Is your home security ready while you’re away?

The festive season may be known as a time for giving but be aware of the pressures that load-shedding and other interruptions of power have on your home’s security system; this could also prove to be a prime time for taking.

While there’s never a good time for any of the security measures you’ve added to your home to stop functioning optimally, a few things have the potential to cut short your relaxing end-of-year family holiday, like a call from your neighbourhood security monitoring company to suggest something is amiss.

Whether for a momentary break in the connection between any one of your home’s security systems and your chosen monitoring company or in the case of an actual attempted break-in, any carefully curated burglar-proofing solution is only as reliable as the power supply that it’s mated with. While most modern systems, including alarms, electric fences, and motorised driveway gates, rely on the workings of a deep-cycle 12V battery back-up during occasional periods of power interruption, many South African households are also turning to UPS and inverter-based safeguards.

As its name suggests, a UPS, or Uninterrupted Power Supply offers a very specific solution. Prevalent in many businesses and offices that rely heavily on the security of data and safeguarding of computer systems, the advantage of the UPS is that it offers near seamless transitions (around 10-milliseconds) between an interrupted mains power supply and its workings. It also offers protection against potential power surges once the main feed is restored.

Rentech offers a range of batteries for UPS’s. This includes lead-acid batteries from 7.2 Ah up to a range of lead-carbon batteries from 100 Ah up to 250 Ah. These batteries have a long cycle life and excellent deep cycle ability. They also provide impressive charge acceptance ability and reliable performance under both hot and cold conditions. Rentech also provides traditional high-rate (HR) AGM and GEL UPS batteries and front terminal batteries for larger UPS and data centres, as well as custom lithium-ion battery systems for high-voltage and high-power UPS.

With your UPS solution in good working order, take time to ensure that the respective battery backup system on your driveway gate and home’s alarm system is similarly primed to function optimally in your absence.