Load-shedding recently returned to South Africa, which means that many people may need to buy backup electricity solutions to keep important electronics running while the power is out. This requirement has been exacerbated by the increased prevalence of working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having a laptop which is capable of running for a couple of hours on its battery provides a possible back-up option for work or entertainment, but many households may only have access to desktop PCs. Additionally, gamers with desktop gaming PCs would need a powerful backup system for extended periods of gaming during load-shedding.
How much power you need?
To figure out which power trolley you would require, you must calculate the power consumption of your PC.
Infraplex has a few options on offer from Nova Neptune. Before making your choice, our sales team will evaluate how much energy it will take to power your internet and devices for a load shedding period.
While an entry-level PC power supply will be rated between 200W to 250W, high-end PCs like gaming desktops can use upwards of 500W, depending on the exact components used.
To determine the amount of power your computer will draw, you must add the power consumption of all the components – including the motherboard, graphics card, memory, and storage devices together.
There are various online power supply calculators available, which allows you to calculate the estimated power consumption of your particular desktop build.
Monitors will also need their own power supply, which is typically around 30W for a standard 17-inch LCD panel.
Additionally, if you want your router to stay powered, this would on average require a further 20W.
The total power needed for an entry-level computer can therefore be calculated as follows: 250W + 30W + 20W = 300W.
If you want to keep this computer powered on throughout load-shedding, the total standby capacity required would then be 600Wh for two hours, while a four-hour load-shedding period would need 1,200Wh (1.2kWh).
Our Nova Neptune range caters for a multitude of power supply capacities. We are sure to have the best option for you.
For more information on backup power setups click here