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RiaanP

RiaanP

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what more are there to say.

Thanks to them I'm getting load shed 3 times a day. 2.5 hours each time.

Running on generators are not cheap.
 
@RiaanP same here, Going through about 5l of petrol a day on our generator. Also having to wake up at night to plug in the batteries because starting a generator at 2 in the morning is frowned upon :m36:.
 
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Yeah it sucks, i use inverters myself with a generator as last resort, but its getting ridiculous now. Cant setup my QT tank because of this. Way to risky
 
We are also going away for the long weekend, so really worried about leaving my brother in charge of the tanks while we are away with stage 4 still in place :m37:
 
I'm looking at setting up a nice UPS system capable of running the tank (and a few extras) for the full duration of loadshedding, but I have a feeling it's not going to be cheap.
 
Barlan said:
Chiller uses about 350 watts, so not to bad
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Lol, your definition of "not too bad" is different to mine. :lol: Going solar soon, and won't even run main tank lights after the sun has set, will only have 30x1w chips running after dark until I go to bed to try and save the batteries. And want to eventually replace all pumps with low wattage pumps (like Tunze) to stretch batteries even further.
 
Barlan said:
whats the power usage of your tank? i only run my return, dosers, and chiller on the inverter, everything else is off
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I plan to run the return, flow, and possibly skimmer during that time (and maybe the lights). That all totals about ~300w (if the lights are added it's double that). But I also want to be able to keep the essentials going in the office i.e. the network (router and switch) and a computer (which draws 500w at max load). So the total draw will be just shy of 1000w which is not that bad. My other major concern is being able to run on only batteries for a longer period of time like 4 to 6 hours.
 
hotdog83 said:
Lol, your definition of "not too bad" is different to mine. :lol: Going solar soon, and won't even run main tank lights after the sun has set, will only have 30x1w chips running after dark until I go to bed to try and save the batteries. And want to eventually replace all pumps with low wattage pumps (like Tunze) to stretch batteries even further.
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Nice. I've considered going over to solar, or at least mostly solar, but the costs are still quite high and I don't really have the room to set up such a system.
 
An inverter running a 1000w won't be too expensive (unless perhaps you want to go pure sine), but enough proper deep cycle batteries to run 1000w for 4-6 hours is going to cost you quite a lot, last I checked the Premium Deep cycle batteries (with around 500 cycles at 50% discharge I think) are around R2800 for a single 105Ah. Might be more economical short term to get a 5.5kva generator and just pay the petrol.
 
hotdog83 said:
An inverter running a 1000w won't be too expensive (unless perhaps you want to go pure sine), but enough proper deep cycle batteries to run 1000w for 4-6 hours is going to cost you quite a lot, last I checked the Premium Deep cycle batteries (with around 500 cycles at 50% discharge I think) are around R2800 for a single 105Ah. Might be more economical short term to get a 5.5kva generator and just pay the petrol.
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I would definitely go pure sine wave, just for the fact that I don't trust my budget DC return or flow pumps to be able to handle any impurities. But, yes, I am aware that the batteries are going to be the killer of this endeavour. I'm still figuring out that part. Maybe scale down to running just the tank (300w) for prolonged periods, or something along those lines.
 
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Just bought a kit to go solar. Got some Ritar batteries Lead carbon 100ah ,that will do 2000 cycles at 80%. They cost a pretty penny but worth it for the long run.
 
Heaters and chillers are not needed, during load shedding. Significant temperature variations withing 2.5 hour span and you got other problems. Maybe with Metal Halide units.

Just need to keep things flowing.

Not sure myself what to do next.
For night mode, if going full UPS and no generator I need to redo all my power cords. Build a red line and a black line. Return pumps skimmer and half the flow pumps on red. Everything else like heaters on the black line. Including lights.

Daytime, I can run the generator, and mine is big enough to run everything, including couple of PC's. The PC's are already all on small UPS that allow me enough time to shut them down normally.

But this setup still means I need to swap cables as needed.

Going fully off grid is not an option either. Excluding heaters I still need about 1000W for my tank. That is with lights on. Just the batteries makes it a non option.
 
Nowadays the sound of generators running is just as common as the sound of mosquito's at night. Highly irritating.
 
The news gets better & better by the day

Eskom and government have started planning for Stage 5 and Stage 6 load-shedding, according to officials who say that there is a race against time to ensure that a national blackout and grid collapse does not happen.
Stage 5 and Stage 6 load-shedding imply shedding 5000 MW and 6000 MW respectively.
For businesses and residential consumers, it extends the period of power cuts in even longer blocks than we are now seeing.
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https://www.fin24.com/Economy/eskom...ding-to-stave-off-national-blackouts-20190319
 
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