Property UPS - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BartHu
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 20, 2020, 12:10:19 am
content: Hi,Soon i'll be moving to Hungary, to a pretty rural area. The power net there is.. sketchy, to say the least. There's an extension cable running from farm to farm, and when my 2000ft neighbour makes his coffee the lights start to flicker. And when it rains it's over.. What i'd like to do is to create a buffer so my power will be stable.I have 2 beefy batterys, an inverter and a charger leftover from my solar installation here.I have no idea where to start to create a 'big UPS', a system that charges the batteries constantly and serves 220v nomatter what the net does.Can anyone point me in the right direction?Thanks,Bart

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2020, 12:27:23 am
content: You better get a real UPS. These are relatively cheap on the used market but usually come with bad or no batteries.A solar inverter won't do you any good because it pushes power into the mains and doesn't work without mains. Also the input voltage for a solar inverter is much higher than 2 batteries can provide.But fixing the root cause is a much smarter move: replace the extension cable.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2020, 12:31:01 am
content: you can get backup capability on a solar inverter with the right parts but its expenisve, mainly for safety reasonsget ready for fun stuff like exploding light bulbs in rural eastern europeWhat I have seen is that unlike american pole pigs, you have a giant transformer supplying more then a few houses elevated from the ground on a very beefy support structure.sounds expenisve to do in general. Might be better to invest in some AA battery lights lol. I like the ones you tap to turn on (rings). Buffer the system and maintain budget with fine grape wine and a romantic atmosphere. The fruits used to make wine are good over there. If you are just moving you should focus on backup heating systems and food supply because you will end up with fucked up ice mud.

author: nightfire
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2021, 12:47:57 am
content: In such a scenario, there are some thoughts for the whole setup:- Buffering the computer and IT equipment is a special task. You should use a real "online" UPS for that, so every noise on the mains feed gets also filtered out, as also the transients from thunder/lightning. Issue here is, that lots of UPS systems intended for home usage will not turn on as a "cold start" without mains present.- For Lights: You could modify the structures there and use halogen/LED lights running on 12V with transformers. Those can be switched to batttery easily, given that the setup deals with the right resistances to make sure the right currents are applied to the LED lights.- Even classic Lightbulbs are available in 12V or 24V applications, available in special shops- Lots of devices can be powered instead of electricity by other means of energy carriers: Gas is among the most comfortable there, because you can get as Propane Gas in big bottles. Powering the stove and maybe some heaters with it might also save some electricity bill, because usually gas is cheaper per kWh that electricity- Hot stuff: Some computers can be run on 12V power supply, usually those mainboards are available in the industry sector. I myself build a NAS system out of an Intel Mainboard with the first Notebook N270 Atom CPU available back then, that could use an external 12V power supply.- Notebooks can take directly DC input. But: Modern notebooks will communicate with the PSU to make sure the right model is attached. Here some research would need to be done beforehand.(HP business notebooks and dockingstations for some years refuse to work if the PSU is rated smaller than deemed necessary, I have seen a dockingstation with rated 90W that would signal via LED the issue that only a 65W PSU was attached (same connectors) and would not start. The notebook itself took only about 30 Watts, so basically the PSU would have hold...)

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2021, 04:09:07 am
content: as someone that recently spent a winter in the region, reliability and duration are your primary concerns in a rural areaa firewood backup for 6 weeks makes sense there even if you have the best systems, even in a semi-rural setting. don't wanna spend the winter with poor as fuck neighbors and have your home water pipes explode. i imagine full rural like texas is basically mars

author: DenzilPenberthy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2021, 03:21:27 pm
content: Something like a Victron Multiplus would suit your job. It passes through mains to its output but when the mains fails, the inverter takes over. Meanwhile it keeps the batteries charged whenever there is mains.If you get one with 'power assist' then it will allow you to use the weak mains and supplement it with power from the battery. This is used in off-grid situations e.g. to run an intermittent 7kW load from a 5kW generator plus 2kW from the battery when needed. If you've got problems with volt-drop from your weak supply, this might help.https://www.victronenergy.com/inverters-chargers/multiplus-12v-24v-48v-800va-3kva

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2021, 06:20:42 pm
content: QuoteWell...Get a new one like:https://www.eaton.com/de/de-de/catalog/backup-power-ups-surge-it-power-distribution/eaton93e-ups-emea.htmlcost more than a propper new Power Cable from the next Trafo Station. And Hungary have not that worse System like Romania.Yesterday was a good Conference about Powerfactor and other stuff who I just say get an old UPS is just ok for Soloar Power when the exchange heat is and dont cost that much in therm of Forint.And good luck learning Magyar. I am doing that since 3 Years ago and be still at the beginning.