Solutions for loadshedding

[ChrisF]

On 5/31/2021 at 2:15 PM, Vetplant said:

Stage 2 from 16h00 today.

At least my source has proven himself trustworthy, once again. 

 

Any indications for the weekend ?

[Vetplant]

57 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Any indications for the weekend ?

I'll ask some questions tomorrow. 

Officially they stop tomorrow evening, but that's just if some units return as expected. 

On my inverter I log my grid power coming in. It was eye opening to see how much the voltage fluctuates throughout the day. It gives an indication of how much strain the grid is under. 

[Karman de Lange]

13 hours ago, Vetplant said:

I'll ask some questions tomorrow. 

Officially they stop tomorrow evening, but that's just if some units return as expected. 

On my inverter I log my grid power coming in. It was eye opening to see how much the voltage fluctuates throughout the day. It gives an indication of how much strain the grid is under. 

feekmeee .. that is massive variation in power.. Do you have plot with amps drawn at same time? 

 

here pic of ours ..   it up/down about 10v depending on time of day, worst just after load shedding, which is expected, all geysers / heaters in the hood goes on etc.

we had brown out this morning at 9:40 which is not normal, guess got switched over to other supply again

[Vetplant]

17 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Any indications for the weekend ?

Just got confirmation on our neighbourhood loadshedding group that Loadshedding stage 2 continues from 17h00 till at least sunday at 22h00.

They suspended it briefly today from 12h00 till 17h00 for parliament to get some bill approved.

[Vetplant]

2 hours ago, Karman de Lange said:

feekmeee .. that is massive variation in power.. Do you have plot with amps drawn at same time? 

 

here pic of ours ..   it up/down about 10v depending on time of day, worst just after load shedding, which is expected, all geysers / heaters in the hood goes on etc.

we had brown out this morning at 9:40 which is not normal, guess got switched over to other supply again

I don't really draw power from there. My panels and Batteries are usually sufficient. With loadshedding, I do switch to grid more often, just to ensure the battery percentage isn't low when our cycle starts.

Could just be a local substation effect that I am seeing instead of the national grid fluctuating that much, come to think of it

[bertusras]

I find this suspension of loadshedding just for parliament outrageously hilarious.

[Vetplant]

Just now, bertusras said:

I find this suspension of loadshedding just for parliament outrageously hilarious.

They also suspended it for the funeral of the Zulu king. ????‍♂️

 

[Eddy Gordo]

1 hour ago, bertusras said:

I find this suspension of loadshedding just for parliament outrageously hilarious.

We are being held ransom man

[TNT1]

1 hour ago, bertusras said:

I find this suspension of loadshedding just for parliament outrageously hilarious.

Just shows that eskom is still ******* with us. The loadshedding is clearly not due to capacity or supply. Demand hasn't gone down since it was suspended and still no collapse of the grid.

The problem is they think we are as dumb as they are. The bigger problem is we have almost zero alternative.

[ChrisF]

26 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Just shows that eskom is still ******* with us. The loadshedding is clearly not due to capacity or supply. Demand hasn't gone down since it was suspended and still no collapse of the grid.

The problem is they think we are as dumb as they are. The bigger problem is we have almost zero alternative.

Stock standard wage negotiations ... sa style .... same cr@p each year ....

 

 

as soon as they get their increase the problems magically goes away ....

 

 

 

Okay, I know the problems are real !  Just too damn convenient that it only peaks the days before they get their increase .... then again in January when they "negotiate" with NERSA ....

[bertusras]

21 hours ago, Vetplant said:

I'll ask some questions tomorrow. 

Officially they stop tomorrow evening, but that's just if some units return as expected. 

On my inverter I log my grid power coming in. It was eye opening to see how much the voltage fluctuates throughout the day. It gives an indication of how much strain the grid is under. 

I don't have the same range of fluctuations, but still pretty unstable

[Vetplant]

"Oh no..."

I think someone should send the honorable minister a link to this thread for some solutions... ????

 

[Karman de Lange]

For the guys running the Kodak inverters, are you running the Hybrid's or Offgrid , seems like the hybrid can do all the fancy load sharing from solar/grid etc, but off grid is either or...?

[Vetplant]

2 minutes ago, Karman de Lange said:

For the guys running the Kodak inverters, are you running the Hybrid's or Offgrid , seems like the hybrid can do all the fancy load sharing from solar/grid etc, but off grid is either or...?

I'm running this:

https://thepowerstore.co.za/products/kodak-solar-off-grid-inverter-vmiii-5kva-5kw-80a-mppt-48v?variant=31599177695294&currency=ZAR&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2018-09-19&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYoUcw8f6C2OHhw_eeTRBQQVC7uahk2xa3Q2EoUuta0NtLFTS6JUB4YaAkBTEALw_wcB

 

So, according to the description it is Off-grid.

Practically, it utilizes Battery+Solar together to get to the load level if the Solar itself isn't enough. It will only switch to Grid if you tell it to or if it hits the threshold at the bottom of the battery capacity you set it up to.

Not an issue at all,  not for me anyways.

My power bill for last month was R40.

This current month will be significantly more in terms of costs with the colder temps and a bunch of cloudy days. But I have not had a moment of power outage due to loadshedding, which was my main objective with WFH being a reality.

[Karman de Lange]

4 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

I'm running this:

https://thepowerstore.co.za/products/kodak-solar-off-grid-inverter-vmiii-5kva-5kw-80a-mppt-48v?variant=31599177695294&currency=ZAR&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2018-09-19&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYoUcw8f6C2OHhw_eeTRBQQVC7uahk2xa3Q2EoUuta0NtLFTS6JUB4YaAkBTEALw_wcB

 

So, according to the description it is Off-grid.

Practically, it utilizes Battery+Solar together to get to the load level if the Solar itself isn't enough. It will only switch to Grid if you tell it to or if it hits the threshold at the bottom of the battery capacity you set it up to.

Not an issue at all,  not for me anyways.

My power bill for last month was R40.

This current month will be significantly more in terms of costs with the colder temps and a bunch of cloudy days. But I have not had a moment of power outage due to loadshedding, which was my main objective with WFH being a reality.

Thanks

So , if there not enough solar (cloudy) and battery is flat, it purely runs of the grid, you cannot do halfies between solar and grid?

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Karman de Lange

[Vetplant]

1 minute ago, Karman de Lange said:

Thanks

So , if there not enough solar (cloudy) and battery is flat, it purely runs of the grid, you cannot do halfies between solar and grid?

 

I think so yes.

But, your solar energy isn't waisted, you can run your loads from the grid and then the solar power goes directly into the batteries to bring them up to charge. Once the solar is strong enough and the batteries have enough charge to manage any fluctuations it flips back to Solar+Batteries

I might be missing something, but what is the concern here?