost.

Either way, people can decide how to spend their money.
Click to expand...
This is not a thread about which inverter is best, most expensive or most value for money. It's about lifestyle changes that you've made after having a solar system installed...
 
Mzezman

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Sorry guys - could we move the victron vs sunsynk slapathon to its own thread? Im sure many voices would like a say in that?

As for lifestyle changes its more about moving things to sun-hours. I am in the process of automating these changes through HA - based on battery SOC, Loadshedding level, current and estimated PV etc. Having the geyser on non-essentials is great but definitely uses a lot of pV - 3-8kWh depending on the geyser temp - i dont have a way of reading this temp at the moment so perhaps thats another smart lifestyle change i'll have to do in the not too distand future

edit 1 - jinx @Mike Hoxbig

edit 2 - maybe i should just get a smaller element installed? current one is 3kw
 
Snyper564

Snyper564

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Mzezman said:
Sorry guys - could we move the victron vs sunsynk slapathon to its own thread? Im sure many voices would like a say in that?

As for lifestyle changes its more about moving things to sun-hours. I am in the process of automating these changes through HA - based on battery SOC, Loadshedding level, current and estimated PV etc. Having the geyser on non-essentials is great but definitely uses a lot of pV - 3-8kWh depending on the geyser temp - i dont have a way of reading this temp at the moment so perhaps thats another smart lifestyle change i'll have to do in the not too distand future

edit 1 - jinx @Mike Hoxbig

edit 2 - maybe i should just get a smaller element installed? current one is 3kw
Click to expand...
I have our geysers on evac tubes with geyserwise would have put this to my set up but was already done so is what it is. The upside is I can control the temp down to the deg and set the base at 48 for days power is needed this is hot enough that you have a great shower just no cold water is added. I can then also set multiple on times for power top ups if needed. Will likely do this mid winter to ensure its not needed early morning as my wife likes hot water in the morning and evening
 
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