Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April/May 2019 | Page 49

L
oad shedding is becoming a daily reality in South Af-
rica, and is not only affecting businesses and essential
services, but all of us in our homes.
Riaan de Leeuw, VP for IT Division - Anglophone Africa
at Schneider Electric, says it is therefore crucial to protect our
homes and businesses against sudden loss of power or surges.
‘This is particularly true of small to medium-sized
businesses, who are more at risk due to their limited ability
to maintain security and generate revenue during downtime,’
he says.
‘And while many people are turning to generators to get
them through load shedding, soaring petrol prices mean this
is an expensive and not very eco-friendly way to go. However,
for both homes and businesses, a
Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) can protect businesses
against downtime,’ he adds.
Uninterrupted Power Supply solutions protect and save the
electronic equipment we rely on so heavily, and are scalable
according to different needs, says de Leeuw.
For example, an Uninterrupted Power Supply for basic
home use, will allow a WIFI router to run, cell phone chargers
to operate, and the safe shut down of a single PC, below
500watts.
‘For advanced home, or basic small office use, there are
solutions that will enable a TV and or decoder or game console
and surround sound to run. Users would also be able to keep
the lights on, if connected to the DB board, and are between
1000 and 3000 watts. In this instance, runtime would be
dependent on additional external batteries and physical load.’
For a basic small or home office, there are solutions that
will allow between one and five PCs to run, with monitors
and the router or switch to allow connectivity. He adds that
it is advisable to connect printers to an Uninterrupted Power
Supply due to power spike during start-up. ‘Again, users
could run between 1000 and 5000 watts, depending on extra
batteries and the physical load.’
There are also solutions to cover advanced small to medium
use, which would include one to 20 PCs with monitors, the
server, router or switch, and lights if connected to the DB
board. ‘While you would have between 5000 and 20000 watts,
the same rules apply in terms of batteries and load.’
According to him, Uninterrupted Power Supply offers
guaranteed power protection for connected electronics, which
ensures businesses can keep their doors open and maintain
contact with partners and customers. ‘Remember, keeping
Wi-Fi up and running rather than having to rely on cellular
data during load shedding gives you a better chance of staying
online, for longer.’
‘Should power be interrupted, or fluctuate outside safe
levels, an Uninterrupted Power Supply instantly provides
clean battery backup power and surge protection for sensitive
equipment, giving enough time to safely power down non-
essential devices and keep critical business operations up
and running. It will also provide battery backup power and
protection for equipment such as TVs security systems,
gaming consoles and mobile devices.’
‘When selecting the right Uninterrupted Power Supply
solution for your needs, consider that an Uninterrupted Power
Supply should have an output watt capacity 20-25% higher
than the total power drawn by any attached equipment,’
cautions de Leeuw. ‘Moreover, runtime is important, giving
an indication as to how long an Uninterrupted Power Supply
will be able to power its attached equipment in the event of a
power disruption.’
Lastly, he advises to test all equipment by unplugging the
Uninterrupted Power Supply periodically to make sure all
attached equipment stays powered.
SOURCE: Schneider Electric
THE SOUTH AFRICAN LOAD-SHEDDING SURVIVAL GUIDE
Load shedding is back and causing mayhem in South African
homes once again. But with some good old fashioned maak ‘n
plan it’s possible to avoid, or to miti-gate, most of the problems.
Gumtree’s Estelle Nagel says there are many items which
will make life without Eskom so much better and, if money is
tight, you can get them all online second-hand at great savings.
• GAS STOVE - Gumtree price range R200 to R1000: A
camping stove and a small gas bottle will keep the kitchen
going during the blackouts - Gumtree price range R400
to R1000
• A GAS BRAAI - Gumtree price range R1500 to R6000:
Something to fire up quickly for emergency cooking
• RECHARGEABLE LED LIGHTS - Gumtree price
range R100 to R1500: They last for hours which means
no messy candles or searching for batteries to get the flash
light working.
• POWERBANK - Gumtree price range R300 to R500:
With our addiction of cellphones, two and a half hours can
feel like days, so get some powerbanks which ensure that
your phone is charged.
• PORTABLE HIGH-SPEED HOTSPOT - Gumtree
price range R450: A hotspot means you stay connected
without chewing up data.
• ENTERTAINMENT - Gumtree price range R50 to
R1000: Boardgames are fun and help pass the time while
the TV and the internet doesn’t work.
• SMALL GENERATOR - Gumtree price range R1000
to R8000: with a domestic-scale generator you can stay
powered up all the time (but make sure you get a qualified
electrician to install it).
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine APRIL/MAY 2019
47