Hi
Since my Pylontech US3000Bs have succumbed to the general problems seemingly affecting all SA installations, I am replacing them, but would like to remove the 4 “spicy pillows” from my property.
Does anyone know where I can drop them in Cape Town where they will be responsibly disposed of?
There’s probably some salvagable value left in them, but I’d just like them to be gone from my life at his point.
Maybe check with Desco (looks like they have a Cape Town presence).
RUN, go quick!!!
They have a special going … free if you take it in.
Otherwise it is R7 excl VAT per kg.
Collection is like R750 ex VAT.
If these were supplied by a local company representing Pylontech then I would leave them at their front door..
Then they dump them in a dumpster.
Cannot just leave stuff on peoples doorsteps.
So there is some good news: Desco are now accepting Li-Ion batteries for recycling at no charge. They have a local project in Joburg shredding these and processing them.
You haven’t had success in claiming the warranty on them?
Nope, it’s a long frustrating story.
Cutting my losses at this point as I’m genuinely concerned about the safety aspect of keeping these things running now.
Yep, Pylontech calls it “over voltage” and denies warranty coverage
How does that happen?
I have two ways - add more?
I literally picked up two US3000C replacements for my US3000Bs due to swelling earlier this week. All of my original US3000Bs have been replaced now.
In my case, 2 clients with Sunsynk inverters, they have a “lithium” battery setting and nothing else, there is no way to set voltages and Sunsynk itself won’t get involved.
Three out of four of my US2000 Pylontechs [2020/2021 manufacture] have swollen, one of which even leaked - managed to get one replaced with a US3000C and the other with a ‘new’ US2000C, one I upgraded at cost to a US3000C… that was before I managed to invoke the warranties, the latter is a near superhuman effort… In short my ROI has been pushed further into the future 
Interesting, just 120km to the North, in the Saldanha Bay Municipality, they advise to take all old batteries like that to the municipal dump in Vredenburg - way out of town, at your own cost and pleasure… what happens to them there is a mystery… recycled? 
Afterthought… I have visited that dumping site and still wonder why certain institutions make such a fuss [show] of separating your trash in different bins when they tend to end up on the same heap?
At Bellville/Panorama dump sites, it is all split between multiple bins. It its a huge “thing”.
We have Monday trash (Munic) collected and Tuesday recycling (private contractor) bin collected.
FWIW:
Trash collectors will refuse recycling.
Recycling will refuse trash.
When we split it between the two bins, the trash on Monday is literally 1/4 from before.
Here’s the joke, if one composts (CoCT has “training/bins” for that) the Mondays trash - where viable - the bin barely has anything in it.
So yeah, when done right it makes a HUGE difference, this recycling things.
That may change soon. Inside knowledge and all. There is beta firmware that can adjust the charge voltage, I just don’t think it is public yet.
Also, some kind dude at a blue company wrote an algorithm to adjust the charge voltage based on the voltage of the highest cell too… because he got tired of hearing about it. Funnier even, on the community site, another user then asked why PT is getting special treatment… simply because a developer somewhere got fed up. Nothing more.
That’s what I found too. I separate out all the recyclables at source (plastics, tins, glass etc). What’s left goes into our municipal bin.
We now put out a half full bin every 2nd week.
This requires an effort, but not a huge effort. Where I live garden refuse taken to the dump on weekends goes to landfill - because it is usually bagged. During the week the garden refuse they get is mostly from garden services who arrive with bakkie loads of unbagged cuttings. That goes for composting or for milling down to saw dust.
So we take our garden refuse down during the week.
I sort the recylables into four separate baskets at home. When one basket is full (nearly always the plastic) we take it all down to the municipal dump where they have good facilities actually. They even take old cooking oil.
We do this because we’re concerned about landfill, which is now in short supply around Johannesburg. But I think our attitude is not catching. I was out for exercise this morning, and it’s refuse collection day. I groaned at the sight of all these overflowing bins. The waste pickers bring it down a bit by removing the plastics, but there’s still a lot that could be recycled.
Interesting to see how mankind’s ability to recycle is improving. At our municipal dump they never used to take Tetrapak. And if you look at it it’s a recycling nightmare. A card board container with a metal foil lining and a plastic spout. How do you recycle THAT?
But about a year ago one of the guys at the dump asked me why I’m not bringing any tetrapak. I expressed surprise at this. He said to me that there is now a recycling (or maybe downcycling) process for it.
Always look on the packaging for the recycling logo. Tetrapak have always had this as far as I’m aware..
But for sure there is a lot of masquerading. I’ve always wondered about all those bins at SA airports..
I got involved with food recycling in my time. Methane and stench is the dreaded byproduct if not dealt with properly. Not easy but it can be it done with careful processing (not the sort of skillset easily found at a refuse facility)