Can anyone point me in a direction where I can find the latest Sans 10142 document (wiring of premises - low voltage installations)

 

I tried googling and searching but the only one i can find is on SABS's website for cloose to R900. Bit steep if you just want it to snoop around a bit.....

I want to make a few changes but want to make sure it's all done legally before I get someone to do a COC.

I've rewired my house in 2011 myself and only got a electrician to check and give me a COC afterward. I saved about R8k then. Didn't have an alternative electricity supply back then so I need to get it sorted again. Seems the document I had was outdated anyway.....

Cheers

 

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Your local branch of ECA will be able to provide it to you, last time I paid about R550 (about 2 years ago).

Easier than it sounds in Trumantown. Cannot even find an ECA(SA) member closeby.....
Oh ja. Talking of Prinsie. It seems his days are over after threatening to kill our municipal manager (over a recorded phonecall) Sacked from the ANC and from the soccer federation (or whatever you call it) He jumped in his car and got out of town after he set their local soccer stadium on fire.
Thanks@pilotfish
Will try one of the contractors tomorrow or just download it from the SABS's website.

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Just take note that there is a brand new SANS 10142-1 Ed 2 (as apposed to Ed 1.?), to my shame I have not yet got my own copy.

I will share when i get it.

Let me give you an idea of my plans and why I want to do it. That way I can get some of your opinions.

Wednesday/Thursday's "storm" only hit us early hours of Saturday morning. When I got up and out Saturday morning at about 7:00, I realised that my workshop's roof was barely still attached to the rest of the structure. The reason for this was not a bad structure but winds coming directly from North into a North facing workshop. I haven't finished the doors yet so winds, with gusts of up to 97kmh (that's what my Oregon weather station says) have been pooling directly into a structure with 3 closed sides, blowing it up like a baloon.
First thing I could think of was taking some 5t ratchets and straps and tying it to my colt and a hilux I'm working on. This gave me 6 points with fairly heavy load to keep the roof down. I almost peed myself when it lifted my double cab colt's suspension about 3" at times. Anyway, I got my MIG out and started welding reinforcements to the roof structure only to find that with galeforce winds blowing away the shielding gas, the MIG was useless. So I went in search of my trusty old inverter welder and started welding. After about 30mins of welding, Voila! No power. After about 3mins tge inverter restarted and I realised that grid power went out at 3:42 and my batteries went below 45v while welding, thus shutting the inverter down. Now seeing that the grid was down due to some damaged powerlines and the fact of no sun, I was forced to start a client's 6.5kva generator (smoking like sh@t because of worn rings) and finish my welding. Eventually the batteries got some charge from pv but they were running below 80%, which i'm trying to avoid at all cost.

This got me thinking. I have 2 4pole 63A contactors (2no + 2nc) and 4 2pole 20A contactors (1no + 1nc). All DIN rail.

My idea is to integrate them into my db's by doing the following:

Rewiring my house (again) into 3 circuits. 1; non-essentials (dishwasher, washing machine, tumbledryer,etc), 2; essentials (fridge, freezer, watercooler, etc) and 3; absolute essentials (lights, some tv's, cctv, alarm, laptop used for monitoring and routers)

The absolute essentials would always be powered by the inverter.

The essentials would be powered by the inverter but using one of the 4pole contactors as an ATS triggered by the BMV's relay, it would switch these circuits directly to grid when the batteries go below 85%. The relay would be latched through the BMV with inverter power (and the contactor's NC circuit) making it useable during power outages and batteries below 85%. This would cover me on cloudy days to switch heavy loads to grid.

I would still be using ICC's time control but this can be tweaked properly now.

Then using the 2pole contactor's NO circuits triggered by grid power, I can integrate this into the db to switch non-essential circuits off when the grid goes out. Voila! No more playing policeman and no more running out of battery power without warning.

All circuits will still be run through relevant breakers and E/L units for safety.

I do want to keep it legal though, not that policing from the municipality is a problem but for safety and insurance sake.

Any opinions? I will upload the wiring diagram as soon as i've figured the details out.


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I don't see why any of the work mentioned should be a problem from a SANS point of view if done correctly.

Be a little careful using contactors as an ATS, they should be break-before-make and also watch out for welded contacts down the time line which don't release when expected - if grid and inverter supply same point at the same time your inverter will blow smoke rings.

Heres what I wound up doing...

My lights, TV's, microwave and fridge run through my inverter.

The microwave and fridge are on their own circuit breaker which is then wired through a NO open contactor which is kept energised by council supply.

During the day the PV panels power the inverter and feed power to the lights, TV's, microwave and fridge making use of as much PV power as possible.

In the event of a grid failure the contactor that the fridge and microwave are connected to de-energises and disconnects these loads from my inverter (I have a manual override on the contactor if I need to use the microwave) Essentially its a mains failure relay.

I then connected the BMV relay to another contactor that feeds all the other inverter circuits (lights TV's etc) this contactor is operated by the BMV relay so that when the batteries reach 50% DOD all loads are disconnected form the inverter. This way the batteries are protected from being discharged to 0%.

 

9 hours ago, Czauto said:

The absolute essentials would always be powered by the inverter.

That is what I did being in Cpt and seeing what winter weather can do for ones batteries, no matter how many panels I have, with no Eskom nor generator.

It just got really expensive to make ends meet.

Since the storm last week hit Cpt, my batts has not seen 100%. 

But we are getting some rain.

9 hours ago, Czauto said:

I almost peed myself when it lifted my double cab colt's suspension about 3" at times.

Lifting the double cab, jip, when I started reading your post I thought "O jinne, HKGK." in 97km/h winds and a roof.

I am of the opinion us 21st century people sadly underestimate the power of wind. I mean, there was a time when huge sail ships laden with goods sailed the oceans with but a few pieces of canvas to catch the wind. A x B piece of canvas can pull tons through the water.

Any case, I am glad you did not lose the garage Czauto!

 

On 6/12/2017 at 8:33 AM, The Terrible Triplett said:

That is what I did being in Cpt and seeing what winter weather can do for ones batteries, no matter how many panels I have, with no Eskom nor generator.

Yup, I have MinSoc set to 100%, so for small periods during the day the inverter will turn on for a minute or so and suck off the top 0.1% of energy, and then it will recharge again, keeping things at 100%. My 1.5kwp array makes maybe 1kwh. I'm not complaining, we need the rain.

Last night we had a 3-hour power failure. I was glad I kept the bats at 100%. When the power came back, I was at 83%.... not bad I think. Wife was happy... this was the first time after I moved the lights circuits over. She said she's glad the outside lights still work...

*sigh*... these small events make it worth it :-)

41 minutes ago, plonkster said:

*sigh*... these small events make it worth it :-)

Amen Brother. It makes the difference yes.