Electrical Emergency Battery Backup System for TV/Internet During Power Outages

[Grinkle]

That just does not worth the effort.

I have found RV-experience-based anecdotal references that fuel consumption for a Diesel engine to generate power is not much impacted by whether the engine is an auto engine or a dedicated generator engine, although I have not been able to find data to support that. I heard it swagged at 20% fuel use delta. IMO if one is considering a half dozen episodes or so a year of a few hours outage, that is not significant, one can live with it.

If one is thinking of a frequent / regular usage duty-cycle, and I think this is more what you have in mind, to me also it does not seem a good approach.

My RV power system has a 300Ah battery that weighs about 100lbs and it is charged by a dedicated alternator anytime the engine is running. I agree with @sophiecentaur that this doesn't make sense as a dedicated solution for home power - too heavy, not very accessible, and if I were to drain that battery it would take an hour or so to charge it to 50% and another 4-6 hours to get it to 100%, that is a LOT of driving, way more than I do on a daily basis.

 

[Johnny Yuma]

Around the house we have a charcoal grill (for outdoor use only) and a LP camp stove to use in our garage. A small battery powered TV and a portable radio. 6 battery powered LED lanterns. Lots of "Hot Hands" which are hand/foot warmers made of iron particles that you crush to provide heat for 3+ hours. Freezer has a lot of ice bags.

We have a motorhome inside a shed with LP tank for stove, fridge and furnace. Onan generator that runs on gasoline and 4 6v golf cart batteries that are charged via the Onan or by our gas engine. In past years we have spent a day or two in here waiting out power outages. Two 40 gallon waste tanks help out.

Why not talk to friends who have an RV...or maybe visit RV dealerships and ask many questions about off the grid living.

 

[harborsparrow]

We use a cheap inverter bought from Amazon, with its end adapted to clip onto a car battery. Then, we can use the car battery to run a couple of LED lamps at night and charge up phones and computers. It's a low cost solution and requires only a few minutes to set it up. An extension cord fed through the window to the middle of the house completes the setup. The last time there was a major outage for us (2 weeks), the internet and TV service itself was down anyway and cellular (if you could get it) was the only option. At these times, it's good to have a Kindle reader or something similar with lots of books loaded on, because it will run on battery for a very long time and can be read after dark at low power (as opposed to using, say, a Kindle app on a mobile phone or tablet).

For heat, we have an emergency kerosene heater which can provide not only heat but light and can boil water.

 

[bob012345]

We use a cheap inverter bought from Amazon, with its end adapted to clip onto a car battery. Then, we can use the car battery to run a couple of LED lamps at night and charge up phones and computers. It's a low cost solution and requires only a few minutes to set it up. An extension cord fed through the window to the middle of the house completes the setup. The last time there was a major outage for us (2 weeks), the internet and TV service itself was down anyway and cellular (if you could get it) was the only option. At these times, it's good to have a Kindle reader or something similar with lots of books loaded on, because it will run on battery for a very long time and can be read after dark at low power (as opposed to using, say, a Kindle app on a mobile phone or tablet).

For heat, we have an emergency kerosene heater which can provide not only heat but light and can boil water.

Did you mean the power was out for 2 weeks or it happened two weeks ago?

 

[.Scott]

I live in southern NH where power is normally pretty reliable. But winter storms can bring down trees and utility poles and being at the end of a dead end street, we are not high priority when utility crews are planning recovery. So over the past 27 years, we have lost our power for 3 to 5 days on about 5 occasions.

I use a 5 Kw generator. I have it going to a separate breaker box that allows a manual switch between generator and street power. So everything coming out of that box is backed up. Everything that is still coming out of the original box is street only. In NH, you are allowed to do this rewiring on your own - in most places you would be required to hire an electrician.

Here's what I put on the new box (with generator backup):
1) The heating system. It is oil, but it needs electricity to run.
2) The water pump.
3) The refridgerators.
4) The main living room air conditioner.
5) The microwave oven.
6) Some lights and electric outlets.

Here's what I did NOT put on the new box:
1) The stove and oven.
2) The clothes dryer.
3) The dishwasher.

Some surprises:
1) The A/C does not consume as much power as I expected.
2) The TV is important. As mentioned by others earlier, it creates a sense of normalcy. At some point you want to resume your normal routine and ignore the power outage. Especially if you have kids or teens in the house, it's important.
3) Consider a heavy duty 100 foot extension cord - for those neighbors that have not been as well prepared.

If you keep the freezer door closed, the contents will stay frozen for over a day.

We do not loose our internet connection. Our provider has units with battery backup mounted on utility poles. Those batteries die after about a day - but then the company goes around a puts little generators at the foot of the pole and runs them continuously to keep the internet running.

Maintenance:
1) Do not run the generator indoors (not even in your garage).
2) The generators should not be run within 10 feet of an open or partially opened door or window.
3) Even if you follow those rules, you can get into trouble. In one case, a neighbor was running a generator about 25 feet from an open garage door, but there was a light breeze bringing the CO into the garage and the home. His concentrations reached 80ppm when the fire department responded.
4) It is best to test you system every 3 months. If there is something wrong, it is much better to deal with it when power is available than when it is not. Possible issues will be damage from animals and gasoline gelling in the carburetor.
5) You will probable want to store 10 gallons or more. You should add some kind of "dry gas" to it when you buy the gasoline. I prefer to store gasoline in a shed separate from the house.

 

[PCnerd]

Summary:: Considerations for design of an emergency battery backup system for TV/Internet during power outages.

I am looking for the right size of battery/pure sine-wave inverter to power a system for a few hour when there is a power outage. The system of TV/DVD/Internet uses less than 200 watts at about 1.6Amps. I could just buy a commercial system which runs about 1000$ or assemble a similar design for about one-half to one-third the cost. Any thoughts?

I think what you might be looking for is one of the new battery "generators". Something like the EcoFlow Delta Pro 1300, or the Jackery 1500. Google them. The EcoFlow Delta Pro (their largest unit) can supposedly run a refrigerator for most of a day. They can be recharged with your plugging into a 110 outlet, car, optional solar panels, a gasoline generator from outside, or even can be taken to one of the public Electric Vehicle recharging stations. You can also daisy chain them for more power. With 4 or 5 daisy chained, they can even be used as a 'Whole House' battery back-up. But they are expensive. It could be cheaper to buy a really good inverter, a battery terminal spot welder, lithium batteries, and build your own.

Oh, and those units do provide pure sine-wave power.

 

[bob012345]

I think what you might be looking for is one of the new battery "generators". Something like the EcoFlow Delta Pro 1300, or the Jackery 1500. Google them. The EcoFlow Delta Pro (their largest unit) can supposedly run a refrigerator for most of a day. They can be recharged with your plugging into a 110 outlet, car, optional solar panels, a gasoline generator from outside, or even can be taken to one of the public Electric Vehicle recharging stations. You can also daisy chain them for more power. With 4 or 5 daisy chained, they can even be used as a 'Whole House' battery back-up. But they are expensive. It could be cheaper to buy a really good inverter, a battery terminal spot welder, lithium batteries, and build your own.

Oh, and those units do provide pure sine-wave power.

I estimate it costs about one third to one half to build the system yourself but they basically contain a 12V 100Amp-hr battery with the inverter and some other electronics in a nice package you can carry around.