Inverter power supply

[Yorkshire Andy]

Been tinkering with this for a few months and just about finished it daren't add up what its cost but bought the bits over a good few months so didn't really notice till i sat down and thought about it


Not intending it to run the house or anything but to make life a bit more comfortable if with this supposed risk of energy shortage and rolling blackouts rationing areas power supplies

I created this....

rough outline of bits

Timber for box 2x3 ish for frame PTGV1S tongue and grove planks chipboard sheet for base and lid

couple of butt hinges

friction cabinet stay

selection of big wood screws 4" x10 iirc some 8x1 and few others....

1000w pure sine wave inverter

20ah smart charger

double socket

2 of mains plugs

2 110ah sla caravan batteries (deep cycle)

mechanical overload fuse (rather than a awg fuse if it trips you just reset it rather than fumble in the dark with a new glass fuse)

Change over switch for batteries

Smart relays for battery charging


wire of various types for mains connections, tri rated for inverter and smaller 12v wiring for other bits










one thing worth noting no one is going to simply walk off with it it must weigh in excess of 40kg

since i took these ive rewired it added volt and ammeter to monitor battery drain 12v outlet earthing/grounding point.


running it at 1000w it draws about 40-50a off the battery so going by ive got 220ah to play with and that the batteries shouldnt be dragged down past about 20% charge ive got a good few hours of fume-less (yes the hydrogen when charging can be a issue but the box is well vented) almost silent power

ive also added a 12v charging relay to charge it off the cars caravan gray plug or cars alternator

[Yorkshire Andy]

grabbed a few more pics when i checked the batteries and gave them something to do for 30 mins this afternoon...





and it will run a 1kw heater



and been pure sine wave,,, it will run a florry

[TwoDo]

Very interesting indeed.

What are "Smart relays for battery charging"? Are they relays with a sensor which automatically shuts them off at a voltage level?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Very interesting indeed.

What are "Smart relays for battery charging"? Are they relays with a sensor which automatically shuts them off at a voltage level?

Whilst the mains charger is Smart
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Caravan-Motor ... 256555e5dc

as im charging 2 separate batteries with it i'm using this one (the right hand pic of the 2 with the spade terminals) as every SLA battery evan 2 identical ones have a different charge rate (only slightly) but its enough to have one boiling when the other is still charging..

http://www.maplin.co.uk/kemo-lead-acid- ... dule-37767

to split the charge from the 20 ah charger to the 2 batteries to ensure they are charged evenly which has been mounted to a old PC CPU heat-sink as im charging through it at a max of 20a



one in the photo above is

http://www.maplin.co.uk/kemo-dc-12v-bat ... ator-37762

to charge from a car alternator or caravan socket on a car.. via the relay above with the mains charger inputs there as well so however i charge it, it charges in the same way....


bit more info...

http://youtu.be/_aQEFP1UfQU

still need to tidy wiring up but need to sort the rest of the 12v charging side out all connections are sound though


the voltage cut off is something i want to add but not a clue where to start on that one as i would probably end up moving into the grounds of BIG electrical contactors and coils... not sure if the inverter has a cut out or not from memory

[newtonweir]

What a fantastic project. Its a shame these deep cycle 'leisure' batteries are so expensive.

You have pretty well achieved what I have had in mind for a bit now, I've been calling it my accumulator trolley project. (reminiscent of the large battery trolleys used to start aircraft!).

I have been thinking of something like this to go with my generator project... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se6ceGegUYQ Although I can produce power at the turn of a cranking handle, I don't want a diesel thumping away all the time.

Thanks for the inspiration to get on with making something, and well done on a very professional job.

S.

[Yorkshire Andy]

One thing with those old derv mixer engines is they always seem to start our work has one it sat unused outside for 4 years or so..... next time we needed it i freed off the dog pin on the handle and it started in about 10 cranks in the depths of winter i was honestly gobsmacked


The batteries are expensive but we needed one for the folding caravan so in reality i only had to buy one but at £100 it made my eyes water

[happyhacker]

What scenario would this be really useful in? Any lengthy outage will have you back to a more lasting solution in no time on a heavy (e.g. heater) power drain. For moving around the house you will need a more portable supply. Is this cost effective say against a petrol unit?

[Yorkshire Andy]

What scenario would this be really useful in? Any lengthy outage will have you back to a more lasting solution in no time on a heavy (e.g. heater) power drain. For moving around the house you will need a more portable supply. Is this cost effective say against a petrol unit?

I dont plan to run a heater on it i just hooked it up to see the draw at 1kw...

Problem with petrol its noisy unless you stump up for something like a Honda suitcase genny

Legally you can only store 30l of petrol (10lx2 metal 5lx2 plastic ) most decent size genny sets use about 1l per hour.

Ultimately I plan to get a decent size solar panel but atm I charge it off the mains, have options of charging off the car, or a small generator which had a battery charging output.

It can be used for charging phones (via USB outlet on inverter) charging 12v appliances or things i have a cigar adaptor for,..

LED bulb in a lead lamp will easily light my bug in room / stronghold... whilst letting me power most small devices


Id Love to be able to do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcfd2Ncoeis

[newtonweir]

I had no idea there was a legal limit as to how much fuel you can store!

Following Andys revelation, I just had to go and look that up for myself : http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/fuel-storage I was expecting a difference in permissible volumes between petrol and diesel, but no, the terminology used is petrol or other fuels and later just fuels.

Fortunately, there is no mention of vegetable oil

Regards,

S.

[Novice prepper]

Great piece of kit.
Just finished my own backup power project and after 3power outages in a week, glad I did so.

Maplin 30w solar panel kit with 30amp hr charge controller
300w inverter
2 75amp hr deep cycle batteries (in parallel)
All neatly housed in a Stanley tool box with 6way switched extension lead from conservatory into living room to power items such as router, lamps, TV, sky box and charge laptops etc

Total cost approx £300 and worth every penny