A power outage, or gangguan bekalan elektrik, feels different in a high-rise. Lifts stop, the pumps that fill the water tanks stop, and the corridors go dim until the building's standby power comes on. Inside your unit, everything on the mains goes off at once: the Wi-Fi, the fridge, the fans.

Since the government's warning on 3 November that Malaysia is among the countries considered potential targets of cyberattacks, many condo residents have asked what they can sensibly do. You cannot run a petrol generator in a condo, and you would not want to. What you can do is keep a quiet battery ready.

What the building covers, and what it does not

Many high-rise buildings have standby power for fire-safety systems, emergency lighting and sometimes a lift. It rarely reaches individual units. Ask your management office what keeps running in an outage and for how long, and keep a few days of drinking water in the unit in case the pumps stop.

Why a power station suits a condo

• Safe indoors. No fuel, no exhaust and no fumes, so it can sit in the living room or under a desk.
• Quiet. RIVER 3 Plus runs at under 30 dB in EcoFlow's tests, close to a whisper.
• It takes over by itself. Leave the router or a lamp plugged into it, and it switches to battery when the mains fails.
• Small and light. RIVER 3 Plus weighs 4.7kg; DELTA 3 Plus, 12.5kg.

Which size for your unit

The figures use typical appliance wattages and about 85% of rated capacity. Check the labels on your own appliances; the fridge's yearly energy figure divided by 365 gives its daily use.

A solar panel on the balcony

If your balcony gets direct sun for a few hours, a portable solar panel can top up the power station through a long outage. The 110W Lightweight Portable Solar Panel folds into a bag, carries a built-in XT60 cable and plugs straight into RIVER 3 Plus. In strong sun it refills a RIVER 3 Plus in roughly four hours.

Keep the panel inside the balcony line and angled towards the sun, and never hang it over the railing. A portable panel needs no fixing, but check your building's rules before you mount anything.

Simple habits that help

• Keep the power station charged. Plug it in and leave it: it is designed to sit on the mains and take over when the power goes.
• Keep a torch and a power bank where you can find them in the dark.
• Know where your unit's switchboard is. When the power goes, switch heavy appliances off at the plug, so they do not all start at once when it returns.
• Store drinking water, especially if your building relies on pumps.
• Save your management office's phone number somewhere you can read it without the internet.

For a bigger picture of home backup, start with how to keep your home powered. Working from home? See a UPS for your Wi-Fi router.

How EcoFlow Malaysia can help

We sell and support EcoFlow in Malaysia, and our part in this is practical: helping households and businesses choose the right backup before they need it, not after.

• Free sizing on WhatsApp. Tell us what you want to keep running and for how long, and we will suggest a setup: +60 11-3772 7100.
• Size a whole-home system yourself with the home backup sizer.
• See the units in person at our showroom: B0103, Blok B, Eko Galleria, Iskandar Puteri, Johor (Monday to Thursday and Sunday 11:00 to 20:00; Friday and Saturday 11:00 to 21:00).
• Warranty and after-sales in Malaysia on every unit bought from the official channel.
• 0% instalments for up to 24 months on selected credit cards.