UPS

[Nca78]

@gohan said in UPS:

There is also this cheap solution https://www.aliexpress.com/item/6W-5V-UPS-mobile-power-Diy-Board-Charger-Step-up-DC-DC-Converter-Module-for-3/32790658678.html

Thank you that can be useful for small nodes, I will buy one to test.
Not for Pi unfortunately as it's not powerful enough.

[gohan]

my rpi3 usually uses 0.3A @5v with peaks of 0.6, I think it will be within 6W without problems

[Nca78]

@gohan said in UPS:

my rpi3 usually uses 0.3A @5v with peaks of 0.6, I think it will be within 6W without problems

Wow that's surprisingly low, I guess it's not loaded too much, not using peripherals and video/hdmi output ?

[gohan]

actually it is just sitting there headless with a NRF24 connected to it. I checked consumption with relays and with 5 relays on the consumption goes from 0.3 to 0.6A. I have 8 relays but I guess there will not be many of them on at the same time for a prolonged time.

[alexsh1]

@ben999

I'm using on of these

http://www.pimodulescart.com/shop/

I have LiFePO4 4000mAh battery pack - this is enough to weather the longest power outage

[Nca78]

@alexsh1 thank you for the link.
I'll give a try to the AliExpress version first for financial reasons, but I'll check yours if the cheap one fails.

[gohan]

@Nca78 keep in mind that the one I posted is missing battery protection, so you need to have put one (unless your batteries have internal protection)

[alexsh1]

@Nca78 you are not too rich to spend you money on cheap stuff, are you? :-)

If you want a real UPS with many feathers programmable buttons and LEDs, it cannot be super cheap. Anyway, it's your call

[Nca78]

@gohan said in UPS:

@Nca78 keep in mind that the one I posted is missing battery protection, so you need to have put one (unless your batteries have internal protection)

Yes on the circuit you linked I'll put a 18650 with protection, I will test it on a wifi gateway.
For RPI I'll use the "hat" with battery that I linked in message above, only 17€ with battery.

[ben999]

Guys

I am planning to use a 4S li-ion 18650 battery.

Please have a look at my Fritzing sketch :)

Battery pack will be monitored by this item :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4S-6A-Li-ion-Lithium-Batterie-3-7v-18650-Charger-Battery-Protection-Board/382109076738?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

When off-grid ISDN box and RPi will be powered with that battery via this board :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Automatic-Buck-Boost-Step-Up-Down-DC-DC-Power-Supply-Converter-Replace-XL6009/142371180585?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=441392018812&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

When on-grid, this charger will charge the battery pack and power ISDN box/Rpi :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EU-Plug-4S-16-8V-2A-AC-DC-Charger-Adapter-for-18650-Lithium-Li-ion-Battery-Cell-/262728544983?epid=507598255&hash=item3d2bd772d7:g:m6oAAOSwcLxYJaSF

Is this the correct way of building my UPS ?
Can i draw current from the charger to power box and RPi while it is charging ?

Thanks again for your input/advice.

[rozpruwacz]

isn't it better to buy ready made solution ? e.g. http://www.powerwalker.com/index.php?page=select&lang=en&cat=dc

[ben999]

@rozpruwacz

No DIY, no fun ! :wink:

[rozpruwacz]

haha :) yeah, totally agree :P

[gohan]

@ben999 said in UPS:

@rozpruwacz

No DIY, no fun ! :wink:

No DIY, no problems, no fun :smile:

[dbemowsk]

I didn't read all the comments, so forgive me if this was mentioned. What if you just used an SLA or AGM battery and connected a battery tender to it. The battery tender should keep the battery topped off without over charging it, and I would think have enough power to power the PI also. Then you are converting 220 down to 12, and if the power goes down, the battery tender will just shut off and the battery would take over. No extra loss in converting 12 to 220 and back to12 again.

[gohan]

I think nobody wants to convert 12 to 220v

[ben999]

@dbemowsk
Thank you for your message

@gohan said in UPS:

I think nobody wants to convert 12 to 220v

I think @gohan got me right here. I have a spare "standard" ups at home... but i dont find that tech very sexy (on top of it it's huge)

It's fun to scratch head !!!

[ben999]

Guys,

One last question :

Can i draw current from the charger to power box and RPi while it is charging the home-made UPS ?

I might be ordering this in case it is possible:

link text

[gohan]

if the charger is not drawing too much current I'd say yes, but you need a buck converter

[dbemowsk]

@ben999 The highest current draw from the list of Pi models is 2.5A on the model 3B (https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#powerReqs). If you have a power supply slightly larger than whatever model you are running, you should be good. you just need to be able to supply enough so that the PI has enough to run whatever it is doing and some for charging.