Frequently Asked Questions
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Features & Benefits
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What is SolrIQ?
SolrIQ is an automated service which connects to your inverter and manages your system to ensure you get the most solar generation possible whilst stepping in during load shedding to make sure you have enough power. SolrIQ also monitors a number of metrics on your system to pick up any drops in production and out of normal operation conditions to ensure you don’t lose out on any free energy and there are no conditions that could affect performance or damage the system and household appliances it provides for.
How does SolrIQ work?
SolrIQ looks at your home’s:
- energy consumption - when and how much you consume in various times of the day
- load-shedding information - when your house will experience load shedding
- solar generation - is influenced by the orientation of your panels and how much energy they can produce in varying weather conditions.
And then automatically adjusts your battery levels needed to ensure you have minimal impact from load - shedding whilst at the same time ensuring you get maximum savings.
What are the additional benefits to the service?
Outage management
SolrIQ manages you system to make sure you have enough power for load shedding and unplanned outages during the evening to ensure your power security.
Savings
SolrIQ ensures that maximum solar generation is achieved during daylight hours.
Performance
SolrIQ monitors your system to pickup any drop offs in production to ensure that your system is always operating the way it should and giving you your maximum return on investment.
Safety
SolrIQ monitors your system for out-of Normal operation conditions to ensure your system and appliances don’t get damaged, and that the system is always performing the way it should.
Hassle-free
It’s all automated: Notifications help you plan around load shedding and SolrIQ manages your system settings automatically.
Battery Health
We ensure your battery charges and discharges to make sure your battery management system (BMS) is managing your battery correctly and that it’s health is preserved.
Can the service manage my geysers, pool pumps, etc?
The service currently only manages your inverter settings, but SolrBoost are developing load management solutions that will integrate the inverter management with device control to ensure you’re always using as much free energy as possible.
Can I have multiple plants/properties connected to the same login?
Yes, you are able to have more than 1 plant on your profile.
Let’s do this! How do I sign up?
Please populate our contact sheet to arrange for a SolrBoost representative to contact you to get you signed up. If you are with one of our existing partners the invite process will take place on the same day. If not, the SolrBoost representative will walk you through the process of sharing your system with us and once complete your invite email will be sent within 24 hours.
There is a signup button on the invite email you will received which will take you to the sign up process. It should take less than 3 mins to do. You will need to create a profile with your email address and a password. Then you will need to capture your physical address and your load shedding suburb. (For now we support Gauteng, most of the Western Cape and most of KZN - more regions to be added in the coming months).
Then you will need to select you package (monthly or annual). If you have a promo code from your installer (it will either be on the invite email or you will need to chat to your installer to see if they offer promo codes) then you can enter this promo code after you’ve chosen your package. You will then be taken to a payment screen - even if you have a promo code you will need to enter your credit card details even if the first payment is R5(processing fee).
Why should I make use of this service?
Most solar systems are configured in either a “max protection” or “max savings” way.
Max Protection
With “max protection” typically batteries don’t go below 80% charge since you need to ensure your battery has power when there is load shedding. However the problem is that most people on sunny days have a full battery by 10am or 11am and then the solar generation is lost out. Some people lose up to R2,100 per month on larger systems.
Max Savings
With “max savings” the battery is kept at low level in the morning so the maximum solar generation can take place. The issue here is that if there is load shedding in the morning before solar has kicked in properly or it is a bad weather day then you will be sitting in the dark unless you manually change your settings.
Whilst there are people that manually manage their system for load shedding to perform a similar task to SolrIQ (we do it better because we use historic load patterns and predicted solar generation to know exactly how much battery we need), they will get a better managed system and all those hours every month back.
SolrIQ’s monitoring make sure your system is always working the way it should and ensures proactive detection on any issues.
Am I a good candidate for this service?
People that are near to off grid due to having a very large system are not necessarily good candidates for savings however they will benefit from notifications about what’s happening on their system.
People who like fiddling with their system all the time and like to constantly watch weather and load shedding changes and adapt their system themselves are not good candidates.
Systems which are configured to sell back to the grid but are on flat rates are not good candidates. However, if you are on time of use tariffs our system is great to charge your batteries off low tariffs and discharge when the tariffs are high (whilst still protecting you against load shedding) are very good candidates for our system.
What is the cost of the service?
What subscriptions are available?
How does payment work?
SolarBoost SolrIQ is a subscription service, when signing up you will need to enter your card details and a monthly or annual recurring card payment will be implemented, this transaction will occur on the same day each month similar to a Netflix subscription. I.e. if you sign up on the 14th of the month your recurring payment will go off of your card on the 14th of each month.
Can I pay with EFT?
Are my card details safe?
Yes, our payment gateway partner is Payfast, SA’s most trusted payment gateway. Payfast is used by companies like Takealot, Dischem, Vuma, The courier guy, etc
How does the 30-day trial work?
We offer the first month free (R5 processing fee), when you sign up your first payment will be R5, you can try the service for 30 days and cancel at any time during the first 30 days and you’ll never be charged again. If you’re enjoying the service, you’re all set! Your subscription is active, and you’ll be billed the same amount on the same day each month moving forward.
How much will I save?
This depends. If you are already configured for “max savings” on your system you won’t see much savings but then you will benefit greatly from the automatic protection for when you are load shed. Savings will also be muted during winter due to less solar generation and higher loads for heating.
We have seen savings as high as R2,100 (and as low as R0) but most systems get savings in excess of what the service costs.
Do you provide a report of savings and improvements etc?
We issue Monthly reports on each system that include:
- Number of managements made in the month.
- Estimated savings based on the way we’ve managed your system vs how it was setup when we started managing it.
- Number of notifications sent.
- Other interesting stats like, average daily power used/produced, percentage of load during solar(daytime) hours and battery cycle count for the month.
What notifications will you send me?
Once you are signed up and have created your username and profile you can download the iOS or Android apps to your phone. When you sign in for the first time you can change which notifications you receive. You will automatically get a notification if your system has been offline for more than 1 hour since we won’t be able to manage it unless it is online and connected to the internet.
You can opt into notifications for:
- Loss (& resumption) of grid power.
- Upcoming load shedding – we will tell you 2 hours before load shedding when you will lose power.
- Low battery during load shedding – we monitor your plant every 15 mins and if you are consuming power too quickly and won’t make it through we let you know so you can turn off devices.
How do I find out my load shedding block?
When signing up you will need to confirm your load shedding block. Grid power provider is the person you receive your bill from, i.e. City power, City of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay, Eskom. Once this is selected if Eskom is your power provider, you will need to choose your municipality and then search for your suburb. If you don’t know your load shedding block name and number you can probably find out from someone in your community. If you do know but are unsure of grid power provider etc, this should be listed on your eskom se push app. You can also reach out to +27647001870 for assistance if you are struggling to find your block.
Can I change settings if I need to?
There are a number of different modes available on the app for our optimisation:
Standard Modes:
- More Savings
- Balanced
- More Protection
Special Modes:
- Holiday Mode
- Backup mode – 100% charge
Manual – you can put your preferred settings in place and we’ll just step in and manage your system for load shedding events from these settings – this isn’t recommended as our optimisation is regularly updated to keep it current with days getting longer and shorter with the season and any changes in your load habits. You should be able to find a mode that works for you.
Can my wife and domestic worker also get the notifications?
Yes each plant can have multiple people download the app and register for the notifications at no extra charge.
Who has access to my plant and my details?
SolrBoost will have access to your plant to manage and monitor it. Your details are safely stored in our system and we don’t sell your information.
Can I see what you are doing on my plant? And when?
Yes there is a history tab on the app where you can see when and what changes we have made to your systems, for load shedding managements there are also insights on what data we used for the management in terms of required load and expected solar, etc
How do I contact you if I need assistance?
You can reach the support team by emailing them at [email protected] or by contacting them via WhatsApp at +27647001870. Additionally, you can directly add them as a contact using the same number for any issues or questions you may have regarding your solar system.