Load-shedding can have devastating impact on remote working

Hanno Labuschagne

Hanno Labuschagne

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Load-shedding can have devastating impact on remote working

Eskom implemented load-shedding for the first time since the start of the lockdown as a result of several power plant breakdowns exceeding 3,000MW in capacity.

The stage 2 load-shedding, which started on Friday morning, continued on Saturday despite some units returning to service.

Three of the six generation units contributing to the earlier breakdowns were successfully returned to service at Tutuka, Arnot and Matimba powers stations as of Friday evening.
 
Vumatel in my area stays on through loadshedding.. The company provided a UPS and freestanding battery bank, so I can power devices I need to work from home..

Provided that upstream network providers remain on through loadshedding, I should remain unaffected..
 
system32 said:
How much longer till Eskom is fixed?
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Load shedding for the mines began in 2007 and for domestic areas in 2008. This means that people about to leave school will not properly remember an era before load shedding. In other words, it is long past the time where we need to accept it as the "new normal" (together with all the other things that have been added to that phrase).
 
We have so many power outages here by us. Add load shedding and we are ****ed.

I hate Eskom so much.
 
Frogfoot stays on during LS here and my inverter gets my throughout it. Will stick wfh.
 
Vumatel is on during load shedding, my routers have battery backup however I really do not like using laptop and do not have UPS that can run my dev machine for 2-3 hours.
So I'm concentrating on writing small utils and planning.
Friday was a bit of mess since online meeting/training was scheduled just as load shedding started and I could not demo work done.

So it is a mess and I'll probably have to add some sort of solar solution for study (at least).
 
I might not understand this, but what is the issue with getting a backup power option to make sure your equipment is still operating when the power goes off? Most FNO's and even exchanges stay on during load shedding regardless, so I don't see how load shedding needs to be blamed for someone not doing their work?
 
stefan9 said:
Frogfoot stays on during LS here and my inverter gets my throughout it. Will stick wfh.
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Same here. Was worried about FF but they seem fine. OS before that never had a problem either. Couple in my team is affected by the 4 hour Jhb slots, but they all have new'ish laptops which will last. Rest are all Pta based and have generators/ups/decent laptop batteries.
 
Thanks to the new PE schedule we get a max of 2.5hours of load shedding at a time so I just need a battery for the ADSL router and I'm good to go.

All I need now is work to do.
 
Hmm ... , wonder what a new battery for my laptop will cost. Has a low capacity type, 30 minutes of use. UPS has also gone south, not that it was great to begin with.

Will not happen this month though. Got to put tyres on the car. :(
 
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Thing is in JHB we get loadshed 4.5hrs at a time. Last time I looked for pricing on a backup solution to carry a basic PC and monitor at a conservative average of 100W consumption, without draining and damaging the batteries, it was around R5000 minimum for an inverter and batteries.
 
Got a inverter and batteries for 4700 at makro, box for 179. Setup done for pc to be online during load shedding. Happy happy, inverters fan making continuous noise, not so happy.

Fiber modem on a 12v lead acid battery and modem is powered by a normal phone power bank. Setup is not automatic but it's cheap.
 
Nothing that government is supposed to provide works. Nothing. The people have to outsource everything to competent service providers, in addition to paying tax.

Public healthcare is useless, so we have private hospitals.
Public schooling is useless, so we have private schools.
Police are useless, so we need security guards and electric fences.
Eskom is useless, so we DIY with batteries, inverters and solar.
Public prosecutors are useless, so we have we have Afriforum.

The list goes on and on.

The government is run by a bunch of useless blood sucking self-serving mosquitoes.
 
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