By performing routine maintenance to your inverter and uninterrupted power supply (UPS), you are effectively shifting an uncertain risk into a scenario that is both manageable and planned.
The team at Cooper Power South Africa explores some of the risks and benefits of caring for these important pieces of equipment.
The cons
- Reduced battery life. By leaving your system to “just run”, you are allowing it to be fully depleted and recharged, which adds strain to the unit.
- Unreliable back-up power. When your battery system is compromised, you could find yourself having great performance one day, followed quickly by low performance that could leave you in trouble mid-project.
- Increased downtime. When there is a failure in your system, there could be significant work that needs to be performed to replace parts, leading to a bigger loss of operation time than if it were minor parts. This also increases repair costs, which could impact budgets.
- Fire and safety hazard. Batteries are made up of chemicals and their reaction is what provides power. Should there be a failure, there could potentially be an extreme chemical reaction that includes fire and explosions, placing human lives and safety at risk.
- Inaccurate monitoring. There is no way to know the true status of your system if your equipment is not operating optimally
The pros
- Extended lifespan. By performing routine maintenance at least every six months, you can extend your invertor or UPS lifespan by ensuring all equipment and components are working At the same time, you can prevent major failures by spotting issues early and taking action before there is a significant failure, which leads to enhanced reliability.
- Minimised risk of fire and safety hazards. If your equipment is working the way it is intended, risks to human users and the immediate environment can be reduced and managed.
- Preservation of manufacturer warranties. If you have invested money in a product or equipment, you will want it to work the way it was intended. Should there be an unforeseen reason it does not, the warranty entitles you to remedies from the supplier, saving you money (if your warranty is voided, you will have to purchase replacement equipment).
- Accurate monitoring. If your power storage equipment is running correctly, you can rest assured that monitor and alarm information being presented to you is accurate.
- This means that you can continue with business operations until such time as an alert is given.
Enquiries: www.cooperpower.co.za
