Nice! The cabling connections should take the rest of the day if there aren’t any more delays. The first time the inverter and battery are brought online it charges up the battery using both solar and grid, thereafter the settings will only allow solar charging (that’s the default but it can be changed if for instance there’s a rainy day and the panels won’t charge the battery enough for the next bout of load shedding). It’s a great feeling when you have your first load shedding session and you still have power!
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Today we are scheduled to have 10 hours of load shedding on stage 6. Since Tuesday at 16:00 when they completed the installation of my solar, I’ve not had a single moment of power interruption, and happily gamed through our scheduled load shedding. And for the rest of today my battery is full so load shedding will not impact me at all. I swear this is the single best thing I could ever have gotten for our home. Wow I am blown away by how awesome this is!
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And now that you’ve seen the light (literally) you can’t go back to the darkness 
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im really considering adding panels to my current setup, problem is kids in my area like to throw stones so i will have to mount a clear perspex cover or chicken wire grill over the panels.
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Yeah, the only irritation now with loadshedding is that the cellphones don’t work properly. If there is loadshedding in my area, the people can hear me but I can’t hear them. Luckily it isn’t affecting the fibre connection.
My sister and the guy who built my house are both looking at these gosolr options. White River had like only 4.5 hours of electricity yesterday (Mbombela owes Eskom R1.1bn).
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It’s definitely an option for those who don’t have the capital to invest in purchasing solar. In the long run buying your own system will work out the better. But treating this as a service, essentially spending what you would on municipal power on the rental instead, does make this an attractive option for beating the current load shedding crisis.
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I’ve been getting quotes for solar and wowee it’s expensive. I think I should have done it earlier in the year.
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I’ve seen prices skyrocketing over the past months. I got a quote as part of my building loan for around R160k at the beginning of the year. That same system is now over R200k. Sad thing is I haven’t started building yet, as we’re still waiting on the property transfer… By the time I need to buy and install the solar system prices would’ve easily increased by another 20%.
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I bought the batteries and solar panels about a year in advance. If I had bought the solar panels just 3 months earlier, I would have saved R30k just on the panels (There was a 30% increase). So for almost a year, my garage was standing full of solar panels and other building materials. The batteries though, I got at R22k per battery. Those same ones are now R30k (or at least, they were a couple of months ago). I did have some capital available though so I was able to buy it while waiting.
Building these days is however insanely expensive due to the diesel price increases. All building materials are just insane.
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I can give you the contact for the guy who installed mine. His installation cost is about half the price of the others (if not even less). The installers are riding this wave and overcharging and adding unneeded nonsense.
It is a guy who lives in our estate who does it over weekends, but my electrician (who also does solar installations), evaluated his work as part of the house’s COC and he is happy (even though he is extremely strict and by the book).
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I echo @DarthMol sentiment. The initial investment is very high for solar, and while the rental service costs more over the long term, the short-term benefits are unbelievable! Highly recommend looking into the service if you don’t really have the upfront cost.
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Is there any evidence of this? I’ve heard this but it seems like it’s just a rumour going around… White River used to never get load shedding because of the factory, but people think it’s because we’re stage 6…
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I have no idea (should have said “apparently” in my original message). Just heard from my sister who lives there and my tenants who live in Rocky Drift (close to the factory). No idea where they got their information but rumor is that Novaboard is going to get power directly from Eskom and then White River and Rocky Drift will be subject to normal loadshedding.
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Ya, I was at my church for band practice last night and my pastor said “There’s a rumour they haven’t paid”.
I’ve also heard about the rumoured grid changes, so I asked them if that happened already… No one knows exactly what’s going on 
Meanwhile Hazyview had something ‘blow up’ this morning so I was without power 2.5 hours before our 4.5 hour load shedding started. The ETA is ‘this morning’ but I won’t know until after lunch 
Anyways, back on topic. The clinic I volunteer at just got a solar system put in yesterday, and man, it’s working well. I really wish I had invested better and stuff, because I would love to get in on the solar action with everyone.
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I’d love solar too. Can’t really do it in an Apartment.
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I think solar will be a big reason people move back to houses. It is going to be a big game-changer. I do not see Eskom getting any better any time soon
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On Friday and Saturday we had no power. It only came on Saturday afternoon. Two days of no hot water, phones dead, just sitting here, I realised that there is no point in trying to wait it out. I will just have to get solar. Luckily I can take it from the bond but it’s such a ridiculous amount of money.
Now I don’t know if I should just go big right away or keep things small.
@DieGrootHammer and @DarthMol , you both have the 5kw and one battery I think. How’s that treating you? Would you recommend I go with 8kw and two batteries rather? It’s R40k a battery which is pretty crazy.
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My whole system (ok i dont have solar panels) was about R30k installation included and thats a 3kw pure sine inverter + 2 120ah batteries, i can run 4 hours easily, obviously my fridges are not hooked up to it and i always keep the peak load at around 30%
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