Page 16 - IFV_Issue 7_2022

Home Front

FIVE TIPS TO GO (PARTLY) OFF THE

GRID IN SOUTH AFRICA

BY JUSTIN RENDER

South Africans are finally united as a nation. power outages, depending on the type
However, this united front has nothing to do of globe you get.

with politics, religion, opinion or allegiance to 2. Wi-Fi mini-UPS back-up
any particular set of beliefs. What unites us is our Generators and/or inverters with
universal discontent when we hear the simple enough capacity to power your entire
words: ‘load-shedding!’ home during outages don’t come
cheap. But if you consider the essentials
for any given working day or quiet
e all face the same about by our ailing power utility. Here evening at home, you don’t need to sell
collective annoyance and are five tips to beat load-shedding a kidney to power them.
Winconvenience or worse – without breaking the bank. If you work on a modern laptop,
loss of income, business interruptions you’ll get between one-and-a-half
and cold, dark, sometimes hungry 1. Rechargeable globes to four hours’ battery life, depending
nights. We roll our eyes, shake our fists, Perhaps these little gems won’t come on the brand and battery capacity. If
stub our toes in the dark and are never as a huge surprise. On the other hand, you’re at the higher end of that scale,
really certain which ‘Stage’ of load- I only discovered them very recently, you’ve probably found that your laptop
shedding to expect next. and they were an absolute revelation. generally outlasts load-shedding,
Candlelit dinners are not quite the Rechargeable LED globes are readily which is usually between two and four
same when you aren’t having them by available online or from most reputable hours at a time.
choice. After all, you can get too much hardware, DIY and lighting stores, and While your laptop can power itself,
of a good thing. And sadly, not all of even in some of the bigger supermarket your Wi-Fi router can’t. But if all you
us can afford the (roughly) R250 000 chains. need is light, a laptop and an internet
starter kit it takes to move a modestly- These adorable rays of light come connection, just switch on your
sized home entirely off the grid. with a built-in battery that charges rechargeable globe, make sure your
It’s not all bad news, though. With when the power is on. They generally laptop charges when the power is on
a few small, relatively inexpensive require between four to six hours to and add an affordable mini-UPS or
touches added to your home, you can charge and should provide between inverter into the mix to run your router.
dial down the disruptions brought two and four hours of light during Small UPS units, made exclusively

14 • Issue 7 2022 • The Villager