Five Clever Tips to Make Life Easier During ESKOM Load Shedding

Love it or hate it – Eskom load shedding has become part of our lives. Eskom is in a crisis and therefore we are going to have to think up smart ways of adapting to keeping the lights on and at the very least, think of clever tricks to ensure you are never left in the dark. 

Here are five tips to make it easier for you to live through those long periods of darkness when Eskom switches off the lights: 

• Gas stoves are a brilliant and cheaper alternative to your electric hob that guzzles electricity. It is a fast, efficient and cheap way of cooking your food. If connecting to a gas line is too costly, simply get a large gas bottle. 

• A little primus stove is also great for making tea and coffee when the lights are out. A little camping gas bottle is a fantastic, quick alternative to an electric kettle. 
• LED lights are great too. Keep them plugged into the socket when you go out so that you don’t enter a dark house. Some of these LED lights have a port where you can charge your phone – win, win all round! 
• Solar power during blackouts is a good way of keeping the lights on – but not only during blackouts. This is perhaps one of the most user-friendly methods of weaning your business and home off the grid. 
• During cold winter months make a flask of coffee and tea so that you have a hot drink whether you are having a blackout or not. This will also mean that you don’t continuously boil the kettle, saving on electricity. 

It’s the little things that make the biggest difference – think out of the box to make load shedding irrelevant. Go one step further and install solar power for during blackouts and huge power savings. 

Power Conditioning Products

Prevention is always better than cure, particularly as far as your expensive electronic equipment is concerned. 

Short-lived voltage surge protectors are required to safeguard your sensitive electronic equipment from being damaged through surges of power. But did you know that these are not the only eventualities that your equipment needs to be protected from? 

Power quality is often degraded through voltage sags, voltage swells and outages that might need voltage power conditioning products – examples of these power conditioning products include voltage regulators, power conditioners, UPS devices (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and battery backup units. 

Invest in products from the professionals that are well-versed in taking care of a variety of issues – ensure your electrics are never damaged by these: 

• Power outages that have become regular occurrences. 
• Voltage dips. 

• Voltage spikes. 
• Short-lived over-voltages. 

Typically AC power conditioning products supply clean AC power to electrical equipment – in particular equipment that is sensitive to numerous dips, spikes, blackouts and brownouts. These devices are typically installed and used in offices and home applications. 

The distinctive configuration of power conditioners comes equipped with as many as ten outlets providing surge protection and noise filters. 

Power conditioning products play an integral role in safeguarding your expensive electronic equipment – and as the saying goes – prevention is always better than cure.

To calculate UPS Runtime you need a certain formula to do so. 

But what exactly is run time? Runtime refers to how long a battery will last when being used or under a certain load. Think cell phone or PC battery life – everyone is aware that a battery needs to be recharged when using these devices. 

There are three factors that are taken into account when measuring runtime. The first is the hardware itself – how good a condition is the battery to begin with? Secondly, runtime will depend on the amount of current that the load draws from the battery. 

The third factor that will be taken into consideration when measuring the runtime of your battery will be the system itself – in other words, the inverter and the wiring that connects the device to the UPS system. 

This is the formula that is commonly used to calculate Battery Run Time: 

Although there is seldom a 100% efficiency factor when hooking up a battery with a device, the formula below will be based on this case scenario: 

The formula generally used is 10 X the capacity of the batter in amp hour divided by the load of the device in watts. The formula can be found on the label of a lead acid battery. 

If you are using your device long-term from a battery unit, it is advisable to recharge your battery on a regular basis. 

Running a battery until it runs flat is not good for the battery as it will reduce the life of the battery. 

Calculate UPS Runtime to ensure longevity of your battery. 

It is advisable to go the professional route and find a company that is able to advise you what’s best for your needs – one that can professionally install your unit and also a company that can service your unit should the need arise!

There are different types of UPS Systems but the most common UPS categories of modern UPS Systems include Standby UPS Systems, which is also referred to as Off-Line UPS, Line Interactive UPS and On-Line UPS.

A Standby or Off-Line UPS system is usually used for when the load is powered directly from the utility and the backup power only kicks in if the main power fails. This UPS system is extremely basic and only provides surge protection and battery backup to enable businesses and individuals to save their data and shut down their devices safely. The Off-Line UPS can withstand under-voltage brownouts and surges without consuming the reserve power from the battery plus it is able to automatically select various power taps on the autotransformer.

A Line-Interactive UPS, on the other hand, preserves the inverter in line and transmits the battery’s DC current path from the usual charging method to supply current as and when the power goes down.

Online UPS System uses a method referred to as a “double conversion” which accepts the AC input, and correcting to DC, passing through the rechargeable battery.

There are definite distinctions regarding the UPS Systems being used – for example massive power units require UPS supplies where a synchronous alternator or motor is attached on the mains through the use of a choke. Power is then stored in a Flywheel and when the power is intermittent an Eddy Current directive upholds the power on the load. At times a diesel UPS supply is required and is referred to as a DRUPS.

Most businesses in a tight economy are looking at smart ways to save on their bottom line. Additionally, with the instability of the power from the grid, being without power for any length of time could result in substantial losses – combine these two and it simply makes good sense to install business solar systems to save on your bottom line. Time is money and even a short amount of downtime in a factory, production plant, mine, retail shopping centre or office block could result it losing substantial amounts of money.

That is why it is time to start thinking out of the box so that you can start ticking all those necessary boxes instead; a good point of entry is by starting off with the way you power your world.

Business solar systems are without question a no-brainer and make a lot of sense.

A good example of powering businesses and in fact, an entire island, is Robben Island. Going solar is perhaps the most sensible move forward, and should be an example to all of us on how to install solar and become independent from the power grid on all fronts.

It might seem like a costly exercise upfront, but low-cost housing projects are taking this queue and ensuring that all new houses built are fitted with solar-powered units to avoid being dependent on the already over-worked power grid.

South Africa needs to get smart with the way it supplies water and electricity to the masses – and making small changes is most certainly a step in the right direction.

Going green and making little adjustments, installing solar and supporting green businesses will undoubtedly be a step in the right direction.