Solar systems... Are they worth it?

AngryDog said:
Truth is solar uses batteries and batteries are expensive and no matter the battery it will cycle and once it cycles enough it will lose capacity and it will not last nearly as long BUT it was still a very heavy investment for something that will become a very large paperweight in the end of the day.
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Solar does not use batteries.
Soloar systems can run without batteries (Very common in the US and UK) - the primary reason for batteries is to store excess energy generated, for later use when the grid dies.

Of course in other countries, they export the excess energy to the grid and the supplier gives them credits or rebates back.

However, in SA as you know we need the batteries. Your car batteries were never designed for the job you gave them; and thus is why you keep having to replace them.

I have a full solar setup; costing me roughly 120k. I do no regret it and would do it again. On Monday our area suffered an 18hr outage because some trees fell on some pylons. My house did not loose power. I was able to keep all lights and plugs power for longer than 18hrs. We for the most part, carried on as normal.

In fact, since I installed my system in 2020; I have not lost power to the house once due to an area fault or load shedding.

Secondly, with the price increases from Eskom; I am saving more and more each time. I run the house roughly 15hrs off grid each day and yes, that includes my geyser which heats up from the solar as well.

My batteries will last me 10yrs (and a bit longer) - this is cycling them every day. Why? Because that was their intended design - to be discharged and recharged, daily. Unlike car batteries.

Not worth it?

Yeah, if you buy cheap **** and expect super car performance.
 
AngryDog said:
Good day Everybody,

It seems like 2022 is about realizations and facts rather then promises and snake oil.

About 7 years ago I got myself the cheapest and nastiest solar system I could find. Most of it came from local shops and so on and nothing fancy. My batteries was a couple of car batteries because deeps-cycle batteries was scary expensive at the time. I wanted Gel batteries but even those wasn't cost effective.

So did it work? Well for a time it actually did. My system was a 12Volt system and I doubled the amps with a parallel setup. I was so sure the thing would catch fire i mounted it outside and ran an power extension cord to my home. Also car batteries produces fumes
and because of that I got a piece of rubber and kept them in a cool dark place that was very well ventilated.

And it worked! No fire, no brimstone and it just did what it was suppose to do. I was able to keep my basics running and took care not to overload the system. I had lights, I had the ability to charge my devices and from time to time i even ran a 12 volt refrigerator on the batteries. It just worked.

The cheap solar panels burned out fast and one couldn't survive a hail storm but it worked. So i mounted my solar panels to a custom frame and was able to detach and store the panels whenever the weather turned a bit bad. Also second time around my panels didn't get damage or burned out.

Now to be clear my system is stand alone and is in no way connected to the house as stated before I got an extension cord and used it like that till this day.

I had to replace my batteries twice in the 7 years but considering how much of a hammering they got from being constantly charged and discharged I expected as much.

All this said I will not spend R40k on it or R60k on it or even a R100k. This one client of ours had a 5kw system and it worked out to about R20k per 1Kw and that is a lot of money. My tiny little 800Watt inverter cost me about R900 and the panels i can't count because i had to buy them twice. But in total if i spend R5k on it, it would be a lot.

But i must mention this, invest in a good fluke. One that can give you Hz reading and check that it the inverter runs at 50Hz AND you get 230 Volts.

But if you have to keep the bigger stuff going I would invest in a good generator. They are a lot cheaper and can push a lot more power on demand then what solar does. I wouldn't spend those insane numbers on solar.

Truth is solar uses batteries and batteries are expensive and no matter the battery it will cycle and once it cycles enough it will lose capacity and it will not last nearly as long BUT it was still a very heavy investment for something that will become a very large paperweight in the end of the day.



cheers
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1642767415395.png

I dont think I need to say anything else. Spent around R100k on this system incl the 2nd phase of my install
 
My system is about R15k per kw. My electricity bill this month will be R100 and I never sit without power. 12 hour outage recently without an issue. I can survive comfortably for days on end with clear skies.

I have enough excess generation to start mining crypto to generate income and pay back my investment.

Generators…. never again unless I really don’t have a choice. The fumes and noise drives me mad.
 

Snyper's Solar Farm

Hi all, I am finally getting round to making this thread. After loads of research and another bout of load shedding I finally decided to pull the trigger and load shed Eskom. Prior to going solar I already had all the lights on LEDs, house is kitted with energy efficient appliances and...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za

My detailed thread would do it again in a heart beat!
 
Lupus said:
You bought cheap and expected it to run properly? Solar systems if done right can give exactly what they promised.
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Agreed couldnt be happier with mine - its far exceeded my expectations!

1642768354896.png
Had 2 hailstorms so far no issues
 
So what you are saying is you can either buy a R100k car to drive to work and back or you can buy a cheap scooter for R5k that will work. No difference in your eyes.

So do you drive a R5k scooter or a R100k car?
 
Yeah..

Missing some facts there and plenty of opportunity to recoup your investment in an actual solar system and not the shoddy nonsense you setup thinking that it is "solar"..

Few guys already mentioned it here.. A properly planned solar system will have your house electricity generated directly from the solar panel during the day and store the excess for use when the grid power dies.. you can decide to instead have the batteries be used to cover usage over night though, or have a blended approach, where high power appliances draw from grid, oven/stove/kettle/geyser etc..

In any case, all those appliances drawing directly from the solar panels, is cost savings, which eventually balances out your initial investment and then you start running into profit, so to speak, which you put away towards replacement batteries.. if you do it right, you can get away for years and years without battery replacement.. by the time you have to replace them, battery technology could have gotten so advanced, they might even last decades..

Enjoy your short sighted views on solar though.. your client who did it properly, is smiling, while you are moaning about something you don't understand..
 
Generated 15MWh in 18 months (which is rookie numbers compared to others), and saved around R35k on my bill. The system will pay for itself in the usual 8 year period. All else being equal.

That being said, to me it was a business expense as I run my business from home. Outside of convenience, I cannot work if power is off. The loss of potential revenue at the time, due to load shedding, brought the pay back period down to around 4 years conservatively.

But, as others have said earlier, most of us that can afford to do so, do put a rather high value on convenience. The scooter vs car analogy is pretty apt. Everyone is different though, so the OP trying to justify his argument as applicable to every one else seems silly.
 
Solar systems aren't worth it at all.

I mean, who wants cheaper electricity than Eskom or Muni's will charge you, and who wants to have electricity when there is loadshedding.

Stop being ridiculous, and taking advantage of cheaper pricing, and more reliable service. Join the rest of the country in accepting overpriced subpar services, and be happy.
 
These two pics should be enough.

Saved over R55k since installation for a real solar setup and not the cobbled together backup system you have running.

Generators also incur a continuous fuel expense and looking at the price of petrol, its only going to get more expensive.

I run my whole house including geyser and air conditioning from my solar panels during the day and from the batteries at night. Even with this my batteries should still be usable after 10 to 15 years. Screenshot_20220122-171319_Excel.jpgScreenshot_20220122-233125_SOLARMAN%20Smart.jpg
 
AngryDog said:
I was told even the best solar panels can't generate a lot of power in cloudy weather. It is documented between 10% to 25% in cloudy conditions depending on model, location and temperature as ironically even solar panels "depending on model and make" has a peak of 25 Celsius and at that point they may produce less or no power.
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If you buy " cheap and nasty" and install the panel indoors I guess you will have no output above 25 Celsius.

Your posts are full of bias and small little untruths to add weight to you arguments but in fact all they do is to show your ignorance on the topic.
 
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