SA to jump to Stage 4 load shedding until Friday

**adrianh** · 28-Oct-21, 02:55 PM

We haven't had loadshedding but the neighborhood next door are being loadshedded TREE TIMES today....Seems the City of Cape Town don't like them for some reason.

**ians** · 28-Oct-21, 05:46 PM

Dave do you have monitoring software ... if no check out solar assistant ... I have a couple mecer and RCT inverters using solar assistant ... cheap (R799 for the software only ) and easy to install.

On one site we have been having so major power issues ... using solar assistant has recorded everything ... all the dips and swells ... power outages etc etc.

it uses a Pi3B+ ... you can either buy the kit which comes complete with the Pi .. power supply and cabling or you can buy just the software.

remote viewing on your phone PC or whatever.

**Dave A** · 29-Oct-21, 08:15 AM

It comes with ShinePhone monitoring software, but thanks for something to compare it to

**ians** · 29-Oct-21, 03:47 PM

Just be warned ... if you decide to try out solar assistant.

The support is like buying stuff from the China mall ... if and when it works it does the job ... but if it doesnt ... like yesterday and today I am trying to install solar assistant on a new site ... 2 days and I still havent had a response from solar assistant.

**Blurock** · 30-Oct-21, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by adrianh

We haven't had loadshedding but the neighborhood next door are being loadshedded TREE TIMES today....Seems the City of Cape Town don't like them for some reason.

We are also lucky not to have load shedding levels 1 & 2. When we do, it is less than other areas. Maybe there are some Anc councillors living in our suburb?

**Derlyn** · 30-Oct-21, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Blurock

We are also lucky not to have load shedding levels 1 & 2. When we do, it is less than other areas. Maybe there are some Anc councillors living in our suburb?

Loadshedding was also unknown to us on the Westbank up until about 2 years ago.

We were on the same supply as Daimler Chrysler and they do not get load shedded.

The Munic got wise and installed a seperate supply for the village so there's our loadshedding holiday gone.

Peace out .. Derek

**ians** · 31-Oct-21, 09:50 AM

We also had the mains water supply connected to our grid ... seems they have since fitted relays to cut the houses during load shedding.

**ians** · 31-Oct-21, 09:59 AM

Spent my time during load shedding tinkering with a few ideas.

I came up with a neat looking solution ... operates on 12 VDC ... figued out a way to switch lights on and off ... a DIY type application which doesnt look like a make shift load shedding solution ... in fact it looks better then the general lighting in my house.

For now I have a ton of 7 amp hour batteries that I have reconditioned ... so there is no shortage of power ... I have a 10 amp smart charger.

Now all I need is a simple 12 volt charger a few lithium batteries and a relay to switch over as the power dips to make it a long term solutions.

**Justloadit** · 31-Oct-21, 12:27 PM

I decided to spend the bucks and installed a 5kW hybrid inverter with 10Kw Lithium batteries. Had an electrician rewire my DB to separate the electric, geyser, aircon and one light circuit which has a issue, and now I only notice a load shedding when my kitchen lights go out.
Geyser is solar so rarely I need mains to heat the water, and if I really wish to cook and heat water, I have my trusty 11KW generator.

Soon I will be installing 5KL water tank with a booster pump, as now we are at the beginning stages of water shedding due to old infrastructure and lack of maintenance.