Question about battery back-ups

[Mike]

You've got me thinking now. I would not consider installing it myself. Anything that involves the main electrical box is something I leave to the pro's.

Of course the greater expense of a standby generator may make me contemplate a large portable one. Then again any decent size quickly adds up. I did see a 15k portable one for $2250 and some 8k ones for around $1500. Then add more for a transfer panel and installation...

 

[Digger]

I bought a 5.5 kW with an 8kW surge rating. I put a transfer switch in that has 10 individual circuits so I can select any of those 10 and balance my load etc. Nothing tremendous but enough to get by. I put the 10 most critical circuits on there so I can run heat, small AC's in a few rooms, microwave, laundry, water heater, my regfrigirators, freezer, etc. I labeled everything so even my wife can get it started in a few minutes in an emergency.

Again I paid about $800 total for the equipment so all in all not a bad setup for the money. I may never even use it but you never know. I like to be prepared.

I also have a few emergency lights, an emergency supply of food and water, batteries, portable indoor heater, and a few other things.

One of these days I will get a large inverter and a few batteries for limited power at night such as some lights etc. but I need to invest in a few UPS's first.

It is best to be able to go a week in an emergency without any outside assitance. At that point some essential services should be restored if not all of them.

 

[pete]

Anything that involves the main electrical box is something I leave to the pro's.

you mean the guy that's going to do the job as quickly and as cheaply as he can ? ? ?

. . . really, after the electrician finished up on my house I took a look at the panel box and was, well, disgusted . . . very sloppy work . . . I spent a few hours just to neaten it up . . .

. . . there is nothing about residential wiring that is beyond what any 'HA tinkerer' is capable of . . . get a book and read up . . . then work safely . . .

. . . most places that require a licesened electrician allow the homeowner to do his own work . . . and you can always pay an electrician to check/approve your work . . .

Pete C

I love my country, but fear my government.

 

[elcano]

I didn't think that the US allowed indoor storage of propane. Is PR different? Or was this not really an interior closet? Or am I wrong about the US rules too? My 100 gallon propane tank is buried.

Its an open garage with no door neither in the front nor the back. The tank is in a open closet in the side of the garage. I don't know if this is considered indoor or not.

I remember somebody saying that tanks are nor allowed indoor, and they also must be tied to a wall using a chain or cable, but I'm not aware about the official rule or what goverment entity is enforcing it (I dont think its federal law). I suppose it is the fire department. I know that the fire department do give fines to violators when they find out.

We have similar code as other states, but the government does not have enough resources to send inspectors to every construction. As far as I know, once you get the design approved they dont send inspectors unless a neighbor complains about anything. The one that do send inspectors is the mortgage bank since they want to make sure that the construction is good quality in case that you default your payment and they have to recover their money. With so little inspection I suppose that the only reason for not having much problems is that about 99% of the houses are concrete, so the probability of fire is very low. Also, all weak/wood construction is teared down regularly by hurricanes.

 

[Scrambled]

Well my battery back up finally arrived. I decided to use common approach to decide which one to buy – BIGGER IS BETTER (I hope). I purchased a used one with new batteries and a 1-year warranty. The model is an APC SMART UPS 3000 SU3000RM3U . I wired it in and everything is working. Now I just have to figure out how to connect this to HS by the serial port. Any Ideas????


Steve

 

[huggy59]

Scrambled, NICE UNIT! Wiring diagram is on the APC web site, I believe, or you can order the right cable for it. You want the "smart" cable, P/N 940-0024, at http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techs..._sku=940%2D0024 .

User manuals: http://sturgeon.apcc.com/techref.nsf/partnum/990-7016B

This is the big brother to my 1400. You can get an Ethernet module for these that allows SNMP stats and control. With that, you can use free network-based shutdown software to shut down many computers based on that one UPS losing power, etc.

Have fun!

 

[Scrambled]

huggy59

I purchased the serial cable, and tried to connect it to my PC. When I did, the B/U unit turned off, and would not power up until I removed the cable. Is there something I am missing?

P.S. I had to use a USB to serial adapter.


Thanks


Steve

 

[Mike]

No experience with that unit, but be warned that at least some of the USB to serial adapters require drivers. Check to see if yours does as that could be part of the issue.

The one I purchased for my elk, for example did (fortunately I rarely need it with ethernet connectivity).

 

[huggy59]

You cannot use a serial-to-USB adapter - these units usually require a real serial port since they signal "on battery" through a pin on the port that is not used for typical data communications. Apparently the USB adapter doesn't know how to deal with that. You mentioned serial port on your post, not USB... but I guess you meant the UPS serial port.

APC does have USB cables for many of their UPS - I *think* this will work for you, but contact them to see if they have one for your unit. If you explain the situation they may take the cable you bought in exchange.

http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techs...base_sku=AP9584


Or you could get a serial port card for your PC and use the cable you have.