"Before they give Andre the green light to let everyone apply again for their jobs to weed out the shit, no ways they will recover."

This is what should happen in the whole government. And this is why we are totally fucked. Even if the DA, ActionSA, IFP or whoever else takes over from ANC, they will still sit with same staff... Of which probably 80% is totally incompetent, lazy and could not care the least how they do not deliver any service and runs the country into the ground.

worth investigating finance options on solar as a home improvement option. It does add to credit burden, but lessens the impact of capital outlay. I have been looking at that option, and seems some banks are offering that.

On 2022-11-27 00:42:20 johnyafrica said:
worth investigating finance options on solar as a home improvement option. It does add to credit burden, but lessens the impact of capital outlay. I have been looking at that option, and seems some banks are offering that.

You could also doing it in stages and looking at your actual needs, no the fancy everything and everything at once.

I had a system installed 3000w without panels and I never know when we're loadshedding or if we're still loadshedding for months.

Now I got the option to install panels when ever I want and it's literally running 2 wires from the panels to the inverter. You can install as and when funds available or the need so one every few months if you want. I'm actually using 200w average in the day (just computer and monitor or TV mostly and the fridges) so one 500w panel will essentially power the house during the day and it will pull from the batteries when I put the kettle on etc.

Later down the line, I can swap out the gel batteries for a Lithium battery and it's plug and play but halves the price of initial cost.

And once I get those done I can literally just swap out the inverter to a 5000 or 10,000w if I really want to be completely of grid and since the wiring is done, it's pretty much plug and play to.

Stove is off gas. You should put a solar geyser but I haven't yet.

N4P

N4P, that is very good advice.
Start with a 5kva inverter with gel battery.
Then upscale on from there.

The amount if cycles you get from gel batteries with the current loadshedding will kill it very quickly in my opinion....

It will end up "goedkoop koop is duur koop"

I agree one can scale and start with very little capital input, but a proper plan with planning needs to be in place...

On 2022-12-01 01:36:55 ArseneLupin said:
The amount if cycles you get from gel batteries with the current loadshedding will kill it very quickly in my opinion....

I also worry about that.
So if you have loadshedding 3 times per day, that is 3 cycles? Correct?
Plus then cycles when using the battery?

On 2022-11-27 11:30:34 Need4Passion said:


You could also doing it in stages and looking at your actual needs, no the fancy everything and everything at once.

N4P

Sage (sorry couldn't help meself) advice N4P. With current and projected loadshedding, it does make sense for (day) businesses to install solar panels, even with basic battery (and inverter to a certain extent) capacity as the latter constitute over 60-70% of cost. This should be much cheaper than generators, and definitely doesn't make sense to close businesses or reduce services during loadshedding.

@Vrik, 3 loadsheddings does not necessarily mean 3 cycles. During a sunny day for example, the system (if solar is installed) powers primarily from the panels, with batteries kicking in if load is too high (unlikely scenario if system is designed correctly). In addition, if you are not draining your batteries too much during each cycle/loadshedding, then they will last longer than if you are e.g. using 70-80% of available storage capacity each cycle.

Seems to me a litheum battery is a must which costs about 35 to 40k rands.

Hi Guys. As the OP of this thread, I also happen to have a solar system. How is that for a coincidence. Anyways, let me offer my 2c which I am positive will be of assistance to those that currently do not have a solar system installed. I have been through all of the teething problems, one or two pitfalls, and I am at the moment happier than can be with my setup. Here are a few things to keep in mind before installing a system.

1.) If all you want to do is avoid load shedding then I suggest you get yourself a relatively decent inverter and a lithium battery. A Synapse 7.2KW inverter is about R20K. It is not overkill in price and also not a cheap piece of rubbish. Not the best, but it is perfectly capable. A Hubble AM2 5.5KW lithium battery is about R26K and it is the way to go. It also has built in fire suppression and will last many many cycles. Stay far away from lead acid and gel batteries. You WILL be sorry if you buy them. You can power an relatively big house with this setup and it leaves room for expansion. I will touch on that soon.

2.) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL. Do not go for small cheap inverters. The one I suggested above is probably the best bang for your buck in South Africa at the moment.

3. There is no way to achieve a return on your investment without adding solar panels. Sure, you don't need panels if all you want to do is escape load shedding, but without panels, you cannot generate your own electricity and offset what you buy from Eskom. Also, you need to have a decent spend with Eskom in order to achieve a savings that pays for your system. What I am saying is that unless your monthly historical spend is about R3000.00 per month or more, it is pointless installing an expensive system. Generally you want to pay your system off over 3 to 6 years. The more you spend on average with Eskom, the more potential you have to save with the right setup. This balance needs to be worked out properly. Every household is different and consumes electricity differently. There is no household that is the same. You have to spec your system according to your needs and yours only. This leads me to my next point.

4. If you buy a decent inverter in the beginning, you are already off to the races. You can install maybe one battery and let's say 8 panels X 450W each as a start. Don't go for gold in the beginning, but for Gods sake get a decent inverter immediately and in the beginning of your solar journey. Once you have a system installed, albeit small, you will over time, once you have gone through all the season with your current setup, know exactly what you need to expand to get the most out of your setup. You can add more panels as you see fit. Those Hubble batteries are awesome. You cad add 15 all-in-all and connect them together. You can get another inverter also if you REALLY need to (who needs that much power, lol)and connect the two together. You can do what you want.

The inverter I suggested getting also connects to you home wifi. I can even remotely control my solar system via the internet on my phone or PC. I can view live stats/graphs, change configurations and parameters remotely as I wish. There is just so much that you can configure to your preference to maximize the benefits you get from your system.

5. Finally, a gas stove and oven is the way to go. Get rid of that piece of shit electric thing. A solar geyser can also benefit you but you might find that you can get away with an electric geyser. I use a timer on mine so that I heat my water at the time of day when there is ample sun. I also have a changeover switch on my geyser should I want to switch it over to Eskom but I have never used it since having my solar system. So happy about that.

In conclusion, I used to spend in well in excess of R4000.00 per month on Electricity with that shitty Eskom and now I spend way under R1000.00. For me, going solar is one of the best financial investments I have made. I basically added more than R3000.00 every month to my pocket and have no idea when or what load shedding is anymore.

Hope this helps.

On 2022-12-01 06:16:06 Vrik said:
On 2022-12-01 01:36:55 ArseneLupin said: The amount if cycles you get from gel batteries with the current loadshedding will kill it very quickly in my opinion....


I also worry about that.
So if you have loadshedding 3 times per day, that is 3 cycles? Correct?
Plus then cycles when using the battery?

Before the gel batteries, I used lead acid batteries in my previous inverter system running 24/7 loadshedding or whatever other power failure and got 8+ years of the first set when loadshedding first started. Gel batteries are better than that.

But if you stressing about it don't. All I can say is I was happy to have to lights, TV, and fridges on when everyone else was sitting in the dark for what worked out to R1,000 a year for those 8+ years. Each to their own.

I also want to put lithium batteries but I'm already enjoying not experiencing load shedding for my R12k gel batteries and will probably enjoy another 5-10 years while I wait to free up some cash and for the prices of the lithium batteries to drop as newer technology is released. I mean my whole system is up and running since before winter, entire house on it and it was under R30k.

N4P