The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

[RonSwanson]

That forum has lost all of its main contributors when it just became an advertising mouthpiece for power forum store.

I heard a completely different rumor to that one. But let's stick to the facts. If it's so bad on the powerforum, why are you still an active member then?

 

[calypso]

I heard a completely different rumor to that one. But let's stick to the facts. If it's so bad on the powerforum, why are you still an active member then?

Does it matter? The contributors are still gone and I like to see peoples installs (good or bad).

 

[The_Traveller]

You can’t take a working product with good rep and throw it out the window.

any new brand that comes into play has a lot to prove, and of course only time will tell on how solid they really are.

GLWP!

 

[RonSwanson]

Does it matter? The contributors are still gone and I like to see peoples installs (good or bad).

Powerforum looks pretty lively to me. The dissidents who left apparently established another one, I popped in the other day and it looked pretty lonely.

 

[Tariqe]

@Tander , Cape Town has the R170 connection fee, no matter if it is prepaid or postpaid

 

[The_Traveller]

Powerforum looks pretty lively to me. The dissidents who left apparently established another one, I popped in the other day and it looked pretty lonely.

quality over quantity ?

 

[RonSwanson]

quality over quantity ?

Exactly.

 

[Neuk_]

I agree but you can achieve that with a much smaller system or other tech. Secondly for most people its important to see that it won't just be a money sink to avoid load shedding but they will at least break even after a number of years.

What other system or tech gives you self reliance? Maybe if you are only concerned about load shedding then going for a full ESS is overkill.

 

[Neuk_]

@Tander , Cape Town has the R170 connection fee, no matter if it is prepaid or postpaid

Still cheaper than the R582.98 excl. VAT that we pay City Power on post paid.

 

[B-1]

What other system or tech gives you self reliance? Maybe if you are only concerned about load shedding then going for a full ESS is overkill.

You only really need self reliance for short periods at this point so having battery backup and an inverter or a generator is a cheap patch for most people.

 

[Neuk_]

You only really need self reliance for short periods at this point so having battery backup and an inverter or a generator is a cheap patch for most people.

Sure, that is not what we were after though, hence we went from having only an inverter and batteries to a more comprehensive ESS.

 

[TheChamp]

Unfortunately my funds are only coming on payday. But, hopefully I get it on their special. Thx

Anyone know if enway.co.za is legit? Their prices also seem decent on the Hubble. I don't really know most solar/battery online shops and I've heard of many scams.

Yes, enway is legit, I have bought a couple of things from them previously, great service.

 

[itareanlnotani]

Started on the cabling today, as the roof is good.

3 MPPT strings -> inverter.



Inverter see's the strings ok, and voltages measure right. Haven't connected up AC yet, as I need to have a think how I implement it still - I don't have a grid connection, and my "Grid AC" is actually the feed from my other offgrid solar system.

 

[TheChamp]

Started on the cabling today, as the roof is good.

3 MPPT strings -> inverter.

View attachment 1037704

Inverter see's the strings ok, and voltages measure right. Haven't connected up AC yet, as I need to have a think how I implement it still - I don't have a grid connection, and my "Grid AC" is actually the feed from my other offgrid solar system.


View attachment 1037706

Man, what are you saying now?

 

[Crush]

Yeah technically the inverter and batteries should not be part of the payback equation. They are there for backup power. The panels however can pay themselves back because they Ave you from using eskom. Having enough battery storage allow the panels to pay themselves off quicker.

At least that is how I see it for myself.

I agree and disagree with you. The way I see it is that yes, we would still want a backup solution so the inverter and 1st battery are a R60k sunk cost. However, for purely backup, I could have got a system that's R30k cheaper.

I then opted to spend another R60k on more battery capacity and solar panels. This now allows me to recover the cost of the entire installation over time. So I count my payback period in terms of the full R120k outlay.

At current usage and prices, it looks like a 7 year payback model for me. But that figure comes down with all the electricity tariff increases. I guess my best guess of a time period is 4-5years. Which is great, since the batteries and panels will still have some sort of value at that point in time.

From here, I'll always just look at the marginal cost of more battery storage, panels and the marginal benefit (in terms of lower bills) to decide whether it's worth upgrading anything.

Or another way to look at it is that if you pull R120k from your bond now, do the electricity savings outweigh the increased repayment today? In my case it does, so financially speaking it's a good investment, and I have zero impact from loadshedding. Especially important when I work from home as well.

 

[AchmatK]

I agree and disagree with you. The way I see it is that yes, we would still want a backup solution so the inverter and 1st battery are a R60k sunk cost. However, for purely backup, I could have got a system that's R30k cheaper.

I then opted to spend another R60k on more battery capacity and solar panels. This now allows me to recover the cost of the entire installation over time. So I count my payback period in terms of the full R120k outlay.

At current usage and prices, it looks like a 7 year payback model for me. But that figure comes down with all the electricity tariff increases. I guess my best guess of a time period is 4-5years. Which is great, since the batteries and panels will still have some sort of value at that point in time.

From here, I'll always just look at the marginal cost of more battery storage, panels and the marginal benefit (in terms of lower bills) to decide whether it's worth upgrading anything.

Or another way to look at it is that if you pull R120k from your bond now, do the electricity savings outweigh the increased repayment today? In my case it does, so financially speaking it's a good investment, and I have zero impact from loadshedding. Especially important when I work from home as well.

My running monthly spreadsheet counting down to recovering my costs.

Still need to add in March figures and my recent R30k investment for additional panels and another battery. So I've just used up my savings since the system went live.

 

[itareanlnotani]

Man, what are you saying now?

I have 2 offgrid systems, that I will be interconnecting.

"granny flat" has an offgrid setup with 3KW panels and 10KW of battery (Victron hardware for the MPPT, Inverter)
This is the "grid".

"main house" has a Sunsynk inverter with 9.5KW of panels, and zero battery (no funds to purchase currently).
Now that it has a roof, I can start doing the electrical stuff.

"main house" currently runs on a 6mm cable from the lower house.
Now I have moar solar! I will supplement the lower house "grid" from the upper house.

Sunsynk will "think" its grid tied as it has a feed from the lower house. Lower house will get extra PV goodness as it needs from upstairs.

Thats the plan anyway (in the interim until I can afford 20KW of battery like I would like).
If I can't make it work reliably, will make another plan.

 

[AchmatK]

My only concern with this is having a smaller system as the "grid" for the sunsynk.

What if the sunsynk tries to pull everything from the smaller inverter due to loads on the sunsynk and bad weather?

 

[Herr der Verboten]

Anything better if you want to run a stander fridge and freezer combo than this

Takealot

Takealot

 

[AchmatK]

Why not put the batteries on the bigger sunsynk inverter and then connect the victron on the aux as an input or another configuration.