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Eskom wants 15% over next 3 years


Antony

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What's scary is, at the trend Lipo prices are dropping, going off-grid with a few lifestyle changes might now actually start to become a real consideration.

I could see myself going off-grid with say:

1x 5000VA Multi <- I can actually then cheap out and just buy a normal Phoenix :P 

1x 250/100 or 250/85 MPPT

3x Pylontech US3000 = 9.6kWh worth of storage

5KW worth of panels

And that would cost say R140-R160K and for me, that would honestly be enough to be off- grid, and I could still (if I opted for the multi) connect my generator to the AC input to help charge the batteries if I have a few days of very bad sunlight in a row.

R150K+- is peanuts in the grand scheme of things.

Hell some people spend that on re-doing their kitchens and bathrooms, and no amount of fancy farting is going to keep the lights on :P

 

Edited by PJJ
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22 minutes ago, PJJ said:

What's scary is, at the trend Lipo prices are dropping, going off-grid with a few lifestyle changes might now actually start to become a real consideration.

Please don't say Lipo... LiPo is Lithium Polymer. The kind that goes on fire when things go bad... :-) Agreed though, LFP is dropping quickly.

I think the consensus is still that after you add the opportunity cost, it is still cheaper to buy from your local supplier/Eskom.

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Yawl, know about Edison and Tesla right?

The big VHS/Betamax ding-dong of AC vs DC.

Tesla won out because Edison couldn't send power any distance without crippling losses, and Tesla could step up the voltage transmit the power and then transform to a usable voltage at your house.

Well I keep on thinking that if not for that transmission issue domestic appliances would all be DC.

We standardized on a domestic voltage for AC, we could could've just as easy standardized on a DC one.

Now we have this situation that the guys transmitting the AC are limiting the power that you make yourself.

And you are not trying to transmit power any distance.

So I look into my crystal ball, and I see a standard domestic DC voltage and DC appliances in the future. 

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30 minutes ago, phil.g00 said:

Yawl, know about Edison and Tesla right?

Yes! But that story is very interesting. But it was more a war between Edison and Westinghouse, and it is also interesting how Edison did get into AC eventually. Also, the 60Hz/110V used in America was part of a compromise back then, Tesla needed 60Hz to efficiently run an induction motor, but Edison had an existing installed base of 110V.

30 minutes ago, phil.g00 said:

The big VHS/Betamax ding-dong of AC vs DC.

VHS could record an hour episode (and later up to 4 hours). Betamax couldn't :-)

Technically, of course, almost everything in your house (with the exception of induction motors) uses DC these days. It's just that we distribute AC up to that point... and then we stick it through an SMPS.

Edited by plonkster
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That's what I'm getting at, its a chicken and egg situation. Appliance makers have geared up to deal with AC, and we ( Solar guys) have to make AC because that's the front end supply of our appliances. 

What we really need is built-in switched mode power supplies that could accept a wide range of AC AND DC voltages in standard appliances.

Maybe this is behind the HV DC battery vision, I've heard of.

PS. I am pretty sure I watched some full-length films on Beta back in the day.

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1 hour ago, phil.g00 said:

PS. I am pretty sure I watched some full-length films on Beta back in the day.

They eventually caught up, but it was too late. Betamax was technically the better format, it had a better loading mechanism, it even remained a favourite for video cameras for a while. But VHS took the domestic market and it was over.

Same could be said for Windows vs OS/2. IBM and Microsoft parted ways, MS turned their part into Windows NT and IBM made theirs into OS/2 Warp. The one with the better marketing budget won out.

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