South Africa's load shedding crisis has driven one of the fastest solar adoption rates in the world. But most households that install panels and an inverter have no easy way to see what their system is actually doing — or whether they are getting the savings they paid for.
Here is a practical guide to monitoring your solar setup during and between load shedding stages.
Why monitoring matters
A R120,000 solar installation is a significant investment. Without monitoring:
- You cannot tell if your panels are underperforming (due to shading, soiling, or inverter faults)
- You do not know if your battery is reaching full charge before Eskom cuts power
- You cannot schedule heavy appliances (geysers, washing machines) to run at peak solar hours
- You have no record of how much you have saved vs grid electricity
A system that looks fine might be running at 60% efficiency. Monitoring reveals this within days — not months.
The main inverter brands in South Africa and their monitoring
Sunsynk
One of the most popular hybrid inverters in SA. Sunsynk has its own SolarmanPV app and cloud platform. You need a WiFi data logger (the LS dongle) plugged into the inverter. Once connected, you can see:
- Real-time battery percentage and charge/discharge rate
- Solar input from each string
- Grid import/export
- Historical data by day, week, month
The Sunsynk app is functional but shows you one system at a time and requires you to dig for the numbers that matter.
Victron Energy
Victron uses the VRM (Victron Remote Management) portal. You need a GX device (such as the Cerbo GX or Color Control GX) and a data connection. Victron's monitoring is highly detailed — arguably the most complete in the consumer market — but the interface requires technical knowledge to interpret.
Deye
Similar to Sunsynk (they share hardware origins). Uses the SolarmanPV platform. Setup is identical to Sunsynk.
Growatt
Uses the ShinePhone app and ShineServer cloud. More consumer-friendly than Victron, less detail than Sunsynk.
What to check every day during load shedding
The key metrics to review after each load shedding event:
- Battery state of charge (SOC) before the outage — did you go into load shedding with a full battery or a half-full one?
- Solar generation during the cut — your panels keep generating even when Eskom is off
- Load consumption — what was drawing power during the outage?
- Time to battery depletion — if the outage extended, how long did you last?
Over a few weeks, this data tells you whether your battery capacity is right-sized for your household.
Scheduling appliances around load shedding
Load shedding schedules are now predictable enough to plan around. The strategy:
- Run your geyser in the window between when Eskom comes back and the next scheduled cut — use cheap grid power to reheat it
- Schedule your washing machine and dishwasher for mid-morning when solar generation peaks (typically 10am–2pm)
- Charge laptops and devices before a scheduled stage 4 or 6 cut, not during it
This alone can reduce your grid import by 30–40% without changing any hardware.
Load shedding schedule alerts — EskomSePush
The most reliable load shedding alert tool in South Africa is EskomSePush. It pulls directly from Eskom's official schedule and gives you suburb-level timing. You can set push notifications for 60 minutes, 30 minutes, and 5 minutes before a cut.
Tracking your actual savings
The real ROI question is: how much have I saved vs staying on the Eskom grid?
To calculate this you need:
- Your grid import (kWh bought from Eskom since solar was installed)
- Your solar generation (kWh produced by your panels)
- Your municipality's tariff per kWh
Most inverter apps show generation but not the rand value. You need to apply your own tariff to get a rand figure.
A simpler way to monitor everything
SolarSmart SA brings all of this into one South African dashboard — compatible with Sunsynk, Victron, and Deye inverters. It shows your battery level, solar generation, grid status, and rand savings in plain language. You can also schedule appliances, get load shedding alerts by suburb via the EskomSePush API, and see your payback period calculator update in real time.