# UPS backup power



## easternbob (Dec 15, 2009)

A recent posting and then a blip in power last night got me thinking about uninterruptible power supplies.  I'm new to these things, so speak slowly and clearly.
What brand and models are people using?  What kind of run times could I expect to see if I'm just running the pump (and controller) on my EKO 25?  Would it be possible to run the pump and blower for any length of time?
Thanks,
Bob


----------



## stee6043 (Dec 15, 2009)

I run an APC 1500 UPS on my system.  It will easily run pump and blower for 1-2 hours, if not longer.  Got mine used....


----------



## timberr (Dec 15, 2009)

Hey Bob,

I have an Eko 25, I have a power inverter w/ built in charger and transfer switch. With one deep cycle battary I can power my whole system for 8+ hours. The inverter is a true-sine so I don't worry about messing up any of my TekMar controllers.


----------



## maplewoodshelby (Dec 15, 2009)

I just had installed a 400 watt inverter from napa along with two relays and hooked up to a battery.  Cost of everything is about $150 and it is fully automatic.  Not sure what my run time is but will soon test.  I will add additional batteries later to extend run time.  My dad installed with the help of a drawing from an electrician.  If you can find an electrical supply store that sells the relays and will draw you a diagram you can do it for this price as well.  Its an easy hookup as long as you know where the wires go.  Saves you from buying the fully autmatic inverters that start around $250 for the cheapos


----------



## MrEd (Dec 15, 2009)

So, how do you wire you system to use the UPS? Is it as simple as a dedicated  circuit going to an outlet, the ups gets plugged into the outlet, and then you use a plug to connect all the rest of the wiring downstream...does that pass code?

Also, it seems in a power out situation, you would want to run the circulator, but not the fan...or do you run the circs and the fan, and then just let the gravity loop deal with the overheat situation when the juice runs out?


----------



## Deere10 (Dec 15, 2009)

couchburner    what kind of relays are you using?  Are you usung a deep cycle battery??        Looking into back up power myself   just to run pump..   Thanks


----------



## stee6043 (Dec 15, 2009)

MrEd said:
			
		

> So, how do you wire you system to use the UPS? Is it as simple as a dedicated  circuit going to an outlet, the ups gets plugged into the outlet, and then you use a plug to connect all the rest of the wiring downstream...does that pass code?
> 
> Also, it seems in a power out situation, you would want to run the circulator, but not the fan...or do you run the circs and the fan, and then just let the gravity loop deal with the overheat situation when the juice runs out?



A true UPS is about as easy as it gets.  You plug the UPS into the outlet and you plug your appliances into the UPS.  There are many different sizes and types.  Mine is more than big enough to run the pump, fan and some lighting for quite some time after power failure.  I have a generator so really the UPS is to give me time (several hours if I really needed it) to pull out the generator, get it started and get the house running again.

If for some reason my generator wouldn't run I'd simply hit stop on the boiler, let the circ run, and perhaps take some wood out.  But again - if you have a bigger UPS unit (like the APC 1500 I have) you could probably run just the circ for many hours...prolly a lot longer than a load of wood could last.

Off-the-shelf UPS units may not be the cheapest solution to power failure protection but I'd argue they are the simplest and most reliable.  They maintain the batteries themselves, they have some nice readouts on them to let you know how high the load is and how much juice you have left, they make a heck of a racket to remind you when power does fail that they are down there and on some you can even configure them with your PC to respond differently to different situations.  Pretty neat little devices in my opinion...


----------



## Bricks (Dec 16, 2009)

My plan...... used APC 1400 or 1500 with out batteries off of E-Bay. Roughly $50 shipped. Since they are 24 volt in this size going to run two 12 volt car batteries or deep cycles. Actually have two sitting here that are good but changed out of vehicles they were getting old but worked fine. Should give at least 24 hours backup.

  Edited to add  Just plug boiler  into the APC instead of wall outlet. And a plus also get surge protection to save controller.


----------



## ohbie1 (Dec 16, 2009)

Deere10 said:
			
		

> couchburner    what kind of relays are you using?  Are you usung a deep cycle battery??        Looking into back up power myself   just to run pump..   Thanks



I have my storage circ backed up, and it will run 3+ hrs. on the battery.

Deep cycle battery......depends on AH you want
200 W  inverter.............$20..........Inverters  R  us (internet)
2  time delay relays............$7....... Surplus Electronics Store.
trickle charger for the battery..........$20......Ebay

I found the time delay relays necessary for times when you get that off-on-off business from the power company.  You cannot have the household juice on at the same time as the inverter, or you blow the inverter.


----------



## JSJAC (Dec 16, 2009)

After the ice storm last year I put an inverter and battery bank together. I have four 85amp hour batteries and a 1800 watt inverter. I bought a separate charger that has four stages of charge. I have run on the batteries for about four hours and still had hardly made a dent in the battery voltage.
You should use good batteries that are deep cycle style. 
With the batteries at least we can have some quiet without the genset running when the power is out. 
If you go to some of the solar sites on the web you can get lots of good free info.

Jeff


----------



## maplewoodshelby (Dec 16, 2009)

This is the exact relay that I use from ebay.  You will need two of them, an inverter, and battery.  The more batteries you add the more run time you get.  This setup runs my taco 007 circulator and nothing else.  The 007 circulator draws less than an amp so with the battery i have it should run about 8-9 hours.  I have a large dozer battery coming that will triple that time.  The circulator runs constant during power failure.  Also make sure whatever inverter you buy has an on/off switch that holds in eiterh position.  Once your all wired up you turn the inverter to on (but it has no power when the house has power) and when the power goes out the relays close to the battery mode completing the circuit and running off battery.  True sine vs modified sine inverter made no difference to my taco pump as far as noise so I wouldnt even worry about that although I'm sure others will say different.
If you decide to go this route with these exact relays I can email you a copy of how to wire it up.  It is very busy but also very simple.
The UPS backups are the simplest and I almost went that route as I know little about electronics.  I am sure glad that I did not.
The UPS is very expensive and go ahead and figure on replacing it every 4 years.  The UPS will not run my system long enough to make any difference if I am not at home.  I will still overheat or not be able to get the heat into the house during power failure.  With this system if I have a power outage for a week or more which we are due to have, I can get more batteries and take them elsewhere where there is power to charge them and keep switching out batteries and I can keep right humming along eating ramen noodles and reading by candlelight!!
Let me know if you get those exact relays and I will email you the hook up.  IF you know anything about dhw please see my other post and respond as I am just learning how to pipe the best system.  Not many people on here use their boiler to heat their water but I am going to take full advantage even though it has a litte upfront cost


http://compare.ebay.com/like/270456939117?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes


----------



## easternbob (Dec 16, 2009)

Thanks for all the replys.  I've learned a lot about UPS and inverters in a day.
Found this unit on ebay   
http://cgi.ebay.com/APC-Back-UPS-Pr...ltDomain_0?hash=item439c131325#ht_1649wt_1084
It's a APC Back-UPS Pro 1400 without a battery.  
I'll say it again I'm no computer or electronic whiz so.....  Would it be possible and easily done to hook one or more deep cycle batteries to this unit?  And will a unit like this charge the battery while the reg. power is on?  Seems like a good deal, so long as hooking up an external battery is an easy project.
Thanks.
Bob


----------



## timberr (Dec 16, 2009)

Should be pretty simple, I have this unit to protect my PC and there is just a plug connection that you make. Personally I want enough run time on backup to cover a full burn when I am not at home. At this time of the year I fire the boiler in the AM and head to work. If the power fails I want everything to run smothly. With 1 deep cycle I can run for more then the full burn cycle. Periodically I pull the plug on the power to test this.

Good luck


----------



## Hydronics (Dec 16, 2009)

easternbob said:
			
		

> Thanks for all the replys.  I've learned a lot about UPS and inverters in a day.
> Found this unit on ebay
> http://cgi.ebay.com/APC-Back-UPS-Pr...ltDomain_0?hash=item439c131325#ht_1649wt_1084
> It's a APC Back-UPS Pro 1400 without a battery.
> ...


Does it use 12 volt batteries? If so I would think it would be good to go with deep cycle's.


----------



## easternbob (Dec 16, 2009)

That is a good question, I don't know?  Can anyone comment on this and how easy (or not) it will be to hook a deep cell or two into it?
Bob


----------



## ssupercoolss (Dec 16, 2009)

i am glad this topic came back up....i had some plans worked out last year with an inverter and what-not, but i am starting to warm up to the UPS idea.  but i am having trouble with the math on a UPS.  anyone know how long a taco 007 (.7 amps i believe) will run on a 1500VA / 980Watt UPS?


----------



## easternbob (Dec 16, 2009)

Another question popped into my head.  Does any one have an idea if this unit will be able to charge a deep cell battery (12v).  I would assume that it could but that is just a guess.
http://cgi.ebay.com/APC-Back-UPS-Pr...ltDomain_0?hash=item439c131325#ht_1649wt_1084
Thanks, Bob


----------



## Medman (Dec 16, 2009)

These units may be configured to run off of a 12 V battery or two 12V's in series, for 24V depending on model.  They will MAINTAIN the charge in a deep cycle battery but may not be able to provide enough current to recharge the batteries once depeleted.  I have had issues here trying to run with large Sealed Lead Acid batteries using a small UPS.

I started with an APC 650 (normally has one 7Ah battery) and one 25Ah 12V battery - worked OK, but only about a 20 min. run time.  I added another battery in parallel, so 12V 50Ah.  The UPS ran for double the time, but once powered back up the batteries drew too much current and tripped the protection circuit on the UPS.  The only way to bring the batteries back to charge was with my auto battery charger.

I have since moved to a larger UPS (1500VA) that uses two batteries in series.  Using the two batts. above, I am getting about 40 min. run time for EKO25 controller, fan and boiler circ.  I am planning to upgrade the batteries soon, and I anticipate the same current issues.

One circ. running at about 80 watts from a 1400VA UPS, depending on the size and type of battery installed, will run 3-6 hours.


----------



## Tony H (Dec 16, 2009)

I am using a 1500watt ups to power the Eko 40 inc the pump so in case of power failure it will run as a normal burn cycle. Power outages are rare at my house considering I am a few thousand feet from a power station.
Here are a few items to consider with UPS systems 
Batteries:
 The best are the designed for ups gel-cell type made by companies like power sonic , johnson controls, union  they are sold by companies like batteries plus , apc , and industrial supply companies. They are rated for indoor non vented use.
The second best is the deep cycle marine made for trolling motors they don't have quite as good of recovery and life but are pretty decent for most of our applications. Some might be rated for indoor or non vented use.
The worst car are batteries they are not made to run down and recharge like a deep cycle and will fail also cannot take the higher charging rate and sometimes crack and leak.
In addition only batteries like gel-cell are made to be used in an enclosed area because when recharging regular batteries will out gas toxic fumes that can harm persons and property besides being explosive. 
So as far as batteries be careful with what you use in your system if it's an inhabited area.

One other note battery boxes are a good idea to keep people away from the batteries and keep the damage contained in one would explode.

Charger inverters :

Factory made complete units are sized to match the battery to the other components so they function correctly together. 
Units that are charger / inverter only are able to charge a range of battery sized and should be listed in the manual.

When installing different batteries on these unit the capacity of the charger needs to be considered as the unit is designed to recharge the size battery it came with. You can go a little higher and it will still work but if you go too far above the capacity the charger will blow a fuse or burn out when trying to recharge the larger batteries.
BTW all the units for sale with out batteries on ebay and such are due to wanting to avoid shipping batteries as they must be sent truck haz mat and will be more costly.

Connection :
The units are setup for 6, 12, or 24 volt batteries and the batteries are also available in these sizes. multiple batteries can be wired together but you need to know the output of the charger converter so it can be wired in series or parallel to match the output. 
In the event you don't  do this you may gain a new nick name like Sparky. 

The units are pretty easy to connect using standard crimp ring type or other connectors just make sure to size the wire based on the amps you are drawing.

There are many sites that have helpful info on how to figure the right size for your needs like apc.com and tripplite.com


----------



## Jesse-M (Dec 16, 2009)

easternbob said:
			
		

> A recent posting and then a blip in power last night got me thinking about uninterruptible power supplies.  I'm new to these things, so speak slowly and clearly.
> What brand and models are people using?  What kind of run times could I expect to see if I'm just running the pump (and controller) on my EKO 25?  Would it be possible to run the pump and blower for any length of time?
> Thanks,
> Bob




Bob, check this out........buktus






.


----------



## easternbob (Dec 17, 2009)

Jesse, thanks for the web link alot of great info on that page.  Also interesting to see he's had it running for a long time.  Found out the unit I was looking at on ebay is 24v so I would have to wire two batteries in series.
Medman brings up an interesting point though that the UPS won't be able to charge large batteries that have been run way down, so if I'm not around to hook them up to a car charger thats going to cause problems (thinking if I'm away for a week vacation and I want to keep the pump running for freeze protection)
Couchburner, has a neat idea with the the off the shelf parts, was hoping for something cheaper.
Bob


----------



## easternbob (Dec 17, 2009)

Couchburner,
How do you keep your batteries charged?  I'm assuming that you have to put them on a trickle charger every now and then?
Bob


----------



## maplewoodshelby (Dec 17, 2009)

Yes I will put them on battery charger from time to time.  I've always been told to run deep cycle batteries down from time to time to extend the life so i will do that as well.  That UPS you were looking at on Ebay will serve the same function as my setup in switching over automatically during power loss.  That is what my relays do  All the UPS systems that I have run across are 12 or 24 volt so adding batteries will be no problem.  If you can get that cheaper than $75 than you will have the same thing as me minus the battery for the same price.  Both systems work the same way and my intentions are to prevent overheat and to keep heating the house during extended power failure ( I would have to be home to switch out and charge batteries elsewhere).  If you go on vacation for a week you must have somebody load your boiler so make sure and show them what it should do if power goes out.  My wood boiler is hooked into my propane boiler.  I have never used my propane boiler and dont intend to but it is there and will run off this backup as well


----------



## Fi-Q (Dec 17, 2009)

Or, you can go with a small Inverter/charger..... Xantrex have a few good one, but of course, they'Re not cheap. But the sometime come on sale. On of my firends bought this one at 50% @ CT: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...11867P/Chargeur+onduleur+Xantrex,+1+000+W.jsp. 

Xatrex Freedom HF 1000

   IT's got an build in transfer switch & 20 amp charger. You can put as many battery as you want. But it just going to take longer to charge @ 20 amp. All automatically. It's all about how much money you want to put in.......


----------



## Fi-Q (Dec 17, 2009)

Sorry guys, I just realise that the link I post was in french....

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST%2Fbrowse%2F4%2FAuto%2FSolarPortablePower%2FInverters%2FPRD%7E0111867P%2FChargeur%2Bonduleur%2BXantrex%2C%2B1%2B000%2BW.jsp?PRODUCTprd_id=845524443306630&FOLDER;folder_id=1408474396672500&bmForm=form_locale_change&bmFormID=1261061306459&bmUID=1261061306459&bmLocale=fr_CA

  I know this is from CT, bu it's giving you an Idea


----------



## DaveBP (Dec 17, 2009)

> I’ve always been told to run deep cycle batteries down from time to time to extend the life so i will do that as well.



Don't  do it, couchburner.

Lead/acid batteries last longest if the are kept full at a 'float' charge voltage that depends on the exact type of battery and the temperature. Any time a lead/acid battery is run down it takes some of the life out of it. The farther down it is drawn and the longer it is left that way the more the lead plates inside will sulfate and the battery loses capacity. One trick that lead/acid batteries do need once in a while is OVER charging once in a while. It's called equalize charging.

I think the run-it-down-flat advice comes from old ni-cad battery practice. But even that is pretty much obsolete, I believe.

Here's a very good read about batteries and other links on the site for good info on inverters and back-up power.

http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Battery


----------



## maplewoodshelby (Dec 17, 2009)

Dave,
You may be right on that as I have no evidence to support what I have been told and seen for myself but I will stick to draining and recharging occasionally.  I fish a lot and have so for 30 years.  I used 12 and 24 volt deep cycle battery setups for most of that time 2-3 times per week.  I would run the batteries down and they would be recharged that night.  The batteries I did this way lasted much, much , much longer than those that would sit fully charged or would have an onboard charger hooked to them (providing float or trickle charge) Maybe the key was that they never set dead very long.  I know that is bad for any battery


----------



## Bricks (Dec 17, 2009)

For me any way my car batteries will be just fine....It`s not like our power goes out once a week. It may only happen once a year so the charge drawdown cycle is really almost non excitent. More likely die from non use.

  A great way to keep batteries charged is a solar setup , they also help with avoiding sulfating inside the battery.


----------



## DaveBP (Dec 18, 2009)

To quote from "Deep Cycle Battery FAQ":  @  http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Battery

Lead-Acid batteries do NOT have a memory, and the rumor that they should be fully discharged to avoid this "memory" is totally false and will lead to early battery failure.


----------



## JSJAC (Dec 18, 2009)

The power went out last night. The coldest night so far this year.I am very glad that I spent the time and money on our inverter back up system.


----------



## 91220da (Dec 19, 2009)

Hi guys, similar discussion regarding battery backup in this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/46402/


----------



## Dave T (Dec 19, 2009)

I like the inverter and battery idea but that does not prepare you for a pump failure situation.   Is an overheat loop still needed to be safeguarded in all situations?  Dave


----------



## julien (Dec 19, 2009)

TacoSteelerMan said:
			
		

> I like the inverter and battery idea but that does not prepare you for a pump failure situation.   Is an overheat loop still needed to be safeguarded in all situations?  Dave



Very good point !


----------



## easternbob (Feb 25, 2010)

Well it's been awhile but I finally purchased an inverter/charger with auto switch (AIMS 1500w).  I hooked it up last night and it ran the circulator pump (although with a buzzing sound) and the controler fine BUT the fan just buzzed and would not spin.  This inverter is a modified sign wave.  I had the fan programed to be running at 50%.  Just thinking now if I had the fan at 100% would it have worked?  Any thoughts?
My draft inducer fan worked fine but I have that at 100%.
Thoughts??
Bob


----------



## timberr (Feb 25, 2010)

Bob,

I have the AIMS 1500 Pure Sign model, it runs my fan fine at 50%. When you are running off of the inverter how many volts are displayed?


----------



## easternbob (Feb 25, 2010)

Timberr,
I would have to check again to be sure but I think it was staying right at 12-14 v.  When just the circ. pump was running it didn't even show anything on the amp/watt meter.  When I turned on the fan it lit the lowest bar on the amp side, but just buzzed and would not spin.
Bob


----------



## leatherguy (Feb 25, 2010)

I want to make sure I understand  what previous posts said, I have apc 500 with dead battery if i figure out bat voltage i replace it with full size bat
and hook it up to electronics of apc ups and i should be good to go?


----------



## easternbob (Feb 25, 2010)

Leatherguy,
I'm not electronics expert, but from what I've learned there might be a problem with hooking a full size battery to a regular UPS in that it can maintain the voltage in a fully charged big battery but can not handle the load of re-charging if it is drawn down to low.  You would have to put the battery on a reg. charger.
Bob


----------



## timberr (Feb 25, 2010)

easternbob,

Did you get a chance to increase the fan to 100%? What where the results? When I first tested min, I had all (3) circ's running, all 4 zone valves open and everything ran fine. I am at a loss. The only thing I can think is the EKO controller doesn't like the modified sine?


----------



## leatherguy (Feb 25, 2010)

So after a power failure I simply unhook bat and give a charge than put it back in service. What voltage are apc ups bats normally?


----------



## easternbob (Feb 25, 2010)

Timberr,
No I'm at work right now so won't be able to check till this evening.  The EKO controller seemed to be working fine, or atleast the display looked normal and when I hit stop/start the fan would stop buzzing and then start again.  I'm hoping running the fan at 100% (not 50%) will fix it.  It would be nice to be able to keep plenty of heat going to the house (will have to figure out a system to power the zones and other cirs in the basement).  It's good to hear you were able to run 3 cirs and the zone valves.
Bob


----------



## barnartist (Feb 25, 2010)

I wired all the ac in my house. Still I feel as if I know so little about how this stuff really works for some reason. Thanks to all for all the helpful links.

I have an RV with a big solar setup, uses 2 deep cell batteries and a 3000 watt inverter.  This system sits all winter without use. My first thought was how can I just hook it up to my boiler, but it seemed to complicated to figure out how to make it an automaded setup in the event of a power outage. If anyone has any ideas on if this is possible, please share.

I am thinking I can take the batteries out of the rv and use them in a system for the boiler, so if a guy was to buy the easyest setup, it sounds like a true UPS is the way to go, but what would you guys recommend the power numbers be? 

Also, I just took a UPS ES box off of my cpu because the battery is toast (I think). This must be just a small version of what a guy needs out there on the boiler then, yes?


----------



## ohbie1 (Feb 25, 2010)

barnartist said:
			
		

> I wired all the ac in my house. Still I feel as if I know so little about how this stuff really works for some reason. Thanks to all for all the helpful links.
> 
> I have an RV with a big solar setup, uses 2 deep cell batteries and a 3000 watt inverter.  This system sits all winter without use. My first thought was how can I just hook it up to my boiler, but it seemed to complicated to figure out how to make it an automaded setup in the event of a power outage. If anyone has any ideas on if this is possible, please share.



It seems that you have all and more than you need in the RV.  The  "automation" could consist of just a relay(SPDT) inserted in the line between the batteries and the inverter.  This relay is controlled by house current.  When there is house current, the relay is on, and the inverter is off.   When the power fails, the relay goes off...BUT...this makes the inverter/battery circuit, and you are in business. You will need a second relay on the inverter/pump line, because the inverter output cannot see house current.
I assume that you do know how to connect the pump(s) etc. to the inverter output, since you have done wiring.


----------



## barnartist (Feb 25, 2010)

I wired my boiler loop pump with an ac plug on the end so I can hook it up to my generator. 
Whats bad is I need to learn about the wiring on the rv, I would not yet know where to put such relays, but would love to figure the sucker out.


----------



## Gooserider (Feb 26, 2010)

leatherguy said:
			
		

> So after a power failure I simply unhook bat and give a charge than put it back in service. What voltage are apc ups bats normally?



A lot depends on the unit - and since "there are no user serviceable parts inside" the APC people won't tell you...  However, they seem to use standard "gel cell" batteries which come in 6 or 12 volt sizes, hooked up to do some multiple of 12 volts.  I have a bunch of APC 900's that I put new batteries in but never sold, (if you wanted to come to MA to pick one up... they'd be cheap) and those used four 6 volt batteries in series, so you could substitute two 12v deep cycle batteries.

Gooserider


----------



## easternbob (Feb 26, 2010)

Timberr,
Well I upped the fan motor to 100% and then tried the inverter and it worked fine.  Once it was running I could slow the fan down to 60% no problem.  I guess the fan just couldn't start up when it was at 50%.  Still have some buzzing in both the fan motor and the circ. pump but they seem to be running fine.

In case anyone else is interested this is the inverter I purchased (actually they had a rebuilt unit on ebay, I purchased)  http://theinverterstore.com/the-inverter-store-product.php?model=pwric1500w-top-rgb  It easy to hook up since it's a inverter/charger with transfer switch built in.  Great for those of us who aren't electrical engineers.


----------



## timberr (Feb 26, 2010)

Good news Bob, there is no buzzing in my setup. This is probably do to the pure sine vs. modifide sine.


----------



## easternbob (Feb 26, 2010)

My only concern now is if the power goes out when I'm not home or asleep and the inverter takes over, and then the boiler calls for heat (water temp down) my fan is going to try to start but won't be able to (I run my fan at 50% all the time, I don't have storage yet).  Is this going to burn the motor up???  IF I'm around I can up the fan to 100% so that won't be an issue.  But it seems like I spend more time at work than home at least awake.
Bob


----------



## ohbie1 (Feb 26, 2010)

easternbob said:
			
		

> My only concern now is if the power goes out when I'm not home or asleep and the inverter takes over, and then the boiler calls for heat (water temp down) my fan is going to try to start but won't be able to (I run my fan at 50% all the time, I don't have storage yet).  Is this going to burn the motor up???  IF I'm around I can up the fan to 100% so that won't be an issue.  But it seems like I spend more time at work than home at least awake.
> Bob


Here's a possible solution:
I don't know what your fan control looks like.  If it is a switch with positions, you could use a timer type relay to activate the 100% position.  This relay would be activated by voltage from the inverter.  Inverter on.......relay on (timed)......running the fan at  100%.......relay timer off.....fan drops to 50%.  Timer relays are usually settable, so you could choose the length of time to run the fan at 100%.


----------



## Fred61 (Feb 27, 2010)

barnartist said:
			
		

> I wired all the ac in my house. Still I feel as if I know so little about how this stuff really works for some reason. Thanks to all for all the helpful links.
> 
> I have an RV with a big solar setup, uses 2 deep cell batteries and a 3000 watt inverter.  This system sits all winter without use. My first thought was how can I just hook it up to my boiler, but it seemed to complicated to figure out how to make it an automaded setup in the event of a power outage. If anyone has any ideas on if this is possible, please share.
> 
> ...


 
Your RV should already have the relay, at least mine does. There's a box with a relay inside it in the same compartment as the inverter/charger. When you apply shore power to the RV the relay energizes and power is supplied to the inverter and also to certain outlets within the RV that do not get powered through the inverter. It sounds like somebody dropped a rock in a metel bucket. If your inverter is on and shore power is disconnected, the relay drops out and the outlets that are supplied by the inverter are then powered by the batteries through the inverter. You could basically wire your boiler electrics to any outlet that is powered by the inverter or breakers that supply the outlets. My RV isn't around in the winter. It has been put to bed in a nice heated warehouse for the winter.
BTW try not to burn up that  relay. I was hanging around an RV repair facility waiting for my unit to get serviced and there was a guy there getting his relay replaced. I think it was about $500.00


----------

