Buying a UPS

KOPITE said:
What other ups are available on the market where you can use only 1 deep cycle battery. Is it possible to it that way.

Is it really necessary for an inverter?

What's the cheapest route for me to go. I have the RCT2000 ups and a 160ah deep cycle battery
Click to expand...
Yesterday I hooked up 2 x 70Ah to my RCT 2000VA and it lost power at around 45 mins under a small 120W load.

This morning I have been fiddling, and found one of the batteries was 12.4V and the other 12.9. So I disconnected them from the RCT and hooked up my Eco140 12V to the 12.9V battery.
I struggled with the Eco140 before but in hindsight I think I must have been using the bad battery because all looks good now with the other battery.

Point being, the Eco140 may do well for you with your single 160Ah battery.
Not tested charging yet. Load shedding has just ended so it has just started charging. I am checking voltage from time to time and will report back.

RSS (where I got my pure sine wave inverter) have the Eco140.

http://www.pss.co.za/index.php/prod...lypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=76&category_id=6

Edit: I got Eco140 off the label on the unit. Label is all messed up and it turns out there is a zero missing.
Looking at the spec sheet at RSS, it is an Eco1400 (840W).
 
Last edited:
Mike Smit said:
Yesterday I hooked up 2 x 70Ah to my RCT 2000VA and it lost power at around 45 mins under a small 120W load.

This morning I have been fiddling, and found one of the batteries was 12.4V and the other 12.9. So I disconnected them from the RCT and hooked up my Eco140 12V to the 12.9V battery.
I struggled with the Eco140 before but in hindsight I think I must have been using the bad battery because all looks good now with the other battery.

Point being, the Eco140 may do well for you with your single 160Ah battery.
Not tested charging yet. Load shedding has just ended so it has just started charging. I am checking voltage from time to time and will report back.

RSS (where I got my pure sine wave inverter) have the Eco140.

http://www.pss.co.za/index.php/prod...lypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=76&category_id=6

Edit: I got Eco140 off the label on the unit. Label is all messed up and it turns out there is a zero missing.
Looking at the spec sheet at RSS, it is an Eco1400 (840W).
Click to expand...

Those PSS units don't seem to bad for the price. I have the smallest one (Eco600) and it runs the ADSL modem fine for at least 3 hours (havent tested longer). Currently its protecting the PC, and it also shuts the PC down after your set time (mine is 30seconds). Don't think it will last very long running the PC off the standard battery.
 
furpile said:
Those PSS units don't seem to bad for the price. I have the smallest one (Eco600) and it runs the ADSL modem fine for at least 3 hours (havent tested longer). Currently its protecting the PC, and it also shuts the PC down after your set time (mine is 30seconds). Don't think it will last very long running the PC off the standard battery.
Click to expand...
Ye, I am quite impressed with RSS. My pure sine wave inverter was just under R3k. I am mulling over getting the same UPS as yours for the bedroom bedside lights.
Are you able to turn the beeping off on yours?
 
Mike Smit said:
Ye, I am quite impressed with RSS. My pure sine wave inverter was just under R3k. I am mulling over getting the same UPS as yours for the bedroom bedside lights.
Are you able to turn the beeping off on yours?
Click to expand...

No not yet. I opened it and put some tape on top of the buzzer, but that didn't really help. I will try putting glue or silicone inside the buzzer hole, otherwise it will have to be desoldered. Not sure if this will affect anything, doubt it.
 
Mike Smit said:
Yesterday I hooked up 2 x 70Ah to my RCT 2000VA and it lost power at around 45 mins under a small 120W load.

This morning I have been fiddling, and found one of the batteries was 12.4V and the other 12.9. So I disconnected them from the RCT and hooked up my Eco140 12V to the 12.9V battery.
I struggled with the Eco140 before but in hindsight I think I must have been using the bad battery because all looks good now with the other battery.

Point being, the Eco140 may do well for you with your single 160Ah battery.
Not tested charging yet. Load shedding has just ended so it has just started charging. I am checking voltage from time to time and will report back.

RSS (where I got my pure sine wave inverter) have the Eco140.

http://www.pss.co.za/index.php/prod...lypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=76&category_id=6

Edit: I got Eco140 off the label on the unit. Label is all messed up and it turns out there is a zero missing.
Looking at the spec sheet at RSS, it is an Eco1400 (840W).
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. How much did you pay for your Eco1400 if I may ask
 
KOPITE said:
Thanks Mike. How much did you pay for your Eco1400 if I may ask
Click to expand...
I got it as a replacement for my Intellipower 4.
My electrician had a friend who had a friend etc.. that he said could fix the intellipower. 4 months later I still did not have it back. My electrician did some pushing and got it back for me, and it was in a worse condition than when he took it - and still not working. So he gave me this as a replacement.

I have seen on various sites it is selling for about R1,100. But RSS will be cheaper. I got my pure sine wave from RSS for R2.9k where the average price for the same inverter elsewhere was R3.6k.
 
Mike Smit said:
I got it as a replacement for my Intellipower 4.
My electrician had a friend who had a friend etc.. that he said could fix the intellipower. 4 months later I still did not have it back. My electrician did some pushing and got it back for me, and it was in a worse condition than when he took it - and still not working. So he gave me this as a replacement.

I have seen on various sites it is selling for about R1,100. But RSS will be cheaper. I got my pure sine wave from RSS for R2.9k where the average price for the same inverter elsewhere was R3.6k.
Click to expand...

I was not planning on spending more money on another ups, but I still need to check if that 160ah battery is still good. Will ask my brother for his charger. What's the best way to actually test it. Maybe I should take it to a battery place and get them to test it for me. Is there any cheaper ups I can get to run the battery. Will have a look around at different websites.

You sure got some nice deals though :D
 
KOPITE said:
I was not planning on spending more money on another ups, but I still need to check if that 160ah battery is still good. Will ask my brother for his charger. What's the best way to actually test it. Maybe I should take it to a battery place and get them to test it for me. Is there any cheaper ups I can get to run the battery. Will have a look around at different websites.

You sure got some nice deals though :D
Click to expand...
Just checked the charging on the Eco1400.
Our load shedding was done at 10H00 this AM, so right now it is a full 12 hours charger. Battery is at 13.7V so almost done and in the trickle charge cycle.
Point being, my battery was not depleted at 10H00, but 12 hours later my little 70Ah is not topped up. I reckon your 160Ah may take strain.

I think you are better off with a 12V inverter / charger that has a sufficient charge rate for you big battery. A UPS may not cut it.
 
Mike Smit said:
Just checked the charging on the Eco1400.
Our load shedding was done at 10H00 this AM, so right now it is a full 12 hours charger. Battery is at 13.7V so almost done and in the trickle charge cycle.
Point being, my battery was not depleted at 10H00, but 12 hours later my little 70Ah is not topped up. I reckon your 160Ah may take strain.

I think you are better off with a 12V inverter / charger that has a sufficient charge rate for you big battery. A UPS may not cut it.
Click to expand...
Hence why I (always) say that the specs on a UPS/Inverter & batteries need to be known before hooking them up. Doesn't matter if it's an Inverter or UPS, it's the same principle.

If you don't have the right charger, you will either charge them way too slow or way too fast and this shortens the life of the battery.

Also consider that the charger is 99.99% of the time made for Lead Acid batteries. Maybe they can charge other types, who knows, but that's the risk you take.
 
I think a power surge damaged the part that handles deciding when to charge the battery and when not to on my laptop. It was making popping noises and never charging the battery, now I just run it without a battery but connected to a UPS because any spike or drop in voltage will shut the laptop down instantly. Really annoying to have to deal with this, when I eventually get a new laptop I might just keep it connected to the UPS to protect it now that we have almost daily load shedding.
 
What is the best UPS AVR I can use with a generator for a 350W pc 18.5" screen

Thanks
 
KOPITE said:
My RCT 2000vas only last about 30 min when running 110w LCD tv, 12v 2amp router and amazon fire tv

Last longer with just modem plugged in
Click to expand...

Ok, so i did some more tests....

So i bought a Mecer 700W 1200VA inverter from bidorbuy for about 1k with shipping inclusive. I hooked up my 160ah battery up with it and fully charge it. it had the option to charge it on 10amps or 20amps.

Hooked the tv, router, amazon fire tv and surround sound system on it and it lasted 1h45 minutes until the low battery started beeping.

I then tried the tv, router and amazon fire tv alone on it and it lasted more then 3 hours. i wanted to see how long it could go, but my daughter had to go to sleep. looks like the inverter setup is better then my 2000vac ups setup which i still have.

I can get 2x Silver Calcium Lead Acid batteries. are these batteries any good?
What abouth the Delkor 1150K 102ah batteries?

Anyone have experience with these batteries new or 2nd hand.
 
Finally got replacement battery for our APC unit at the office. Only R800 for the battery replacement, the UPS costs like 5 grand now. Always thought the battery would make up more of the total cost.
 
Anyone here experiencing slight buzzing sound from their tv's ? Samsung in particular? Also could this damage it? I'm running a modified sine wave inverter or simulated sinewave as it says on the box.
 
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