It is the summer of twenty-twenty-one and all around the lights are off and the heat is on .
From traffic lights, to the little lights on your router (that mean you're online), the power is out and you're gonna miss a deadline.
So what now? Load-shedding wasn't so bad a few years back, so long as your work wasn't too badly affected. But these days... EVERYTHING is online.
"Hey can you make the meeting" "No, my power's out".
We used to be able to jump in the car and go for a meeting, but now - in a post-pandemic, load-shed South Africa - we have to meet online and in order to do so yourself and your client must both have power...
It's no secret that there are a host of things you can do to get yourself off the grid, or at least have back up plans for the hours of downtime each day but most of them are really expensive and unless you're an electrician you are probably nervous about spending your money on the wrong system.
So that's why I thought i thought I would share my process, and talk a bit about the Mecer Inverter that saved my bacon during this last round of Stage 4 load-shedding.
My love for this gorgeous little cube on wheels may be slightly exaggerated, but once you experience the sweet of hum during a stage 4 black out I am pretty sure you'll be gawking over your inverter too.
For the not-so-high price of R10 000.00 I was able to keep my whole office online during the hours of power outages during the latest Stage 4 sheds. The inverter is practically silent, it is super simple to set up and it's automatic. No Input from me required to switch from mains power to backup power and then back again.
Do you need solar panels and external batteries? No.
Do you need to hook the inverter into your DB board? No.
Does this little guy solve ALL your Eskom problems?
Also no, but it will easily keep 5 computers running PLUS the WiFi and a floor fan.
At Marshall Arts, we are constantly running two big desktop computers (each with two screens and fancy fans with LED lights). We also have hard drives plugged in and usually at least three laptops. We also have a printer, two WiFi modems, two routers and two floor fans. Our little inverter handled the above load at 50% capacity - in other words - it could have done double that load for up to 10 hours. That's pretty sweet.
The inverter supplies its power through three standard 3-pin wall socket outlets and from there you can plug in extension cables and multi-plugs.
We ordered our inverter online at E-Gadgets and collected it 24 hours later at their DEPOT in Midrand.
Here is the link to E-Gadgets:
**We do not have an agreement with E-Gadgets** I am just genuinely happy and sharing the link in hopes that it will help other South African businesses during this incredibly frustrating challenge to our businesses.
If you have taken your business off of the grid, or have advice about the way you or someone you know has managed to beat Eskom, let us know in the comments - we'd love to hear from you!
***Marshall Arts is a digital content creation agency based in Sandton South Africa.
Marshall Arts specialises in digital-marketing and multi-channel campaigns that span from microsites to socials and beyond.
Michael Marshall is the author of this post and the CEO of Marshall Arts Creative Media House Pty Ltd. Michael loves drinking coffee and discussing great ideas. If you are looking for a digital agency to lead your next online campaign, get in touch with Marshall Arts today!
Comments