Does anyone use a UPS?

Ginger83

Does anyone use or can anyone please recommend a UPS to keep things running in the event of a power cut?

graememk

Cant help with choice of ups, but to help others, what sort of power draw are the things you are looking to power?

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910052#Comment_121910052

A few small medical devices and an electric adjustable bed

the_amazing_raisin

If it was supplied by the HSE or one of their agencies then they might have one or be able to recommend one

I imagine an ecoflow or bluetti portable power supply should be usable, although I'm not sure if they can be used in an uninterruptible fashion (as in they can be plugged into the mains while stuff is running from them)

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910323#Comment_121910323

Thanks i will ask them for a recommendation.

I just spotted one of the devices has a backup battery to cover a few hours so that helps

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910369#Comment_121910369

Yeah I imagine anything for critical care like a respirator would have an inbuilt battery

No harm to have the ability to supplement it with an external power supply

If that's the case you might not need the uninterruptible portion, since the built in battery should cover while changing over to the backup power supply

Also, if you haven't already, make sure to register as a vulnerable customer with your electricity supplier

https://www.cru.ie/consumer-information/your-rights/vulnerable-customers/

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910411#Comment_121910411

Thanks for that. I'll ask even though I might not need it.

I also plan for a solar pv changeover switch as another backup

darraghsherwin

I use one of these https://www.kohler-ups.ie/ups/product/idialog/ for my CPAP machine as I live in an area with bad electrical connections.

I think it usually lasts a few hours for a my cpap

Big Lar

I am after going through a lot of UPS's over the years and I suggest that you look for a UPS with a good name such as APC/Schneider as some of those cheapo ones will not throw out a good sine wave and that could throw all your electrical devices.

I think the first thing you should do is get a smart plug or something to monitor your power requirements and then size your UPS from there.

Something to consider also would be that you can get battery expansion packs on some UPS's and this will increase your run time.

tphase

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121913038#Comment_121913038

Agree with going for a decent brand like APC/Schneider but be aware some of their lower end units are "rebadged Chinese junk" - quote from Schneider engineer who has visited us a number of times to repair one of their EasyUPS units. Obviously the OP won't be going for a unit like that (ours is 20kVA, 3-phase) but the bottom end of the APC consumer units might be similarly cheapnified

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910467#Comment_121910467

Not sure if you have solar set up yet but I am using one of these with my configuration.

https://www.solaredge.com/en/products/residential/storage-and-backup/solaredge-home-backup-interface

Automatically switches over to battery when the grid is down. Worked a treat a few times already.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121916220#Comment_121916220

Yes I have solar pv.

What exactly is this and what does it cost please?

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920113#Comment_121920113

If you have solar already then this mightn't work for you as you need the solar edge inverter, battery etc.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121921084#Comment_121921084

Ah okay I have a Solis inverter

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910411#Comment_121910411

The vulnerable customers thing isnt worth a feck in my experience.

Im using a few APC UPS, one from a skip and one from a car boot sale. There are probably cheap ones on adverts. Usually they just need a new battery

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121935793#Comment_121935793

I was reading into the vulnerable customer service and it seems pretty useless, just means they need to inform you about any planned disconnections

I thought it was something more in depth like putting your supply on a priority circuit so they wouldn't load shed your house in the event of a brown out