The long-term benefits of a long-run UPS
For commercial enterprises – particularly
retail outlets – hard-hit by load-shedding and power outages, one of the popular
solutions is the long-run UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system. It’s the
solution increasingly chosen to underpin the “we don’t close during load shedding” signs mushrooming in popular
stores across the country.
Far easier to configure than the
commonly-accepted alternatives such as diesel and petrol generators, long-run
UPSs are significantly more reliable and fuss-free – key criteria when it comes
to an immediate power-up of the low-wattage in-store lighting, the
all-important check-out counters and Speedpoint card systems.
Generators rely heavily on maintenance in
order to deliver a reliable service. The units have to be run regularly to
maintain start-up battery charge and keep the engine oil and other vitals circulating
freely. Moreover, fuel tank levels have to be maintained, thus theft has to be
guarded against.
Many mall-located retail stores are opting
for their own long-run UPSs rather than relying on the landlord’s solution -
which may not be up to standard when it comes to dealing with a lengthy power
outage and over which they may have limited authority.
Chain store owners and senior executives
also see the long-run UPS as a way of standardising on their emergency power
provisioning systems, replicating the solution in a number of stores for ease
of inventory and servicing. Twp well-known retail chains have opted for the Powermode-supplied
Q-on range of specially-engineered ‘harmonised’ UPS solutions across their 800
stores in South Africa.
Returning to the concept of reliability, it
is accepted that generator-dependent stores are often incapable of recovering
immediately from a power outage due to the likely failure within the
generator’s switch over panel. Consequently, they will lose customers, thanks
to the dark and foreboding in-store environment and in the case of grocery
stores the spectre of abandoned full trolleys will become a reality.
The costs of power outages – as the many
retail store owners’ associations will confirm – is immense, with figures of between
R 60,000 and R 80,000 per hour being mentioned.
What is a long-run UPS? Back in the day,
UPSs were linked almost exclusively to computer systems. They incorporated a
standby battery that would ‘kick in’ when the device sensed a loss of primary
power giving you just enough time - usually around 10 minutes - to save any
data you were working on and exit the programs you were using before the
secondary power source (the UPS-linked battery) ran out.
Today, rapid technological advances in charging
system designs allow battery packs to be linked ‘daisy-chain’ fashion,
permitting long-run UPSs to maintain a pre-determined electrical load for
between two and five hours.
There are many important advantages
associated with long-run UPS systems compared to the increasingly outmoded
generator.
For example, UPS systems are
cost-effective, high-efficiency devices. They are modular and designed to scale
to meet the demands of almost any load. This means that future expansions can
be easily addressed. Then, UPSs (and their battery cabinets) can be located
safely in-store, often under a counter or desk, thanks to their compact
footprint and lack of any noxious exhaust emissions.
Long-run UPSs are thus clean and neat,
there is no dirty diesel fuel to be accommodated and its supply managed. And
they require minimal maintenance. Battery packs, for instance, have a long life
of around five to eight years.
Importantly, being sited ‘on-line’ with the
national power supply, they ‘condition’ the feed, smoothing out harmful power
spikes which would otherwise wreak havoc with sensitive computer-driven systems
(including cash tills and Speedpoint charging systems) and other devices.
While ‘smart’ on-line UPSs – such as
Powermode’s Q-On range - provide high density, true double-conversion on-line
power protection as described above, they are also able to interface with
generators if so required, working in tandem to offer an enhanced level of
standby power provisioning and support to a wide range of potential customers
in may spheres of operation throughout South Africa.
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