As you ca see lookin at the March figures not much has changed except these days I do not touch anything and the house is being run 100% through the solar power system. A switch was installed that will now make the system automatically draw power from the grid if and when required.
Last month we imported 251 Kilowatts which is roughly R500 in real money value ($26). This still could be way better however as we are still tossing away 215kw each month. If I could some how hang onto that wasted discharge then I do think I would be getting far closer to zero grid usage.
The problem is I have one battery currently in for assessment which is going to be replaced by the suppliers, but as you can see from the conversation down below they are not exactly great. The battery has been in for nearly 5 weeks and only now is it on the bench for assessment.
When I messaged him this morning he was already on his way to the Sunsynk offices and why he voice messaged me from the car. I was told they were struggling with the service center, but had no idea things were this bad.
Sunsynk is the manufacturer and they are the ones assessing the unit and the service is shocking. This unfortunately is the story of the majority of companies in South Africa and this should never ever be the case. There is no service and I am currently in talks with Sunsynk International.
A product can be the best product in the world, but if the back up service is non existent it then that product is worth less. I have spent years running a service department and know exactly how to fix this so who knows if this will lead anywhere, but I will grab this business if I can get my hands on it. A brand can be tarnished very quickly through word of mouth and this would rightly impact the sales. If the people who are selling the units do not want to touch a particular brand then there will be no sales. Sunsyk is the leading solar brand in SA and can easily go from hero to zero if they are not taking their business seriously.
Tristan is from the biggest solar company in SA and they are in the process of walking away as they have literally given up trying to sell this brand with all the back end troubles. Madness really as you can read they have not even touched the other units that were dropped off at the same time as mine. My battery is brand new out the box and has never worked from day one and this should have been an immediate swap out.
I do think if the 4th battery comes on line this month then I may have to add one more battery totaling 5 plus another 6 more solar panels and I should be off the grid entirely. I will only know once this happens and is all a game of tweaking and adding bit by bit to see where we end up.
Last month we had a few load shedding days including a major outage after a lightning strike in the area and survived with no issues. The batteries charge via the grid once they hit 40% and this looks as though we will adjust this to 30% which should give us an extra 60 hours a month. I believe we are only on the grid for a few hours each day and this would cut our monthly power bill down by another 50%. We are in touching distance of having no electricity bill and need that 4th battery as soon as possible.