Johandup

Just get them serviced.

Looks like lead acid batteries. They are infamous for giving off hydrogen gas which is extremely flammable. It is also very light and will congregate against the ceiling where people install normal electric fittings. It is really a lack of doing proper risk assessments that lead to incidents like this. Hopefully there was no injury or other damages. The topic of controlling battery charging is ongoing in the forum.

An open secret. The lithium batteries charge very quickly. Which means you can use your solar output more for your house.

What? Your municipalities take readings?? You're definitely not located in Witbank. Here they give exaggerated estimates so they can keep overcharging and stealing your money. And the paying population of the communities is VERY few indeed.

The Guvament has bullsh%tted their way through all their failures. But Eskom is like the elephant in the room - not to be missed. When they f#ckup everyone notices and it cannot be hidden. With their mountain of debt they will be the reason for a very high rand dollar exchange rate with all the consequences to it. And the traditional collieries supplying it will be gone as the reserves are finished. Their latest power station don't even have a colliery for supplies. They will try to supply it from a multitude of mini open pits with poor quality coal. This is another elephant which nobody wishes to discuss.

You cannot turn years of neglect round in a short time. The big coal companies have departed and so did their skills and capital. The fact that Eskom have neglected to replace two boilers says it all.

I had 19 hours of loadshedding yesterday from 09h00 up to 04h00 (due to breakdowns caused by loadshedding. But the 4 pylontech batteries were 100% after 2 hours of charging from the mains.

If you install a normal changeover mains / generator switch this will be easy. I use this method whenever I need to charge the batteries. Any gen will supply only what it can output. It may be necessary to limit its output to prevent it from running at max output. Their output tends to go haywire at max. My inverter is set to charge the batteries at 49a and my gennie runs flat out to get it right.

Now, if they could only schedule their unit breakdowns and Bloem rationing to happen at the same time .....

I was looking at Eskom statistics on how many prepaid meters have been bypassed and it’s shocking. There is a major culture of thieving amongst its customers. Surely by now Eskom should have figured it out for themselves. New technologies exists and anybody with a calculator should be able to figure the financial side out. But then, we are talking about the ANC voters. People with inalienable rights and privileges. My town has now started loadshedding areas where the “voters” are reluctant to pay. I’ll watch the process as it unfolds. Should not be too long before the town hall is burnt down. I don’t know who else saw the extremely low price per kwhr the Zimbabweans have been paying for electricity until recently. It was obviously a ploy to keep them quiet and happy.

I follow this guy on YouTube

I'm waiting for a clever solar guy to design and showcase a (cheap enough) system based on a plc to do load management. The possibilities are endless.

All the earths are bonded together.

200mm steel pipes go down 30m but the water-table starts at 60m. A 40ka surge protector must take the surge current from the two live cables down to earth when the right conditions occur. The problem I have is that this must happen at the same time when a surge is generated by lightning current in close vicinity in a suburban area - a direct strike is fatal). So to ground it from the pump to the column is not going to help much. I’ll rather take a separate 6mm house earth wire (from the pump body) to the outside db panel’s earth close by (within 3m from the steel column) so the current can go to a ground earth spike with no current (hopefully). As the spike as well as the pipe column are inside a garden the areas is always kept moist. A relay connected to a float switch will ensure that there is always a switch gap except when the pump is running to fill up the tanks. Previously I always kept the panel on to switch it on manually. I would love to be able to afford a Dehnshield surge protector but at +R3600 each it is very expensive. So I bought much cheaper AcDc mov 40ka protectors and a 100m roll of earth wire. I have rebuilt the db with new 6ka mcbs which will get two surge protectors and it’s own earth spike next to it. I don’t want any current to enter my house db as this circuit is supplied from a very expensive battery inverter setup. And I have been getting funny trips caused by outside surges (aka municipal power). Fortunately my insurer is covering the replacement costs which is in excess of R18k. But the improvements are for my own pocket. With hindsight I think the original borehole pump installer was dumb. He should have recommended a 4 core cable and Dehn protection but I did not know enough about this topic. One must realize the Highveld is a very dense lightning strike area. And we need to go to the extreme to minimise lightning damage. Damages can be googled and it is quite an eye opener.

And the thunderstorm season has started on the highveld. The first victim was my borehole pump and outside dB. Quite annoying and expensive. The repair guy told me I was no 18 for the week. Any good advice on how to protect a borehole pump against surges and strikes would be much appreciated. Photos will help.

This happened once to my system. I had to switch all the batteries off and on, one by one. I had to fiddle with the inverter (a 4kw hybrid Infinisolar) to get it going again. It tripped on overload the other day and a simple start got it going. Still doesn't know why. I need to replicate the scenario when I have time.

A lot of trouble, as well as expenses, if it is valid for two years only.

Difficult to deal with isps if their offerings are not longterm https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/319279-good-news-about-rain-unlimited-data.html

Retired so does a lot of streaming - no DStv. Currently 400 gb at actual speed 18 mbps vdsl copper line. I can probably setup a small server to copy media to and then watch it at night time. Just a schlep as I am spoilt by live streaming.

I’ll keep this post updated as the Telkom story unfolds. Once the copper is gone the only way out is for wireless ( much more expensive and slower), 4g or 5g (which I would love to get but I’m living outside the metropolitan areas). Rain does have a lte deal for R250 pm uncapped but excluding 6-11 at night. Go figure. Telkom has just been reported with their lte down over a wide area.

I read that Telkom's revenue is taking a steep dive. Does not bode well for their future dealings.

Do this when you know it’s going to go off. Switch everything off at the db except for the lights you need - or use a torch. Start switching the breakers back on one by one till you get to the one that trips the earth leakage. Then you start looking for the culprit.

I’m wary of getting the same treatment. We know the service levels they strive for. Unfortunately the competition is not so hot and they all see us coming. Personally I think the lte wagon is overrated but the fiber installations are held back to minimise competition. And Telkom is still a guvament property with all the state capture stories still around.

2,2kW

I was informed by a Telkom tech that my town will change over to LTE this month as copper wires are history now. And he made it sound so easy and affordable - which I don’t believe for a moment. Has anyone done this change over with Telkom ? The people in my town are not forthcoming on this topic. And how has it worked out for them? They are supposed to to contact customers with options but are quiet so far. And I am visiting my favorite KNP from mid month so won’t be around when they do this. Please share your experiences.