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joelc

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Jul 15, 2006
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2,835
Reason
PALS
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09/2005
Country
CA
State
BC
City
Abbotsford
With ventilation equipment it is essential to have some form of backup power. We thought we had it under control as my vent lasts over 8 hours on its internal battery and we have 2. The vent also runs off my power wheelchair batteries. Then we have a battery powered suction machine and the lift is battery powered. We could last for over 24 hours, easily, if the power went out.

Well, the power did go out one evening and was out for 12 hours. What we failed to remember was our bed needs electricity to adjust, so I had to sleep in my wheelchair. That was not the ideal situation.

We do have a 3500 watt gas generator but that is a nuisance for my wife to deal with so will remain available for extended power outages. We needed an easy to use source of power.

Our solution was to purchase 2 deep cycle batteries and a 1000 watt inverter. The inverter is over-kill but being that large it would power almost anything. The 2 batteries give us 500 amp hours of power which is enough for several days of powering the bed, my vent and suction machine. It will also power several high efficiency lights for night time.
The cost of this was about the same as the generator but it is extremely convenient for my wife to deal with. The cost was around $500.00. We recharge the batteries with a normal vehicle battery changer. The whole setup was put on a platform with casters so it can easily be moved, the batteries are very heavy so you have to do this or it will be a stationary source of power.

We keep the batteries charged up and ready for a power outage.

The batteries are connected in parallel so they maintain 12 volts. There is also a 50 amp fuse on the “hot” lead just in case.
 

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Joel, that set up sure appeals to my ""inner geek". Beth is always giving me a hard time about all of my stuff so it is nice to see someone else who gets it. I have less power requirements than you so will be able to power my suction machine, Waterpik and Bipap for a night with my Canadian Tire Eliminator 800 Powerbox.

Sorry about your night in the wheelchair, that sucks but it looks like you have a solution there. Are there any problems with charging lead acid batteries indoors? I have wondered the same thing for the wheelchair batteries because when I was a partsman we were warned about hydrogen gas created when charging forklift batteries and batteries for sale.
 
Yes, charging indoors used to be a no-no but they claim there in't a problem any more with the new batteries. Also, in an open area there is not a chance of a problem. If you can smell gas then a window should be opened. But, these are the same batteries that are used on the power wheelchairs so no problem. A rapid charge might create a bit of gas but a trickle charge produces nothing.

I hear you Barry, I have all kinds of things like this! I am a red neck geek too. But they all have a purpose and function flawlessly. LOL.
 
I officially got to use it last night as the power was off for over 10 hours. It worked as expected.
 
Glad that you had enough juice to keep you going Joel, I'm going to test my powerbox with my bipap to see how long it lasts.
 
Excellent idea Barry, let us know what you find out.
 
Just another great aspect about ALS. It brings out your inner engineer.
 
Will a small concentrator work off of this?
 
It will power anything that is 1000 watts or less.
 
And obviously the less watts that the appliance draws the longer it can be powered.
 
I have a electric start honda inverter generator, just turn the key, and its so quiet you can't hear it. And its great on gas.
 
How many watts Phil?
 
Not a bad thing to make if you ever need to get new batteries on a powerchair. Just recycle the old ones for a new use. I like.
 
I am an electrical engineer. If you connect the two 12 volt batteries in series (one plus to one minus) you can power nearly everything directly from the resulting 24 volts. My bed, lift chair and bipap machine are all 24 volt DC. You can still use the batteries as separate 12 volt loads, like the suction machine, as long as there are no grounding problems, which there shouldn't be. I don't know of any electrical codes that require grounding 24 volt DC.

This way you avoid the double conversion loss, DC to AC in the inverter (about 20%) and then the AC to DC conversion loss in the brick type power supplies, also around 20%. If you were really clever you could rig a cheater cable allowing you to plug your wheelchair into the system so it would trickle charge the chair and the chair would supply additional power to the 12/24 volt loads in case of a power failure.

I am in the process of doing this, I have bought two 13.5 volt/30 amp, 85% efficient DC power supplies and two AGM type 12 volt batteries to build a power supply. I will report back on my progress. (Actually I will report on my 28 year old son's progress. I am strictly the idea man around here.)

I also intend to power some LED lighting from the power supply. Just go on eBay and search for 12 volt LED strip lighting. It is amazing stuff. Nearly twice as efficient as florescent lighting and not only can it be dimmed, for some of it you can control the color of the lighting. And it is rated to last for tens of thousands of hours.

By the way, if you are using SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries, and you should be, they don't out gas when charging or discharging and are safe to use indoors. This type includes the types typically used in wheelchairs, AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries and Gel type batteries. Codes require forced ventilation for rooms that contain unsealed batteries.
 
simpdon- I wish I knew even a tiny little bit of what you are talking about. my brain doesnt wrap around those concepts.
Sounds like youve got things under control. Thanks for the info. If we ever need to know about all of this, I think you will be my go-to guy- if thats ok.
 
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