Removing yourself from the Power grid?

Pitbull said:
I was thinking of getting a gass fridge also but this Solar fridge thing I have never heard of :o Might be another option. Thanks for the input I'll take that into consideration tonight and I'll redo the calculations again.
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Also look into reducing power requirements, there is tons of information on the web. Like installing double glazed windows, Window positions, Thicker (and black) north facing walls, Solar pool/geyser heaters, etc.
 
Pitbull said:
I was thinking of getting a gass fridge also but this Solar fridge thing I have never heard of :o Might be another option. Thanks for the input I'll take that into consideration tonight and I'll redo the calculations again.
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Solar fridges basically just use a DC motor rather than an AC induction motor to drive the compressor IIRC.
 
Pitbull said:
Fk eskom, I won't give then a cent. No matter what they plan on doing with it. They will have a way of screwing me out of my own power eventually. maybe credit me less and charge more or something. They are driving on Profit. And this will only be done to favour them.
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The better way would be to "dump" your excess power heating water for reuse. What they do is that when the batteries are charged fully the exess energy available is dumped to electric (fishtank) and other heating devices installed in water tank. (or pool for that matter)
 
Point Taken

xrapidx said:
Only problem is Eskom actually getting it right - South Africa isn't big on supporting the consumer, corporates here would much rather screw you and make it your problem... by the time they've ironed out the problems, it'll be 2020, and any self-provisioning would have paid it self off ages ago.
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Point taken...
 
BCO said:
Seems like a decent design. 2 points worth considering though. It might be worth considering basing your calculations on around 4 hours of sunlight rather than 6. This way the system will work as intended during cloudy spells. Also, perhaps a 33% discharge rather than a 50% discharge will allow for longer battery lifetimes. Of course, both those factors increase your costs.

Oh yes, one more thing you might need a much bigger inverter to allow for the huge power spike every time the fridge's induction motor kicks in. Or go for a specialised solar fridge.
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Hi all,

Use 4 hours for your hours of sunlight.
My brother is looking to do solar panels + batteries + inverters for billboards and 4 hours is the standard.

Have you thought of LED bulbs/globes yet?
They use a shotload less electricity!!

Also its better to stay with AC and using inverters, it has to do with the battery AmpHour rating,
for example (i hope i'm doing this correct):
V x A = W
so A = W/V
50W / 230V = 0.217A
or 50W / 12V = 4.166A
therefore a 50AmpHour battery will last longer inverting to AC than running things in DC.

Regards,
Monty.
 
@PitBull: You say in your calculations that you dont take the geyser into consideration because its not part of your consumption. What solution do you use for your geyser? I called around a bit and we found Solar Water (Solar geyser) solution for between R14k - R20k. Is that the route you went?

Another thing, your gas stove, do you have a gas oven as well? How much gas does such a solution require? Gas is also very expensive so its hard to use it the way its used overseas.

You are welcome to PM me the answer, I just asked here for in case other people have that same questions.
 
We use a gas stove at home, I think we've gone through two 9kg cylinders in the past 13 months, so thats around R360 a year. I'm pretty sure a stove uses more electricity than that.
 
MontyPython said:
cause eskom has this in store for us

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_...vn20090910035750440C699852#comment_bottom_box
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A comment from that page...

I suggest that you try to watch the documentry "Enron - Smartest Guys in the Room". Around the half-way mark it explains how they managed to make BILLIONS by creating false black outs then claiming that they needed additional funds for repairs etc. from the Governmaent and then by raising tariffs from the people. Watching this made the hair on my arms stand on end ... ... ... way, way, way too many similarities to RSA and Eksdom
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Summary [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I12UcHwUPaY&feature=fvw[/ame] watch all the youtube vids about them...

Telkom is educating AT&T at the moment, about how to use capping. Eskom will learn from enron, about how to fleece the customer and the government.
 
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