Portable power backup for an apartment?

[mugikhan]

Looking for suggestions on what people use and what is reliable for an apartment as backup power. I work from home so need to power at least wifi router, a laptop, and 2 monitors.

Max Budget of R20k.

 

[Brawler]

Get one of those R1000 Gizzus and dedicate it to your internet. Your internet will never drop and it lasts for years.

For everything else, I would recommend a Ecoflow or Bluetti. Get over 500wh so that you have got some extra headroom for 4 hour sheds and don't need to charge it twice a day. With the lipo4 battery it should last many years.

You do get DIY options but they are ugly especially in a small apartment I would just go for a portable power station now that the batteries don't need replacing after a year anymore.

 

[Lupus]

Don't bother with a portable power station, those aren't really designed for loadshedding.

Inverter Trolleys

Buy Inverter Trolleys online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

One of those will power TV, console and lights for a while, park it where you need it and bam

Gizzu 8800mAh Mini DC UPS - Black

High Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries Wider AC voltage range of 100~240Vac Smart chip control Voltage Selection Over-Charge/Discharge protection Short Circuit prevention

www.geewiz.co.za

One of these too keep the router alive.

Eurolux LED Rechargable Lamp 3W E27 - Clicks

clicks.co.za

For lights

 

[howardb]

Don't bother with a portable power station, those aren't really designed for loadshedding.

Inverter Trolleys

Buy Inverter Trolleys online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

One of those will power TV, console and lights for a while, park it where you need it and bam

Gizzu 8800mAh Mini DC UPS - Black

High Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries Wider AC voltage range of 100~240Vac Smart chip control Voltage Selection Over-Charge/Discharge protection Short Circuit prevention

www.geewiz.co.za

One of these too keep the router alive.

Eurolux LED Rechargable Lamp 3W E27 - Clicks

clicks.co.za

For lights

@mugikhan this ^

 

[Corelli]

Get one of those R1000 Gizzus and dedicate it to your internet. Your internet will never drop and it lasts for years.

For everything else, I would recommend a Ecoflow or Bluetti. Get over 500wh so that you have got some extra headroom for 4 hour sheds and don't need to charge it twice a day. With the lipo4 battery it should last many years.

You do get DIY options but they are ugly especially in a small apartment I would just go for a portable power station now that the batteries don't need replacing after a year anymore.

Not years but after 2 years my Gizzu takes about 5 hours to run router and fibre box. Gizzu 100W model with thew newer LiOn battery

The Ecoflow is good otherwise. If you can get the bigger one. Works well.

If you have space for a chest freezer, get one. During long load shedding as long as its closed can run for about 3 days before defrosting fully. We had some very long power outtages.

I switch my monitors off during loadshedding or just before. Already had a 16k dell monitor break due to loadshedding and this with all the safety power plugs etc.

Get the Model 2 Ecoflow not the first gen. It was the older style batteries. I see they have some specials on solar panels with the units. You can put that on your balcony if you get a little sun.

As for your laptop? Which one you have. Sounds like your battery is very short. I can run my HP for about 10 hours during loadshedding. Nifty to charge my phone also. Check around for a laptop with longer battery life.

Quick question. When you mean wifi router is it for fibre or lte? if lte I would get those mini modems, they can last lots longer than a powered router.

 

[Corelli]

@mugikhan this ^

i would honestly buy none of them. That 8800mah units is crap. Great for using for lights if you buy those usb light sticks from chinatown. But I wouldnt run a router off it.

6 months and you really turn it into a battery unit for a light instead.

 

[Corelli]

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Solar helps as protection for a blackout

 

[mugikhan]

Not years but after 2 years my Gizzu takes about 5 hours to run router and fibre box. Gizzu 100W model with thew newer LiOn battery

The Ecoflow is good otherwise. If you can get the bigger one. Works well.

If you have space for a chest freezer, get one. During long load shedding as long as its closed can run for about 3 days before defrosting fully. We had some very long power outtages.

I switch my monitors off during loadshedding or just before. Already had a 16k dell monitor break due to loadshedding and this with all the safety power plugs etc.

Get the Model 2 Ecoflow not the first gen. It was the older style batteries. I see they have some specials on solar panels with the units. You can put that on your balcony if you get a little sun.

As for your laptop? Which one you have. Sounds like your battery is very short. I can run my HP for about 10 hours during loadshedding. Nifty to charge my phone also. Check around for a laptop with longer battery life.

Quick question. When you mean wifi router is it for fibre or lte? if lte I would get those mini modems, they can last lots longer than a powered router.

I do development and sometimes those tasks are resource intensive. I would probably want to run a TV from it as well.

Don't bother with a portable power station, those aren't really designed for loadshedding.

Inverter Trolleys

Buy Inverter Trolleys online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

One of those will power TV, console and lights for a while, park it where you need it and bam

Gizzu 8800mAh Mini DC UPS - Black

High Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries Wider AC voltage range of 100~240Vac Smart chip control Voltage Selection Over-Charge/Discharge protection Short Circuit prevention

www.geewiz.co.za

One of these too keep the router alive.

Eurolux LED Rechargable Lamp 3W E27 - Clicks

clicks.co.za

For lights

Was looking at this, since it is slightly cheaper than the equivalent EcoFlow.

Geewiz Portable Power Stations

Buy Geewiz Portable Power Stations online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

Or even one of these

Solar Warehouse SA

Solar Warehouse SA

solarwarehousesa.com

 

[Park@82]

Budget?

 

[Park@82]

Don't bother with a portable power station, those aren't really designed for loadshedding.

My portables work great for loadshedding.

 

[Lupus]

My portables work great for loadshedding.

Just because it can, doesn't mean you should.
Rather get a trolley or something that isn't designed for clamping or the occasional power outage.

 

[Lupus]

I do development and sometimes those tasks are resource intensive. I would probably want to run a TV from it as well.

Was looking at this, since it is slightly cheaper than the equivalent EcoFlow.

Geewiz Portable Power Stations

Buy Geewiz Portable Power Stations online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

Or even one of these

Solar Warehouse SA

Solar Warehouse SA

solarwarehousesa.com

Second one would be better, check Geewiz they have those options as well. Plus with the inverter like that you could add to the DB and power more. Could even do it via a change over switch.

Inverter Trolleys

Buy Inverter Trolleys online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

 

[purple face]

Budget?

he or she said 20k

 

[mugikhan]

Second one would be better, check Geewiz they have those options as well. Plus with the inverter like that you could add to the DB and power more. Could even do it via a change over switch.

Inverter Trolleys

Buy Inverter Trolleys online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here

www.geewiz.co.za

Only worry with this is the noise compared to the power stations. Any insight on that?

 

[Brawler]

Just because it can, doesn't mean you should.
Rather get a trolley or something that isn't designed for clamping or the occasional power outage.

Can you please back this up with any sort of facts.

Yes, the original PPS were designed for camping and had very limited charge cycles. This is no longer the case.
Ecoflow even advertise them as solutions for loadshedding: https://www.ecoflow.com/za/load-shedding-solutions

There are 10's of thousands of satisfied users with the load shedding scenario.
Most that aren't happy didn't read the product spec and expect them to power their house or act as a UPS (Source: TAL Reviews). This also applies to the trolleys.

OP also lives in an apartment so I'd imagine a PPS will fit in a lot better than a trolley.

The only advantage I see of a trolley is repairability but with 2500 cycles on the battery I don't think its a big deal anymore.

 

[Lupus]

Only worry with this is the noise compared to the power stations. Any insight on that?

Not sure how loud the 3kw gets, but the 5kw gets noisy when charging from solar, but when it was on grid it was like a fan.

 

[Lupus]

Can you please back this up with any sort of facts.

Yes, the original PPS were designed for camping and had very limited charge cycles. This is no longer the case.
Ecoflow even advertise them as solutions for loadshedding: https://www.ecoflow.com/za/load-shedding-solutions

There are 10's of thousands of satisfied users with the load shedding scenario.
Most that aren't happy didn't read the product spec and expect them to power their house or act as a UPS (Source: TAL Reviews). This also applies to the trolleys.

OP also lives in an apartment so I'd imagine a PPS will fit in a lot better than a trolley.

The only advantage I see of a trolley is repairability but with 2500 cycles on the battery I don't think its a big deal anymore.

Sure, with the trolleys you can power more for longer for the same price, if a battery goes you can replace it, if need be you can connect to the db easier, if you could hook up solar it also is cheaper and more amperage support. Plus you also can get more cycles up to 5000 vs the 2500 of the more expensive pps.
The only reason to get a pps is cause you're worried about looks, or you do move it around, great if that's what you want and are willing to pay for it.
Those 10s of thousands are happy with it, because they either don't know about the trolleys or they are afraid of them or they are like you.

 

[Park@82]

Just because it can, doesn't mean you should.
Rather get a trolley or something that isn't designed for clamping or the occasional power outage.

It is a better solution that a heavy trolley IMO. It charges faster so when my power is out for days I can take it somewhere charge it up in ~1 hour and get it back home to run essentials without breaking a sweat or my back.

But it depends on your use case and specific needs. I don't keep any of my units running 24/7.

 

[Dan C]

UPS Inverters – Eurofireplaces

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These ones are dead quiet and charge quickly. Also the transfer time is between 2-6ms.

 

[Nickster]

Do you own your apartment? If so, why not install an inverter. I did this and it's a game changer.