You Just Bought Your First Solar System — Now What?
The engineers installed it, walked you through it, and left. Now you're standing in front of a blinking inverter trying to remember what any of it meant. Relax — this guide covers everything you actually need to know to live comfortably with your new solar system, in plain language.
The four parts of your system
Every home solar system, whatever the brand, has the same four parts. The panels on your roof turn sunlight into electricity. The inverter — the box on your wall with the screen — converts that power into the type your appliances use, and decides where power comes from at any moment. The batteries store energy for the night and for outages. And your distribution board connects it all to your house wiring. You only ever interact with one of these: the inverter screen. The rest works on its own.
Reading the inverter screen
The display looks busy, but it's really just answering three questions: where is power coming from right now, where is it going, and how full are your batteries. Most inverters show a small diagram with icons for the panels, the grid (ZESA), the battery, and your house, with arrows or animated lines showing the flow. On a sunny morning you'll typically see power flowing from the panels to your house and into the battery at the same time. At night, the arrow flows from the battery to the house. That's it — if the arrows are moving and no red light is showing, your system is doing its job.
Battery percentage: the one number to watch
If you only check one thing on the screen, make it the battery percentage — it works exactly like the battery on your phone. During the day it should climb toward 100%. Overnight it will drop as your home draws from it. Modern lithium batteries, like the ones we install, are comfortable being used deeply, but as a habit, try not to let the battery sit below about 20% for long periods. If you notice it's not reaching a high percentage even on sunny days, something may need attention — more on that below.
When ZESA goes, here's what happens
Nothing — and that's the point. Your inverter switches to battery power in a fraction of a second. The lights stay on, the WiFi stays up, the TV doesn't blink. You often won't even know the grid has dropped until you hear the neighbour's generator start.
What changes is how you should think about your power. While the grid is down, your home is running on a fixed reserve, so heavy heating appliances become expensive. The geyser, the electric stove, the kettle, and the iron are the big four — each of them can pull more power than the rest of your house combined. During an outage, especially at night, keep them off or use them briefly. Gas for cooking and a solar or gas geyser pair beautifully with a solar system for exactly this reason. Lights, fridges, TVs, laptops, and phone chargers are light loads — use them freely.
Cloudy days and winter
Your panels still generate on cloudy days, just less — sometimes much less. And in winter, especially June and July, the sun sits lower and the days are shorter, so daily harvest drops even in clear weather. This is normal, not a fault. On a stretch of grey days, apply the same habit as during an outage: go easy on heating appliances and let the battery recover when the sun returns. If ZESA is available, the inverter will quietly use it to fill the gap — that's by design.
What's normal — and when to call us
Some things worry new owners that are completely normal. A soft humming from the inverter is normal. The cooling fan spinning up on hot afternoons or under heavy load is normal — it can be surprisingly loud, like a laptop fan. Battery percentage dropping overnight is normal. The system briefly beeping once when the grid drops or returns is normal on many models.
Call us if you see any of these: a red fault light or an error code that stays on the screen, continuous or repeated alarm beeping, a burning smell or visible discolouration near the inverter or DB, the battery consistently failing to charge on sunny days, or breakers that trip repeatedly. Don't try to diagnose these yourself — take a photo of the screen showing the error code, WhatsApp it to us, and we'll usually tell you within minutes whether it's a settings issue we can fix remotely or something that needs a site visit.
Simple care that protects your investment
Solar systems need very little from you, but two habits make a real difference. First, panels: Harare's dry season coats them in a film of dust that can quietly cut your harvest. Rain washes most of it off, but during a long dry spell, a gentle rinse with water — early morning, never in the midday heat — brings production back up. If your roof is high or steep, don't climb; ask us about a cleaning visit instead. Second, the inverter: it needs air to breathe. Keep the space around it clear — no boxes stacked against it, no coats hung over it — and keep it out of direct rain and sun if it's mounted outside.
The safety basics
Never open the inverter or battery casing — there are no user-serviceable parts inside, and the DC side of a solar system carries voltage even when everything looks switched off. Keep children away from the equipment area, and if you ever need the whole system shut down — for building work, an emergency, or an electrician doing unrelated wiring — use the labelled isolator switches your installers showed you, in the order on the shutdown label. If you've lost that label or aren't sure of the order, message us before touching anything.
Keep our number close
That's genuinely all there is to it: watch the battery percentage, go easy on heating appliances when the grid is down, rinse the panels in the dry season, and call us if a red light stays on. Your system is designed to be boring — the less you notice it, the better it's working.
If you're a Giga Tech client, your installation is covered by our workmanship warranty, and a WhatsApp message with a photo of your inverter screen is the fastest way to get help. Save our number the day of your installation — future you will be glad.