Microcontrollers > Data Logging
LiFePO4 repurpose with Arduino
Bruce S:
george65;
We have the 24V APC UPSs too, it's just this one was destined for the trash. This units model is APC550 , the 24V units are the XS 1500 and above. I have the older floppy disk and serial cable that allow a person to get in a muck about with the voltage settings.
I did some extensive testing about 5 years ago (when I brought home the 2nd deep freezer for my wife's home-based biz of wedding cakes. Those burn up batteries just like the little ones do , so I setup my batteries outside the casing too. I even have it setup to alert me if it goes on battery.
I'll be moving these batteries over to a better UPS once I find a donor system.
These little units also seem to use MSW when on battery.
I'd like to have 1800w of solar to connect here at work.
Kinda jealous you're able to find so many cheap solar panels so easily. I can't even get the solar installers here to let me have the broken ones.
Cheers
Bruce S
Bruce S:
In the interest of keeping with the repurpose theme.
Here is a quick pic of an old PC ATX power supply that is in the junk pile.
I plan on removing different parts from it and similar items from the same pile.
Mary B:
--- Quote from: george65 on September 29, 2017, 07:25:32 PM ---
--- Quote from: Bruce S on September 29, 2017, 02:42:46 PM ---The UPS was really never meant to charge this many batteries, and it will eventually not be able to keep up with the current draw, hence the reasoning behind the large bank.
APC is known for constantly charging up batteries even once they are fully charged.
--- End quote ---
I had a setup using an APC UPS with some solar panels and a couple of car batteries. I was running the outside fridge on it to play and learn.
I used a cheap PWM controller ( 2 in the end) to charge the batteries from the panels and had a Voltage relay module connected to the mains input so if the battery voltage went low at night, the UPS kicked in to charge them up.
The UPS always did seem to drive the battery voltage higher that I thought was ideal and now I know its the way those units are. The batteries didn't last long but they were old to start with and I figured all my mucking around just killed them. Maybe not that alone.
Supposedly you can alter the voltages in the setup of the UPS but mine is not new and I didn't have a suitable cable or was able to find the software to connect it to my laptop. I believe the units can also be configured to automatically hot start when the batterys are disconnected then re connected or hit minimum voltage. This would be a good feature to activate.
All the APC UPS units I have ( and there are a number of them) use the 7.2/ 7.5 Ah batteries but they are paralleled to give 24V. I was surprised reading yours was running 12V but then remembered you only run half the voltage we do so that probably explains it.
The units I have all use Anderson? Connectors from the unit to the battery pack . I got another and connected it to some battery cables and used that to connect to the car batteries.
I had quite a setup of controllers, SSR's and PWM modules to let me run things like a kettle which were over the UPS output rating and it was fun to play with and I learnt a lot as well. It's all sitting in a box in the garage now and I keep seeing and missing playing with it. I'd like to play with it again as it's going to waste there but then I'd have to buy new batteries which would probably soon die so bit of an expense for nothing. Then again, I have a bit tied up in everything else now including a 2000W 24V Inverter I bought. Got it cheap and it's a great unit but just sitting there.
I was thinking/ wondering if I could just get a couple of those 7.2 AH batteries to power the UPS or inverter up and use it to power the hot water heater through the PWM controller. Would probably switch off every time a cloud came over as there would be no power in reserve and I'd have to set a point on the variable PWM which would probably be hopelessly inefficient with out some sort of automatic tracking.
One day I'll get my head enough around arduino to build the solar water heater controller and do things properly. I thught I saw something not too long back about how to run a grid tie inverter as a stand alone which may work but can't find the piece now so for the meantime, all the 24V stuff is gathering dust along with the 1.8KW of panels I had driving it all.
--- End quote ---
Anderson power poles, they come in several sizes, can be crimped with a pair of needle nose then soldered(make sure to file excess solder off or it won't fit in the housing). PowerWerxs is a good source for them https://powerwerx.com/ as is DX Engineering www.dxengineering.com first source is sometimes a bit cheaper but often out of product, DX Engineering is my go to but I get a frequent buyer discount so I save money... I spend WAY to much with them LOL
The crimper for power poles does a solder free connection but it IS an investment to get one that does all the different sizes, DX Engineering has a very good product for this but it is overkill if you are not a ham doing coax crimps https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-ut-kit-crmp2, I have this kit...
For just a power pole crimper this works well, I have one https://powerwerx.com/tricrimp-powerpole-connector-crimping-tool
For power poles larger than 45 amps this is the crimper to use https://powerwerx.com/hex-crimping-tool-sb-series-powerpole or a hydraulic crimper(what I use)
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