Posted by Rex Wilson on September 17, 2003, 6:08 pm
Hi, Alt.Energy.Homepower
I'm new to this group, so please forgive the intrusion if this is off
subject.
But I'm looking for a backup power supply for my home. I want to be
able to run a handful of small electrical items (a few lights, TVs,
phone answering machine, cable modem and router) when there's a power
failure. No more than about one 15-amp circuit's worth of stuff. I'd
probably mount the thing right by the breaker box in my basement and
run the whole circuit through it. I'd want to be able to run for about
2 hours. I'm not that hung up on high quality power or filtering or
surge protection, as the stuff's running fine now off of the power
that comes in off the street. Most of the UPS's that I see advertised
seem to talk about power quality and failover without a moment's
hickup, which aren't that critical to me. Is there a way I could get
more bang for the buck with a vendor that's less focused on high-end
delicate equipment, and more devoted to basic power (but with longer
battery life)? Anybody have any recommended makes/models?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by mark Ransley on September 17, 2003, 8:36 pm
if you power circuits with electronics , get Clean Power or you will
blow your stuff, Clean power keeps them alive.
Posted by ptaylor on September 19, 2003, 8:45 am
Rex Wilson wrote:
> Hi, Alt.Energy.Homepower
> I'm new to this group, so please forgive the intrusion if this is off
> subject.
> But I'm looking for a backup power supply for my home. I want to be
> able to run a handful of small electrical items (a few lights, TVs,
> phone answering machine, cable modem and router) when there's a power
> failure. No more than about one 15-amp circuit's worth of stuff. I'd
> probably mount the thing right by the breaker box in my basement and
> run the whole circuit through it. I'd want to be able to run for about
> 2 hours. I'm not that hung up on high quality power or filtering or
> surge protection, as the stuff's running fine now off of the power
> that comes in off the street. Most of the UPS's that I see advertised
> seem to talk about power quality and failover without a moment's
> hickup, which aren't that critical to me. Is there a way I could get
> more bang for the buck with a vendor that's less focused on high-end
> delicate equipment, and more devoted to basic power (but with longer
> battery life)? Anybody have any recommended makes/models?
> Thanks in advance.
If the small items use the plug in "power packs" it might be better to
run those straight from the batteries.That's what I have done with a
modem,cellphone charger,scanner,CB,network hub,etc. No use inverting it
to 120Vac,and plugging in a 12Vdc "wall wart". ;-)
Posted by Rex Wilson on September 19, 2003, 2:24 pm
> If the small items use the plug in "power packs" it might be better to
> run those straight from the batteries.That's what I have done with a
> modem,cellphone charger,scanner,CB,network hub,etc. No use inverting it
> to 120Vac,and plugging in a 12Vdc "wall wart". ;-)
excellent idea. thank you. Do all UPS's have direct outputs from the batteries?
I'm thinking I might buy an APC BR/RS-1500 with a spare BR24BP battery pack.
Do you know if that would do it?
Posted by captain bob on October 22, 2003, 3:56 pm
I wouldnt try wiring into a ups, what is the point?
If you want DC battery power use golf cart batteries
what a UPS does:
switches over instantly when the line power goes down or gets bad.
provides excellent quality power to your computer until it sends the
command to your computer to shut down.
when the power comes back on, it protects your computer from the surge
which is what kills electronics.
I agree that a UPS is a must for computers, yesterday when my power
went out momentarily, it beeped. it protected my computer, and I
didnt have to worry about any line surges or restarting anything.
it sounds like you want a cheap solution.
I would get a couple golf cart batteries and put them on a float
charger near the items you want to power during an outage.
make new power plugs for all the things that use 12vdc.
use seperate automotive plug in power supplies for anything that is
not 12volt (they convert 12vdc to other DC voltages) or use a single
inverter (of sufficient capacity) for all of them and any regular
items you want to run.
when the power goes out you remove the float charger and switch the
power cords for the ones you made that run from the batteries.
If you want to be efficient, you can get some 12v items (TV, lights,
etc) and only use them during outages or for camping.
19 Sep 2003 11:24:35 -0700, zgoogle@aol.com (Rex Wilson) wrote:
>> If the small items use the plug in "power packs" it might be better to
>> run those straight from the batteries.That's what I have done with a
>> modem,cellphone charger,scanner,CB,network hub,etc. No use inverting it
>> to 120Vac,and plugging in a 12Vdc "wall wart". ;-)
>excellent idea. thank you. Do all UPS's have direct outputs from the batteries?
>I'm thinking I might buy an APC BR/RS-1500 with a spare BR24BP battery pack.
>Do you know if that would do it?
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> I'm new to this group, so please forgive the intrusion if this is off
> subject.
> But I'm looking for a backup power supply for my home. I want to be
> able to run a handful of small electrical items (a few lights, TVs,
> phone answering machine, cable modem and router) when there's a power
> failure. No more than about one 15-amp circuit's worth of stuff. I'd
> probably mount the thing right by the breaker box in my basement and
> run the whole circuit through it. I'd want to be able to run for about
> 2 hours. I'm not that hung up on high quality power or filtering or
> surge protection, as the stuff's running fine now off of the power
> that comes in off the street. Most of the UPS's that I see advertised
> seem to talk about power quality and failover without a moment's
> hickup, which aren't that critical to me. Is there a way I could get
> more bang for the buck with a vendor that's less focused on high-end
> delicate equipment, and more devoted to basic power (but with longer
> battery life)? Anybody have any recommended makes/models?
> Thanks in advance.