Let's design our own UPS

Might need a new thread, not sure.

Lightning just nuked my inverter, and long story short, I now have a 12v 1kwh battery that's going to be gathering dust unless I repurpose it. I bought an Ecoflow as a replacement and the old battery isn't going to fit in with the new system.

My internet routers are all 12v though. In principle the battery should keep them running for a loooooong time. What's the easiest/cheapest way to charge the battery without having to manually switch the power over when loadshedding hits?
 
lmao said:
Might need a new thread, not sure.

Lightning just nuked my inverter, and long story short, I now have a 12v 1kwh battery that's going to be gathering dust unless I repurpose it. I bought an Ecoflow as a replacement and the old battery isn't going to fit in with the new system.
Click to expand...

You can always use the 12v battery to charge the EcoFlow but it will only charge it at around 100w.

You'll need an external charger to charge it thought. I have one that looks like this:
 
Last edited:
lmao said:
My internet routers are all 12v though. In principle the battery should keep them running for a loooooong time. What's the easiest/cheapest way to charge the battery without having to manually switch the power over when loadshedding hits?
Click to expand...

www.communica.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

Use an old laptop charger (18-19 V) to power one of these set for a float voltage e.g. 13.6 for lead acid.

www.communica.co.za

BMT DC/DC BUCK-BOOST 1.25-35V 4A

Communica BMT DC/DC BUCK-BOOST 1.25-35V 4A Power, Battery & Solar Dual Coil Version DC/DC Constanat Output Auto Buck/Boost Module with HI Value Caps. Stabilised Output. XL6009 Chip. Ideal For VehicleS. I/P 5-32V. O/P 1,25-32V Adjustable- 4A Max.Constanat Output Auto Buck/Boost Module Overview...
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

Put that on the output to get constant 12 V.

You will have a nice on-line UPS with zero transfer time and several days runtime.
 
Last edited:
Tomtomtom said:
www.communica.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

Use an old laptop charger (18-19 V) to power one of these set for a float voltage e.g. 13.6 for lead acid.

www.communica.co.za

BMT DC/DC BUCK-BOOST 1.25-35V 4A

Communica BMT DC/DC BUCK-BOOST 1.25-35V 4A Power, Battery & Solar Dual Coil Version DC/DC Constanat Output Auto Buck/Boost Module with HI Value Caps. Stabilised Output. XL6009 Chip. Ideal For VehicleS. I/P 5-32V. O/P 1,25-32V Adjustable- 4A Max.Constanat Output Auto Buck/Boost Module Overview...
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

Put that on the output to get constant 12 V.

You will have a nice on-line UPS with zero transfer time and several days runtime.
Click to expand...
Battery is LiFePo4. Got a laptop charger, but not a spare laptop charger, so will need an alternative.
 
lmao said:
Battery is LiFePo4. Got a laptop charger, but not a spare laptop charger, so will need an alternative.
Click to expand...

How about a spare phone charger, plus this:

www.communica.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

It'll probably be a slower charge than discharge rate but it's certainly a cheap option.
 
Tomtomtom said:
How about a spare phone charger, plus this:

www.communica.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

It'll probably be a slower charge than discharge rate but it's certainly a cheap option.
Click to expand...
I think I'm gonna get the sort of charger Park recommended.

I've got a small backup power unit that can run a router for a few hours, it takes 12v dc in and the input also suggests it will accept a solar panel. if the power goes, it automatically keeps everything going. So in principle if I'm looking at a longer outage, I could probably just plug the battery into the backup power unit to keep it charged. I don't particularly mind faffing about and swapping stuff around, so long as I don't get disconnected at the time when the power dies.
 
RaptorSA said:
My power trolley/hand truck build is finally done.
Even managed somehow to get this Rentech battery BMS chatting to the Growatt inverter.

View attachment 1479449


View attachment 1479313
View attachment 1479315
View attachment 1479317
View attachment 1479319
Click to expand...
Smart man!

What is the weight of this setup?
I'm thinking that I can do more or less the same to my inverter setup, should I need to move it.
You could also add a earth rod with a flylead that you can poke into the earth somewhere and have a proper earth when not plugged in.
You thought about adding a EL to the output of the inverter? Should one have a device that is faulty, that it can properly go to earth (earth rod) and not through you and trip the EL.

I imagine it should not be that hard? You get these Din rails that you can cut a section off and poprivet it on that alu bar you have on there.

Where did you get the trolley?
 
Gravedigger said:
Smart man!

What is the weight of this setup?
I'm thinking that I can do more or less the same to my inverter setup, should I need to move it.
You could also add a earth rod with a flylead that you can poke into the earth somewhere and have a proper earth when not plugged in.
You thought about adding a EL to the output of the inverter? Should one have a device that is faulty, that it can properly go to earth (earth rod) and not through you and trip the EL.

I imagine it should not be that hard? You get these Din rails that you can cut a section off and poprivet it on that alu bar you have on there.

Where did you get the trolley?
Click to expand...

Thanks man.

Yeah, so this was quite a while ago. My mom is still depending on this thing... however, a few months ago they had a severe lightning strike in the area and she didn't unplug the inverter from the grid, it fried that Growatt inverter but it was replaced with a new one and now it's kicking perfectly again. They're still not using solar panels with it but I suspect that might become necessary in the near future. Earthing it would be a good idea.

I never weighed it but it's quite heavy, you definitely need the hand truck effect to move it around. My guess is it was probably around 50-60 Kg's... but the fact that the weight of the inverter is at the top created a very nice lever effect so it was easy to move around despite the weight.... and after you place it in the position you want it it's easy to just pop off the wheels and place them in a cupboard somewhere, it looks pretty nice and not out of place.

I haven't built another one since but I've been itching to do so ever since I built it, just because it works so well and I know many people who can benefit. It looks like it could also work with those "lemoen" batteries you find locally these days. It would definitely be less expensive to build one now.

Here's the link of the hand truck I used. Jees, I see the prices on those things have increased, still worth it though since it really was the perfect fit and haven't seen any similar hand trucks out there that would work this well.

leroymerlin.co.za

RIGID HANDTRUCK 200KG,FOLDABLE,STANDERS

RIGID HANDTRUCK 200KG, FOLDABLE, INFLATED WHEELS, STANDERS
leroymerlin.co.za leroymerlin.co.za
 
PCWARITM said:
Been getting a lot of this recently on Youtube stuff... anyone know what's up?
View attachment 1861666
Click to expand...
What u mean ?

Wondering if this combo will work for this....

Voltex

www.voltex.co.za www.voltex.co.za

the plan is eventually it will be taken apart and then used in the house that intend to build. but for now it will run a borehole when i need it to and then maybe charge some cordless tools
 
ShloshMalosh said:
What u mean ?

Wondering if this combo will work for this....

Voltex

www.voltex.co.za www.voltex.co.za

the plan is eventually it will be taken apart and then used in the house that intend to build. but for now it will run a borehole when i need it to and then maybe charge some cordless tools
Click to expand...
He needs Starlink.

That is a good deal!

Post that in this thread.
 
wingnut771 said:
1C and 6000 cycles is a good start.
Click to expand...
Thank you...

My thinking is to build a cart... add a few panels... use it as opposed to a generator...

I just need to run a borehole intermittently, and maybe a powertool here and there...

once the house is built... i will install it soma, and then build up from there
 
wingnut771 said:
1C and 6000 cycles is a good start.
Click to expand...
heres another question tho, and i greatly appreciate the feedback

At the moment the property is still bare... we havent started building yet, we are slowly doing fixer-upper things... theres an old shipping container thats busted up, need to put a roof on it and covert it into storage, later on it will be a toolshed, maybe even a workshop. There are also ruins of an old building that we turned into a greenhouse.

What this means, hopefully is that we can do homesteading things before and while the house gets built

So but being able to get water out of the borehole when needed, and use power tools on the weekends etc.

Is it worth building the trolley just for running a borehole and other light use... Or would it be better to just get something like these and replace the castors with bigger off road kinda ones (im on a small holding)

That way i can just hook some panels up and use when needed... but lizzard brain is telling me that a hand truck 5KW setup may just be overkill for what i need right now... and all things being equal. inverters and batteries will be cheaper in 6 or so months time when we expect building to be done...



offgridpowersolutions.co.za

Goscor 3000W Portable Inverter + 120Ah (3072Wh) Lithium Battery

Goscor HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, supports 3KW output for different load appliances. It's based on the original cabinet design,
offgridpowersolutions.co.za offgridpowersolutions.co.za

solarwarehousesa.com

Solar Warehouse SA

Solar Warehouse SA
solarwarehousesa.com solarwarehousesa.com

www.computech-solutions.co.za

Must 3kW Trolley Inverter with 3072wh Lithium Battery – (IN STOCK NOW) -

MUST HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, 3KW output. It’s based on the original cabinet design, stacked with solar energy storage lithium battery 3072wh
www.computech-solutions.co.za www.computech-solutions.co.za
 
ShloshMalosh said:
heres another question tho, and i greatly appreciate the feedback

At the moment the property is still bare... we havent started building yet, we are slowly doing fixer-upper things... theres an old shipping container thats busted up, need to put a roof on it and covert it into storage, later on it will be a toolshed, maybe even a workshop. There are also ruins of an old building that we turned into a greenhouse.

What this means, hopefully is that we can do homesteading things before and while the house gets built

So but being able to get water out of the borehole when needed, and use power tools on the weekends etc.

Is it worth building the trolley just for running a borehole and other light use... Or would it be better to just get something like these and replace the castors with bigger off road kinda ones (im on a small holding)

That way i can just hook some panels up and use when needed... but lizzard brain is telling me that a hand truck 5KW setup may just be overkill for what i need right now... and all things being equal. inverters and batteries will be cheaper in 6 or so months time when we expect building to be done...



offgridpowersolutions.co.za

Goscor 3000W Portable Inverter + 120Ah (3072Wh) Lithium Battery

Goscor HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, supports 3KW output for different load appliances. It's based on the original cabinet design,
offgridpowersolutions.co.za offgridpowersolutions.co.za

solarwarehousesa.com

Solar Warehouse SA

Solar Warehouse SA
solarwarehousesa.com solarwarehousesa.com

www.computech-solutions.co.za

Must 3kW Trolley Inverter with 3072wh Lithium Battery – (IN STOCK NOW) -

MUST HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, 3KW output. It’s based on the original cabinet design, stacked with solar energy storage lithium battery 3072wh
www.computech-solutions.co.za www.computech-solutions.co.za
Click to expand...
I would start with checking the borehole pump startup and running load.

Sounds like you don't really need it portable so not sure why you're pursuing it?

Why have we moved from 5kW 48V down to 3kW 24V?
 
ShloshMalosh said:
heres another question tho, and i greatly appreciate the feedback

At the moment the property is still bare... we havent started building yet, we are slowly doing fixer-upper things... theres an old shipping container thats busted up, need to put a roof on it and covert it into storage, later on it will be a toolshed, maybe even a workshop. There are also ruins of an old building that we turned into a greenhouse.

What this means, hopefully is that we can do homesteading things before and while the house gets built

So but being able to get water out of the borehole when needed, and use power tools on the weekends etc.

Is it worth building the trolley just for running a borehole and other light use... Or would it be better to just get something like these and replace the castors with bigger off road kinda ones (im on a small holding)

That way i can just hook some panels up and use when needed... but lizzard brain is telling me that a hand truck 5KW setup may just be overkill for what i need right now... and all things being equal. inverters and batteries will be cheaper in 6 or so months time when we expect building to be done...



offgridpowersolutions.co.za

Goscor 3000W Portable Inverter + 120Ah (3072Wh) Lithium Battery

Goscor HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, supports 3KW output for different load appliances. It's based on the original cabinet design,
offgridpowersolutions.co.za offgridpowersolutions.co.za

solarwarehousesa.com

Solar Warehouse SA

Solar Warehouse SA
solarwarehousesa.com solarwarehousesa.com

www.computech-solutions.co.za

Must 3kW Trolley Inverter with 3072wh Lithium Battery – (IN STOCK NOW) -

MUST HBP1800 series all-in-one energy storage solution, 3KW output. It’s based on the original cabinet design, stacked with solar energy storage lithium battery 3072wh
www.computech-solutions.co.za www.computech-solutions.co.za
Click to expand...
My 2c worth, also living on a plot.
You always need more power than you first think so rather go with the 5kW setup.

I would however go for something that allows you to parallel easily (don't know if the Luxpower can? I have Deye inverters) so that it would be like a "starter pack" for the main system eventually.
 
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