Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-13 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt
>My longer term project is running an entire workstation setup with multiple
computers and multiple monitors from DC.

Yes, this is how the pro's do it.  Although 48v is preferred due to much
lower current for the same power means smaller conductors. 

https://www.datacenterfrontier.com/cloud/article/11431310/google-unveils-48v
-data-center-rack-joins-open-compute

Off the shelf ATX 48v power supplies are commonly available from the major
vendors in the usual ATX for factors, here's an example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sunpower-SDX-250-48Volt-DC-250Watts-ATX-Power-Suppl
y-New-bulk-pack/201838191205

AC adapters that run off 48v are fairly cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/KRXNY-Inverter-Display-Output-Socket/dp/B082HJBM8L/

For a monitor that's normally not powered such as on a KVM switch it's worth
the power loss in the converter to save the headache of having to buy a
boost/buck converter to 19v

Ted

-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Bryan Vyhmeister
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 4:09 PM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

Mine (the Anker SOLIX F3800) does talk about a UPS mode. I don't recall
reading an actual millisecond value for transfer time but some YouTube
reviews I watched mentioned a particular time and drew my attention to this
issue. We happen to live in an area that has very frequent power outages and
I plan to use the power station to keep the house running and not
particularly to run my routers, switches, and computers but I wanted to test
the possiblity anyway.

I'm not sure what times prevent rebooting of equipment but the best
solution, and the one I am working on now, is to run my important equipment
directly from some Renogy AGM batteries (2 x 100 Ah in series for 24V in my
case) and then charging those batteries through the power station so nothing
ever reboots. I am personally using a Minn Kota 2 battery charger to charge
the AGM batteries although I have chargers for
1 and 4 batteries as well. I am also running everything on DC directly
rather than through an inverter to get the maximum power efficiency I can.

My initial project that I am almost done with is running my routers,
switches, and a couple of servers direct from one set of batteries. My
longer term project is running an entire workstation setup with multiple
computers and multiple monitors from DC. I'm still working on this but am
using motherboards that can run from direct DC (Supermicro X11SSZ-F,
X11SSZ-TLN4F, X11SCZ-F, and X13SAZ-F are particular examples I have but
other boards also have the capability like the A1SAi and A1SRi series which
make nice routers) and then using DC PSUs as linked below to provide stable
12V from a wider voltage range (like 24V battery banks).

https://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB?sc=8=981
https://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB-200?sc=8=981

Alternately, you can also use the PicoPSU units from the same site above to
adapt regular motherboards expecting ATX PSUs to direct DC as well.
The biggest potential issue is high power needs of your configuration.
As a result, I have been picking up low power CPUs on eBay like the T
version of Intel Core series CPUs and L version of Xeon CPUs (i.e. Core
i3 4360T, Core i3 7100T, Xeon E3 1240L v5, Xeon E-2278GEL, Core i7 12700T
for example) to keep the power consumption low regardless.
Intel's site is your friend here to find the TDP values of these CPUs.
The highest TDP I am considering is 65W but 25W, 35W, and 45W TDP values are
preferred.

https://ark.intel.com

I have been researching monitors and found a number of LG models that have
external power bricks as well as some HP models as well. Other companies
make some as well but I have settled on the HP U28 or U32 models which are
relatively reasonably priced and are nice 4K monitors.
Most of these take 19V power which the above DC PSU device I linked can
output from what I understand. I have yet to start on the monitor portion
yet but will get there.

Anyway, that's more than you were asking but that's my thinking at this
point. I have been researching lots of home lab configurations and some are
using 240V power for greater efficiency which comes with a lot of other
costs to make work. I have decided to run everything from DC power (mostly
24V at this point) which also goes along with trying to be more off grid.

Bryan

On Wed, Jun 12, 2024 at 03:47:18PM -0400, Tomas Kuchta wrote:
> May I ask - does your particular power station model advertise UPS 
> mode with a transfer time?
> 
> The specific models reviewed in the link all advertise UPS mode with 
> the transfer times. Some sorter than others.
> 
> Just curious - whether one can rely on documented technical spec when 
> chosing device.
> 
> Thanks, Tomas
> 
> On Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 00:35 Bryan Vyhmeister  wrote:
> 
> > I bought an Anker SOLIX F3800 with extra battery but the transfer 
> > time is a little too long so all my equipment r

Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-12 Thread Bryan Vyhmeister
Mine (the Anker SOLIX F3800) does talk about a UPS mode. I don't recall
reading an actual millisecond value for transfer time but some YouTube
reviews I watched mentioned a particular time and drew my attention to
this issue. We happen to live in an area that has very frequent power
outages and I plan to use the power station to keep the house running
and not particularly to run my routers, switches, and computers but I
wanted to test the possiblity anyway.

I'm not sure what times prevent rebooting of equipment but the best
solution, and the one I am working on now, is to run my important
equipment directly from some Renogy AGM batteries (2 x 100 Ah in series
for 24V in my case) and then charging those batteries through the power
station so nothing ever reboots. I am personally using a Minn Kota 2
battery charger to charge the AGM batteries although I have chargers for
1 and 4 batteries as well. I am also running everything on DC directly
rather than through an inverter to get the maximum power efficiency I
can.

My initial project that I am almost done with is running my routers,
switches, and a couple of servers direct from one set of batteries. My
longer term project is running an entire workstation setup with multiple
computers and multiple monitors from DC. I'm still working on this but
am using motherboards that can run from direct DC (Supermicro X11SSZ-F,
X11SSZ-TLN4F, X11SCZ-F, and X13SAZ-F are particular examples I have but
other boards also have the capability like the A1SAi and A1SRi series
which make nice routers) and then using DC PSUs as linked below to
provide stable 12V from a wider voltage range (like 24V battery banks).

https://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB?sc=8=981
https://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB-200?sc=8=981

Alternately, you can also use the PicoPSU units from the same site above
to adapt regular motherboards expecting ATX PSUs to direct DC as well.
The biggest potential issue is high power needs of your configuration.
As a result, I have been picking up low power CPUs on eBay like the T
version of Intel Core series CPUs and L version of Xeon CPUs (i.e. Core
i3 4360T, Core i3 7100T, Xeon E3 1240L v5, Xeon E-2278GEL, Core i7
12700T for example) to keep the power consumption low regardless.
Intel's site is your friend here to find the TDP values of these CPUs.
The highest TDP I am considering is 65W but 25W, 35W, and 45W TDP values
are preferred.

https://ark.intel.com

I have been researching monitors and found a number of LG models that
have external power bricks as well as some HP models as well. Other
companies make some as well but I have settled on the HP U28 or U32
models which are relatively reasonably priced and are nice 4K monitors.
Most of these take 19V power which the above DC PSU device I linked can
output from what I understand. I have yet to start on the monitor
portion yet but will get there.

Anyway, that's more than you were asking but that's my thinking at this
point. I have been researching lots of home lab configurations and some
are using 240V power for greater efficiency which comes with a lot of
other costs to make work. I have decided to run everything from DC power
(mostly 24V at this point) which also goes along with trying to be more
off grid.

Bryan

On Wed, Jun 12, 2024 at 03:47:18PM -0400, Tomas Kuchta wrote:
> May I ask - does your particular power station model advertise UPS mode
> with a transfer time?
> 
> The specific models reviewed in the link all advertise UPS mode with the
> transfer times. Some sorter than others.
> 
> Just curious - whether one can rely on documented technical spec when
> chosing device.
> 
> Thanks, Tomas
> 
> On Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 00:35 Bryan Vyhmeister  wrote:
> 
> > I bought an Anker SOLIX F3800 with extra battery but the transfer time
> > is a little too long so all my equipment reboots when it switches to
> > battery. That's really not ideal and can be a problem for these "Power
> > Stations." I did buy the Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel which is an
> > automatic transfer switch and have yet to install that which might
> > improve the situation but I wanted to mention the issue since it is a
> > common one.
> >
> > Bryan
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 01:21:25PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> > > Spendy buggers!
> > >
> > > I suspect a "power station" is just a renamed UPS with $300 added to the
> > price!
> > >
> > > Ted
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-
> > > From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
> > > Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:45 PM
> > > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> > > Subject: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups
> > >
> > > Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.
> > >
> > > I came across this test site looking at the

Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-12 Thread Tomas Kuchta
May I ask - does your particular power station model advertise UPS mode
with a transfer time?

The specific models reviewed in the link all advertise UPS mode with the
transfer times. Some sorter than others.

Just curious - whether one can rely on documented technical spec when
chosing device.

Thanks, Tomas

On Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 00:35 Bryan Vyhmeister  wrote:

> I bought an Anker SOLIX F3800 with extra battery but the transfer time
> is a little too long so all my equipment reboots when it switches to
> battery. That's really not ideal and can be a problem for these "Power
> Stations." I did buy the Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel which is an
> automatic transfer switch and have yet to install that which might
> improve the situation but I wanted to mention the issue since it is a
> common one.
>
> Bryan
>
> On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 01:21:25PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> > Spendy buggers!
> >
> > I suspect a "power station" is just a renamed UPS with $300 added to the
> price!
> >
> > Ted
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:45 PM
> > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> > Subject: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups
> >
> > Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.
> >
> > I came across this test site looking at the topic and testing some of
> the power stations as UPS.
> >
> >
> https://www.storagereview.com/review/portable-power-stations-actually-work-pretty-well-as-a-ups
> >
> > This looks like a real option when my lead acid batteries go south.
> >
> > Hope it is useful,
> > Tomas
> >
>


Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-12 Thread Michael Ewan
I am probably being naive but there are LiPo 12v car batteries now, full
sine wave inverters, and battery management units.  Run off the battery,
and keep it topped up from the charger (even solar).  Buy the pieces, some
assembly required.  I am sure there is at least one YouTube video on the
topic. ;)

On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 9:35 PM Bryan Vyhmeister 
wrote:

> I bought an Anker SOLIX F3800 with extra battery but the transfer time
> is a little too long so all my equipment reboots when it switches to
> battery. That's really not ideal and can be a problem for these "Power
> Stations." I did buy the Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel which is an
> automatic transfer switch and have yet to install that which might
> improve the situation but I wanted to mention the issue since it is a
> common one.
>
> Bryan
>
> On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 01:21:25PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> > Spendy buggers!
> >
> > I suspect a "power station" is just a renamed UPS with $300 added to the
> price!
> >
> > Ted
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:45 PM
> > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> > Subject: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups
> >
> > Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.
> >
> > I came across this test site looking at the topic and testing some of
> the power stations as UPS.
> >
> >
> https://www.storagereview.com/review/portable-power-stations-actually-work-pretty-well-as-a-ups
> >
> > This looks like a real option when my lead acid batteries go south.
> >
> > Hope it is useful,
> > Tomas
> >
>


Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-11 Thread Bryan Vyhmeister
I bought an Anker SOLIX F3800 with extra battery but the transfer time
is a little too long so all my equipment reboots when it switches to
battery. That's really not ideal and can be a problem for these "Power
Stations." I did buy the Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel which is an
automatic transfer switch and have yet to install that which might
improve the situation but I wanted to mention the issue since it is a
common one.

Bryan

On Tue, Jun 11, 2024 at 01:21:25PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> Spendy buggers!
> 
> I suspect a "power station" is just a renamed UPS with $300 added to the 
> price!
> 
> Ted
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:45 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> Subject: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups
> 
> Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.
> 
> I came across this test site looking at the topic and testing some of the 
> power stations as UPS.
> 
> https://www.storagereview.com/review/portable-power-stations-actually-work-pretty-well-as-a-ups
> 
> This looks like a real option when my lead acid batteries go south.
> 
> Hope it is useful,
> Tomas
> 


Re: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-11 Thread Ted Mittelstaedt
Spendy buggers!

I suspect a "power station" is just a renamed UPS with $300 added to the price!

Ted

-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 12:45 PM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: [PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.

I came across this test site looking at the topic and testing some of the power 
stations as UPS.

https://www.storagereview.com/review/portable-power-stations-actually-work-pretty-well-as-a-ups

This looks like a real option when my lead acid batteries go south.

Hope it is useful,
Tomas



[PLUG] Li-Po power station as ups

2024-06-11 Thread Tomas Kuchta
Bunch of times we discussed not lead acid UPS options.

I came across this test site looking at the topic and testing some of the
power stations as UPS.

https://www.storagereview.com/review/portable-power-stations-actually-work-pretty-well-as-a-ups

This looks like a real option when my lead acid batteries go south.

Hope it is useful,
Tomas