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So with the return of rolling back outs, load shedding🙄 we are once again faced with the inconvenience of having to sit through two and half hours of darkness and the risk of loosing appliances to an electric spike or surge. 
In this blog I explore a few practical ideas and options for getting through load shedding.
I'm not a technician or mechanic but I am a practical thinker and a recipient of Eskoms load shedding...and facilities management is my occupation. So without further delay here are my thoughts.
Preparation is the name of the game. To save money and not spend anything or as little as possible on machines or tech we're gonna need to plan ahead. Get the load shedding schedule.
I use the app called "Telkom se push" available from Google play store. There are many such apps used to view the load shedding schedule. One can also get the schedule from the Telkom website. Now get the schedule for your area.
If you're lucky and load shedding is scheduled for day time, then plan an outing for those two and a half hours. Go for a walk, take the dog, the spouse and the kids for a walk. Two and a half hours....wearing your masks. If load shedding is in the morning hours over the weekend, well, that's a no brainer, sleep in!
For early evening till night time load shedding, my family and I finish up the cooking before the outage. There have been occasions were we have also braaied/BBQed through a load shedding period. Its fun especially if you have kids. Load shedding is a good opportunity to light up a fire throw some chops and worse on the grill. This option also work during the week but weekends are best. So we're either having supper by fire light or after load shedding. After load shedding is a quick warm up in the microwave oven, eat and then to bed. All the kids get washed and on with pajamas! If you've gone the fire route then bath time will obviously be after, once the power has returned. All devices get charged. Make sure tablets, phones, laptops, little power banks etc. are charged and set up any lighting you may have. So if you have battery operated lamps or lights even candles light 'em up.
For peace of mind and not have to think about when and if load shedding is happening a back up system needs to be installed. We have a few choices here. There are mainly two, battery and engine. Generators and Inverters.
Lets chat about the generator, two basic types, invertor generator and open frame generator. Invertor generators have variable speed, meaning when the load is heavy the Genny runs faster and when the load is lighter the Genny runs slower. This feature save fuel, while the open frame runs at one speed whatever the load demand. The open frame generator is heavy and usually needs two pairs of hands to move it, however for the same capacity the inverter generator is lighter and easier to move around. The Inverter generator also comes in a "briefcase" design making it practical to lift, move and pack away in a cupboard. Another star goes to the inverter Generator as it runs quiet, just a low purr, making it great for use in flats, complexes, camping sites, business centers etc., unlike the open frame that runs deafeningly loud. I'm sure you know the sound all to well, you've seen them grinding away at carnivals, camp sites and building sites. The open frame wins when it comes to price they are less expensive than the inverter generator. Open frames are robust and best suited for building sites and carnivals producing raw energy. To run your home its best to spend a bit extra and get the inverter generator that produces clean power suitable for all your home appliances.
However bare in mind that generators are engines and need fuel to run. They also need to be maintained meaning oil changes, filter cleaning/changing and now and again an off load maintenance run. All these are expenses to consider.
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| Ellies 1440W/2400VA Inverter UPS |
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| Deep Cycle Battery (For Use With Inverters) |
The next option is battery. UPS and inverter. In simple terms a Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is a box with a charger, a battery and an inverter that converts DC to AC current. It is designed to protect your data meaning your computer will stay on giving you enough time to finish up and save. UPS typically have 15-20 minutes battery life. UPS is a sensitive machine that cannot be used to run home appliances. Kettles, NO! Fridges, NO! Offline UPS are for your desktop, hard drives/servers and laptops. This piece of hardware should be mandatory for anyone with a home office as it also protects equipment from power surges etc. There are inline interactive UPSes that have been used to run Android box, smart TV, LED lamps, Wi-Fi router and charging of cellphones for the two and a half load shedding period. However UPS should not be used for general home usage.
To keep your home running normal for the load shedding period is the next option, inverter hooked up to deep cycle batteries. For the technically savvy, inverters and batteries can be bought separately and connected directly to the DB board. This is a more permanent installation. But for the layman there are easy to use plug and play packages. A battery bank on wheels with its own inverter simply plug it into the wall and then plug into the inverter a multi plug for the appliances you want to keep on during load shedding.
Remember the size of your backup will determine the cost and how many appliances can be run. Like with generators there is maintenance however it won't be as involved as the generator, if any at all. UPS and inverters usually have their batteries replaced after several years of use and this also is dependent on usage frequency.
Which ever option you choose to go with calculate and prioritize accordingly by deciding what you will need during the blackout and then proceed to add up the watts. The watts can be found behind or under the appliances you wish to running. When you are ready speak to the supplier/manufacturer they will advise and supply you with suitable machinery/tech.
