Simple battery backup solution

Would like to know your opinion about SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries and DC/DC converters instead of AC.

Vardenis Pavardenis

what about the slightly smaller <a href="https://www.tripplite.com/700w-powerverter-aps-12vdc-120v-inverter-charger-auto-transfer-switching-1-outlet~APS700HF" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.tripplite.com/700w-powerverter-aps-12vdc-120v-inverter-charger-auto-transfer-switching-1-outlet~APS700HF</a> or even just the auto transfer of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S5Y158" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S5Y158</a>

You should get in touch with GreatScott!! to put together an auto-switching setup. I’m wondering if I should set up a homemade UPS with the spare 100Ah AGM battery I have.

My less-DIY approach is to use CyberPower Online UPS units (which are true-sine, double-conversion topology) and attach as many external battery modules as needed. The total cost for a 1000VA setup with 8 hours of runtime for a 100W load is around $900. And it's plug/play and forget it for 5+ years until batteries need replacement.

Aaron the Tinkerer

Our Xantrex RV inverter has the AC "pass-through" feature as well. In lieu of that, a relay could automate switching the UPS's AC input from wall outlet to inverter.

Fascinating. Another subject I didn't know I was interested in.

Stephen Bell

I have a cable which is reliable in power outages but power that is not... reliable. I have quite a bit of infrastructure I want powered when out that has a wall wart, as well as an enterprise grade server I want to keep running. Since conversion lead to inefficiencies (no matter how small) I spliced a direct connection to the battery (If it wants 12v, give it 12v/same with DC). I even bought a 12v to 5v transformer for those 5v loads and USB charger too :) A UPS only providing 120v only devices (no wall warts). And a ~200W load server and with a 20 Ah battery fares for 90% of our outages. I did have to mod the UPS to directly accept the battery aka add lugs. (TLDR: I modified a UPS like one shown in the video with terminal lugs to hook a deep cycle battery like shown in the video directly to it. UPS maintains battery.) I would suggest getting rid of the wall warts for V2. Happy HQing!

Christopher Bassett

Neat, I didn't know that these existed! Sadly the prices are quite high, and the more reasonable ones seem poorly received.

Technology Connections

There's a commercial solution that does all of this in a single unit manufactured by Tripp-lite. Simply add (enough) battery and it'll pass through line power and trickle charge your battery -- and when the AC power fails, the inverter goes active. <a href="https://www.tripplite.com/1250w-powerverter-aps-12vdc-120v-inverter-charger-auto-transfer-switching-2-outlets" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.tripplite.com/1250w-powerverter-aps-12vdc-120v-inverter-charger-auto-transfer-switching-2-outlets</a>~APS1250 these are UL rated; and all you need to do is add a battery. I suggest a Sealed Lead-Acid if the battery is going to be stored indoors...

More Advanced UPS systems use a setup similar to what you have setup but in an all in one unit, that are designed to provide clean power, when the outlet is not ideal.

Paul Fisher

For my ham shack, I'm using a similar arrangement with a deep cycle AGM battery and a West Mountain Radio Super PWRgate PG 40S. Granted, it is only 12 volts (OK, more like 14.2 with AGM)- but it works fine &amp; lasts a long time. 😁

Bruce Davis

What are the main/best places for this kind of information for the RV/boondocking crowd?

Samlex PST-600-12 is a pretty awesome 600 watt pure sine inverter, and yet low cost, and donrowe.com has the lowest prices on the net on pure sine inverters (and has always had the most smokin' prices for the last 17 years or so) - Now, if I just knew of a similarly low cost source for those Trojan golf cart batteries!

Bill Basch

Very nice. Thought about doing something like this with a solar panel.

Jason Wellband

Also, this setup works much better on DSL Internet than cable modem, because often, during a power outage, the power to the local cable distribution network/amplifiers will also be out, and the cable company is not good about backup power like the phone company is, and so even with backup power setup like this, you still don't have Internet in a power outage, due to the crappy cable company's poor reliability/redundancy engineering :(

Bill Basch

I did computer support in an area were power interruptions were almost a daily occurrence. UPS maintenance was the bane of our existence! I always wondered why we didn't just power computer labs off an central inverter running from large batteries. The batteries would charge when there was power and discharge when it went out. Your talk on different battery chemistries was very informative.

Michael Steeves

This demonstrates why I am a Patron of yours. I am always rigging up crazy stuff like this (I have had this identical setup for 15+ years, starting around the time that pure sine inverters became available) and what your videos do, is give me confirmation that I am intelligent, rather than a madman - LOL

Bill Basch

AVE has a video coming out in a couple days where he does a deep review of a "sine wave" inverter. Spoiler: It isn't an actual sine wave.

Michael Steeves

At 7:28, the font on the displays 1 and 2 matching Windows' display identification feature was a nice touch.

Quinton Wilson

Please keep in mind that the RV community also uses deep cycle batteries. My rig has (4) group 27 deep cycle "house" batteries wired in parallel that provide 12VDC power for lighting, pumps, and propane heating, hot water, and refrigeration. An inverter provides AC for TVs, microwave, and a few outlets when off-grid (boondocking).

We had a flicker of our power grid once, it caused all the computers to shut off (and in the servers' case, reboot) except for the one crappy little one which happened to run off a laptop PSU full of useful capacitors.

K.o.R

Hawaii has frequent "brownout" events that last just a split second. We have no grid, so it can be unstable. The lights hardly flicker when it happens, but it is catastrophic to devices that don't deal well with unexpected power loss. As a result, everything in my house that I care about is hooked up to a UPS. Incidentally, it seems like you impose personal deadlines for your videos and posts. I just hope you don't stress out when inevitable delays happen. I'll support your channel regardless of delays.

I did the same thing a few years back, with a motorcycle battery, and yes, it lasted 30-40 cycles at most, I was disappointed

lululombard

Thanks for yet another interesting video. Fortunately, power outages are quite rare in The Netherlands, and when they do occur I tend to take a day off :-)

Paul Schuur