On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Randy Eckert <
redearthbonsai@...> wrote:
> I was looking at some of those back up power sources for your PC, They have
> wonderful clean sine wave out puts and built in battery back up, That could
> be upgraded to a 12volt accessory batt to run all your 12 volt stuff, plus
> it would keep those batts charged, it has nice gauges telling state of
> charge....... plus could even provide clean AC for a PC or a heater (think
> hair blow dryer for fast window defrosting and hand warming) They also are
> very plug and play.
> I have seen 2250 watts for Less than $200 (used) to little 550 watts for
> $25.
I've considered something like this, but you need to consider the duty
cycle - the inverters on those inexpensive UPSes are only designed to
operate for whatever capacity the battery has. You could upgrade the
battery to get a longer runtime, but the inverter may not be able to
handle it. On the other hand, maybe by simply upgrading the cooling it
could run longer .. just a bit of uncertainty there. I have heard from
online accounts of upgrading the UPSes that the charging circuits do
not take kindly to higher capacity batteries - they leave them
undercharged and in some cases the unit simply won't function because
it believes the battery or charger is deffective and shuts down.
Google around some before choosing one - some people have upgraded
them for longer use at home, and you may find a model that is
documented to have better reliability in that usage.
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