Power problems and what you can do about them

Dear friends and clients

There is no doubt that everybody is being adversely affected by the current power problems (if you’ll excuse the pun!) Businesses are down, people are becoming frustrated – the question is, What can be done about it 

There are two options:

• Create your own power;

• Store power when it is available for the times when it isn’t.

Each solution has pros and cons – I will deal with these in turn.

Creating your own power means installing a generator. This produces electricity through the conversion of fuel into electricity. It has the advantage of being always available, in as large a size as you can afford. You can ‘make’ your own power when Eskom goes down. While you may think this is a good idea, it has several major drawbacks:

• Generators use Diesel or Petrol, which are volatile and dangerous substances to store on your premises.

• They are expensive to purchase.

• They need professional installation if they are to be connected to your existing circuits.

• They make a substantial noise.

• They produce noxious fumes.

• They do not provide instant power switchover.

• They produce electricity at approximately ten times the cost of grid power.

The second alternative, storing power when it is available, involves the use of a battery-driven inverter (or UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply,) which produces current to power your equipment. This type of device charges its internal batteries when the mains are up, and delivers this power instantly when there is a power failure.  This is better suited to short-term power supply. It also has disadvantages, the major of which is that it too can fail when its batteries become exhausted. However the advantages here are:

• No interruption of power (and no computer downtime) when the mains power fails.

• Totally silent operation.

• Minimal running costs.

• Surge protection from mains.

• Unattended orderly shutdown by software in the event of a power failure.

Often a wise course of action is to use a combination of the two methods, if your circumstances permit this.

Associated Synergies can offer you a wide range of alternatives in terms of UPS power. Some of these are simply designed to keep computers running long enough to save your work and shut down the computer in an orderly fashion (computers can be damaged by a sudden loss of power.) Some have substantial backup times. The choice depends largely on your needs and your budget.