Hi everyone,

This is just a short Post about Solar and the real world.

Now many Solar installers will tell you that you can go without Eskom.

Simply put this is not true.

Why so?

Well i have my own solar system "independent system that is NOT part or the house's electrics" In short it is completely stand alone. So upon installing the thing I worked out my office need about 800 Watts to function and so i build it to handle about 3000Watts by giving it a 3kva inverter alongside several batters that pushed out 24 volts at 1000 amps. Max output of my system is about AC 220 at 16 amps. So in short "over kill"

Each set of batteries has 2 panels pushing about 350Watts each. So recharging isn't a problem at all and to but it bluntly my batteries are fully charge before mid day "under normal weather conditions" Cloudy weather this fluctuate.

So sounds good i pull 380Watts from my system "thanks to computers getting less power hungry" and my batteries normally last me days without charging.

BUT you get those days where there is no sun, and Eskom is also missing. Well i had a week of exactly that, thanks to a drunk claiming the power box and the darn thing burned out. So we had real problems. It would take time to repair and the sun was missing in action for the most part.

One of my batteries died "due to age" taking the second one with it. Total replacement cost R14k for the set.

Now normally i wouldn't cry over this because i knew this WILL happen eventually.

BUT more importantly i had to start my 10KVA generator up because i need to keep my food cold and the rest of my house including my shower runs on gas mostly. So The generator didn't have a lot to do thus i let it charge my batteries while it was humming away.

It was at this point i realized that the whole "you can be independent" is a load of BS.

Those batteries WILL die on you, the sun can go missing for days AND hail the size or a golf ball WILL kill your panels that most insurance companies "that i know of" will not insure.

So if you are thinking solar. YES always double what you think you will need. Great advice. But forget about going off grid. If not Eskom... petrol/gas/batteries will cost more just saying

Sorry for all you Solar installers but be fair towards your clients. Tell them what will happen to their batteries, what will happen to the solar panel when a golf ball size hail hits it and explain to them why they need a beefy generator and maybe a gas stove / gas water heater for the shower.

Oh and to add to the pain we where without water so my Tank with its 1kwatt pump also had to be driven by my generator. That blew its darn regulator. Thankfully i had protections that stopped it from killing my stuff.

So when doing this think
  • what do you need
  • What you are willing to spend
  • is it worth it


chances are it isn't

So why will solar never work in South Africa. Massive cost, low quality batteries that are massively over priced. Simply put it is continues cost. There is no long term savings. Once you install solar the supplier owns you.