How to convert a UPS into a Solar Generator
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- čas přidán 17. 11. 2014
- Article: www.prolitegear.com/site/how-t...
ProLiteGear.com shows you how to take a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and modify it to be a Solar Generator like the GoalZero Yeti Solar Generators. These portable power generators can then be used in emergency situations, for camping, or as backup power at your house. The modification allows them to be recharged via solar panels. The total cost can be much less than the Goal Zero products if you get creative. A fun, practical project, that is not that difficult. - Sport
We have used the czcams.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
This is different than the typical ProLiteGear video, but very welcome by me! I'm glad to hear of these other options that can make solar projects much less expensive and more feasible for those willing to put in a little more effort. I've looked at those GoalZero generators when fantasizing about my dream do-it-all solar-powered electric longtail touring mountain bicycle covered in solar panels (and perhaps a fatbike and even a recumbent to boot). A self-sustaining, fuelless motor vehicle that can often replace a car, making long journeys and even going places where cars cannot. Technology is fast improving and making once pie-in-the-sky solar projects more feasible and cost-effective by the day.
Love the ingenuity and curiosity!
My left ear enjoyed this
😅
WTF is wrong with my speakers??? Then I saw this comment. lol
this comment helps ahaha
I kept jiggling my headphone wire until I read this, thank you.
Very interesting.Thanks for the upload.
Very nice. Looking into this type of system for running my well pump in power outages.
This was a very informative video, I enjoyed it very much, you have help me figure some things up n have a better understanding on how this works. Thank you!!.
Hola ..Muchas gracias por compartir el vídeo..tengo pensado en usar 2 UPS en caso de emergencia..Saludos desde Patagonia Chile
Great video!
I have even thought about building my own inverter. or trying to get a lot more output from a smaller inverter by just using it to control external MOSFETs and transformers and caps. basically add to what is already there. I don't want to risk a good inverter . And dont want to start with a non working unit. so maybe a ups is a good place to start. like start with a few hundred watts. and end up with a few thousand watts. and no fire and smoke hopefully. I would try filming the process . just in case it works! thanks for the effort you put in to the videos.
Neat stuff. Going to use some of these tips to setup a small solar setup with my car battery for camping since I have a few cheap UPS units sitting around.
I assume that heat->electric generator setup is using the Peltier effect. Unfortunately that is probably too inefficient to be worth the bother. Not surprised that consumer prebuilt unit only produces 2W, which is pitiful for what is probably using a lot of propane. You might be better off with a hand crank for super emergency power, or a gravity based generator.
Genius mate absolutely love it 👍
This is a great project. One question though: Arn't APC ups 48volt? How are you going to charge them from a single panel (usually 24v)?
Great video. Have a xs 1500 and was wondering if this can be done. Thank you!
Great concept video! Ill be on the lookout for these now! >:)
Cool remake UPS🎉❤
very cool! thanks
Thanks man. Helpful
Really good stuff. I work for a biomed company and ups units are always being disposed of. Might have to try this. Hope to see your thermal charger setup soon.
Wish u could send me some
how did you compensate for the two types of batteries connected togther? did you do in series or parallel
Great, informative video. Thank you! While you were exploring the board, did you notice if there might be a way to make the UPS use the battery/solar power as the Main, and the wall power as the backup?
Thank you for the video. But I have a question. Why do you need an inverter before the battery?
Don't you need just DC?
And the UPS doesn't have an inverter inside?
Cool!! so how many batteries can be added to a UPS? I have 3 MDE Pulsar 3000... was thinking of playing around with one of them and try out a few things like this
So you can pretty much us this method to power a small workshop shed to power lights and power tools if you have a larger scale, am I right?
My left ear really enjoyed this
You mentioned running a refrigerator, those use an ac motor which is not good to run off modified sine wave which these ups deliver
Does that include 400w Led light bulbs too? 😃
@@Kickerdk a modified sine wave should be fine. The times you want a pure sine or just sine wave is with ac motors or sensitive medical equipment. Form my experience.
any UPS putting out MOD SINE needs to be thrown away.
Cool Video. Not sure if you're still making videos but would love to see an update video to something like this.
Did the ups have enough amps to start the refrigerator motor?
I have an old APC Symmetra 10KV unit with extended run module that I was hoping to use for a solar array, I had hoped to see someone use one for this purpose..
I like this project.But i wish to ask,is it possible to repaplace the led acid battery with a car battery.Would it work efficiently?
if you put different battery capabilities in parallel make sure you don't leave them connected all the time. the larger batteries will overcharge your smaller ones.
Not true. If the voltage is the same they will be fine regardless of capacity
I would imagine this would only be bad if one set breaks down and doesn't get to the required voltage, it would mess the other set.
Battery tender is a brand name of the 12v "pigtail" quick disconnect. Amazon sells these by the dozen and some even have a mountable female you can screw/affix to the UPS case instead of having a lose paired wire through a hole. I bought a pair of two mountable sets (both sides of the connection, with one side that can be mounted) that I installed on my dual WEN 3800W generators to trickle charge the starting battery as needed. Under $10 for the two sets.
Fill heatsink with salt or oil. Aim solar concentrator (Fresnel Lens) at heat sink. Heat from the sun will be stored in salt or oil and can be used to generate power at night.
Are u saying sun hitting salt warms and melt ice, so salt reflect light
The lightest shelter options would. Make a great vid bivi, tent, hammock etc
seria posible incluir el modo traduccion en su video, es un tema interesante
Could you show or explain how you connect you solar panel to the usp?
How did you manage the heat generated due to longer hours use
👏🏼👋🏼👋🏼The LINK to the article is not available!
Please update correct link. 🙏
What happened to prolite gear? I liked these videos
The problem with the cheap UPS products is that they often don't produce clean power that is a necessity for modern electronics. To compare apples to apples here you have to look for a UPS that has online double conversion capability. When you compare the starting price for these products you will see the prices are about the same as a portable power station. Each type of device is really built for almost opposite jobs as is stated in the video (long run time vs. short runtime) and it really comes down to trusting sensitive electronics to home brew projects. A cool idea especially if you are powering things like lights or small heaters, etc. but probably best to stick to portable power stations (which have gotten more powerful and cheaper) for the electronics.
Or use 12v stuff
I think a ups would have a hard time keeping cool. during long power outages. and under long duration use. especially under max output. do they not need extra cooling when converted. and I have heard they are rated differently than inverters also. like they will not put out what they say for a sustained time. I admit I don't know much about them . but I am looking in to living off battery's. and solar,wind and small hydro electric. I need to find a cheap way of converting 12 to24 volts to 110v ac. so far all I have is generators. and a 1200watt inverter. I can gladly use all the advice I can get. I welcome and ideas also. for running a home off grid. thank you for your reply.
Were you successful? Did ups work continuously ?
Did you disable the alarm system that activates once you have zero AC input and you are only drawing on the battery backup power? That was a hindrance to me during my first iteration with an APC since the alarm was integrated. If you did disable can you do a short vid to cover the proper way to disable. Thanks and great job on your vids.
on mine, hold the speaker button until it beeps
I have a Smart-UPS 750 that I've never used, I was thinking of selling it, I didn't think you could attach a solar cell to them though.
To sell or not to sell,... the only issue with selling on eBay is the weight of these UPS machines.
Thks
AC CORD? What do or can I do with the AC cord. Can It be used to connect the solar panal directly to with the need for a solar charge controller? Using the AC cord I would normally plug in to charge the UPS and basically plugging a Solar panel directly to AC wires?
Thanks a bunch
I am really late, but this won't work. The AC input is 120v AC, at best the panel can do something like 24v DC. Although you could use DC as an input, 24v are not enough to charge the ups
I was thinking of doing this to a backup psu
If you splice in the battery, then why do you need the portable inverter anymore?
i have the same apc ups, something you probably need to mention with apc is their batteries are wired in series to 24v. So if you were to do this, which is possible i do it at the beach from time to time, you will have to have two batteries at 24v and a solar set up also at 24v.
My APC unit is 12v, been using a car battery for a while, so different models have different requirements...
apc works great you should look into adding fans to blow air over the mosfets n transformer for longer operating time without any issues
Many people toss their UPS when the battery fails. You mentioned something about taking the battery from your boat? Are you throwing that out (and can I have it? ;)
On the Avasva you can count on professional help with problems and technical support.
You can make it yourself, just loook and learn from inplix instructions .
just amazing stuff for me
Agree
Thx
: ) cool. I want to make something like this; however, I need to create a transfer switch that accept two different power sources and provide one single output, so the I can run a solar system during the day and the ups backup system at night - long as it takes and transfer to utility power when UPS is low. I have so many drawings that still working on. would be nice to see how to make a mini transfer switch. For example; lets say you have two UPS` and want to power 1 computer, when both get low battery then transfer to utility power.
Did you ever make or find info on a transfer switch ? Your plan is very interesting and I would like to do the same! I have 11 UPS units and I want to charge them with solar and use them to power my tv and lights at night. Any info would be appreciated!
Your video was very helpful. I had the idea to do the same thing. The nice thing about using a UPS is that the power is very clean. A lot of inverters, especially the cheap ones do not generate a true sine wave, and that can be a problem for computers and other sensitive electronic components. One question though...shouldn't there be a charge controller in the UPS as well? Wouldn't that be usable?
Not sure if you know this but most ups use a modified sine wave, for example the ones in this video
@@mashedpotatoes5323I i know this is an old comment, but why does that matter? (Just to clarify, this isn't sarcastic, I'm really just unclear on the difference lol)
@@LoganJarrell a pure sine wave inverter or ups has the same waveform as the power that comes out of your wall outlet (looks like a smooth curve) and they are generally more expensive. A modified sine wave has a square wave and they are generally cheaper but you can have problems running anything that uses a ac motor like fans, refrigerators, blenders, ect. It's also not best for computer power supplies that have active pfc.
I'm missing the point too I guess their should be a charger in the ups box somewhere? I have a 2200 that has 4 12v batteries or 2 blocks of 2 and was thinking why not get new batteries for it because the ones in it are shot and use the power to the wall to go to the solar panel instead of the wall if the batteries are the problem can I just get a diff kind of battery same size and use the set up the way it is just running to the solar panel instead of to the wall ? I know it must sound like a stupid question to you guys im just trying to fig it out
good vid. I want to try and setup a bunch of batteries outside my door with panels going to them and power coming inside to a UPS and try and mostly power my laptop from solar only!
Make sure they are pure sinewave inverters if you plan to run anything with an electric 110 volt motor in it including aircondioners, fridges, power tools and fans... electronics and lights work fine on modified sinewaves which these units are mostly and why the cost way less than the more expensive units your trying to avoid... it can be done like I do but its not as easy as you would like it to be... nothing worse than burning your house down because of a few overlooked problems...
Use a led bulb -3 watt ( Homelek) , lots of light for a very low load .
UPS... large amount of power for shirt amount of time... all dependent upon the battery size (small form factor is desirable in a UPS therefore, minimum sized battery used to do the job)
Generator equals keeping up with demands & a ups with supplemental solar panels means climate temp & cloudy skies will compromise charging. To make this a real generator to provide the uninterrupted power you will need approximately 3000 SQ ft off solar panels.
The down side to using an APC UPS for example, is they work great BUT, they have real transformers in them so when you are on battery, there is a LOT of wasted energy powering up the internals of the UPS even if you are not consuming the converted power. The larger the UPS, the larger the battery energy consumed before you power your electrical load.
That explains why they draw so much on IDLE , Thanks
I’ve got 3Kva 240V UPS and it’s consuming around 600watt when idling. That’s $2000 worth of panels just to keep ups happy.
It makes more sense to buy standby generator instead
I just got a pair of this for free and I'm looking to do this
U can charge phones and use 12v lights easy, homes need dual electricity system
pomp per lavazh 3 fazorsh, e 5 kw
Nice movie. However you should take instructions from Avasva if you want to learn how to make it easily.
this guy looks like chuck Norris,
At what time does he start telling us how to convert Ups to solar generator?
batteries+ whooooo. amazon is MUCH cheaper. about 20 a pop for those batts. and they have a nice agm battery for under 30 that has the digital display im going to get for my rider. may order a couple more for my aps UPS.
thanks for sharing this vid. im wanting to build a wind generator but i cannot find and 240 volt UPS for the dryer and stove.
The APC 1500 series are 24 volts... You need 2x 12 AGM batteries.,,,
The real issue is amps... You need around 10 amp per 12 volt battery. To recharge them fast enough or they sulfate. Why you need an external battery charger. Other then the built in ones the UPS comes with...Why I installed a 200 watt solar panel and a charge controller. To keep the 2x 200 @ah batteries charged....
And this thing is not portable. As it weights 150lbs...
the sound.... makes me want to stick forks in my left ear...good info tho
You should be careful in mixing batteries in parallel.
Gazza-usa why an issue in parallel? I know you have to make sure they're identical batts for a series connection, but as long he's using 12v vehicle batteries, it doesn't matter if different capacities are paralleled together.
First they are different battery types with different float voltages , Secondly they are massively different capacities , if the small ups unit battery was low on charge - and you hook it to a fully charged car battery it is going to dump amps like crazy possibly overheating and exploding the smaller cell or frying the undersized cables (which he hasn't fused)
hmmm.. i wonder what keeps the batteries from overcharging when the UPS unit is plugged in...... smh!
@@stephenvieira4309 also when a battery fails, out will be a constant load on the other battery and will drain it/ kill it. So a cheap battery in parallel with an expensive one will ruin the expensive battery.
you still need a solar battery charging module at about $5...
Could we please stop calling them solar generators?
No we can't
may be just use the bigger battery be better
In one ear, well the other heard nothing.
Connecting two dissimilar batteries in parallel is a terrible idea. You're going to damage one of the two batteries.
Two things to look at.
1 if its modified or pure sine wave. Need to know your needs.
2 what voltage the ups needs. Not all are 12v.
Just for everyone's knowledge
it would be cheaper to buy a inverter and battery and DC power supply to power it wile power is on. and add a solar panel and charge controller. and have more output. the only reason I'd use a ups is if I already had them or they was nearly free.
The UPS senses when the power experiences an outage and supplies power from a battery array. It is essentially a battery, an inverter, and controllers.
@@86Crisp But it's a charger controller from AC(which is cheap& easy), not solar, though I suppose some might have an option for solar input. I agree with the original comment, as the batteries inside a UPS are low capacity, it's not really worthwhile unless very cheap.
They're great for what they're designed for, but not so great for other uses.
Apc is 24 volt not 12
I hate the name solar generator. It's such a stupid name.