Escom doesn't care

[gombault]

Escom doesn’t care.
I developed a solar house lighting system. I have been manufacturing Led lights for years and decide I want to make a house lighting system that works. The first problem was voltage drop with low voltage Dc, as I didn’t want to go the inverter root. 12V would have required a complete re wire of the houses lighting system with heavier gauge wire. I decided on 24V but no one made 24Vglobes for house application. I designed my own globes that fit in the standard house light socket and they are very bright. I also designed my controller with a backup power supply. I converted my house lighting to this system and it works very nice the lights are free and it’s not affected by load shedding I use my existing houses wiring and switches. I first approached the department of energy with my system and they referred me to Escom that told me its not Ac power and they don’t know much about Dc power. I invited them to come and have a look at my house for themselves and see how much saving it can bring but they were not interested. Government wants to build 216000 houses this year each Hop/RDP house has 4 lights imagine the saving if only those lights don’t consume any Escom power. I also contacted the Gauteng Government still waiting for a reply on a meeting. I also gone back to the department of energy requesting a meeting and ask them to include Escom in to this meeting, would like to hear from their side what the saving would be if all house lighting was solar powered. Or is it that they would not make money from it.

[irneb]

Or is it that they would not make money from it.

Most probably.

That is what's the worst about any monopoly. They're unwilling to go with anything which might be better, especially if it means they might loose their strangle hold over their customers. It's nothing specific about Eskom, it's the same for ANY monopolistic organization - even including governments. If they don't have competition, they won't have incentive to provide better service / products.

[Justloadit]

@gombault,

I have already designed and developed an efficient LED module, 1W, 2W and 3W, which can work from 10.5 volts to 30V DC. The beauty of this design, is that no matter what the voltage is, it always draws the same amount of power! note Power, not amps. So for example, at 10V it draws 350mA from the source, at 20V it draws 175mA from the source, and the same lumens are maintained. The LEDs I use are 120Lumens per watt, and let me tell you that is bright.

These modules can be placed into any light fitting. I have not made these modules to have a bayonet or Phillip screw, as unbeknown to many consumers, they would purchase the "Lamps" and connect it into a mains socket. In fact there is a directive that states that certain globe holders are for certain voltages, specifically because of consumers and their lack of knowledge on the subject.

I have found from my experience, no one really gives a damn about you and your product, To make it out there, you have to knock on doors and sell the product yourself.

[wynn]

no one really gives a damn about you and your product, To make it out there, you have to knock on doors and sell the product yourself.

Or pay the correct backhand to the official that is specifying the electrical connections to the RDP houses.

[desA]

Gombault & JustLoadit:

Why don't you folks each set up a full review of your developments & designs on a blog page. Keep the intellectual property tricks up your sleeve. I'd be very interested in knowing more. I'm sure a lot more folks would also find this very useful.

Things like costs, availability etc would be really useful.

[Justloadit]

Haaaaa, the same old problem, time to make up the pamphlets.
I have set my mind to try and make a pamphlet a week. I got as far as taking a pic, and cleaning it up. Just need to get it into word and start creating the features and benefits then specs. I have done a few on my website www.simplelights.co.za

[newBix]

iskom don't have money. The reality of this colossal cluster fuck is that our only power provider didn't do proper maintenance due to demand and there addiction to money. iskom wants all the greens in the bank so they made sure that no other company can come and build there own stations and sell power to the public. and then the crap hit the fan when shit start to fall a part and is close to be beyond repair.

iskom then figured ok how can we solve this? there answer an even bigger money pit called the NEW power station so now ishkom have withdrawal symptoms! they are cutting off anything they don't need so that they can feed the moneypit and themselves with money!

[pmbguy]

By default eskom has the money. Its more a structural/administrative issue that gets our collective knickers in a twist. Eskom... more like the fuck we cant kom!

[desA]

I understand that the technology used on the new power stations is a special European specification, which allows creep flow in the piping. This has presented the contractors with enormous QA/QC problems, leading to a huge number of failed piping joints. Once operational, these power-stations will spend most of their life moving in & out of operation, due to this complication.

My first view was that this technology may not be an appropriate choice for an African application.

More troubles on the horizon, it seems.

[Justloadit]

More troubles on the horizon, it seems.

Do these characters know anything else?
Management by crises - no forward thinking applied.

[irneb]

Management by crises - no forward thinking applied.

There's a book & movie which sums this up quite succinctly: Going Postal - by Terry Pratchet. Though it's probably closer to what Telkom does, but the same principle applies. The quote from that which sums this up:

http://www.subzin.com/quotes/Going+Postal/Not+to+provide+a+good+service,+but+to+provide+the

[ELECT 1]

Eskom is the only company that tells its customers to stop using their services

[irneb]

Eskom is the only company that tells its customers to stop using their services

Yep, Wackhead did one of his pranks the other day: Phoned some lady telling her he was from Cell-C and that their network is overloaded, so he asked her to not make any calls for the day, else she'd be cut off for 2 hours the next day.

On the one hand it sounded far fetched, but when viewed in conjunction with Eishkom's blackouts & constant ads to reduce usage - well ... I can just imagine something like that (especially with data connections)!

[ELECT 1]

The government has banned the term "blackout" and replaced it with PLA " previously lit areas."

[AndyD]

Am I the only one who feels some sympathy toward Eskom? They're bound and gagged by politics and with that in mind I think it's a miracle the lights are still on at all.