Router Battery Backup

Snyper564 said:
Thanks everyone for the advice, just tested and all is running on all networks as usual.

So my total costs were:
12AH Battery - R600
1.5A Perel intelligent charger - R600

R1200 = peace of mind for a few hours. Can easily upgrade battery size if needed.

If Geewiz timing is anything to go by this should be 16 hours of use. So this is sufficient for my purposes.

View attachment 635744
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Just do something about those ropey connections! You have spent lots of money already. A little more to get and fit decent spade connectors is just going to make the job look better and be that little bit more reliable!
 
Geoff.D said:
Just do something about those ropey connections! You have spent lots of money already. A little more to get and fit decent spade connectors is just going to make the job look better and be that little bit more reliable!
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Sure will do this was just to test. Loadshedding in progress I'm other side of the house with 18ms 40dl 7up couldn't be happier... Well loadshedding considered
 
FYI: These DC solutions that you have described are what are referred to as microgrids.
We are going to see more and more of these in the future..
What their main advantage is is their efficiency.
 
jvrs said:
1. No stock
2. No stock

Hence asking for confirmed supplier :(
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Hi, I confirmed today 20 March 2019 that these companies have the 3.2amp Sherlotronics Power Supply Units in stock

Russell Sawyer
[email protected]
http://www.sawyersecurity.co.za

147 Ontdekkers Road
Horison Park
Roodepoort, 1724

Tel: 011 763 1045
Fax: 011 763 6657


Riaan
[email protected]
http://www.alarmtec.co.za/

Alarmtec (Pty) Ltd
256 Voortrekker Road
Monument
Johannesburg, 1739

Tel: 011 954 6293
Tel: 082 2263 657
 
Geoff.D said:
Great story, you better stick to it! As you say no UPS that you can buy measures all these parameters so, an experiment is done and then the developers set the cut out voltage. So what! Over and over again in all the threads and fora dealing with backup power and how to look after batteries it is shown that batteries should NOT be discharged below 20% of capacity. It is then that the internal resistance becomes more significant and leads to even more heat generation which leads to more damage to the batteries. There absolutely no need to push a battery to that limit, far better to stay well above the 20% value for long life. How do you think I can make an alarm system battery last for 10 years and a gate motor battery last for 7 years? Precisely because I err on the safe side. So fine with all the theory. This is about practical power backup, not about the intracies of the chemistry of batteries and artificially pushing the product spec so that the UPS looks good on a spec sheet..

The ONLY way one can under normal working conditions approach the theoretical limts is to use a BMS system, which does measure all those parameters. No one is going to in a practical application sit there and let a battery discharge to 10 V, wait for the battery to cool down, then measure the voltage to see if it is still above the 20% discharge point. And then say oh okay I have not damaged a battery.

This is about practical advice in a real world, not in a lab!
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Not sure what you want to say or prove in the first paraghraph, so leaving that alone.

As for the second part , it is how these figures are captured in real life. There are made in labs, but there are important, as you and many others can refer to. If only you could understand how these figures are taken, you would make a right decision based on these figures. In our case, it is clear that you didn't, it was a reason for my post.

As for the real world practical guide, I do repeat, it is completely safe to depend on the cut-off feature of the UPS. It is made in the factory to not exceed 50% of DoD which is considered harmful and these engineers know what they are doing.

The story is slightly different when you modify design - attaching much bigger battery in this case, but I have mentioned already that there are other reason for cut-off as well. However once again, I will attach a practical guide for this case. When I do this, I do chose a battery big enough, to be capable survive regular power cuts with easy. I don't have to depend on the UPS cut-off feature, as DoD is never going to drop to low anyway. This is what I do in my life.

A side note to others regarding a bigger battery. You cannot depend on the UPS charger, it can not charge a big battery properly. You have to disconnect a battery from the UPS and charge it on the external charger that is capable to supply current of 20% of Ah battery rating. Or get a proper UPS designed to use large batteries.
 
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PUP Backup said:
FYI: These DC solutions that you have described are what are referred to as microgrids.
We are going to see more and more of these in the future..
What their main advantage is is their efficiency.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. At the moment the focus is on single device DC backup power, which will involve lots of chargers and batteries. But what if a proper DC back up distribution was to be installed for all devices that ultimately use DC power? Think about it and you will be surprised to see just how many such devices already exist in the home.
Say each room in the house could have a DC power socket capable for 5V, 9V, 12V available for TVs, laptops, phone charging, IOT devices etc. ?
 
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sajunky said:
Not sure what you want to say or prove in the first paraghraph, so leaving that alone.

As for the second part , it is how these figures are captured in real life. There are are made in labs, but there are important, as you and many others can refer to it. If only you could undertand how these figures are taken, you will make right decision based on these figures. In our case, it is clear that you didn't, it was a reason for my post.

As for the real world practical guide, I do repeat, it is completely safe to depend on the cut-off feature of the UPS. It is made in the factory to not exceed 50% of DoD which is considered harmful and these engineers know what they are doing.

The story is slightly different when you modify design - attach much bigger battery in this case, but I have mentioned already that there are other reason for cut-off as well. However once again, I will attach a practical guide for this case. When I do this, I do chose a battery big enough, to be capable survive regular power cuts with easy. I don't have to depend on the UPS cut-off feature, as DoD is never going to drop to low anyway. This is what I do in my life.

A aside note to others regarding a bigger battery. You cannot depend on the UPS charger, it can not charge a big battery properly. You have to disconnect a battery from the UPS and charge it on the external charger that is capable to supply current of 20% of Ah battery rating. Or get a proper UPS designed to use large batteries.
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I have no problem in understanding the concept or the theory. I have been the business for one hell of a long time as well. My first power supply I built was from components salvaged off the Seafarer wreck in CT and sold by the kg at HAMRADS. That 24, 12, 9, 5V power supply is still on my work bench and working! It has NEVER failed me.
What we are talking about in this thread is how to offer advice to people who want to cobble together bits and pieces for small devices as backup, the modification of UPS's to be power backup systems, the adding of more batteries willy nilly to UPSs etc. Once that is done, nothing is what you think it is anymore.

There are so many alarm systems, CCTV systems out there with really crappy power supplies! Most of those systems fail after the second dose of LS. Why? because the batteries are so buggered that they never recover from the first LS event by the time the second arrives. There are NO replacement batteries available anywhere within a radius of 50 km from me at the moment. Every person with a motorised gate has had to replace batteries in the last few days.

There is absolutely NO guarantee that those systems have ensured the batteries are not discharged below the 50% DOD.
Can you personally guarantee that the flood of el cheapo UPS systems on the market are all built to ensure the internal batteries never discharge below 50% DOD? Of course you can't. Just look at this thread as an example of the wide range of things people are doing, some appropriate, others distinctly on the dangerous side. The Internet and youtube absolutely crawls with all sorts of crazy ideas. All a few of us are doing are trying to show how one should err on the safe side when cobblying together backup solutions.

Provide details of the UPS systems you design and post them so that we can see what is so special about them.
Looking forward to the info you post.
 
Polymathic said:
https://www.geewiz.co.za/ups/68271-...-power-bank-supply-b315-b618-cctv-router.html

Can I use this?
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Yes, I think. It provides the same functionality as the one supplied by Telkom with B315s.

I like the off switch, you would use it when leaving home. If I understand it correctly, it prevents from entering backup mode when you don't really need it.

It says, only lasts 2.5 hours, but it is @ a full load which is 2A. If your router takes 1A on average, a backup time is expected to be extended to 5 hours.
 
Geoff.D said:
Dont let me put you off about those sockets! It seems we have joined Africa in accepting any old junk into our country these days.
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Won't be put off but will be aware :)

Always appreciate your advice Mr .D
 
So for those not wanting to fiddle with 12V car batteries and don't want to wait for stock from GeeWhiz here was my solution that ended up working for me.

One of these: https://www.geewiz.co.za/ups/68269-...-power-bank-supply-b315-b618-cctv-router.html should theoretically last you 5hrs. You can power one device for that long, or 2 for less…or you can do what I did and get away with up to 7hrs of powering both a 5Ghz (Asus RT-AC1200G+ - 12V, 2A) router and a fibre box (12V, 0.5A).

So it’s between waiting for these devices to one day come back into stock or you can make use of that power bank that’s just lying around the house and do essentially the same thing. Here’s what I did…

*Shopping list:*
- Power Bank ( <-- linked )
- Usb to Power Cable ( <-- linked )

You can buy 2 usb to power cables if you want, since the power bank has 2 USB outputs. One thing to make sure of is if your 12V devices (router) will run off of 5V. Most will, mine did, even my 9V 0.6A tp-link ran off of 5V. In the spirit of DIY you can also hack together a power cable adapter and an USB cable yourself. Which is what I ended up doing. I only had to buy the power adapter plugs which was R17 and had 2 old USB cables lying around (warning: it does require soldering). I tried it out last night and it had no issues powering my internet for 4hrs until I decided to go to bed rather.

So there you have it, I tried it, it works. Hopefully this helps someone else as well.

More proof it will work ( <-- linked )
 
TheHxckid said:
So for those not wanting to fiddle with 12V car batteries and don't want to wait for stock from GeeWhiz here was my solution that ended up working for me.

One of these: https://www.geewiz.co.za/ups/68269-...-power-bank-supply-b315-b618-cctv-router.html should theoretically last you 5hrs. You can power one device for that long, or 2 for less…or you can do what I did and get away with up to 7hrs of powering both a 5Ghz (Asus RT-AC1200G+ - 12V, 2A) router and a fibre box (12V, 0.5A).

So it’s between waiting for these devices to one day come back into stock or you can make use of that power bank that’s just lying around the house and do essentially the same thing. Here’s what I did…

*Shopping list:*
- Power Bank ( <-- linked )
- Usb to Power Cable ( <-- linked )

You can buy 2 usb to power cables if you want, since the power bank has 2 USB outputs. One thing to make sure of is if your 12V devices (router) will run off of 5V. Most will, mine did, even my 9V 0.6A tp-link ran off of 5V. In the spirit of DIY you can also hack together a power cable adapter and an USB cable yourself. Which is what I ended up doing. I only had to buy the power adapter plugs which was R17 and had 2 old USB cables lying around (warning: it does require soldering). I tried it out last night and it had no issues powering my internet for 4hrs until I decided to go to bed rather.

So there you have it, I tried it, it works. Hopefully this helps someone else as well.

More proof it will work ( <-- linked )
Click to expand...

That's actually a brilliant idea. My only concerns are having to change the power supply to the powerbank and having to constantly charge the powerbank, or do you just leave it plugged into a wall socket?
 
TheHxckid said:
So for those not wanting to fiddle with 12V car batteries and don't want to wait for stock from GeeWhiz here was my solution that ended up working for me.

One of these: https://www.geewiz.co.za/ups/68269-...-power-bank-supply-b315-b618-cctv-router.html should theoretically last you 5hrs. You can power one device for that long, or 2 for less…or you can do what I did and get away with up to 7hrs of powering both a 5Ghz (Asus RT-AC1200G+ - 12V, 2A) router and a fibre box (12V, 0.5A).

So it’s between waiting for these devices to one day come back into stock or you can make use of that power bank that’s just lying around the house and do essentially the same thing. Here’s what I did…

*Shopping list:*
- Power Bank ( - Usb to Power Cable (
You can buy 2 usb to power cables if you want, since the power bank has 2 USB outputs. One thing to make sure of is if your 12V devices (router) will run off of 5V. Most will, mine did, even my 9V 0.6A tp-link ran off of 5V. In the spirit of DIY you can also hack together a power cable adapter and an USB cable yourself. Which is what I ended up doing. I only had to buy the power adapter plugs which was R17 and had 2 old USB cables lying around (warning: it does require soldering). I tried it out last night and it had no issues powering my internet for 4hrs until I decided to go to bed rather.

So there you have it, I tried it, it works. Hopefully this helps someone else as well.

More proof it will work ( QUOTE]I tried this out yesterday on my TP link Archer router and it worked fine. I had 50% power remaining on my 8000mah powerbank(plugged into the 1amp usb slot) after 3.5hrs of use. Just not sure how safe it is to under power the router since its power rating is 9v 0.6a?
Click to expand...
 
Taariq404 said:
That's actually a brilliant idea. My only concerns are having to change the power supply to the powerbank and having to constantly charge the powerbank, or do you just leave it plugged into a wall socket?
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So I'm 100% with you on that. With the linked power bank you can both charge the bank and the device at the same time, but I'm not entirely comfortable leaving the power bank in constantly. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Any one else have some advice on that?

For now I manually switch over when loadshedding happens, so if you don't mind having a brief moment of down time while you switch over to battery and the devices boot up, then you should be fine.
 
Sorry my reply didnt get posted. I tried this yesterday and it worked fine. After 3.5hrs of use my 8000mah powerbank had 50% power remaining.

It worked on my TP link Archer router, however not sure how safe it is for the router since its power rating is 9v 0.6a.
 
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