[Question] electrical earth continuity

[Groen Karoo]

If possible help me on this one:

I`ve got mayor problems on enhancing or better or improving electrical earth continuity out in the Klein Karoo region near Ladismith. There is no Eskom supply from a transformer whatsoever. It is all solar systems.
My neutral to earth is my problem because i dont have the advantage of a neutral coming from a transformer. Give some advice on how to do a better earthmat or earthspike option.

What I normally did is that I put earth wire with earthspikes underneath the new houses foundation but that seems to not the final answer.

the formula Z=V/2I is the one that give me some answers but dont come even close to that.

Thank you
Alewyn

[murdock]

you might need earth mats or and earth grid...check out the cellphone tower earthing systems...only problem is everytime there is a lightning strike you kill all the animals close by...it is very difficult to get a good earth from spikes alone especially in areas where the ground is very dry...you could keep extending the earth spike but you might need to knock one half way to china...

[bergie]

there seems to be a lot of mayor problems in the karoo,such as truman prince

[bergie]

pity you cant make each installation a safety supply.

[murdock]

what are you installing?

if only lights and TV points etc...stay with the 12 volts because it saves on the power consumed by the invertor...my invertor consumes 4 amps of power...so in theory it reduces my time of use by 40 %...my tv and dvd player 6 amps...a fully charged 105 amp/hr battery in good condition charged to 12.7 volts will last a max of 5.5 hours before the invertor will cut out at 11.4 volts...if you run a battery to less than 10.5 volts it is regarded as flat...but some chargers will recover the battery but only for a short period of time...a quick way to kill a battery...run it below 50% duty cycle...i have read up info about a US DC 31 130 amp/hr battery which can apparently cycle to 80 percent...but i have not personally had any experience with these batteries....with these batteries having a capacity of 25-30% higher capacity they should last for around 7 hours if fully charged and in good condition.

i dont know your experience with batteries...but i thought i would share this info with people who dont know...feel free to comment on my statement as i am not a battery specialist.

[Dave A]

How are these houses being supplied with water?

Just thinking a nearby borehole would be handy.