Need an inverter and battery.

[iPwnz]

Of late we've been getting intermittent power cuts in my area. I need an inverter and battery setup which can last me 3 hrs. The only ones which I've ever used (many years ago) are cheap Chinese ones.
What should I go for? Branding and price suggestion please.

PC specs:
R3 3300X
GTX 1650S
500W'ish PSU

Below is a FurMark info of the GTX 1650S.


@princeoo7 do you use your setup with your PC? Some are saying this is not recommended for PC esp gaming ones.

 

[deusExMachina]

Make a list of things you want to power through the inverter. Then get their average power draw (you can get this information by looking at the electricity meter with only those appliances turned on). About your pc, even though you have a 500W PSU, the actual draw maybe a lot lower (about ~100W during idle).

Then you get an inverter that has larger power rating that this total. Luminous inverters seem to be good, their after sales service is decent too.

Then, you multiply the power with the time (3h) to get the energy use. Get a battery pack that can supply you with like 20% more energy than that. (12V * Ah rating).

Tubular batteries presumably last longer than the regular flooded cell ones. Buy from a good manufacturer like Amaron.

 

[kartikoli]

I was using 1500W (or 1650 don't remember exactly) Luminus inverter with a single tubular battery and it served me very well for 5yrs then bought Microtech 2500W Inverter with 2 semi tubular Exide batteries and its been 3yrs I am facing problems every now and then. Both batteries died within 3yrs and were replaced, Inverter is fine but whenever there is a power cut it takes a sec to switch from main power to backup so if you are gaming at that point in time your system most probably will shut down due to high power consumption. on idle or less load you won't notice anything.

If you are planning to power only PC + CFL + a fan for backup then buy 1000W Luminus inverter with full tubular battery, this will be enough and would give you backup of around 4hrs. roughly will cost around 18~20k but worth an investment.

 

[ashoka1]

Buy solar batteries.genus,amaron as you like.comes with full 5 year warranty and gst is 5%
consider solar inverter and some solar panels.power situation will worsen in coming days
i have 1600 watt solar inverter with two amaron tall tubular 150ah batteries.with 600watt solar panels
regards

 

[colors6]

Buy solar batteries.genus,amaron as you like.comes with full 5 year warranty and gst is 5%
consider solar inverter and some solar panels.power situation will worsen in coming days
i have 1600 watt solar inverter with two amaron tall tubular 150ah batteries.with 600watt solar panels
regards

i just want backup for 2-3 hours for my 55”4k tv, Synology ds218 NAS connected with a seagate expansion desktop HDD, one BLDC fan which consumes around 18-30W, one 9W LED smart bulb.

my internet router is powered by a mini router ups so that’s taken care of.

the biggest power draw here seems to be the TV. I’m willing to exclude it from backup if that reduced the cost.

can you suggest a setup for me and how much it will cost?. Can ther solar panels be installed on my 3rd floor apartment balcony or doe they have to be installed on the rooftop? I’m concerned about theft/vandalism if installed on rooftop.

Also, where is the best place to buy it from in Delhi area? (Or should I buy it online like Amazon) Will the electrician be provided who will install the setup?

 

[ashoka1]

You have to install solar panels where sunlight is present from morning to evening.Any 500va to 800va ups inverter with single 150ah battery can take care of your needs including TV load.
You don't need solar panels for that much load and 2,3 hours backup. Tubular battery is advised because of its longer life it will last 7,8 years with proper care under these loads. Battery have life
in cycles how much it is fully discharged and charged again in your case it will not be fully discharged in 2,3 hours hence longer life.For availing warranty of solar battery you will need solar panels installed.
If your roof is at distance that is also a problem because DC current doesn't fare well at long distances. short distance between inverter and solar panel is better.a single panel of 300 watt is more then enough
Buy battery from local dealer nearest to your house it is heavy thing carrying it around in case of malfunction or warranty will be a problem problem with sulfuric acid in battery and all.Dont buy online you will need a guy who can check battery and top up with distilled water every six months.You can get inverter and battery at cheaper price in lajpat rai market and chandni chowk area just opposite of red fort but you will have to install it yourself.Considering current power situation batteries will be costly at this time.

 

[lockhrt999]

Of late we've been getting intermittent power cuts in my area. I need an inverter and battery setup which can last me 3 hrs.

Many inverters drop power during switch over. That will turn off your PC unless you have UPS.

If you are okay with cheap janky setup for a while, then I would suggest you getting that APC UPS someone is selling here. Hook up a small 24v tubular or flooded battery and you are good to go. That UPS runs fine on such setup.

 

[colors6]

Many inverters drop power during switch over. That will turn off your PC unless you have UPS.

If you are okay with cheap janky setup for a while, then I would suggest you getting that APC UPS someone is selling here. Hook up a small 24v tubular or flooded battery and you are good to go. That UPS runs fine on such setup.

so hook up a battery with ups?
that’s interesting. That will provide power to ups for 3 hrs? How do you recharge the battery?
I think I misunderstood something here

 

[Jules Goes]

Buy solar batteries.genus,amaron as you like.comes with full 5 year warranty and gst is 5%
consider solar inverter and some solar panels.power situation will worsen in coming days
i have 1600 watt solar inverter with two amaron tall tubular 150ah batteries.with 600watt solar panels
regards

could you tell more about your setup and cost ?

 

[lockhrt999]

so hook up a battery with ups?
that’s interesting. That will provide power to ups for 3 hrs? How do you recharge the battery?
I think I misunderstood something here

This UPS already provides 1hr on 2x 7Ah batteries. So a small tubular will easily provide 3+ hours. For 150Ah, you could be looking at whole day backup. UPS itself is going to recharge the battery albite very slowly so don't get a big battery.

 

[colors6]

This UPS already provides 1hr on 2x 7Ah batteries. So a small tubular will easily provide 3+ hours. For 150Ah, you could be looking at whole day backup. UPS itself is going to recharge the battery albite very slowly so don't get a big battery.

Can you give a link for this setup? I didnt know a ups could charge an outside battery hooked up to it

 

[lockhrt999]

Can you give a link for this setup? I didnt know a ups could charge an outside battery hooked up to it

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=computer+ups+with+car+battery

There are tons of such projects on youtube and the internet. Most of these are complicated as they involve opening up the UPS. Some UPS, don't need to be opened to access battery terminals such as that APC I was talking about. You usually face 3 problems while using a computer UPS for longer time.

1. Most of the UPS aren't actively cooled so not meant to be used for longer time. That APC has active noisy cooling.
2. The beeping, you will have to take out the beeping speaker if you are too bothered about it.
3. Charging is going to be slow.

During the lockdown, I had no choice but to charge my vehicle's battery with this very UPS so I know it works. But like I said, it's a janky setup.

 

[colors6]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=computer+ups+with+car+battery

There are tons of such projects on youtube and the internet. Most of these are complicated as they involve opening up the UPS. Some UPS, don't need to be opened to access battery terminals such as that APC I was talking about. You usually face 3 problems while using a computer UPS for longer time.

1. Most of the UPS aren't actively cooled so not meant to be used for longer time. That APC has active noisy cooling.
2. The beeping, you will have to take out the beeping speaker if you are too bothered about it.
3. Charging is going to be slow.

During the lockdown, I had no choice but to charge my vehicle's battery with this very UPS so I know it works. But like I said, it's a janky setup.

I’ll see if I can hook up my entry level 600VA APC UPS with a car battery without opening up the UPS. If it can extend the backup to even 2 hrs that would be perfect

 

[ashoka1]

ups are just inverters with fast relays and capacitors that can store power a fraction of second longer.I never had any pc shut down when light tripped on full load with corsair psu.
@Jules Goes.i have 2 amaron tall tubular 150ah solar batteries with 4,. 150 watt sukam solar panels and locally made solar UPS inverter.Inverter cost was around 7500,battries i dont remember as i exchanged 4 batteries as scrap and paid difference,solar panels 27rs per watt now they are much cheaper at 20,22 rs per watt.
UPS are smaller units they will charge battery very slowly if you connect big size battery with it.it may not charge at all or will burn down due to non stop charging of batteries.bigger batteries need 8 ampere current to get charged i gets 12,13 amp current from solar panels.i have farming land on my name i can get a 10kv solar system for borewell for around 150L under subsidy but its damn huge with 40 panels.

 

[nitin_g3]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=computer+ups+with+car+battery

There are tons of such projects on youtube and the internet. Most of these are complicated as they involve opening up the UPS. Some UPS, don't need to be opened to access battery terminals such as that APC I was talking about. You usually face 3 problems while using a computer UPS for longer time.

1. Most of the UPS aren't actively cooled so not meant to be used for longer time. That APC has active noisy cooling.
2. The beeping, you will have to take out the beeping speaker if you are too bothered about it.
3. Charging is going to be slow.

During the lockdown, I had no choice but to charge my vehicle's battery with this very UPS so I know it works. But like I said, it's a janky setup.

Hey, I also have a APC 1100VA ups, do you think I can attach a larger capacity battery with it?
I read about this kind of setup before too, but someone said that it'll Heat up the transform inside the ups a lot, it might cause it to burn. Transformer inside my ups is actively cooled by a fan, and yes it's really noisy as you said.

 

[ashoka1]

I’ll see if I can hook up my entry level 600VA APC UPS with a car battery without opening up the UPS. If it can extend the backup to even 2 hrs that would be perfect

inverter or UPS will stop charging when battery reaches 13.5 volt and will cut down supply when battery reaches 11 volt you have only around 3volts to work around.in 24volt system its 27volt and 21.5 volt cut down you gets 6 volt as a back up now backup depends upon how much bigger battery is and how much plates it has per cell in battery.in old time we had manual settings in inverter in need that cut of can be brought down to 8,9 volts or untill fans stop spinning and increase charging to 20,21 ampere to get it fast charged.that battery will survive 1,1.5 year at most.we had power supply only for 6,7 hours in a day.now everything is controlled by a chip but power supply is 24 hours only now days we have these power cuts.with 3 fans running and 3,4 led my inverter can run up to 2,3 days.

 

[lockhrt999]

but someone said that it'll Heat up the transform inside the ups a lot, it might cause it to burn. Transformer inside my ups is actively cooled by a fan, and yes it's really noisy as you said.

This UPS is ready for sustained use. Transformer won't burn as it's being actively cooled. I have measured the temps myself. The fan does bring down the temperature by about 5 degrees. So yeah the cooling works. Just don't hook up a very big battery. It takes a really long time to charge it up.

 

[ashoka1]

Hey, I also have a APC 1100VA ups, do you think I can attach a larger capacity battery with it?
I read about this kind of setup before too, but someone said that it'll Heat up the transform inside the ups a lot, it might cause it to burn. Transformer inside my ups is actively cooled by a fan, and yes it's really noisy as you said.

you will get a decent backup from car battery.if transformer is cooled down by a fan then its much less likely to burn.It will take long time to charge a car battery depending upon charging ampere of UPS it will be between 1,2 ampere and will take longer time to charge.Dont put too much load on UPS for longer periods this can also lead to malfunction.keep a eye on everything for first 24 hours if all goes well you are good to go.

 

[nitin_g3]

This UPS is ready for sustained use. Transformer won't burn as it's being actively cooled. I have measured the temps myself. The fan does bring down the temperature by about 5 degrees. So yeah the cooling works. Just don't hook up a very big battery. It takes a really long time to charge it up.

What capacity battery do you suggest? Also any specific model in your mind?

 

[deusExMachina]

I’ll see if I can hook up my entry level 600VA APC UPS with a car battery without opening up the UPS. If it can extend the backup to even 2 hrs that would be perfect

don't use a car battery for this. they are not optimized for inverter / ups use and would go bad much faster.