Langou, do you do work in the Cape Town area? We could really use your help.
Im also looking for recommendations for a solar PV installation, a knowledgable company, offers good service and honours warranties, and charges a fair price.
Hi Tamara Regrettably we do not work in the Cape Town area but I’ll PM you with with name of reputable installer. You can also check out Where to buy - Victron Energy for Victron accredited installers in your area.
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Thanks Langou,
Our geyser and heat pump are going outside high up on the side wall of the house so inaccessible. And we will have a PV system installed and wish to do exactly what you have done. Prevent the heat pump from running on the battery. We must therefore have some sort of remote thermostat and operation with a timer.
Seems the people Im talking to give us a blank stare when the question is asked. This does not seem to be common knowledge.
We need a solar installer/energy company that knows how to manage power, install sonoff devices where required, advise accordingly how to optimise the system etc etc.
Any references appreciated.
Excuse my ignorance, im new to this forum. How will you PM me?
@Tamara Just moved this to a more appropriate thread, hope you don’t mind.
I’m new to this board and whilst love reading the posts, I need a professional to install a solar PV system for us. We are located in cape town. Any recommendations for a solar PV installer, a knowledgable company, offers good service and honours warranties, and charges a fair price.
Any guidance highly appreciated.
You have Jaco de Jongh here on the forum, a one-stop shop, installing all over SA.
Or you can be more hands-on, get the parts yourself then use a recommended local sparkie/installer to do the panel and equipment mounting and connections for you, or do it yourself.
Thanks for the reply but…
Could buy the panels and Victron equipment etc myself but dont think I want to go the DIY route. We need someone competent, who knows his stuff, someone I can go back to if theres a problem, or it needs tweaking.
Sparkies would not necessarily know about Sonoff devices and energy management. We have an electrical company on site now. Very competent but not when it comes to this kind of thing.
I agree 100%.
The more intricate you make your design, the better it is for the family to understand how it all works, what goes where so that when, not if, when late one Sunday night over a long weekend, and the system goes off, everyone is on leave only back next week, that you can help yourself. 
Just my two cents.
I want to be careful about derailing, but I think this has to be said. I was discussing this with my father in law over the weekend. He installed a solar water-pump on his farm, and he did it all himself. It was a simple DC setup with a chinese controller and two 110W panels. No chance for a fire really. He figured doing a home install should not be too hard.
I then explained to him that you need the tool to crimp the MC4 connectors to the PV wiring, and you need another crimper to crimp those lugs to the thick DC cabling for the batteries. Then you often have wiring issues on the AC side that has to be resolved, which requires additional tooling (an insulation tester for example). My FIL can barely work a multimeter. Explaining to him how to DIY this would be an exceedingly bad idea.
So I don’t want to dissuade real DIYers from doing it themselves, but if you know already that you will need extensive handholding or you are already in doubt, the answer is to get a professional. Either that, or spend 6 months really getting up to speed 
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Soldering and/or Crimping Cable Lugs