In Malawi, like many places in the world electricity services are sporadic. The strength and the amount of the electricity fluctuate frequently and without notice throughout most every day. This is a real problem for computer equipment which needs a consistent and constant supply of electricity. For this reason, every computer in Malawi, that any one depends upon to get work done, is attached to a device called a universal power supply (UPS). A UPS is a large battery that sits between the computer and the electrical grid to both regulate the power going into the computer and to provide power to the computer for long enough to save important documents when the power goes out.

If you were to try to work on a computer without a UPS in northern Malawi, chances are at least once a day the power would go out while you were typing something important for work or writing a long email. You would loose your all of your work and have to start over. Without a UPS attached to your computer, you are better off hand writing your documents. They are absolutely essential part of IT work in Malawi.

The problem I am finding with UPSs is that they are expensive and when the wear out, are fairly difficult, if not impossible, to repair. A UPS can add about 50% to the cost of a desktop computer when you factor in extra shipping charges associated lugging their heavy batteries to Malawi. UPSs also usually come with specialized batteries that can are specific to the manufacturer or even the particular device. When a battery wears out or burns out, they are very very expensive to repair.

This week, I say yet another UPS burnt out and in need of repair. Just like all the others, it has a specialized battery that we cannot manufacture or buy anywhere in northern Malawi. I started to look around the shops, and found the only common and affordable type of batteries available here are car batteries from Dubai. This reminded me of a guy I met in Argentina who was making UPSs out of car batteries for this exact reason... car batteries are common in most places and can be replaced easily. I am just now realizing the brilliance of the idea I saw in Argentina. If we could manufacture UPSs out of car batteries we could cut a huge chunk out of IT costs in Malawi.

I am not an electrical engineer, and I do not know the details of how the guy in Argentina was actually making his UPSs from car batteries; unfortunately I have no way of contacting him. But I ask my friends who are knowledgeable electrical engineers, do you think that this might be possible? Would it be cheaper than ordering UPSs from manufacturers? Does you know of anyone out there doing something similar?

I ask anyone interested to start discussing the idea here. A project like this is far out of my area of expertise, but I offer it as an idea for anyone to grab and asses. If we could make this work, we would greatly help out IT development in Malawi and around the world.