Inverters/UPS help

[sabi1]

Hi all,

yes, I am typing this from the darkness.

Please don't be mean, I'm a noob.

I'm finding it very hard to Find information on inverters, like exactly what I need to buy for my specific needs. Is there anyone who is more knowledgeable on this topic and can assist me on this or advise me on who to contact?

I need to run just my pc and monitor for about 6 hours.

Pc has a 650w psu
Monitor is a generic dell 60hz, doesn't show any power info on the monitor itself.

Please help and thank you in advanced.

 

[ForestGump]

In short, the following applies:

1. The size of your PSU (650W) is its maximum output and means almost nothing. You need to *measure* the ACTUAL consumption using something like this:

Takealot

www.takealot.com

Make sure you measure it at a) idle b) office/web browsing and c) gaming/high intensity

In general, PC is usually ~150-400W depending on what components you have and what you're doing.
The monitors are generally 60-100W

2. Once you know your total demand, you determine what size inverter you need.
You don't want to run at 100%, in fact, I prefer to run at most 50% of the total capacity.
So if your total consumption is around 500W, get a 1000W inverter.

For a PC, you can save money by getting a modified-sine wave inverter compared to a pure-sine wave inverter. (just understand that some electronics don't like these and will malfunction)

3. Determine how much battery capacity you need.
kWh = kW * hours
If your load is 500W, and you want to run for 6 hours you need kWh=500*6/1000 = 3 kWh

You can try save money by getting lead-acid batteries but in the long run this is a bad idea.
Rather get LiFePO4, they can do ~5-10x as many discharges before they start to deteriorate but you will pay handsomely for that privilege.
for deep cycle lead batteries you should not discharge it more than 50% so take your kWh and double it + 25% safety margin for efficiency
for LiFePO4 you can safely discharge it down to about 30%, obviously the deeper you discharge the shorter they last.

now, after saying all this kak my actual suggestion is to get someone else to do it...too many places for you to fuck up


EDIT: some good advice here: https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/inverter-battery-combo-stage-6.460890/

 

[sabi1]

In short, the following applies:

1. The size of your PSU (650W) is its maximum output and means almost nothing. You need to *measure* the ACTUAL consumption using something like this:

Takealot

www.takealot.com

Make sure you measure it at a) idle b) office/web browsing and c) gaming/high intensity

In general, PC is usually ~150-400W depending on what components you have and what you're doing.
The monitors are generally 60-100W

2. Once you know your total demand, you determine what size inverter you need.
You don't want to run at 100%, in fact, I prefer to run at most 50% of the total capacity.
So if your total consumption is around 500W, get a 1000W inverter.

For a PC, you can save money by getting a modified-sine wave inverter compared to a pure-sine wave inverter. (just understand that some electronics don't like these and will malfunction)

3. Determine how much battery capacity you need.
kWh = kW * hours
If your load is 500W, and you want to run for 6 hours you need kWh=500*6/1000 = 3 kWh

You can try save money by getting lead-acid batteries but in the long run this is a bad idea.
Rather get LiFePO4, they can do ~5-10x as many discharges before they start to deteriorate but you will pay handsomely for that privilege.
for deep cycle lead batteries you should not discharge it more than 50% so take your kWh and double it + 25% safety margin for efficiency
for LiFePO4 you can safely discharge it down to about 30%, obviously the deeper you discharge the shorter they last.

now, after saying all this kak my actual suggestion is to get someone else to do it...too many places for you to fuck up

Thanks so much <3 this makes much more sense now.

I really appreciate it all the effort into the explanation.

 

[SphereZA]

What are your computer specs? you prob wouldn't need to buy the watt meter.

1x 180Ah Battery: 4-hour 300W draw to 50% depth-of-discharge.

Off 1x 180ah with a 1000w pure sine wave inverter i was getting 2hrs of gaming with the battery only discharging to above 75%.