Need Inverter and Battery help

technomad

technomad

Recruit
I need power backup for working from home. I live in a rural area so the power is not reliable. If some issue happens in the power lines, we don't get power for the whole day sometimes. Common in monsoon.

I will be needing to power a TV cum monitor, a laptop, two fans and 6-7 lights. That's for the whole night if needed. Although the lights can be limited to 2 if needed.

I will be working a night shift so I need power for laptop and two lights at least to last the whole 8-9 hours in case something happens to our power.
I can shut everything down as they are not needed for my work.

I went to a shop they quoted me 13k for Amaron 150Ah battery + 5k for 1050W inverter.
15k for 200Ah battery and 6.4k for 1275W inverter.
Similar prices for Exide battery.

Are these fair prices? Should I go for 150Ah or 200Ah?
The shop also quoted me 12k for 220Ah Phoenix battery. Idk that brand.

Please let me know your thoughts on this.
 
technomad said:
I need power backup for working from home. I live in a rural area so the power is not reliable. If some issue happens in the power lines, we don't get power for the whole day sometimes. Common in monsoon.

I will be needing to power a TV cum monitor, a laptop, two fans and 6-7 lights. That's for the whole night if needed. Although the lights can be limited to 2 if needed.

I will be working a night shift so I need power for laptop and two lights at least to last the whole 8-9 hours in case something happens to our power.
I can shut everything down as they are not needed for my work.

I went to a shop they quoted me 13k for Amaron 150Ah battery + 5k for 1050W inverter.
15k for 200Ah battery and 6.4k for 1275W inverter.
Similar prices for Exide battery.

Are these fair prices? Should I go for 150Ah or 200Ah?
The shop also quoted me 12k for 220Ah Phoenix battery. Idk that brand.

Please let me know your thoughts on this.
Click to expand...
anyday exide battery get 200ah
 
Don't get the 150Ah one. Exide, Amaron and Luminous are all good.

Let's say you have a 40" led TV and it needs 50W, the laptop needs 65W, normal/non-bldc fans need 2x75=150W and the led lights you've got need 7*10=70W. That is going to be a load of 335W. Running that for 9 hours requires 3015Wh. A 200Ah battery will only get you 200*12=2400Wh. That's not taking into account 15-20% conversion losses in the 12V inverter or losses within the battery such as Peukert's Law. But it is pretty clear that you will run out of power way before the sun comes up.

On the other hand, let's say the laptop only takes 30W instead of 65W because you're mostly running it at a low load and the fans are run at 50% so 75W total and you've only got two lights on so 20W, then you're looking at 50+30+75+20=175W, or a much more conservative 1575Wh. Adjusting for that 20% loss previously mentioned, you're at 1890Wh. Still within the battery's capacity. You might just survive till sun rise.

That's to say that if you go with the 200Ah battery, depending on your usage, there will be days where you struggle to get 9 hours of backup. You will also occasionally discharge the battery below 50% state of charge, which will reduce its lifespan significantly. Ideally, I would recommend oversizing and going for 2*200Ah system preferably in series or in parallel, depending on the inverter you get. That way you're not stressing the batteries too much and you should have capacity leftover for when you really need it. But that's doubling the cost, so it entirely depends on your budget.

Regarding the inverter, tbh, any of those will cover your needs. But if you plan to add more devices in the future, the 1275W one would be worth it.
 
variablevector said:
Don't get the 150Ah one. Exide, Amaron and Luminous are all good.
Click to expand...
I'm also thinking about 200 or 220Ah ones.
variablevector said:
On the other hand, let's say the laptop only takes 30W instead of 65W because you're mostly running it at a low load and the fans are run at 50% so 75W total and you've only got two lights on so 20W, then you're looking at 50+30+75+20=175W, or a much more conservative 1575Wh. Adjusting for that 20% loss previously mentioned, you're at 1890Wh. Still within the battery's capacity. You might just survive till sun rise.
Click to expand...
If need be, I'll only run maximum 2 LEDs, TV and a laptop. Maybe two laptops. That's my optimal use case.
By your maths, that'd be 30W + 65W for the laptops. One high load.
Two lights that's 20W.
And a 28 inch LED TV. That's maybe 40W?
That's a total of 155W.
variablevector said:
That's to say that if you go with the 200Ah battery, depending on your usage, there will be days where you struggle to get 9 hours of backup. You will also occasionally discharge the battery below 50% state of charge, which will reduce its lifespan significantly.
Click to expand...
The warranty should cover it, no? The excide one has 36 months replacement warranty+ 24 months more pro rata.
variablevector said:
Ideally, I would recommend oversizing and going for 2*200Ah system preferably in series or in parallel, depending on the inverter you get. That way you're not stressing the batteries too much and you should have capacity leftover for when you really need it. But that's doubling the cost, so it entirely depends on your budget.

Regarding the inverter, tbh, any of those will cover your needs. But if you plan to add more devices in the future, the 1275W one would be worth it.
Click to expand...
I can't actually do the double battery setup. My budget doesn't allow that.

Thanks for the detailed answer. It cleared up a lot of things.
 
variablevector said:
Don't get the 150Ah one. Exide, Amaron and Luminous are all good.

Let's say you have a 40" led TV and it needs 50W, the laptop needs 65W, normal/non-bldc fans need 2x75=150W and the led lights you've got need 7*10=70W. That is going to be a load of 335W. Running that for 9 hours requires 3015Wh. A 200Ah battery will only get you 200*12=2400Wh. That's not taking into account 15-20% conversion losses in the 12V inverter or losses within the battery such as Peukert's Law. But it is pretty clear that you will run out of power way before the sun comes up.

On the other hand, let's say the laptop only takes 30W instead of 65W because you're mostly running it at a low load and the fans are run at 50% so 75W total and you've only got two lights on so 20W, then you're looking at 50+30+75+20=175W, or a much more conservative 1575Wh. Adjusting for that 20% loss previously mentioned, you're at 1890Wh. Still within the battery's capacity. You might just survive till sun rise.

That's to say that if you go with the 200Ah battery, depending on your usage, there will be days where you struggle to get 9 hours of backup. You will also occasionally discharge the battery below 50% state of charge, which will reduce its lifespan significantly. Ideally, I would recommend oversizing and going for 2*200Ah system preferably in series or in parallel, depending on the inverter you get. That way you're not stressing the batteries too much and you should have capacity leftover for when you really need it. But that's doubling the cost, so it entirely depends on your budget.

Regarding the inverter, tbh, any of those will cover your needs. But if you plan to add more devices in the future, the 1275W one would be worth it.
Click to expand...
am pretty confused between luminous and microtek inverters
 
enthusiast29 said:
Luminous Eco volt 1550 is the max size for 12V single battery. It's decent.
Click to expand...
I got this, it's possibly the max for single battery which supposedly can support 1300w. It could be an older/cheaper model though, as there's no display like my older Exide.

EXIDE INVERTERZ STAR(STAR12V1625) Inverter System

Get EXIDE INVERTERZ STAR(STAR12V1625) Inverter System at best price. Check out the details.
www.exidecare.com
Op, as others have mentioned get the 200ah battery and a good 1500va pure sinewave inverter.

variablevector said:
Don't get the 150Ah one. Exide, Amaron and Luminous are all good.

Let's say you have a 40" led TV and it needs 50W, the laptop needs 65W, normal/non-bldc fans need 2x75=150W and the led lights you've got need 7*10=70W. That is going to be a load of 335W. Running that for 9 hours requires 3015Wh. A 200Ah battery will only get you 200*12=2400Wh. That's not taking into account 15-20% conversion losses in the 12V inverter or losses within the battery such as Peukert's Law. But it is pretty clear that you will run out of power way before the sun comes up.

On the other hand, let's say the laptop only takes 30W instead of 65W because you're mostly running it at a low load and the fans are run at 50% so 75W total and you've only got two lights on so 20W, then you're looking at 50+30+75+20=175W, or a much more conservative 1575Wh. Adjusting for that 20% loss previously mentioned, you're at 1890Wh. Still within the battery's capacity. You might just survive till sun rise.

That's to say that if you go with the 200Ah battery, depending on your usage, there will be days where you struggle to get 9 hours of backup. You will also occasionally discharge the battery below 50% state of charge, which will reduce its lifespan significantly. Ideally, I would recommend oversizing and going for 2*200Ah system preferably in series or in parallel, depending on the inverter you get. That way you're not stressing the batteries too much and you should have capacity leftover for when you really need it. But that's doubling the cost, so it entirely depends on your budget.

Regarding the inverter, tbh, any of those will cover your needs. But if you plan to add more devices in the future, the 1275W one would be worth it.
Click to expand...
I think 200ah would last 8 hours easily, I have a 4+ year old 150ah Amaron battery which lasts the whole day during full day power cuts with 2 lights, 2/3 fans and TV on for half the time.
 
technomad said:
I'm also thinking about 200 or 220Ah ones.

If need be, I'll only run maximum 2 LEDs, TV and a laptop. Maybe two laptops. That's my optimal use case.
By your maths, that'd be 30W + 65W for the laptops. One high load.
Two lights that's 20W.
And a 28 inch LED TV. That's maybe 40W?
That's a total of 155W.
Click to expand...
Yeah, for a 155W power draw, 200/220Ah should serve you well.
technomad said:
The warranty should cover it, no? The excide one has 36 months replacement warranty+ 24 months more pro rata.
Click to expand...
3 years replacement is a good warranty. But you can get many more years of life out of a lead acid by using them more conservatively.
1725137645318.png

The number of charge/discharge cycles you can get from them falls off a cliff when you start to use 80-100% of their capacity. Many inverter shops will tell you to buy something that has just enough capacity for your needs, but going above that can improve lifespan by a lot. Anyway, you can always just increase your capacity by adding another battery in parallel later on.
rockstah said:
I got this, it's possibly the max for single battery which supposedly can support 1300w. It could be an older/cheaper model though, as there's no display like my older Exide.

EXIDE INVERTERZ STAR(STAR12V1625) Inverter System

Get EXIDE INVERTERZ STAR(STAR12V1625) Inverter System at best price. Check out the details.
www.exidecare.com
Op, as others have mentioned get the 200ah battery and a good 1500va pure sinewave inverter.


I think 200ah would last 8 hours easily, I have a 4+ year old 150ah Amaron battery which lasts the whole day during full day power cuts with 2 lights, 2/3 fans and TV on for half the time.
Click to expand...
For OP's use case, you're right. But it depends heavily on your usage patterns, as demonstrated by the math above. It's easy to use way more than you think. I have a 5-year old 150Ah battery too, and it quit in 5-6 hours last time we had a full day of no power (that was with me monitoring it and shutting things off as much as I could) and that is the reason why I'm in the process of upgrading to a much larger capacity. But I also had a lot more electronics connected to the wall.

We also forgot to mention any wifi routers/modems etc, as that could easily take another 30-40W. Another point is charging time. If you lose power on night 1, and then the following day only has intermittent power, then you may not have enough power left in the battery for night 2 of power cuts. Particularly applicable during monsoon. But yeah, it will probably be fine for this case.
 
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