Inverter and International Shipping: 2 questions in ONE post!

Hello peepuls.

I have two big queries, but don't wanna crap up GT Forum with two threads, so here they are:

1. Inverter: How much does a decent one cost nowadays?
I need it to power: 1 27" Quadcore iMac, 1 Ext. HDD, a fan and a tubelight. Bas. The smaller the better. :D
The area I live in Pune seems to be having a LOT of power outages lately and I've realized an UPS just won't cut it. Am talking 6-7hrs random powercuts. :(

Btw, what brand (if any) and where in Pune. :D
2. International shipping: Which courier service is the best/cheapest to ship lenses to EU/US?

I have atleast 5 great Minolta lenses for sale and I know the market in India is just not there for these lenses. Abroad, there are tons of buyers for these at the right prices that too.
So, am looking for a service to ship each lens below $30 USD, not expedited.

Please to tell which one is the most reliable with tracking number facility. :)
Cheers and thanks a ton! :D
Payne
 
Shipping out of India reliable service would be Speed Post( EMS).Its been very reliable for me at least.Their website will never be updated with the tracking info :mad: but lets say you wanna ship it to the US .You need to track it in USPS or EMS Global.Its cheaper than any other courier service.I have got lot of packages from India to New Zealand through EMS.
 
1. Maybe an APC 800VA or 1 KVA Inverter (depending on period of usage), coupled with an inverter battery (Amaron, Exide...) of your choice.

A good 800VA setup should be available for around 14K (all inc).
 
Well i not sure whether inverters switching time is as fast a ups,the UPS also does AVR which the inverter doesn't.

BTW i use a APC 1000UXI smart series UPS for the entire house it rated at 800watts vs the apc inverter at 660watts,hence the UPS is more efficient.
It uses external batteries upto to a pair of 200ah and apc own battery pack comes with 4x75ah batteries althought costs 3 times the price of the ups.so its better to buy a tubular batteries or even sealed(but will last less).

Now i use a change over switch to go to ups,the computer/modem/phones are all powered directly by the UPS, while the lighting circuit has a change over switch (which is separate from the heating circuit),the reason i have put a change over switch is because some plug points are connected to the lighting circuit so if some one connects a hair dryer or a vaccum cleaner the ups will trip since they exceed the 800watts rating of the ups.
Unlike a inverter where it just by passes on the main electricity and goes to backup mode only when power goes,the UPS on the other hand always output a conditioned power meaning it acts like a voltage stabilizer since its a line interactive,so one shouldn't exceed the 800watts load or what ever its rated at.
and the bulbs and fans and other devices last longer.
 
Inverter go for Luminous, Sukam or Microtek (Go for a single battery one as in double battery you would have to change both at once in future as you cannot use one old and one new battery. Also charging time for double battery is more than a single one and with 6-7 hour powercut it would be a big issue)

and for international shipping I would suggest Fedex (a bit costlier but peace of mind) considering you would be shipping exp lens.
 
Fedex will be way too expensive.

And yes, EMS speed post is very good option for international shipping. I frequently ship stuff to my relatives in UK and US using speed post and all of them are usually delivered within 4-7 days.

If packaging is good, there is no need to worry with speed post.

Other option is aramex. They are cheaper than Fedex / DHL.

But stick to speed post. its more than decent for outbound international shipments.
 
+1 for Speed Post. Recently RMA'd a pair of defective G.Skill memory sticks to Taiwan using Registered Post which has no tracking service but the recipient got the shipment within a week. For Rs. 183. :rofl:

Have your shipment packed using tonnes of bubble wrap and ship it safely. :)
 
adder said:
Well i not sure whether inverters switching time is as fast a ups,the UPS also does AVR which the inverter doesn't.

BTW i use a APC 1000UXI smart series UPS for the entire house it rated at 800watts vs the apc inverter at 660watts,hence the UPS is more efficient.
It uses external batteries upto to a pair of 200ah and apc own battery pack comes with 4x75ah batteries althought costs 3 times the price of the ups.so its better to buy a tubular batteries or even sealed(but will last less).

Now i use a change over switch to go to ups,the computer/modem/phones are all powered ...

This looks to be excellent, if I understand correct.
Now questions:

1. Are you saying that an inverter's switching time is not as fast as a UPS hence there might be some downtime or unwanted fluctuation during the switching time?

2. The APC 1000XI looks good!
What's the cost?
How many and what external batteries do you have hooked to it?
What all are you currently running from it? Apart from your PC/HDDs.
What is the amount of time of batter backup u get from this setup?

Plz to tell. :D

Roxtin said:
Inverter go for Luminous, Sukam or Microtek (Go for a single battery one as in double battery you would have to change both at once in future as you cannot use one old and one new battery. Also charging time for double battery is more than a single one and with 6-7 hour powercut it would be a big issue)

6-7 hrs is not everyday but it does happen on 2-3 day in the week. :(
Eitherways, uninterrupted power for key devices would be awesome. :D

Cheers!
Payne

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

@pappu: Very funny. :D Me thinks he's all done with lens acquisitions after his latest Sigma 70-210 f2.8! A 10-20, 16-105, 70-210, 50 prime...what else would he want!

@Shripad, Gannu, Metalspree: Ok, EMS looks good. I just hate having to go to a Speed-post office. :D But if it saves money, nothing like it!
 
-D.Payne- said:
This looks to be excellent, if I understand correct.
Now questions:

1. Are you saying that an inverter's switching time is not as fast as a UPS hence there might be some downtime or unwanted fluctuation during the switching time?

2. The APC 1000XI looks good!
What's the cost?
How many and what external batteries do you have hooked to it?
What all are you currently running from it? Apart from your PC/HDDs.
What is the amount of time of batter backup u get from this setup?

Plz to tell. :D

6-7 hrs is not everyday but it does happen on 2-3 day in the week. :(
Eitherways, uninterrupted power for key devices would be awesome. :D

Cheers!
Payne!

1 yes thats correct,do note if you have a modem/router which doesn't have a linear power supply it will restart even if you have a UPS,except online UPS.

2 It costed 10k and change,to be precise i bought it for 10.7k the cheapest price i have seen was in lynx-india.
I use the Exide Tubular batteries called EL range ,specifically a pair of Exide EL40 which is 40AH costed 5.25k each,comes with 4 years warranty,with 1000 charge/discharge cycles*.with reports of it lasting even after 6 years+ if maintained well.
For Rs600 to 800 more you can also get the EL+ which comes with 5 years warranty and 1200change/discharge cycles.

Don't even think about other brand batteries like amaron just a rebadged truck batteries,the weight difference b/w exide and other make batteries is significant,meaning the exide has much thicker lead plates.

I run my pc/modem/voip/cordless phone directly and via change over switch lcd tvs,lights (all are CFL bulbs),fans,even air cooler sometimes.

In theory based on their battery spec runtime/apc battery/ups charts info etc it can run a 100watt load for 6hrs,so its better if you buy a pair of 80ah batteries like the Exide invared 80ah batteries rated for 700+ charge/discharge cycles* costs 6.6k each or even the EL range which is more expensive.

so that way you watch tv and run a fan for your 6hrs power cut.But if you have a CRT tv even if its 21" and switch the tv i.e a cold start ,during the back mode the ups will trip,since the crt tv during startup will consumer quite a lot of amps for a fraction of a second,where as a lcd no issues even if you have a 65" lcd tv.

*@ 80% discharged state
 
Dude, but I don't need a TV etc. :)

And btw, thanks you SO much for all the info!

Now, here's what I wanna power: iMac 27", Ext HDDs, prolly one small Atom-powered Home Server, 1 fan and one tube-light.

Bas. Aur kuch nahin. :D

Can I get by with only one batt then?
 
-D.Payne- said:
Dude, but I don't need a TV etc. :)

And btw, thanks you SO much for all the info!

Now, here's what I wanna power: iMac 27", Ext HDDs, prolly one small Atom-powered Home Server, 1 fan and one tube-light.
Bas. Aur kuch nahin. :D

Can I get by with only one batt then?

well the apc sinewave ups all use a 24v or 48v system so you will need atleast two batteries in series connection .
you can also go in for VRLA /sealed batteries which are cheaper or flat plate batteries they have a life of about 3 years max and come with 1 year warranty and about 300 to 400 charge/discharge cycles will cost much cheaper then the tubular batteries around 3k per battery.
 
just fyi,

I am buying a microtek inverter.ie 850va plus 180ah amco battery for around 21k tommorow.

price for the 850va inverter is 6450 and for the 180ah amco tubular battery is 14200.I have one pc,one fan,one cfl light and one download laptop to run for around 4-5 hours.The reason i went for microtek is their service.Secondly the amco battery has 40 months warranty.I think in your case this will be perfect.

do some calculations.

1)your imac requires around 150-200 watts

2)your server say 50 watts

3)one fan say 75 watts

4)one tube say 40 watts.

so total would be 365 watts.

say 400 watts.so you need 400watts for 6 hours say.

so you need 400va inverter but you have to consider the powerfactor.

usually it is 0.8

so you need 400/0.8 va inverter ie 500 va.so your inverter problem is solved.Now lets go to the battery side.

you need 6 hours of backup.

so the calculation is

400 x 6/12 ah ie 200ah.

so u need 200ah battery which is quite expensive.

hope this helps.

go for tubular batteries as they last long.
 
johnie1 said:
just fyi,

I am buying a microtek inverter.ie 850va plus 180ah amco battery for around 21k tommorow.
price for the 850va inverter is 6450 and for the 180ah amco tubular battery is 14200.I have one pc,one fan,one cfl light and one download laptop to run for around 4-5 hours.The reason i went for microtek is their service.Secondly the amco battery has 40 months warranty.I think in your case this will be perfect.

do some calculations.
1)your imac requires around 150-200 watts
2)your server say 50 watts
3)one fan say 75 watts
4)one tube say 40 watts.
so total would be 365 watts.

say 400 watts.so you need 400watts for 6 hours say.
so you need 400va inverter but you have to consider the powerfactor.
usually it is 0.8
so you need 400/0.8 va inverter ie 500 va.so your inverter problem is solved.Now lets go to the battery side.

you need 6 hours of backup.
so the calculation is
400 x 6/12 ah ie 200ah.

so u need 200ah battery which is quite expensive.

hope this helps.
go for tubular batteries as they last long.
making a rought PF calculation isn't good,only a few ups have a PF of .8 or more,even in apc most ups and inverters have a PF of .6 range.
 
well in that case let him go for a 800va.The microtek guy assured me that the powerfactor is .8.I will check it out tommorow.I am totally noob as regards this inverter stuff.Just did a lot of reading and just gave the info as to how i came to calculate the battery and the inverter.btwn the price difference between 150 and 180ah batteries is huge arond 4k difference.

I
 
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