Page 40 - Waterfall_Issue 7_2022

Waterfall Home Front

FIVE TIPS TO GO

(partly) OFF THE GRID

IN SOUTH AFRICA

By Justin Killops

South Africans are finally united as 1. Rechargeable globes

a nation. However, this united front Perhaps these little gems won’t come as a huge surprise.
On the other hand, I only discovered them very recently,
has nothing to do with politics, and they were an absolute revelation. Rechargeable
LED globes are readily available online or from most
religion, opinion or allegiance reputable hardware, DIY and lighting stores, and
even in some of the bigger supermarket chains.
to any particular set of beliefs.
These adorable rays of light come with a built-in battery
What unites us is our universal that charges when the power is on. They generally require
between four to six hours to charge and should provide
discontent when we hear the between two and four hours of light during power

simple words: ‘load-shedding!’ outages, depending on the type of globe you get.

2. Wi-Fi mini-UPS back-up
W e all face the same collective annoyance and Generators and/or inverters with enough capacity
to power your entire home during outages don’t
inconvenience or worse – loss of income,
business interruptions and cold, dark,
come cheap. But if you consider the essentials for
sometimes hungry nights. We roll our eyes,
shake our fists, stub our toes in the dark and are never really any given working day or quiet evening at home,
you don’t need to sell a kidney to power them.
certain which ‘Stage’ of load-shedding to expect next.
If you work on a modern laptop, you’ll get between
Candlelit dinners are not quite the same when you one-and-a-half to four hours’ battery life, depending
aren’t having them by choice. After all, you can get on the brand and battery capacity. If you’re at the
too much of a good thing. And sadly, not all of us can higher end of that scale, you’ve probably found that
afford the (roughly) R250 000 starter kit it takes to your laptop generally outlasts load-shedding, which
move a modestly-sized home entirely off the grid. is usually between two and four hours at a time.

It’s not all bad news, though. With a few small, While your laptop can power itself, your Wi-Fi router can’t. But
relatively inexpensive touches added to your home, if all you need is light, a laptop and an internet connection,
you can dial down the disruptions brought about just switch on your rechargeable globe, make sure your
by our ailing power utility. Here are five tips to beat laptop charges when the power is on and add an affordable
load-shedding without breaking the bank. mini-UPS or inverter into the mix to run your router.

38 Waterfall Issue 7 2022