My house has more than its fair share of inverters and 100 a/h batteries lurking around but using such devices to keep my fibre connection (ONT fibre box and modem) operating during Eskom shutdowns was something of an overkill, especially as the internet equipment lives in the kitchen.
So, I bought an 850va UPS device to keep the internet alive but aside from the fact that such equipment is not meant to run for long periods, it turned out that this machine could not quite manage to stay alive (phone system was also connected) for the usual 2 hour blackout which meant a loss of connectivity.
A visit to Essential IT Solutions revealed an intriguing solution – a 12V/ 6.4A battery charger that connects to mains for charging but which provides a continuous 12V+ output which is exactly what the ONT and fibre modem live on.
The charging unit lives inside a neat plastic housing (see pic) along with a sealed 12V battery and includes a number of “connection posts” to attach feed wires to whatever 12V consumers you have.
Essential IT Solutions provided, at my request, the largest sealed battery (20 a/h) that could be accommodated inside the plastic unit and did all the wiring complete with connectors for the ONT and modem. (Remember that there are additional 12V connectors attached to the charger to allow for alarms etc to also be wired up)
Because the output is already at 12V, it means the power transformers supplied with the original ONT and modem can be put in the cupboard. Just connect to the mains for charging and plug the two made-up cables directly into the receiving equipment and away you go. The consumers are permanently operating off the 12V battery so there’s no switchover as such in the event of a power outage – it’s a case of the charging circuit automatically going into action when the power is on to keep the battery sweet. Simple and quiet.
For the record, a smaller capacity but otherwise identical unit is also available – I suspect my choice is something of an overkill but I figure that the bigger battery should last longer as it will not suffer from excessive drain.
~ Richard Wiley
Response from Essential IT Solutions:
Thanks Richard. We’re glad we could be of assistance.
To our readers, you do not need an expensive big inverter and 100Ah battery. We have other, more affordable solutions: The bigger unit with 12V 20Ah battery costs R1 620 and the unit with 12V 7Ah battery costs only R799.
For more backup power solutions see our Backup Power category.
