Inverter nightmare

These are the sort of inverters you want if you want to hook it up with your DB.

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Wiring wise it is not an easy job and you will need someone experienced with inverters and electricians and they need to explain to you how it works.
 
PsyWulf said:
"gaming" pc ie. I3 with RGB lights?
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Well I have a Core i7, GTX1070, 27" monitor and 24" minute and a 60W led and it uses about 200W under light use and maybe 300-350W during gaming.

But yes, it all depends on how big your system is. The average user will easily be able to run 3-4 computers if not more.
 
RedViking said:
Well I have a Core i7, GTX1070, 27" monitor and 24" minute and a 60W led and it uses about 200W under light use and maybe 300-350W during gaming.

But yes, it all depends on how big your system is. The average user will easily be able to run 3-4 computers if not more.
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Yeah no you won't be getting 40minutes let alone 3 hours
 
Hmm lost half a post there
*On my rig

Using 2x105mah and get 40min on a good day,but I know she's a thirsty gal

Did a quick math though, with your 350w gamestation x4 as the template for 3hour runtime:

Inverter VA Rating - 2500 VA
Battery Capacity - 135 Ah at C20
Number of batteries - 3
 
PsyWulf said:
Hmm lost half a post there
*On my rig

Using 2x105mah and get 40min on a good day,but I know she's a thirsty gal

Did a quick math though, with your 350w gamestation x4 as the template for 3hour runtime:

Inverter VA Rating - 2500 VA
Battery Capacity - 135 Ah at C20
Number of batteries - 3
Click to expand...

I'm bad at maths, but for 350W you should easily be able to get 3-4 hours on two 105mah batteries to 30% SOC. Add another two batteries and you have double the time.

Running 1400W on only two batteries won't be very helpful.

But with only a TV, Decoder and a light OP will easily go 8 hours if not more on two batteries.

Hooking it up to the DB is a bad idea.

One must also consider the time it takes for the batteries to charge. But with load shedding only once a day, this should not be a problem.... Yet.
 
This load shedding is turning out to be a boon for con artists, sorry OP, hope you come right, no one deserves to be taken for a ride like that. Hope you come right.
 
A quick and fairly accurate method of working out how long to run you batteries is:

battery aH x battery voltage x no. of batteries / load in watts / power factor / depth of discharge

2 x 100Ah 12 volt battery = 2400
Load of 1000watts = 2.4
Power factor of 85% (80-85% for modified sine wave and 90-95% for pure sine wave) = 2.04 hours or 122 minutes

If you only want to run your batteries down by just 30% = 37 minutes, or down to 50% = 61 minutes

The higher the depth of discharge of batteries the lower the number of recharge cycles. The decrease is exponential. Less than 50% depth of discharge the Rands per cycle decreases (is favorable) but the capital outlay is higher. After 50% the ratio or Rands per cycles is too high to justify because the cycle life is just too low.

Example if you run your batteries down to 30% remaining the cycles drop down as low as 20 cycles. Where as dropping your batteries down to 70% remaining you are talking 1000+ cycles. Say a battery costs R2000, you either pay R100 per cycle or R2 per cycle. At 50% you may get 500 cycles so R4 per cycle. There is a smaller difference between R2 and R4 per cycle as opposed to R4 and R100 per cycle.
 
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Like a huge wave of new forumites, asking the strangest of questions. From inverter pulling washing machines to jobless wife over burdening husband with debt....... What gives?
 
As far as wiring up an inverter to the DB. @RedViking posted a link to the thread I started when I installed an inverter. Long story short: it can be done regardless of the size of the inverter as long as you have worked out the capacity of your inverter and batteries.

If you don't understand what a neutral bus bar and a isolator is, better you keep your fingers out of the DB. Otherwise it is fairly straightforward if your house was wired correctly. Your just have to split your DB into Eskom and Inverter. Both need isolators and earth leakages.
1-jpg.627282

3-jpg.626196
1-jpg.626192
 
Dairyfarmer said:
As far as wiring up an inverter to the DB. @RedViking posted a link to the thread I started when I installed an inverter. Long story short: it can be done regardless of the size of the inverter as long as you have worked out the capacity of your inverter and batteries.

If you don't understand what a neutral bus bar and a isolator is, better you keep your fingers out of the DB. Otherwise it is fairly straightforward if your house was wired correctly. Your just have to split your DB into Eskom and Inverter. Both need isolators and earth leakages.
1-jpg.627282

3-jpg.626196
1-jpg.626192
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your battery configuration looks very weird, is that a 24V system?

I don't mean to be funny but is this actually compliant?
 
Steamy Tom said:
your battery configuration looks very weird, is that a 24V system?

I don't mean to be funny but is this actually compliant?
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Yes 24v.
2 x 100aH 12v batteries in series to create 1 x 100aH 24v battery.
Then 2 x 100aH 24v batteries connected in parallel to create 200aH 24v.
 
This is how those Ellies inverters should be installed:

Step 1 - unplug the multi-plug from the wall socket that powers your smart TV & LED lights
Step 2 - plug in the inverter (with its batteries) to the wall socket
Step 3 - plug the multi-plug into the power outlet socket of the inverter

There is NO requirement for an 'electrician' to wire up an Ellies inverter into your DB board AT ALL!

This means that the inverter is now inline & downstream of the AC mains power - so if the mains power fails, the inverter seamlessly provides any devices plugged into the power outlet of the inverter with fail-over AC power - until such time as the inverter batteries are depleted or mains power is restored to allow the batteries to be charged once again.

It's not rocket science - it's a similar principle for a smaller UPS to power a desktop PC with emergency AC power as well, allowing you to shut down properly before the UPS battery is depleted - but a PC UPS is NOT designed to keep your PC powered up in the interim until AC mains power is restored - unlike the Ellies inverter, which IS designed to REPLACE mains power until it is available once again.
 
RedViking said:
I'm bad at maths, but for 350W you should easily be able to get 3-4 hours on two 105mah batteries to 30% SOC. Add another two batteries and you have double the time.

Running 1400W on only two batteries won't be very helpful.

But with only a TV, Decoder and a light OP will easily go 8 hours if not more on two batteries.

Hooking it up to the DB is a bad idea.

One must also consider the time it takes for the batteries to charge. But with load shedding only once a day, this should not be a problem.... Yet.
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sounds about right, my entire lounge consumes that power and i have 2x105aH batteries :thumbsup:, after 4hrs the batteries read 12.2v each
 
Chuckmyster said:
sounds about right, my entire lounge consumes that power and i have 2x105aH batteries :thumbsup:, after 4hrs the batteries read 12.2v each
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350w?

105x2x12 = 2520
350w = 7.2
50% DoD =3.6
85% PF = 3:03
95% PF = 3:45

So at 350w over 4 hours you are hammering your batteries a bit. But then you are probable 300w as you would, hopefully, not be running the whole time at 350w. So very close to 4 hours / 12.3v

12.6 volts = 100%
12.5 volts = 70%
12.3 volts = 50%
11.4 volts = 20%
Source: https://deepcyclebatterystore.com/how-to-maintain-batteries/
Click to expand...
 
Dairyfarmer said:
350w?

105x2x12 = 2520
350w = 7.2
50% DoD =3.6
85% PF = 3:03
95% PF = 3:45

So at 350w over 4 hours you are hammering your batteries a bit. But then you are probable 300w as you would, hopefully, not be running the whole time at 350w. So very close to 4 hours / 12.3v
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you are right, it is normally just the Yamaha amp and the 55" tv on, that is way less than 350w, when load shedding kicks in. I have never ever let the lead acids drop below 12.2v as they are normal truck batteries, 99% of the time i switch my tv off when batteries get to around 12.6v anyways, rather watch on laptop if load shedding is >2hrs
 
Chuckmyster said:
99% of the time i switch my tv off when batteries get to around 12.6v anyways, rather watch on laptop if load shedding is >2hrs
Click to expand...
You have to find that balance between cycles and capital outlay. Good batteries cost a fortune but have high cycles. But can you finance them or be content with lesser batteries but replace them every few years? I went the cheaper option for 2 reasons. I couldn't afford top range batteries. And I didn't know whether I needed to add batteries at a later stage. You don't want to be mixing new and old batteries. So I figured 500 cycles would do me fine, but I'm expecting many more because I'm running about half the expected load. (ie the fridge can handle 4 or 6 hours of load shedding a day, but I need my streaming porn documentaries, light etc)
 
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