I have had an issue with a victron and pylontch battery 2 nights in a row after loadshedding. After loadshedding ended it switched to the grid then straight back to the batteries. After trying to troubleshoot i saw that the input voltage from Eskom was only 206v. I believe the inverter wont use the grid until its higher and stable. The inverter switched to Eskom and started charging the batteries only once the input voltage went above 209. Still to low but it accepted it. Over the last hour the input voltage has climbed to 214v. The same happened last night after loadshedding but i didn't know about the voltage thing. Maybe someone qualified can comment on this.

I think SANS 10142-1 allows for 230V +/- 10% on LV distribution. But appliances and inverters won't like the low end of that range. The only thing you can do is to manage your own loads, especially your geyser and large appliances. If you aren't causing the volt-drop then you would have to ask the municipality to move you to another phase.

One of the banes of loadshedding is that after loadshitting when they switch on the area, every geyser, fridge, freezer, battery charger etc starts up and the startup current on any motor is always higher than the running current. 

Another problem is that medium voltage, high current switchgear are not supposed to be switched on and off repeatedly. They normally have a switch life of x amount of times and after that the reliability takes a dive. The fun and games has just started.

Before I went pv, I used to switch off my plug circuits but left a light on. About 10 min after the end of the loadshedding, I might switch on my plug circuits one by one. 

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Edited December 15, 20222 yr by Dylan

1 hour ago, Vaal said:

One of the banes of loadshedding is that after loadshitting when they switch on the area, every geyser, fridge, freezer, battery charger etc starts up and the startup current on any motor is always higher than the running current. 

Another problem is that medium voltage, high current switchgear are not supposed to be switched on and off repeatedly. They normally have a switch life of x amount of times and after that the reliability takes a dive. The fun and games has just started.

Before I went pv, I used to switch off my plug circuits but left a light on. About 10 min after the end of the loadshedding, I might switch on my plug circuits one by one. 

We can look at the drivers of the change in voltage after the power comes back on but one of the major factors remains the strength of the local network. Even with all the loads coming on the voltage can remain stable as can be seen in my munic voltage after our 2h LS session.

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

We can look at the drivers of the change in voltage after the power comes back on but one of the major factors remains the strength of the local network. Even with all the loads coming on the voltage can remain stable as can be seen in my munic voltage after our 2h LS session.

Clearly you don't fall under the Emfuleni Municipality. 

On 2022/12/13 at 9:32 PM, richardlen1 said:

above 209. Still to low but it accepted it. Over the last hour the input voltage has climbed to 214v. The same happened last night after loadshedding