As we approach stages 6 to 8 of load shedding, many of us have to decide about spending money on a holiday this year or investing in a battery backup solution to stave off blackouts as much as possible.
We’ve been playing with various portable power stations over the last 12 months, and there are numerous options to keep your gaming gear going when the power goes out. The next step up from portable battery inverters is an installed battery and inverter system. While this is the ideal route, buying a “big system” is often daunting as these are not as neatly packaged as those all-in-one portable power stations. You need to find an inverter and match it with a set of batteries, then get a reliable installer to get it all working for you. In my experience with my partner’s home solar system, the biggest issue you face going this route is finding a reliable inverter, battery brand, and, more importantly, a reliable installer. Add to this the size of these installations. For smaller homes, townhouse complexes, and flats, these systems are not always ideal, as they require more space than people can afford inside their homes.
Lucky for us, a South African by the name of Scott Andrew, the founder and Managing Director of Get Off Grid, one of South Africa’s largest solar wholesalers, devised a clever new product that will address the needs of those consumers who fall in the gap between the convenience of portable power stations and battery capacity of the big home installations.
The Loadshedder is an all-in-one mountable battery and inverter system that was built in partnership with Sun Synk, one of the biggest inverter brands in South Africa. It was designed specifically for small households, but having tested it for a month now, I would say it can handle bigger households too, but there is a caveat. More on that later.
Currently, two Load Shedder products are available, with a third on the way next year. The entry-level unit is the Loadshedder 2, a 2.5KW system ideally suited to run only a few small devices. It’s made for small households wanting to keep the lights on and security activated. I’ve been testing the Loadshedder 4, a 3.6KW system with a bigger battery and a higher maximum load of 3600w. This unit is ideal for townhouses and small homes that want to keep things running as usual while the power is out.
When we first approached Loadsheeder to test this product, my plan was just to power the NAG Studio, but since they sent over the 3.6KW unit, I thought I’d hook up my entire house (barring the geyser and oven, of course) to really put this thing through its paces. I honestly did not think anything under 5KW would be sufficient for my needs, but I was wrong. It has been over a month since installation, and if it were not for this Loadshedder 4, the NAG Magazine Annual Special Edition 2023 would not have made it to print. I barely felt the brunt of load-shedding these last few weeks, and as a gamer and videographer, I could not be happier. Since the installation, I have not had to rush a video shoot or gaming session to accommodate load-shedding.
Installation
Having been part of numerous battery and solar installations, I was surprised at how small the Loadshedder 4 is. It’s slightly larger than your average home inverter, but the kicker is that this one has both the inverter and battery built-in. All you need is an additional DB box with a few switches and circuit breakers to connect it to your home distribution board safely, a few bits of trunking to hide the cables, and you’re done – all of which comes with your purchase and installation. I am simplifying it a bit, but there really isn’t much more to it. Loadshedder also appoints a trained and dedicated installer to manage the business side of things. The team who installed my unit even went as far as fixing a few other things that needed attention before installing the Loadshedder 4. As a result, my installation took a little longer. The Loadshedder 4 installation and setup part of the process only took about 2 hours in total.
Small footprint
The benefit of this all-in-one system is that you can install it almost anywhere that space is limited. I opted to have it mounted on the wall behind my house’s distribution board in a small room converted into a spare office slash storage room. I was worried that installing the inverter near my office would cause noise problems. Still, even though its fans come on occasionally, I’ve almost forgotten it is there. Another benefit is keeping all the floor space in the room, as no batteries are needed to be stored there.
The Loadshedder itself is not unsightly either. It’s basically a matt black box with a small screen on the front and a cool racing stripe down the middle. All the connectors are at the bottom of the unit to make cable management easier.
On the left side of the unit are two switches, one for the battery and one for the PV switchover – used when connecting solar panels to your system. On the right, you’ll find some fans for air circulation. I never leave the windows open in that room, and I could feel a rise in the ambient temperature, especially when the system was under load, but nothing that made the room unpleasant. Even in Joburg’s recent heatwave, the Loadshedder 4 managed to idle along nicely and jumped into gear even when all my PCs were drawing gaming-grade watts.
Usage
Understanding your power usage is an essential part of understanding what inverter solution you need, and it will help you manage your battery system more effectively if you know what not to use when the power is out. In most new(ish) built homes, you can easily segment your house’s power circuits to ensure only those plugs and appliances you want to operate will function. In my case, I did not segment those plugs, so I need to be more considerate of running certain appliances that draw too much power during load shedding. So far, my kettle, which draws 4000w, has been the only thing to bring the system down when I am in the studio or during a game session. When my PCs are not running, boiling the kettle is not an issue. It’s a fair trade-off, considering the kettle will only run for a minute or two. My coffee machine, a nifty espresso maker, the microwave and even my air fryer all work perfectly well when Eskom switches me off.
It did not take me long after the installation to feel immune against load shedding. The only way I can tell that the power is off in the neighbourhood is by checking the red pilot light on the distribution board next to the inverter. When it’s off, it means no power is coming into my property. A green light indicates that the Loadshedder is online.
During the first week of installation, I would continually monitor my usage and check the battery status to see my limitations in output and time during load shedding. There is a small LCD on the Loadshedder 4 that you can cycle through to get some hardware stats and usage information. Even better is the Sun Synk app, which replicates this information in a much nicer user interface. I found the app to lag a bit in updating the data, so during that first week, I would often check and compare the screen on the Loadshedder 4 itself.
Running my house on an average day, I use between 500w and 1,800w of power; this includes my fridge and basic appliances, all the lights in my studio, three computers, lights, and security. I’ve not had to change my power usage habits during load shedding, and apart from one extended power outage in the neighbourhood of about 8 hours, the Loadshedder 4 has kept me online with ease. There were a few times early on when I would accidentally overload the system by running too many high-power appliances, and all that happened was that the Loadshedder shut down and rebooted within about 2 minutes. On rare occasions, such as mowing the lawn while the studio is running and someone is gaming, I need to bypass the Loadshedder 4 as I draw well over 4,000w. This is easily done by flipping a switch, and I’ve only needed to do it once.
Another impressive feature of the Loadshedder 4 is that it goes from flat to fully charged in under 2 hours. This meant that even on those days when we had unreasonable load-shedding schedules that only gave us 2 hours between time slots, I was okay because the Loadshedder 4 was always fully charged when needed.
Adding Solar
As you start using the Loadshedder 4, you’ll quickly understand why solar is such a big deal; not only can you charge your batteries without relying on Eskom, but the inverter will enable you to use power from the panels to power your house during the day. With enough panels, you can run most of your home from solar when the sun is out and only rely on the batteries at night or when it’s raining. Free power, baby!
Loadshedder has solar panel packages starting from 4-panel kits for R30,000 up to 8-panel kits for R47,400. And in case you are wondering, the batteries inside the Loadshedder are replaceable. This means that you can fit a new battery when the time comes. The batteries inside the Loadshedder offer 3,000 charge/discharge cycles. Depending on your usage, that could be over a decade’s use. Even then, the battery does not die completely (like the Lead-Acid and Gel batteries do); after 3,000 cycles, the LiFePO4 still has 80% capacity, so performance is just degraded. It’s really impressive technology.
Upgrade Path
While the Loadshedder 4’s inverter cannot deliver more than the roughly 4KWh it pushed out to your household, you can add more battery capacity to give you longer battery run times. The Loadshedder 4 works with most reputable battery brands, so you can add third-party hardware if you’d like. Big plus.
For just under R50,000, the Loadshedder 4 makes home-installed batteries much more accessible, especially where space is a premium. The company has also worked with big banks and financial institutions to offer you finance packages. For the Loadshedder 4, that repayment starts from just under R1,400 per month. Some banks also let you add a battery or solar installation to your bond, so it’s worth looking into that as well.
It’s only been a month, and the Loadshedder 4 has already become an indispensable tool in the NAG Studio. Our portable battery inverters did the job well, but having your entire house powered is something on a whole new level. Keep an eye on NAG for more information on Loadshedder 4 as we spend more time with this device for the next few months.
