Battery backups for base

[Eldorado828]

I currently have some power cords with alligator clips that can be attached from my base to the battery of one of the vehicles in an emergency but...... having an area wide power outage tonight has brought this subject to mind.

I've never put a whole lot of thought into a battery backup of some kind for the base but maybe that needs to happen.

Do any of you have such a thing?

 

[338_MtRushmore]

I have thought about it for years, but it just doesn't make sense for me. When the power goes out around here, the worry doubles every hour. There is a lot work that likely needs to get started in the first hour of an outage. Obviously this is location dependent, and your area may commonly have rolling blackouts. That would be incredibly annoying.

A battery bank would be pretty simple to setup. Most deep cycle batteries have studs, and you wouldn't need 1/0 cable assuming you aren't running lots of power. Just monitor voltage so you don't overdischarge, and then charge it back up with a decent battery charger.

I do need to setup a battery bank to power my security camera pc in the next month or 2. I'm not certain how I'm going to set that up yet. I have some big inverter/charge controllers, but I worry they will use as much power as the pc. I guess I need to dig those out and check the specs.

 

[TM86]

I don't have anything like that, but I did find someone thinking along the same lines as you are: https://www.circuits-diy.com/12v-battery-backup-power-supply/

If you need 110V, an old, or new, UPS intended for computers might do the trick. You'd probably want one of those that claims "pure sine wave" to at least have a chance at adequate filtering.

 

[AudioShockwav]

I have two, Goal Zero Yeti 1500x portable power stations.

1500watt hour batteries built in, 2000 watt pure sine wave inverters with 3500 watt surge.
12 volt Anderson power pole connectors and USB charging ports on the front.
Work good, with plenty of power to run appliances.
They have built in charge controllers for Solar so you can charge right from the panels.

Yeti 1500X

New Lower Price! The Goal Zero Yeti 1500X is one of our best-selling large portable power stations. It provides an ideal 1,516 Watt Hours for any project, indoors or out. Powerful enough to backup home circuits, but portable enough to take to the job site or integrate into a van build.

www.goalzero.com

73
Jeff

 

[nomadradio]

AGM batteries. They don't have the risks for indoor use that go with a common "flooded cell" type car battery. But they're not cheap.

73

 

[brandon7861]

I have a caterpillar 8D 153-5720 under my desk, but it sees more use powering the girlfriends CPAP machine than it does my radio. However, if the power goes out for more than 12 hours, there is a generator wired into our breaker panel that runs the whole cabin. We have so many power outages that it has become an expected occurrence.

 

[AudioShockwav]

We have so many power outages that it has become an expected occurrence.

Same here,we live up in the Sierras and have power outages related to wildfires often.
These are inline all the time so they are fully charged and ready to go 24-7.
No gas, no fumes, no noise.

73
Jeff

 

[guitar_199]

My son Tim has a distribution box with Anderson Power Pole connectors and it has smart logic initially that charges a bank of sealed lead/acid batteries...AND automatically manages the switchover.
It is FAST.

 

[sp5it]

Military diesel generator. Bought it peaunts cheap some time ago. 2kW real sinus. Never had a need to use it, just test runs.

 

[Alabama Buckeye]

I don't have anything like that, but I did find someone thinking along the same lines as you are: https://www.circuits-diy.com/12v-battery-backup-power-supply/

If you need 110V, an old, or new, UPS intended for computers might do the trick. You'd probably want one of those that claims "pure sine wave" to at least have a chance at adequate filtering.

Pure sine-wave power I believe is applied to AC power, only. Could be wrong.
A couple deep cycle DC batteries, a 100W solar panel (8A charge rate) maybe two, and 15-20A MPPT charge controller should be adequate for reserved power consumption. Should you choose MPPT then two panels to achieve 16A charge rate. Of course consumption is largely on transmit. A 10-15A PWM charge controller is cheaper. I use Marine batteries, as they are more affordable and nearly the same as deep cycle. Charge controller should have AGM selectable capability, for greater battery choice flexibility.

 

[TM86]

Pure sine-wave power I believe is applied to AC power, only. Could be wrong.
A couple deep cycle DC batteries, a 100W solar panel (8A charge rate) maybe two, and 15-20A MPPT charge controller should be adequate for reserved power consumption. Of course consumption is largely on transmit. A 10-15A PWM charge controller is cheaper. I use Marine batteries, as they are more affordable and nearly the same as deep cycle. Charge controller should have AGM selection capability, for greater battery choice flexibility.

Pure sine wave definitely would be an AC only thing. The original poster didn't specify if his base station could run off AC, DC, or both, even though DC is implied by the way the post was written.

So I threw the bit about a computer UPS in there just in case the implication was not, in fact, the situation at his home. Gotta cover as many angles as possible.

 

[Eldorado828]

Pure sine wave definitely would be an AC only thing. The original poster didn't specify if his base station could run off AC, DC, or both, even though DC is implied by the way the post was written.

So I threw the bit about a computer UPS in there just in case the implication was not, in fact, the situation at his home. Gotta cover as many angles as possible.

Some good info from you fellas and I apologize that I didn't specify.

The base set up consists of all DC mobiles and running off of an alinco 30 amp supply.

My son Tim has a distribution box with Anderson Power Pole connectors and it has smart logic initially that charges a bank of sealed lead/acid batteries...AND automatically manages the switchover.
It is FAST.

That sounds like it could work. Was kind of picturing a battery backup that's maintained from some sort of charger so to say without blowing up or cooking batteries. I've always ran from ac power supplies or straight from DC in a vehicle but until now haven't though about another form of backup power taking over in the event that home power is down.

 

[9C1Driver]

Honda EU2200i 2200 Watt Inverter Generator w/ Co-Minder Detection System EU2200ITAN

The EU2200i delivers 10% more power than the previous EU2000i - enabling you to power more of what you need, in the same lightweight, compact package.

www.ohiopowertool.com

Something like this in a Honda or Generac would be handy as well. Decent clean quiet power. Then you could just plug your alinco power supply in and be done. You could also run a TV and some lights. I have even run my furnace off of mine several times.

 

[unit_399]

We have so many power outages that it has become an expected occurrence.

Severe lightning/thunderstorms are an almost daily occurance here in the mountains. When we moved here 16 years ago, outages were frequent and lasted for hours (sometimes days). A new electric company stepped in, upgraded lines and equipment, and now outages only occur every couple of months or so. Still, when they happen, they can last for days so I purchased 2 gasoline-powered generators: one 5000 watt, and one 3500 watt. 240/120 VAC and 12vdc outputs. More than enough to run everything on the farm (just not all at once). Only drawback is the noise from the gas engines, but a small price to pay.

- 399

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Several years ago, after a major winter storm that left wide areas without power for days and in some isolated cases a couple of weeks, we bought a generator. It is a Wallenstein which may be unfamiliar to most, but they are made here in Canada, Ontario actually, and use a Honda engine and an Italian made generator unit. Mine has a 13 hp Honda engine.I looked up the type of alternator unit it had and found out the manufacturer is highly regarded in the electrical power generation business and makes multi-megawatta commercial units as well. Wallenstein makes forestry and farming equipment as well. Great little product. Well maybe not so little. It is 6500 watts continuous and 7200 watts starting and is 120/240 volt. It will run anything in the house including the electric hot water heater except the heatpump. The starting current of the compressor is just too much. That's OK because we also have a pellet stove that provides heat for the winter. I also bought a smaller 1200 watt generator just to power the pellet stove overnight if needed. No sense running a big generator just for a couple hundred watts at most. Also if someone should hear it running and decides to steal it I won't be out too much.