Loadshedding solutions

[ChrisF]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

As some have said, what starts off as a 1kVA systems turns into 2, 5 and then off the grid.

Budget R10k for what you need, and you’ll get a system on wheels/casters that doesn’t require any installation. Plug and play.

I had a 1kVA system running 2x lead-acid batteries (102Ah) and the batteries lasted 3 years. I then made an error, listening to people who think they know everything, and bought gel batteries. They weren’t suited to multiple power cuts per day (batteries weren’t charging to full before the next power cut). The one battery didn’t make it passed a year.

A few work colleagues have the Ellies unit and it keeps them connected through load shedding. The more appliances you add to it, the less time you have to keep it running.

 

I think this post from @Frosty answers most of the questions in the previous posts.

 

For those that cant do an installation wired into the DB board (for whatever reason), these battery boxes are much of a muchness.  R10k seems to be the typical price for these kits.

 

It is truly plug and play !!!  Unplug the lead from the tv at the wall plug, plug it into the battery box ..... plug the battery box in at the wall plug.

 

 

If you can wire into the DB ... take a step back .... and plan properly, or rather, take note of how everybody notes the inevitable "scope creep" !!!  Get the correct inverter, make sure the system can take multiple battery banks and start with what your budget allows now .... Get pv panels on the roof so the system can start paying for itself as soon as your budget allows for this ....

 

PS - In the City of Cape Town (from Somerset west to Atlantis, EXCLUDING Stellenbosch and Paarl), IF you buy your power from COCT your system needs to comply with various rules .... best to get a decent installer that can walk this road with you.

[ChrisF]

13 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Anyone tried one of these:

https://www.takealot.com/ecoflow-river-pro-720wh-portable-power-station-black/PLID73199269

Seems like a pretty good solution for an IDT and fan during load shedding (although I haven't checked the capacities), and has the advantage of being able to be taken camping and run your fridge and lights and stuff, and can charge directly from a solar panel or car charger. 

(If it seems pricey, consider the costs of a car dual battery system - battery, inverter, solenoid/DC-DC converter, solar charge controller, battery charger,  all the little bits and pieces like a housing, usb ports, volt displays etc. And then you have a system thats wired to your car and you can't carry around)

 

I am not familiar with this unit, but like what I see in the technical notes :

 

- LIGHT unit for moving about .... handy for the multiple use scenario you describe.

- Lithium battery, with a fast recharge 

- This is clearly sized for a small load, i.e. the tv setup OR the IDT, etc.

 

The downside is the cost .... you can buy a pretty decent battery box unit for less money ...  Which will be bulky and heavy .... okay for home use, less so for a unit you want to lugg about to camp sites.

[ChrisF]

13 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Also, those rechargeable LED light bulbs are absolute game changers. (https://www.takealot.com/eurolux-battery-globe-light-es/PLID46854849)

Between having a few of those, a gas stove, UPS for the modem, and a laptop with like 8 hours battery life, I barely notice when the powers off for 2 hours. 

 

After typing up this stuff last night I walked Maritz home.  20:30 and the lights are OFF !!  Nice to be able to see stars in the city ... but sad to see the street "DARK" so early in the evening.

 

The FOUR homes with pv and battery systems stood out in the dark.  It was a sad visual reminder of how this mess impacts us all.

 

As a home owner I have gradually set us up to be less reliant on eskom over the last 8 years.  The fridges dont need power during loadshedding.  The only other item that is impacted is we needed to actually plan ahead to use the washing machine .... for the rest we dont know when eskom goes off.

[mikkelz]

14 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Anyone tried one of these:

https://www.takealot.com/ecoflow-river-pro-720wh-portable-power-station-black/PLID73199269

Seems like a pretty good solution for an IDT and fan during load shedding (although I haven't checked the capacities), and has the advantage of being able to be taken camping and run your fridge and lights and stuff, and can charge directly from a solar panel or car charger. 

(If it seems pricey, consider the costs of a car dual battery system - battery, inverter, solenoid/DC-DC converter, solar charge controller, battery charger,  all the little bits and pieces like a housing, usb ports, volt displays etc. And then you have a system thats wired to your car and you can't carry around)

I bought one of these for my Mom after a few colleagues raved about using them for their home office setups.

Super easy to use, quiet when running and is a UPS (so great for powering PCs, etc.) Some of the other "portable" battery backups do not support UPS, so you need to manually switch over.

The price is high, but they use LiFePO4 batteries which are better in terms of faster charging and lifespan (designed to drain and recharge, unlike cheaper GEL batteries).

You can also add batteries to it and, if you want, charge via solar panels.

Edited July 15, 2022 by mikkelz

[mikkelz]

I bit the bullet and got an ESS installed after a friend and few colleagues had them installed at their houses.

No solar panels for now, but a more-than-sufficient 5kW Victron inverter and 5kWh Freedom Won battery.

It is amazing. Right now it's loadshedding and I in the last while I have had the following running:

• Pool pump
• Washing machine
• Heated towel rail
• Office (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Coffee machine
• Fridge
• Chest Freezer

Only 26% of the battery used so far with just over an hour of loadshedding remaining.

I obviously don't have to run the pool pump, heated towel rail, etc. and the washing machine just happened to run over into loadshedding.

At night, when we're asleep there's less than 10% battery usage (only alarm and outside lights on, etc.)

Last night I got home in the dark... but not our house! Honestly, the peace of mind having outside lights on at night is worth it alone.

[ChrisF]

3 minutes ago, mikkelz said:

I bit the bullet and got an ESS installed after a friend and few colleagues had them installed at their houses.

No solar panels for now, but a more-than-sufficient 5kW Victron inverter and 5kWh Freedom Won battery.

It is amazing. Right now it's loadshedding and I in the last while I have had the following running:

• Pool pump
• Washing machine
• Heated towel rail
• Office (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Coffee machine
• Fridge
• Chest Freezer

Only 26% of the battery used so far with just over an hour of loadshedding remaining.

I obviously don't have to run the pool pump, heated towel rail, etc. and the washing machine just happened to run over into loadshedding.

At night, when we're asleep there's less than 10% battery usage (only alarm and outside lights on, etc.)

Last night I got home in the dark... but not our house! Honestly, the peace of mind having outside lights on at night is worth it alone.

 

Hook up 3 or 4kW worth of solar panels to that and you are SORTED 

[mikkelz]

4 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Hook up 3 or 4kW worth of solar panels to that and you are SORTED 

As soon as my wallet has recovered! 🤣

[Help.Me.]

3 minutes ago, mikkelz said:

I bit the bullet and got an ESS installed after a friend and few colleagues had them installed at their houses.

No solar panels for now, but a more-than-sufficient 5kW Victron inverter and 5kWh Freedom Won battery.

It is amazing. Right now it's loadshedding and I in the last while I have had the following running:

• Pool pump
• Washing machine
• Heated towel rail
• Office (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Coffee machine
• Fridge
• Chest Freezer

Only 26% of the battery used so far with just over an hour of loadshedding remaining.

I obviously don't have to run the pool pump, heated towel rail, etc. and the washing machine just happened to run over into loadshedding.

At night, when we're asleep there's less than 10% battery usage (only alarm and outside lights on, etc.)

Last night I got home in the dark... but not our house! Honestly, the peace of mind having outside lights on at night is worth it alone.

I have also got this system at home and similar at my office but with solar on the roof. Touch wood it is more than enough for my needs. In my office I run 8 Computers,  2 printers , Fridge , and all the lights ONLY the Aircons are not on the system.......load shedding is a breeze.....🤭

[DJuice]

14 minutes ago, mikkelz said:

I bit the bullet and got an ESS installed after a friend and few colleagues had them installed at their houses.

No solar panels for now, but a more-than-sufficient 5kW Victron inverter and 5kWh Freedom Won battery.

It is amazing. Right now it's loadshedding and I in the last while I have had the following running:

• Pool pump
• Washing machine
• Heated towel rail
• Office (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Coffee machine
• Fridge
• Chest Freezer

Only 26% of the battery used so far with just over an hour of loadshedding remaining.

I obviously don't have to run the pool pump, heated towel rail, etc. and the washing machine just happened to run over into loadshedding.

At night, when we're asleep there's less than 10% battery usage (only alarm and outside lights on, etc.)

Last night I got home in the dark... but not our house! Honestly, the peace of mind having outside lights on at night is worth it alone.

Had similar system out our previous house. Was the best money we spend.

When we moved our children for the first time experience load shedding.

After one month pulled the plug for a new system, this time around I just could not afford Victron with all of the other renovations.

I see Nedbank is financing systems even through MFC which is tempting to add another 5.2kw battery and 8 x 545 panels to our existing new system, to my unscientific calcs, we should be very close to off the grid.

So far I am satisfied with the Sunsynk inverter.

Still on the fence with the performance of the Hubble batteries.

 

[mikkelz]

2 minutes ago, DJuice said:

Had similar system out our previous house. Was the best money we spend.

When we moved our children for the first time experience load shedding.

After one month pulled the plug for a new system, this time around I just could not afford Victron with all of the other renovations.

I see Nedbank is financing systems even through MFC which is tempting to add another 5.2kw battery and 8 x 545 panels to our existing new system, to my unscientific calcs, we should be very close to off the grid.

So far I am satisfied with the Sunsynk inverter.

Still on the fence with the performance of the Hubble batteries.

 

Awesome, must be so nice having solar panels. #lifeGoals (maybe next year 🤞). I read and heard good things about Sunsynk.

[mikkelz]

10 minutes ago, Help.Me. said:

I have also got this system at home and similar at my office but with solar on the roof. Touch wood it is more than enough for my needs. In my office I run 8 Computers,  2 printers , Fridge , and all the lights ONLY the Aircons are not on the system.......load shedding is a breeze.....🤭

Nice! That's a lot of PCs 😅

I have everything but the geyser connected to our system, but the installer made it very clear that as long as I am prepared to manage the load, then he's happy to do it that way i.e. he takes no responsibility if we run the electric oven for the duration of loadshedding. 🤣

I also got one of CBI WiFi Controllers for the geyser, so I can run it in the morning and evening for a couple of hours only. So far, it's working great.

[ChrisF]

1 minute ago, mikkelz said:

Nice! That's a lot of PCs 😅

I have everything but the geyser connected to our system, but the installer made it very clear that as long as I am prepared to manage the load, then he's happy to do it that way i.e. he takes no responsibility if we run the electric oven for the duration of loadshedding. 🤣

I also got one of CBI WiFi Controllers for the geyser, so I can run it in the morning and evening for a couple of hours only. So far, it's working great.

 

Controllers ..... another rabbit hole of note 

 

I started of with ONE Sonoff controller - just be able to remotely switch the charging for the ebike batteries, making the best of my small PV system .....

 

KNOWING this would have scope kreep I bought three Sonoff controllers .... probably would have bought more if they had stock.

 

One is now permanently wired into the pool pump circuit .... if the solar gain is bad I can remotely switch off the pump.

 

Making good use of the ebike charge controller  (though I actually should have set it up this morning..)

 

Connected the third unit to the UPS when I added solar to it .... may well be running that circuit directly off PV during good days ....

 

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Controllers ..... another rabbit hole of note 

 

I started of with ONE Sonoff controller - just be able to remotely switch the charging for the ebike batteries, making the best of my small PV system .....

 

KNOWING this would have scope kreep I bought three Sonoff controllers .... probably would have bought more if they had stock.

 

One is now permanently wired into the pool pump circuit .... if the solar gain is bad I can remotely switch off the pump.

 

Making good use of the ebike charge controller  (though I actually should have set it up this morning..)

 

Connected the third unit to the UPS when I added solar to it .... may well be running that circuit directly off PV during good days ....

 

yeah smart controller are another worm hole.

And then I went and added a refurbished Google Home Speaker, and now its made me lazy because I can just bark orders and things turn on or off, so now I want more speakers in other rooms too. My daughter is even using it to control the TV lately.

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

I think this post from @Frosty answers most of the questions in the previous posts.

For those that cant do an installation wired into the DB board (for whatever reason), these battery boxes are much of a muchness.  R10k seems to be the typical price for these kits.

I paid R9.5K about 7 years ago for a 1kVA system... I would've thought it would be more, given inflation. Excluding my 14 panels, the 5KvA inverter and battery cost R45k (excluding installation), so also on par per kVA.

[Frosty]

49 minutes ago, mikkelz said:

I bit the bullet and got an ESS installed after a friend and few colleagues had them installed at their houses.

No solar panels for now, but a more-than-sufficient 5kW Victron inverter and 5kWh Freedom Won battery.

It is amazing. Right now it's loadshedding and I in the last while I have had the following running:

• Pool pump
• Washing machine
• Heated towel rail
• Office (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Coffee machine
• Fridge
• Chest Freezer

Only 26% of the battery used so far with just over an hour of loadshedding remaining.

I obviously don't have to run the pool pump, heated towel rail, etc. and the washing machine just happened to run over into loadshedding.

At night, when we're asleep there's less than 10% battery usage (only alarm and outside lights on, etc.)

Last night I got home in the dark... but not our house! Honestly, the peace of mind having outside lights on at night is worth it alone.

That's the neatest wall mounted system I've seen, although the wiring coming to/from the DB could have been placed inside trunking. Hope Ouzo approves too.

[Mike Mac]

Well worth the investment. 
 

One doesn’t need to go off grid, as that can become very expensive. Grid tied systems offer load shedding immunity, without requiring the massive investment in storage that off grid systems require.