Inverters and Power Backup
There are some pretty serious power issues in Lagos. Power outages happen multiple times per day all over the city, so everyone has a backup generator if they can afford one. What do you do if you can’t afford a generator, and/or can’t afford even a second of lost power (for your desktop computer, etc)?
Salami Olupeni Samuel (Sam) created Sam Powersystems, a company that uses locally sourced components to create power inverters which connect to car batteries for automatic backup power. Sam fabricates a 1.5kva power inverter from materials bought from local suppliers and markets.
The people who buy Sam’s equipment generally don’t have a generator, or if they do they use this so that they don’t have to power it up quite as much during short outages. You won’t need a UPS as the battery serves this purpose, providing automatic failover with an internal switch in the power inverter if your power fails. Primary uses of the system include, computers, lights, fans, TV and decoder.
If you want to buy one, the power inverter costs 40k Naira ($250), and the battery is 50k Naira ($300).