How do you recharge your electricity when the power is already down?

Good morning. My prepaid meter for electricity's units ran out. The box has batteries in but i cant seem to load new units. As soon as i press a button the screen shows PLC.

When you type in a token for units it just shows error. When you check your balance it does show Null.

Any advice???
 

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Tiaanb17 said:
Good morning. My prepaid meter for electricity's units ran out. The box has batteries in but i cant seem to load new units. As soon as i press a button the screen shows PLC.

When you type in a token for units it just shows error. When you check your balance it does show Null.

Any advice???
Click to expand...
As mentioned before go plug it into your neighbors closest power point to your house and recharge
 
Anyone here manage to clear the 'SRCH PAN' lockout message on your CIU? Mine is a Landis Gyr P160 in a house I've just bought.

Things that have not worked

- New 9v
- Neighbour
- Removing interference from plugged in appliances. Inverter is present but completely dead so nothing coming from there.

Have references logged with Eskom but losing hope after a week. A Landis tech has offered to help but would need access to the main meter but its caged with Eskom locks.
 
The keypad's battery could be flat, that is what happened to me. My unit used to give a battery low warning. It takes a 9V battery (there should be a latch you can open on the keypad itself), but just before I went to buy a new one the unit went on again without a battery in (after being off for about 10 hours)
 
Hi guys.. I have the mobile meter box with battery at the back.. and a cord that fits in to wall socket.. 3 point... our power ran out.. so I tried loading at a neighbours house..did not work.. walked to the street box .. stood next to it . Did not load.. so I went back home. Plugged it into another socket closest to where the street box is.. left it for about 5 mins and entered the token. power was back yeah!!.. sometime you have to try it twice.. hope this helps guys... be blessed !!
 
Mine also worked for some mysterious reason, I've had the meter for a couple of years now and always had to depend on the neighbours when I have let my units run out, It has never ever worked before, looks like lots of patience is needed before it connects when there is no power.
 
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TheChamp said:
Mine also worked for some mysterious reason, I've had the meter for a couple of years now and always had to depend on the neighbours when I have let my units run out, I has never ever worked before, looks like lots of patience is needed before it connects when there is no power.
Click to expand...
That's odd mine just works with any plug point.
 
rlouwlouw said:
Hi guys.. I have the mobile meter box with battery at the back.. and a cord that fits in to wall socket.. 3 point... our power ran out.. so I tried loading at a neighbours house..did not work.. walked to the street box .. stood next to it . Did not load.. so I went back home. Plugged it into another socket closest to where the street box is.. left it for about 5 mins and entered the token. power was back yeah!!.. sometime you have to try it twice.. hope this helps guys... be blessed !!
Click to expand...
These things are honestly a nightmare.

Only way around it the three times it died was neighbor closest to the main box outside.

Plug in there and top up
 
Snyper564 said:
These things are honestly a nightmare.

Only way around it the three times it died was neighbor closest to the main box outside.

Plug in there and top up
Click to expand...

I don't get how plugging it into your neighbour's power supply works. Your neighbour's supply should be isolated from yours.
 
deweyzeph said:
I don't get how plugging it into your neighbour's power supply works. Your neighbour's supply should be isolated from yours.
Click to expand...
It needs a live connection - thats how it communicates to the POS in the box outside.
 
Snyper564 said:
It needs a live connection - thats how it communicates to the POS in the box outside.
Click to expand...

Sure but how does it communicate with the receiving unit if your neighbour's supply is on a different circuit to yours? In theory it shouldn't be able to.
 
deweyzeph said:
Sure but how does it communicate with the receiving unit if your neighbour's supply is on a different circuit to yours? In theory it shouldn't be able to.
Click to expand...
Clearly the communications wiring is common and it apparently uses the same electrical wiring, taking it to the neighbour works first time for me, but we are in a block of flats so I think that makes it better than being in standalone houses, but does also work in standalone houses.
 
Geoff.D said:
All about the crappy wireless technology used to communicate between the main unit and the units in each home.
Click to expand...
The whole point is that it is not wireless technology. That’s the issue. It needs a neutral wire (not through an inverter) to send the signal to the main meter box in the street.

It is an idiotic design and mine does not manage to communicate even with brand new batteries so I have to rely on a neighbour if stupid enough to let it run out. CityPower don’t even warn you that you need a clean plug (not on inverter) when you switch to prepaid.
 
Optimistically said:
The whole point is that it is not wireless technology. That’s the issue. It needs a neutral wire (not through an inverter) to send the signal to the main meter box in the street.

It is an idiotic design and mine does not manage to communicate even with brand new batteries so I have to rely on a neighbour if stupid enough to let it run out. CityPower don’t even warn you that you need a clean plug (not on inverter) when you switch to prepaid.
Click to expand...

In Cape Town most of the prepaid meters I've seen are the type where the meter and the keypad etc are all one unit, usually mounted next to your DB board. Only saw the one with the keypad that you plug into a wall socket in Joburg and Pretoria. It's a crappy design but I'm guessing it's to make it much harder to bypass the meter. The all-in-one units are trivial to bypass because the entire unit is in your house next to the DB board.
 
Recharge electricity?

What?

When eksdom gives me electricity I have some. When they is borked I use the generator.
 
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