Hi Morne
I am interested in the Multiplus if you do decide to sell.
This is one of the reasons I like the Victron system. Itās like owning a Toyota.
People want to buy it before you even want to sell it 
Problem is that is also the reason I donāt want to sell my Victron or Toyota. 
vs 
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Ja-nee, that Victron stuff is terribleā¦ How much to ship to Cape Town? 
So this is wrong. Three-phase is currently possible and it seems parallel will be possible in a future hardware version.
https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/102443/victron-multiplus-ii-488000-3phase.html
Happy owner of bothā¦
I bought a Rav4 first and was totally hooked since. I am now on my second Fortuner. I started out with the Mecer trolley (1.4 kW I think) and moved to Axpert in 2017 and then to Victron in 2020.
I must admit that it takes me time to get to the good stuff. (slow learnerā¦lol)
I find that it really is a mindset thing, and one way I discovered that quite clearly is in a discussion about the reliability (or lack thereof) of German luxury sedans. Owners of those vehicles will tell you: They are just as reliable as anything else! You just need to do the proper maintenance!
I realised they are completely right. It is just that we have a completely different idea as to what constitutes maintenance. When you say maintenance, Iām thinking oil change, filters, the occasional brake job, and maybe a battery every now and then. An alternator maybe around 200 000kmā¦
But thatās not what the BMW owner means. He means preemtively replacing water pumps, control arms, bushings, actually opening the engine to replace rod bearings, that sort of thingā¦
So yes, I too was hooked from the moment I bought the first one. My best car ever was a Toyota Corolla. My second best car was also a Corolla. It is too early to say, but the RAV4 is very likely going to be either number 2 or 3 (it is not as excellent as my D-4D Corolla was).
I briefly considered the Fortuner. It is excellent value for money, in fact I think itās more car for the money than the RAV4 (which makes complete sense, it is built locally, the RAV4 is imported)ā¦ butā¦ in the end I opted for the better fuel consumption of the ābaby fortunerā 
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1st - Corolla 1.6 = MPII 3kva - Cpt to Pe in <4h
2nd - Corolla 1.6i = MPII 3kva - Cpt to Jhb <10h
3rd - Tazz = MPII 3kva - can do 4x4 trips.
4th - Isuzu = MPII 5kva - 180km/h down a mineshaft, windows must be closed.
They all just work, can be repaired easily with tons of parts/help/enhancements abound.
There, I derailed it also now. 
Wonder when @MorneDJ is going to inform us of his final call?
I have a little Polo and my wife drives a Yaris.
The Poloās aircon stopped making cool air, so I had to get the refrigerant checked and replaced. So the wife replied it must be a VW thing, cause the last time we had to top up refrigerant was years ago on a VW. Toyotas donāt need that 
My first car I bought was also a Corola. It was a great little car. Sold it at 275 000km on the clock and had to replace the CV joints in that time.
@MorneDJ will have to make a choice soon, or else this thread is realy going to get way off track.
Heard this humourous story of a guy who had one of those bubble shape corollas. When it had around 350 000km on the odo, it was stolen. Behold, over a year later the police finds it back, and it is returned to him, now with 430 000km on the odo, new alloys and an expensive stereo system.
First car was a VW Jetta. It went through an alternator every 18 months. Since it was 13 years old, I spent thousands on repairs, mostly to the cooling system.
Second car was a Toyota Corolla 1.6 GL. Owned it 7 years, replaced a clutch, CV-joint boot and an exhaust manifold. It was an ex-Telkom pool car, so the clutch is a given. The Exhaust manifold was a weak point on these cars.
Third car was a BMW 3-series. Owned it one year. Replaced a window regulator (known E46 problem), two āhedgehog resistorsā (known BMW problem across al models), window washer pump, removed the swirl flaps from the intake (because that is also a known weak point), decided to get rid of it before something that is actually expensive blows up (such as a turbo, of which it was already on the third oneā¦ what can I say, it was not a sensible buy).
Fourth car was another Corolla. Now when someone goes from a 3-series back to a Corollaā¦ you know something is up! This one was a Diesel. Not the best Diesel engine Toyota ever made, but it was the best car I owned (so far at least). Replaced an alternator (at 180 000km), fixed a bad connector to a āseat occupancyā sensor (at 42 000km). Thatās it.
Fifth car is the RAV4, also Diesel. Had it two years, zero issues so far. Swapped a battery but that doesnāt count.
Wife had a VW Golf MK1. Nice car, cheap to maintain. Rust was the main problem with this one.
Second car was a Toyota Tazz. Abused by previous owner. Replaced water pump, alternator, wheel bearings, clutch, one CV-joint boot. Still sold for 90% of what we bought it for.
Third car was a Suzuki swift (made in Japan, not the modern ones that come from India). Most expensive car weāve had, but not because it was unreliable. Mostly because the parts are expensive, and because I fixed up the paintwork for her one year as a gift.
Fourth car is a KIA Soul. I have mixed feelings about this one. Easy to work on. But everything has to come from Korea and takes two weeksā¦ and it is expensive. Iām thinking her next car should be a Toyota too. I think a C-HR would be a nice oneā¦
Then the Corolla Cross is a better choice. Same chassis, slightly bigger, but built in SA and cheaper to buy by R60k.
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My brother wanted to buy a RAV last week. It looked like it worked hard, goes like a rocket, solid, no oil sweating even ā¦ all looks good, the price very affordable with just 109kās on the clock.
His wife takes a photo of the VIN, suggests they stop at a the nearest Toyota service center.
O yes, they said, we just serviced that RAV last week, the 395kās service.
The sunsynk 8kw has been updated to accept up to 22A I think, or was it 23A. Canāt remember but itās definitely not 18A.
Regarding the both mppt needing balancing, I have not seen this requirement. I do have 2 5kw sunsynk in parallel and my strings are not balanced. Iāve got an east / west on 1 inverter and a north / west on the other. Ive not experienced any issues.
Regarding your dilemma, itās a difficult one. Iām pretty happy with thr sunsynk. Installation Is simple. Operating it is simpleā¦. Possibly simpler than a victron for a newbie. I donāt think you can compare it to a victron from a quality POV though. The victron is superior.
Maybe @Tariqe can share his experience moving from blue to sunsynk.
After getting quite a number of input from installers and users, I decided on staying with the Vicrton system. I got the 250/100 Smartsolar, as I can keep my two 150/45s using the VE.direct cables, with the 250/100 using the VE.can connection.
My cabling is a mess, but I will redo it sometime when I replace the PVC conduit with galvanized piping - not looking forward.
The main reasons why I stayed with the Victron is:
- most of the components are in and working. And I bought two rolls 10mm2 cabling a while back (I overdesign) which I have to use.
- I can add quite a bit of additional MPPTs to the independent Vicron it seems using VE.Direct to USB and VE.can cabling.
- I tinker. I am already planning on removing the swimming pool solar heaters/panels and replacing it with a heat pump. I can use the 20m2 space used by the swimming pool solar panels for some other stuff like more solar panels
- Proven Vicrton quality (and legendary aftersales service and advice) versus perceived SunSync support
I have a rental house that I try a SunSync installation. I discussed it this weekend with the renter as I will recuperate the Eskom savings as an increased rent.
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These days it has become easier to roll back some cars, since it is only an electronic transaction. Although in many cars (mostly from Europe), the individual control units keep separate score of the mileage and you get Bluetooth OBD2 devices (Carly is marketed quite heavily) that does a used car check, one of which is to check that the mileage reported by the various control units are within a certain percentage of each other. Having one control module differ is usually not an issue, that one might have been replaced. Having more than one differā¦ thereās been some tampering going on.
An easy way to do a visual mileage check, is to check the condition of the clutch pedal. If it is worn down while the car shows 100k or lessā¦ walk away.
From what Iāve been able to gather online, the Toyota cluster can only be tampered with my removing the cluster and reprogramming the EEPROM chip on the unit itself. Dealers can obviously do this when replacing the cluster, and obviously there are tools out there allowing DIYers to do it (it is after all just a standard EEPROM chip), but it isnāt as easy as with some other cars where it can literally be done through the OBD2 port (Hyundai and Kia, looking at you guys).
So in your brotherās case, I would also expect some tool marks indicating the cluster was outā¦
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Agreedā¦ but the C-HR is more funky-looking, and if youāre buying second hand (which I always am), the price difference is less of an issue. Weāll see. I also really like the Subaru XV, the baby forester, or the cross-trek as they call it elsewhere, which is really just a crossover version of the older WRX hatch. But my wife has a thing for B-list cars. She very almost bought a Renault Clio some years ago (I talked her out of that one!), then she went with a Suzuki (which was at least made in Japan) and now she has a KIA. Another reason I know itās not going to be a Corolla-Cross. Sheās not a mainstream galā¦
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Interestingly enough the cluster was replaced on my wifeās Nissan Tiida after they could not find the fault with the fuel level indicator and Nissan said : Sorry we canāt program the odometer.
I still think they can, my guess is the technician / mechanic that is trained to do that work was simply not there that day, my wifes 2009 Tiida now only has 35 000 KM on the odo 
If you disregard the first 121 000 km its basically new
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Donāt buy if no service record and study service record closely - will be obvious if ODO rolled back/tampered!
Only jumping in now but I see problem coming up unless I do not understand your setup fullyā¦ With too much PV on DC side and only 2.4kW of conversion capacity from the 3kVA MP your production is going to become āstuckā on the DC side. As soon as batteries full PV will be limited to the 2.4kW the MP 3kVa can convert no matter how much loads you runningā¦ This is where AC-coupled PV comes in nicely!
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Actually, because it is not 100% efficient, the 2.8kW that is DC coupled balances quite nicely with the max feed-in of the 3kVA Multi. But coupling the rest on the AC side was obviously the right choice.
@MorneDJ But is it on the AC sideā¦?