When the Power is Out, Orison is On

January 3, 2017

Emily Jiles

Communications

Imagine getting through a blackout without having to burn all of your candles, eat all the ice cream in your freezer before it melts, or run a noisy generator to power your home. With Orison, you can save your ice cream for later!

Every day Orison is on the alert for blackout notifications from the Orison Cloud network. Orison is  constantly monitoring the grid for early signs of grid failure, like drops in power supply. Because Orison is close to your immediate electrical situation, it recognizes problems quickly and can alert and prepare you before the utility even knows there is a problem.

When Orison recognizes that a grid failure is about to occur, the unit initiates a process called self-islanding. When Orison self-islands, appliances directly plugged into Orison continue operating without skipping a beat, or Orison can trip the circuit breaker which fully disconnects the circuit from the grid to prevent any power from backfeeding onto the grid or flowing unsafely through other circuits.

For the remainder of the blackout, Orison will power any appliance connected to the corresponding circuit. Because Orison can anticipate the grid failure and respond quickly, any appliance on its circuit will never be without electricity.

A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) provides only enough power to allow you to quickly shut down critical equipment, such as a computer, to prevent damage. Whereas Orison provides enough power for you to keep using the equipment until power is restored.

Throughout this process, your control over your energy is Orison’s priority. To ensure you that your important appliances and devices are receiving power, you will be alerted via the Orison mobile app the moment Orison responds to the blackout. The Orison mobile app will also notify you when the grid is restored so that you can safely reset the breaker.

As you decide where to place Orison in your home, it is important to understand the discharge rate/storage capacity of your unit. That way you can put Orison near appliances and devices you absolutely need powered during an emergency.

Orison units have a maximum discharge rate of 1.8kW (15A x 120V). At this rate, a single unit will be depleted in less than an hour and fifteen minutes; however, it is extremely rare for this level of demand to occur in real life. For example, a modern, energy efficient refrigerator/freezer uses about 1kW per day, so a single Orison would keep it going for two days.

Remember, if you need your fridge (or any other energy-needy appliance) to be capable of remaining on for any longer than those two days, both Orison units are expandable with Tower+ and Panel+ units. You can add as many as 5 additional units to each master unit for a maximum discharge rate of over seven hours (13.2kWh of storage)!

The best case blackout scenario is if you were to have multiple Orison units positioned next to the important appliances throughout your home so that you have power exactly where you need it during a power outage.

Orison is by your side to ensure security, safety, and control from the comfort of your home even in the midst of an energy emergency.