MTM98290
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2022
- Messages
- 305
We have a off grid system that occassionally runs out of sun in winter. After a week or more of low production they system has shut down for a short time.
We use a cheap 450va APC ups to keep internet connected for a while after the system goes offline. This works well and does give me the ability to see that the system is offline. This works just fine to feed my 10w internet draw for a while.
I have seen bigger ups like the 1500w versions which would be 3.33x more capacity in theory, but that still doesn't amount to enough capacity to ride out the darkest periods.
Are there any low cost ups options that I am missing? I will be adding 1k more in panels as soon as I can, but that likely won't be finished before the weakest solar weeks come.
We were hoping to have the auto start generator setup to fix the issue but that also may not happen soon enough either. Adding batteries is not an option at this point.
Adding a simple ups type system could be a great stopgap measure for this winter.
I have seen inverters that plug into the wall and will switch to battery power when power turns off. Does anybody have a recommendation for an inexpensive small inverter of this type? I am picturing hooking it to a gel battery as will not see many cycles and will not called on more than 2-4 times in winter. The inverter would not need to be pure sinewave as it just feeds 2 ac-dc converters that use a total of 240w a day.
I would likely just use a 12v system for this as I don't want or need more than one battery.
Thanks for any ideas or advice.
We use a cheap 450va APC ups to keep internet connected for a while after the system goes offline. This works well and does give me the ability to see that the system is offline. This works just fine to feed my 10w internet draw for a while.
I have seen bigger ups like the 1500w versions which would be 3.33x more capacity in theory, but that still doesn't amount to enough capacity to ride out the darkest periods.
Are there any low cost ups options that I am missing? I will be adding 1k more in panels as soon as I can, but that likely won't be finished before the weakest solar weeks come.
We were hoping to have the auto start generator setup to fix the issue but that also may not happen soon enough either. Adding batteries is not an option at this point.
Adding a simple ups type system could be a great stopgap measure for this winter.
I have seen inverters that plug into the wall and will switch to battery power when power turns off. Does anybody have a recommendation for an inexpensive small inverter of this type? I am picturing hooking it to a gel battery as will not see many cycles and will not called on more than 2-4 times in winter. The inverter would not need to be pure sinewave as it just feeds 2 ac-dc converters that use a total of 240w a day.
I would likely just use a 12v system for this as I don't want or need more than one battery.
Thanks for any ideas or advice.