LoadShed-ed
Avoiding The Dark Ages
Load Shed-ed?
WE SOLVE IT!
What can I power?
We can provide Inverter / Solar solutions all the way up from small 1kW (kilo-watt) up to 50kW units that would run a mine-shaft - the only issue is budget.
To run most of a house off the grid; regardless of is quoting; you're talking about tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of rands. Anyone who says they'll do it for less than, say, R30,000 is probably going to dissapoint you.
But before we dig into your longterm plans to get off the grid - what is it you want right now?
You may be surprised to know that you can do just fine with that tiny unit in the picture - bottom left!
At HOME - What do you really need?
Lights, TV, Wifi, computer and charge a cell phone or laptop... Right?
Well - that solution is going to cost less R6,000 - (R3,999 for the inverer, R1,999 for the battery).
Let's add it up - say, 4 LED bulbs giving plenty of light, your DSTV and big flatscreen TV playing, your Wifi feeding your computer and its 19-inch monitor... your 1200VA Home inverter will deliver you a sustained 720W of power. Even if we only run it at 90% of its capacity, you're still have 28 watts to spare.
How long can things run?
Now that you know how many components you can run, you'll want to know how long they'll run for.
For this exercise, we don't have to use the maximum power rating - your equipoment doensn't run flat-out all the time, so you can estimate your sustained use at a fraction of the maximum. In this example we're estimating that the components that added up to a maximum 627 watts will only actually draw 500W during a loadshed - if they're all running.
Well - the answer then is just under 3 hours on 1 battery. If you decide you want to double that time, just add another battery.
Components a Home Inverter can run:
And, again.... How long can it run things?
The office unit requires 2 batteries linked together to give it 24-volts of input power - and, as you'd suspect, 2 batteries give it twice the amount of battery life - or, in this case where we're using twice the sustained power, almost 3 hours of power to get you through a loadshed.
Again - If you decide you want to double that time, just add another battery.
Components an Office Inverter can run:
What if you want a bit more power - perhaps at the office?
SMALL OFFICE?
The solution is quicker & easier than you think...
With 8 lights running; when the power dies, 3 computers and monitors, plus printer and 4 laptops won't even flicker.... your productivity will just go on and on....
As you see in this table, the Home unit is being asked for 612-watts more than it can supply. At R5 499 - for just R1 499 more - the Office solution has twice the power of the Home unit, and gets the job done.
The units detailed above will get you through the crisis. When the time comes and your budget is right, we'll trade in your DIY system for a big unit to run your entire house or office.
Whereas the DIY units above just plug into the wall and have components plugged directly into them (avoiding the need for technicians and installation), our bigger units would typically be installed by a professional electrician.
Let's explore running the lights and most of the plugs in a house (though excluding the energy hungry things like; stoves, geyser, clothes iron, air conditioner, heater, etc.
As a general rule - each time you want to make provision for another 1-kilowatt in power, budget around R5,000.
To make the following assumptions, I'll use this resource - click here...
Let's start with a table that reflects all of the creature comforts you're accustomed to just plugging in without a second thought. Here's the kind of infrastructure you'll have to invest into to get back to that level of convenience:
The components above would need an 8kW inverter (with at least 1 bank of 8 battereis that would themselves add R16 000 to...) R45 000 - so you need to budget at least R60 000 to run the list up to the Kettle.
To Run just the Tumble Dryer and Air conditioner, you need another R60 000 investment - much better to just wire the really electricity hungry components out of any plan!
These are just examples to motivate why it's a good idea to take your time deciding what you really want, get a small system in right now that can carry you through the immediate agravation of blackouts, and then plan a bigger installation we can budget for and architect properly.
We provide simple, uncomplicated, plug-n-play solutions and an upgrade path
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Inverter
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Battries
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Bulbs with backup battery built-in
Give us your details - we'll immediately contact you
I can't screw in a lightbulb yet I set my unit up in my office in 3 minutes back in 2009 and have not had a power outage since then.
Michael Smorenburg, Cape Town.
I run my shop - light, till, credit card machine, Wi-Fi, computer - off a 1200W inverter. I'd hate to estimate what my losses would be if I didn't have this facilty. It pays for itself over and over.
Mark Beresford, Nelspruit