UPS Batteries (again)

Fri Dec 19 14:37:34 PST 2003

Someone (who runs a FAQ on such) dismissed my UPS as Consumer Electronics.
When pressed, he mentioned that in the sub- 5KV range, the
waves are not terribly sinusiodal and that the electronics
in general are designed to keep costs low rather than electro-survival
high.

In ripping open the batteries (rather the tape binding them),
they are 5 x 6V panasonic sealed batteries.  In series, that's 30V.
Which strikes me as odd.  It also removes the notion of tossing a
truck or boat battery in the next room.

AT this point, I'm likely going to pay "close to $100" for
new batteries.

Once I have the south facing roof with the killer sky view empanneled,
I can revisit the fact that the "always on" machine (soekris) take
12-56 Volts DC, the switches will take 48VDC (and a netgear, 12VDC).

The true rack machines aren't on always, so I can live with inverter
power.

Any batteries behind solar go in a space I have that's technically "crawl
space" (12' high, but...) with ventilation, but general shelter.

RE: Safety.  Yeah, I put the volt meter on 4 truck batteries
at a friend's place only to learn, moments later:
"Oh, don't use that vohmeter.  It's shorted out and mostly you
just weld with it now :)."

That explained the sparks and why the lead got shorter very quickly.

Many modern (solar/wind fed) inverters give decent sine waves and have
computer interfaces and are FAR more efficient than the ones made
even in the early 90s.  They also cost $3k.