If we have stage 4 over a weekend then I wonder what will the week ahead dish up. So all forecasts that things can just get worse is spot on. 😭😭😭for the country as a whole. No train smash for a lot of our members. 😄😄😄

Eskom have said they'll make an announcement on Monday morning. I hope the idea is to restore as much as they can over the weekend so that the situation can ease on Monday. Next week was going to be stage 2 anyway.

15 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

No train smash for a lot of our members. 😄😄😄

Not in my home, no. But of the people I know, a surprising amount have made no provision against load shedding*, and the damage being done to the economy is non-trivial. Then there's sitting in the traffic when the robots are out.

* We gave my mother a box we had with a small inverter and 200a/h of batteries. This doesn't keep the fridge and the stove going, but it has made a real difference. At minimum, in this day and age, you need something to keep the wifi up. Having the TV and some lights on makes a real difference.

First bout of LS for me since my install. what a pleasurable weekend not having to worry about losing power 3 times a day. 

May i ask, what sort of setting changes you guys make to your system once LS is announced? 

I initially just switched the TOU 'use timer' off in order to preserve my battery but after the first day, I couldnt bare so much wasted PV during the day(Glorious solar weather in JHB) so I ended up just tweaking my TOU to keep 50% SOC at minimum. I would be interested to know what changes the rest of the community make (if any)

20 minutes ago, ZCS said:

First bout of LS for me since my install. what a pleasurable weekend not having to worry about losing power 3 times a day. 

May i ask, what sort of setting changes you guys make to your system once LS is announced? 

I initially just switched the TOU 'use timer' off in order to preserve my battery but after the first day, I couldnt bare so much wasted PV during the day(Glorious solar weather in JHB) so I ended up just tweaking my TOU to keep 50% SOC at minimum. I would be interested to know what changes the rest of the community make (if any)

i USED to do the same but now i understand my usage habits better so i leave things as is. the only time i now fiddle is when its going to be a fully cloudy / rainy day - then i limit what we use and / or top up from the grid. 

I'm in broadly the same camp as @mzezman. I don't do much twiddling for load shedding unless I see overcast weather coming. I have a default rule set up to charge from grid between 15:00 and 16:00, because experience tells me that if I have a full battery about 15:30 I'll get through the night OK. But obvs if the battery is charged by then, the system doesn't draw from grid. 

2 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

I'm in broadly the same camp as @mzezman. I don't do much twiddling for load shedding unless I see overcast weather coming. I have a default rule set up to charge from grid between 15:00 and 16:00, because experience tells me that if I have a full battery about 15:30 I'll get through the night OK. But obvs if the battery is charged by then, the system doesn't draw from grid. 

OK... at Stage 6 I might worry a bit more. But if the weather is sunny then I'm still probably good. 

Edited September 12, 20223 yr by Bobster.

3 hours ago, mzezman said:

i USED to do the same but now i understand my usage habits better so i leave things as is. the only time i now fiddle is when its going to be a fully cloudy / rainy day - then i limit what we use and / or top up from the grid. 

This I would rate as the key when going PV. One can give ideas but own pattern of power use one can tweak settings.

I do see how many people have wasted PV due to batteries full. If one can I would rather use more battery power when there is good sun hours forecast so that battery only charges to full after say 14h30. This means using more of PV for loads up to that point.

One thing I do change is ensure my geyser gets power before the next LS period. This is adjusted via the Sonoff APP.

Another is to not discharge the battery too much if the next day would yield only 6hrs of sun vs the normal 11+ based on a APPS forecast.

18 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

This I would rate as the key when going PV. One can give ideas but own pattern of power use one can tweak settings.

Spot on. As a rule I try to ensure my battery is fully charged by 15:30 to 16:00 now that we are returning to summer. With full sunny days this is no issue.
Being off grid just means I switch over to the grid on rainy or cloudy days if an when really required to allow the available solar to charge my battery should the usage be more than available solar, which doesn't happen often. Manage my high usage during the morning even if it means tapping into the battery, there are normally enough hours left to recharge for the rest of the day.
Haven't had to use a single W of Grid yet for September.

For loadshedding I have not adjusted any settings.

As a rule I never charge from the grid, even in poor weather. As the losses mean you will automatically pay 20% more for the same power.

I use my deye's time of use settings and stack the battery percentages and max power draw, during the night.

Should I go below the percentage it switches to grid, if there happens to be loadshedding I have no objections to run my batteries to 5%, but this has never happened.

Most days I start charging again in the low 20s. Most days I will be able to avoid any grid usage and be fully charged at 2pm.

On a very poor overcast day I will simply be below the time of use percentages so I will automatically be buying power from the grid or supplying from PV.

No need to run and change the settings every time loadshedding hits

 

I must say that I'm not impressed with Government's failure to align load shedding and sunny weather. 

3 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

I must say that I'm not impressed with Government's failure to align load shedding and sunny weather. 

The arit🤣hmetic is too difficult

1 hour ago, iiznh said:

For loadshedding I have not adjusted any settings.

As a rule I never charge from the grid, even in poor weather. As the losses mean you will automatically pay 20% more for the same power.

I use my deye's time of use settings and stack the battery percentages and max power draw, during the night.

Should I go below the percentage it switches to grid, if there happens to be loadshedding I have no objections to run my batteries to 5%, but this has never happened.

Most days I start charging again in the low 20s. Most days I will be able to avoid any grid usage and be fully charged at 2pm.

On a very poor overcast day I will simply be below the time of use percentages so I will automatically be buying power from the grid or supplying from PV.

No need to run and change the settings every time loadshedding hits

 

thanks for your feedback. I guess each person is in a different circumstance though. I only have a 5kwh battery so i need to ensure i have enough for loadshedding, this coupled with the fact that its quite common for our power to be out for extended time after loadshedding due to their system tripping when power is restored. i thus try to ensure i have a full battery leading into my LS slot in case power doesnt return 2 hours later...

21 minutes ago, ZCS said:

thanks for your feedback. I guess each person is in a different circumstance though. I only have a 5kwh battery so i need to ensure i have enough for loadshedding, this coupled with the fact that its quite common for our power to be out for extended time after loadshedding due to their system tripping when power is restored. i thus try to ensure i have a full battery leading into my LS slot in case power doesnt return 2 hours later...

Definitely - with only 1 battery its best to keep the SOC higher - i relaxed a little when i got my 2nd battery and will relax even more with a 3rd

1 hour ago, ZCS said:

thanks for your feedback. I guess each person is in a different circumstance though. I only have a 5kwh battery so i need to ensure i have enough for loadshedding, this coupled with the fact that its quite common for our power to be out for extended time after loadshedding due to their system tripping when power is restored. i thus try to ensure i have a full battery leading into my LS slot in case power doesnt return 2 hours later...

Yes you are right, needs differ. I have a 10KWh battery (DIY built from second life cells) and my aim is to get the MAX ROI on the battery, and to keep the SOC above 20% where possible to ensure I get maximum service life. I collect data on my home assistant and use the graphs to tweak the settings and schedule loads. With those settings I do not need to adjust anything for loadshedding. Most days I do not use any grid power, so I am pretty relaxed about the SOC. I know I have another 20% that I paid for ready for emergencies. The long term plan is to get rid of the grid connection completely. 

We also have plenty of grid issues in the area, cables being stolen, substations vandalised, overloads and trips after loadshedding. I optimise for the 99% case and will manually handle the 1% case when it arrives (it is seldom that there is an extended outage and poor weather and the battery below 20%, people's worst fear). Loadshedding just means I need to keep an eye on the weather forecast