Rocket-Boy

There is a lot of very interesting storage options that they are trying to figure out how to mass produce and commercialize at this point. It takes a really long time from small scale manufacturing to get to cheaper large scale production. Mechanical batteries that use a flywheel, glass cathodes, super capacitors etc all have some pretty good chances of large storage volumes with smaller footprints and lower costs. Once storage is properly figured out then it paves the way for large scales of solar and wind generation.

I still havent had any tofu combination that I actually enjoyed. Like Eldron says, it has very little flavour of its own and absorbs other flavours. Maybe its just the texture that doesnt agree with me.

I was reading about it yesterday, its a great initiative. It was one of those few times where government was backed into a corner and had to give in a little with allowing municipalities to buy from IPP's. Just think if power production and procurement was entirely unregulated in SA, Im sure it would end up more like the internet landscape in SA now compared to when Telkom had the monopoly.

Exactly this! it makes very little sense especially since there was loadshedding just last week, so they clearly cant supply the electricity volumes they need to sell. Instead they are increasing the prices and removing our ability to make other plans, hiding behind government legislation again. It shows how the government doesnt actually have the best interests of the people they are meant to represent at heart. That is the most scary part for me.

Their main point is really inaccurate though, they are saying that they get a higher load in the evenings when the solar users stop generating power. I dont know of anyone that has a solar system without battery storage and those users are on battery power at those times, so they arent loading up the grid. The only time that battery storage users might be needing the grid is late at night if its been cloudy for a few days. That is low demand time for power so the entire argument is invalid. The only valid argument is that there are fixed costs for the distribution network, but the last mile is maintained by municipalities and not by Eskom unless its outside of town.

Maybe I misunderstood, I thought you were using very little power due to the changes you made to cut down on usage. The new changes(regardless of if you have any backup system) will affect anyone who has an electricity bill that doesnt push you into the higher usage tiers each month. If you were using a lot of electricity and paying more due to higher tiers then the changes may benefit you. If however you are not constantly sitting in the higher tiers then its going to cost more, this is due to tiers going away and instead having an increased "availability fee" that will be charged by Eskom distribution. Eskom generation will be a separate charge for actual usage. Theoretically this should pave the way for being able to buy directly from an independent supplier while using the Eskom distribution network, but government will fight that as long as possible to keep Eskom alive. Its effectively at the point that the ADSL market was about 6 years ago, if it all gets unbundled then private industry will come in and lower prices and the SOE will slowly be pushed out of the market, much like Telkom is experiencing lately.

Sometimes you just need to roll in the snow and bite your own foot!

Have you tried another PSU on it? Normally with AMD the BIOS flashes would fix ram incompatibilities. Does your board use the 8 pin MB power or is it a single 4pin? might be worth swapping those around if its a 4pin, resolved many issues like that in the past with a system that wouldnt post.

You are exactly the type of person who will be affected negatively by these changes. The only people who will benefit will be high users who get lumped into the more expensive tiers. Those tiers will fall away and be replaced by a substantially higher "availability fee" with lower charges for actual usage. Im in the same boat as you are, I spent a fair amount to reduce my electricity consumption and now Im going to be penalized for it.

See this is exactly what I was worried about, the municipalities dont understand the concept of not being connected. Im seething about this new development, I know there was talk of it recently but this is one step too far. How is it even possible that government can force you into using Eskom when they cant even perform the one task they have properly? So we cant really use Eskom because they are expensive and unreliable, but if we try to make other plans we get penalized? The other thing is that I have spent a lot of money on getting my energy usage as low as possible, gas stoves, solar geysers, led lights etc. So now as a lower user of electricity Im going to get billed more regardless of if I have solar or not. I think too many people have glossed over that point and think this is just about solar systems, it isnt just about solar, its about lower power users getting charged more at the same time.

You still get to warzone with your mates, only at a handicapped level. Unless there is some form of aiming assistance for consoles then they are always behind the accuracy of a mouse and keyboard.

I think more people will start looking at a full off-grid solution now. Im expecting the municipalities will lose a lot of income and will find new costs to add if you have solar power installed. The next thing will be seeing if you can actually disconnect your grid feed entirely, Im sure most municipalities wont allow that. Its pretty hilarious though that they cant provide a stable connection but still want to penalize anyone that makes another plan and doesnt use the very limited capacity they can provide.

Herbivohr make a really good pulled pork from Jackfruit, we have it pretty often in burritos. They make a good chicken mayo too.

A desk that you could buy for that amount would be pretty close to compressed cardboard! Also you wouldnt have the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself. Well done, it looks great!

Yup, its a very delicate balance with colon issues, my father in law went through the same thing and he had to avoid most spices and any food that could set things off. All vegetables are high in fibre so try stick to fresh green veg as much as possible.

My wife and I are vegetarian, vegan is just a little too much of a stretch although most of the time our meals are vegan. We still use eggs and dairy but are very selective of the brands, with both the eggs and dairy we have visited the local farms and they are both properly free range with owners who care about their animals. Macadamia milk is actually really nice in coffee so we have switched over to that instead of milk, but still use milk for other things.

I love those Denny patties, its been over a year since I ate meat though so they dont cause my wife or I any issues. Mushrooms work well in those patties because they dont dry out and they are quite filling.

I still really want to put a proper system in place, Im saving up and keeping an eye on new developments. For now I have a 1000W portable inverter with 2x 120AH AGM batteries in, it holds my alarm, router, fibre ONT, unifi access points, pc, TV and Roku for about 6 hours so it keeps everyone happy during loadshedding. On days like these I just get sad about all the solar power Im not getting

Very nicely done! Danish oil, always! I love that stuff, its so easy to apply and man does it make the grain pop.

That is really cool, its always a bit of a nightmare to route channels on smaller pieces with the standard fence. Something I found recently which is awesome is this guide rail from Adendorff: https://www.adendorff.co.za/product/mac-afric-professional-aluminium-quick-clamp-cutting-edge-guide/ It makes some of those tasks a lot easier if you dont have a tracksaw or tracks.

I think all alarm systems run off 12v DC, I have the charger plugged into my inverter and it work perfectly, the alarm system can handle around 24 hours of no power before the battery dies but with it connected to the inverter there are no issues with outages.

Yup, by the time a lithium battery is at end of life there will be much better tech or the pricing will have come down a lot. Between glass electrodes and super caps there are quite a lot of developments being commercialized at the moment. You can build a DIY 6.1kwh Li-FE battery pack for around R19k which already is a really good price. Pre-built they are coming in at R27k so even that isnt too bad considering what battery storage cost a year or two ago.

That was exactly the reason I stopped the build I was planning, I didnt want to have to spend twice on batteries so figured saving up would be a better option. i was just checking up on battery prices and a new local supplier is pushing out some great value with these. https://lithiumbatteriessa.co.za/collections/built-units You could also go DIY on the batteries but it requires a lot of research.

1. Yes and no For a 24V system there will be lower amp requirements on the cabling but you will most likely need double the batteries for the same capacity. Most batteries are 12V. I would always recommend the higher voltage system though for handling bigger loads. 2. You can go either hybrid or a grid tied + off-grid inverters. Having separate inverters is slightly cheaper than a proper hybrid inverter. With the "hybrid" systems between R10-R15k they dont do blended power so if the load demand is higher than what it can supply from a *single* source it will just ship the entire load off to the grid. Proper hybrid inverters will supply what they can from solar+battery and then pull in the deficit from the grid, this makes a very big difference to how much power you pull from Eskom. 3. Honestly the best place for solar/inverter info is www.powerforum.co.za there are a ton of very knowledgeable people on there who would be able to give better advice. Just some advice, if you cant afford to do a full system from the start then look at doing it in phases. Inverter and battery could be charged from the grid until you can add solar panels at a later stage. The biggest long term saving is in batteries, but the downside is that there is a much higher up front cost. You can go for deep cycle AGM batteries but they have a limited lifespan and dont like to be discharged further than 50%. Lithium on the other hand has tons of cycles and can handle deep discharge, it works out a lot cheaper over time but the initial investment is quite high.

Beyonds really are better than beef, its more tender and the flavor is perfect.