Power Solution for Mini Iron

LDPP

LDPP

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Hi all! I'm on the hunt for a power solution for during loadshedding that could power this type of mini iron. It wouldn't have to power any other goods, and would only have to power the iron for a couple of minutes at a time. Is there anything that could be recommended for this? I know the cardinal rule seems to be to not use any heating products on a battery, but it seems like such a tiny appliance wouldn't destroy everything.

Thank you!
 
The power rating
200-250w is so low

Does the power source need to be portable and how long will the device be used and how many times per shedding or inbetween recharging

You can use heating devices on battery , it is just a question of are you willing to pay the battery cost to make it happen

Though this device with low watt requirement would run on a 1kw inverter with a 100ah lithium battery on its hottest setting if it was heating all the time through a 4 hr loadshedding
 
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The problem is the entry price

ie the portable units like this one

ruggedsa.co.za

Rizzen, Premium 300W 296Wh, Portable Power Station including SA Plug Adapter - Rugged SA

Solar Charging Compatible | Circuit Protection | Pure Sine wave | 80 000 mAh | 500W Peak output value | Car Charging Capable | Exclusive Rizzen Distributor
ruggedsa.co.za ruggedsa.co.za

could power that device for about an hour run time

The portable power units are kinda expensive for how much power they pack
 
LDPP said:
Hi all! I'm on the hunt for a power solution for during loadshedding that could power this type of mini iron. It wouldn't have to power any other goods, and would only have to power the iron for a couple of minutes at a time. Is there anything that could be recommended for this? I know the cardinal rule seems to be to not use any heating products on a battery, but it seems like such a tiny appliance wouldn't destroy everything.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Plenty of solutions for this. What's your budget?
 

Portable Power Stations

Buy Portable Power Stations online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here
www.geewiz.co.za www.geewiz.co.za


could power that device for a bit more than an hour non stop
 
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leon.davibe said:
The power rating
200-250w is so low

Does the power source need to be portable and how long will the device be used and how many times per shedding or inbetween recharging

You can use heating devices on battery , it is just a question of are you willing to pay the battery cost to make it happen

Though this device with low watt requirement would run on a 1kw inverter with a 100ah lithium battery on its hottest setting if it was heating all the time through a 4 hr loadshedding

ie the normal entry levwl power trolleys
Click to expand...
Wear black, people can't really tell if it's ironed or not.
 
If you know that you won't use the iron for more than 20minutes , on this specific size battery and have to recharge it before you can use it again

Then

you can use a normal car battery to skimp on cost
Normal car batteries aren't designed to discharge more than 20% of their capacity

If you intend to run it more than that you can swop out the car battery for a deep cycle battery , they are designed to discharge 50% of their capacity so a 100ah would give you 100*12/2=600wh

So you could run the iron for almost 3 hours

If you buy a lithium lifep04
You can use all of the ah rating of the battery

ie a 50ah lithium is equal to 100ah
deep cycle acid battery
In what you can take out of it before causing damage to battery with lead acid

If this is something that you work with and know you are going to doing so in coming years , just go for a lithium battery,

Lead acid batteries are heavy
Lithium is lighter for the same capacity and last way longer so another plus for lithium

This battery below will also give about 3 hrs runtime

you can get a smaller lighter battery if less runtime is needed between charges

but you gotta keep one thing in mind

The iron will pull up to 20Amps so the lithium you buy must have at least 20a constant load battery management system

Lithium-ion Batteries

Buy Lithium-ion Batteries online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery. Voted the best online store in SA. View Here
www.geewiz.co.za www.geewiz.co.za
 
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Another battery lithium lifep04 weigh about 5kg in this capacity

If you can handle heavier you can get more capacity for a better price per ah

www.electromannsa.com

Lithium LifePo4 50ah 40Amp 12.8v Rechargeable Battery

Lithium LifePo4 50ah 40Amp 12.8v Rechargeable Battery (10005343) PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE BATTERIES CAN NOT BE CONNECTED IN SERIES!! Charging Max Charge current: 40Amp Max Discharge current: 40Amp (About 500watt) Charging voltage：14.8V Over charge protection Overcharge detection voltage：3.7V±0.05V...
www.electromannsa.com www.electromannsa.com
 
leon.davibe said:
The power rating
200-250w is so low

Does the power source need to be portable and how long will the device be used and how many times per shedding or inbetween recharging

You can use heating devices on battery , it is just a question of are you willing to pay the battery cost to make it happen

Though this device with low watt requirement would run on a 1kw inverter with a 100ah lithium battery on its hottest setting if it was heating all the time through a 4 hr loadshedding

ie the normal entry levwl power trolleys
Click to expand...
It doesn't need to be portable, but it needs to fit in a little corner ideally. The device likely won't be used for more than 20 mins total per loadshedding session - and then the source can be recharged after the shed.

In terms of budget, I'd rather not splash loads of money on it, but if that's what needs to happen, that's fine. It literally just needs to heat the iron for like 20 minutes in a 2 or 4 hour shed session.

Thanks for all your advice, Leon!
 
So if you go for one of the pretty units , that tend to be pricey as long as it exceeds the 250w output and has more than 100wh capacity you will be fine

Or if you go for the loose inverter with a battery this size battery would be nice but unfortunately it's max constant load rating is a bit low

www.electromannsa.com

LifePo4 24ah 12.8v Rechargeable Battery

LifePo4 24ah 12.8v Rechargeable Battery (10005406) PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE BATTERIES CAN NOT BE CONNECTED IN SERIES!! This is a direct replacement battery for any application where a lead acid or gel battery is used LifePo4 Lithium Battery Voltage: 12.8v (Nominal) Capacity: 24ah Max Charge...
www.electromannsa.com www.electromannsa.com

You could ask them to build you a battery with a 25a bms
 
The Car battery will meet that need

The problem with the car batteries and inverters

The inverters won't be able to switch off at the 80% car or 50% deep cycle dependant on battery selected
And requires you to know how much you use and put back to not cause damage to battery

The lithium bms also handles protection against overcharge and over discharge etc

While lead acid requires more oversight

Edit :ie if you use more than initially planned in one loadshedding you could degrade a lead acid
 
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leon.davibe said:
The Car battery will meet that need

The problem with the car batteries and inverters

The inverters won't be able to switch off at the 80% car or 50% deep cycle dependant on battery selected
And requires you to know how much you use and put back to not cause damage to battery

The lithium bms also handles protection against overcharge and over discharge etc

While lead acid requires more oversight

Edit :ie if you use more than initially planned in one loadshedding you could degrade a lead acid
Click to expand...

Its a nifty little inverter, used it for camping to keep lights on, phones charged and and while camping.

1678177216725.png

Use to, as in I sold it to a co worker and in the process of buying a Kool 1Kw Power station for the same purpose. That is if my bloody supplier (Current Automation) can get back to me re availability.
 
LDPP said:
It doesn't need to be portable, but it needs to fit in a little corner ideally. The device likely won't be used for more than 20 mins total per loadshedding session - and then the source can be recharged after the shed.

In terms of budget, I'd rather not splash loads of money on it, but if that's what needs to happen, that's fine. It literally just needs to heat the iron for like 20 minutes in a 2 or 4 hour shed session.
Click to expand...

LDPP said:
This, for an artist who needs it for her workshop. :)
Click to expand...

It seems like all these electricians are ignoring the fact that a plug and play solution would be best for the artist who needs a bit of power to run the iron.

Let's just say the iron needs to run for 30 minutes over a 4 hour load shedding block. If we're assuming 250w for 30 minutes, most plug and play devices will do, but it would help if we knew the exact make of the iron that she's using. Some machines have a surge rating (they use a lot of power for a few seconds when starting up) which means you may need to over spec the solution to cater for this.

@LDPP Do you have any idea what the exact machine she is using is? This would help avoid any issues with putting together a solution that isn't strong enough.
 
zolly said:
It seems like all these electricians are ignoring the fact that a plug and play solution would be best for the artist who needs a bit of power to run the iron.

Let's just say the iron needs to run for 30 minutes over a 4 hour load shedding block. If we're assuming 250w for 30 minutes, most plug and play devices will do, but it would help if we knew the exact make of the iron that she's using. Some machines have a surge rating (they use a lot of power for a few seconds when starting up) which means you may need to over spec the solution to cater for this.

@LDPP Do you have any idea what the exact machine she is using is? This would help avoid any issues with putting together a solution that isn't strong enough.
Click to expand...
the surge idea tends to be on induction devices, normal resitive loads don't behave this way

sure a pc or a other electronic devices use more at startup ie closer to what their label says
and then tone down to a idle use consumption

it is always a good idea to get a bit more than what you need, in case

what you say makes sense and that is why we get the portable power packs that is a plug and play device
they come at a cost though, not all are willing to pay that premium

edit: not an electrician, so just adding my 2 cents, most inverter devices are designed to cater to spikes double its rated output for very short periods of time ie fractions of a second for startup load and some will even handle a bit of overload for a few minutes above rated capacity , refer to its manual

If using an inductive device
It is recommended to gi for pure sine wave devices

Some inductive devices refuse to start up on modified sine wave cheap devices , or so i have heard from others on this forum

Normally inductive devices will run if the modified sine wave inverter can meet that initial demand

The problem is they tend to run hot on those cheaper inverters shortening the devices lifetime

Inductive loads tend to be fridges pool pumps , induction cookers, fans

Ie normally motors but not exclusively devices that uses coils or transformers could too
 
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