Powering Through Remote Work: A Guide to Backup Power Solutions + My Low Budget Off-Grid System
Backup power refers to a system or equipment that provides power when the primary source of electricity is unavailable. It is crucial for remote workers, especially IT industry professionals, as it helps to ensure that they can maintain productivity and connectivity in the event of a power outage or other disruption.
There are various options available, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), generators, and battery backups, that can provide different benefits, such as keeping devices powered during outages, protecting data and equipment, and maintaining internet connectivity. Investing in a reliable backup power solution can mitigate potential negative impacts on work and ensure remote workers remain productive and safe.
Assumptions of devices (This may change based on your usage):
- A personal laptop (35–85W)
- A LED/LCD 24 inches monitor (40–60W)
- 4G WiFi router (5–20W)
- A room bulb (10–40W)
- Other (20–60W)
Total: 110–265W
Assumptions of the power outage:
- Two hours straight (Short power outage)
- Four hours straight (Mid power outage)
- Six hours straight (Long power outage)
- Eight hours straight (Extra-long power outage)
This article will be long, so let’s divide this into several topics.
- The most common solution for short power outages and final thoughts
- The most effective solution for mid-power outages and final thoughts
- Off-grid explanation — Don’t limit yourself to a single room
- Easy off-grid installation for non-technical people
- My low-budget off-grid system for extra-long power outages
01. The most common solution for short power outages and final thought
You all know this solution; most of you have used this to avoid power interruptions. Yes, it is UPS and famous because non-technical people too can quickly adapt to it. Let’s talk in deep about it.
Several types of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are available, each with its own features and capabilities. These include:
- Standby UPS: This is the most basic type of UPS and is typically used to protect small loads, such as home computers. It provides emergency power to a load when the primary power source fails, but there is a short delay before power is transferred.
- Line-Interactive UPS: This type of UPS provides voltage regulation and protection from power outages and surges. It is typically used for small to medium-sized loads, such as home networks and small business servers.
- Online UPS: This type of UPS provides continuous power to the load, even during power outages. It is typically used for larger loads, such as data centres and critical infrastructure. Online UPS systems are more expensive than standby and line-interactive UPS systems, but they offer the highest level of protection for sensitive electronic equipment.
- Flywheel UPS: This type of UPS uses a spinning flywheel to store energy, instead of batteries, to provide emergency power during outages. It’s considered more eco-friendly, but it also has a higher cost.
- Scalable UPS: This type of UPS is designed to be scalable and can be configured to meet the needs of specific loads. It can be used to protect small loads and expand to larger ones as needed.
A UPS is a good solution in situations where:
- Short-term power outages: A UPS provides emergency power to a load during short-term power outages, such as a power dip, brownout or blackout. It helps prevent data loss, equipment damage and downtime.
- Power Quality: A UPS is designed to provide a clean, steady power source to equipment, which can help to prevent damage to sensitive electronic devices caused by power surges, voltage fluctuations, and brownouts.
- Critical equipment: A UPS can be used to protect critical equipment, such as servers, computer systems, medical equipment and security systems, that must remain powered on at all times to prevent data loss and equipment damage.
- Portable equipment: A UPS can be used to provide emergency power to portable equipment, such as laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices, to prevent data loss and downtime in case of power outages.
- Easy to install: UPS systems are easy to install and can be used in many environments, such as homes, small offices, and data centres.
But UPS systems are not typically used as long-term power backup solutions for several reasons:
- Battery Life: UPS systems rely on batteries to provide emergency power during outages. These batteries have a limited lifespan and need to be replaced periodically. This can be costly and can also create a maintenance burden.
- Limited Run Time: The amount of time that a UPS can provide power during an outage is limited by the capacity of its batteries. For longer outages, a UPS may not be able to provide enough power to keep equipment running until utility power is restored.
- Cost: UPS systems can be expensive, especially for larger loads or longer run times. The cost of purchasing and maintaining a UPS system may not be feasible.
Final thoughts about UPS as a primary backup source:
- According to our assumptions of devices (90–205W in total), a UPS can cover short power outages without any issues if you have 1200KVA or 2X 650VA devices.
- Better to go with a pure sine wave UPS if you plan to use a fan. This will cost you more than a modified sine wave UPS.
- You may need to replace the batteries periodically to get the maximum out of them.
- UPS is the best if you are not more technical and want a backup solution.
- If there are multiple power outages within a short period of time, the batteries of UPS may not be fully charged after the first power outage. They may not function properly during the next power outage.
- I have experience with several Prolink UPS models in person, and they performed well. Since most Sri Lankan shops have this device, I’m not going to mention a merchant here.
02. The most effective solution for mid-power outages and final thoughts
Now you know when to use UPS and when not. So it's time to divide our devices into different categories. I want to divide them like below.
- Type A: Devices that use AC current
- Type B: Devices that use DC current
- Type C: Devices that use both DC and AC current
Personal laptop: Laptops normally use an AC charger, so most laptops belong to Type A. But some laptops support USB type C charging. If your laptop supports USB-C charging, consider the laptop belongs to Type C.
Monitor: Most of the time, the monitor belongs to type A because the power unit is coming inbuilt. But some monitors have an external power unit (normally a power pack). If your monitor is like that, it belongs to type C because it can use with AC and DC as well.
4G WiFi router: Obviously, this belongs to Type C because it has an external power source that converts the AC current into DC 12V.
Room bulb: This belongs to Type A.
Other: Other devices, such as cell phone chargers, speakers, fans, etc., can also be placed in the above categories.
What’s next?
Once you get an idea about your devices, you can decide whether you will power them up using UPS power or another DC power source. If you use only a UPS, as we discussed as the common solution, it needs to convert the AC power of the UPS into DC power to use the devices.
So if you don’t have another power source (like an off-grid system) that supplies power to the UPS during a power outage, try your best to keep the DC devices separately. This means there are many ways that you can use to keep DC devices turned on without AC power. Using those ways, you can save the UPS backup power for the devices like Monitors for a long time. Let’s discuss some backup power solutions that can use for Type B or Type C devices.
Laptop power banks
As I mentioned above, there are many products that you can use as a power bank if your laptop supports USB Type-C charging. Do not worry if your laptop does not support USB Type-C charging because there are many converters that convert the normal laptop charging port to a USB Type-C port. This method extends your laptop’s battery life by nearly two times, and you no longer use UPS power for the laptop, which means the monitor can run longer.
DC Router backups
More than 90% of routers on the market use DC power between 9V and 12V. So, in case of a power failure, it is inefficient to use the main power source (the UPS) to provide power for the router. Similar to laptop power banks, there are good products on the market that can power your routers for 4 to 12 hours when you have no power. These products use lithium-ion batteries that are very efficient. DC Router backups are designed to be plugged into the main power source (230V AC) and act as a UPS for the router if the main power source fails for an extended period of time. So, to make our backup system more efficient, you need to disconnect the DC router backup from your UPS in case of a power failure. This also isolates the router from the main power source, which helps the main power source live for a long time.
5V to 12V Adapter + Mobile power bank
If you don’t want to buy DC Router backup, you can still power up your router using your mobile phone power bank. So you have to purchase a cable call 5V to 12V converter to do this. The USB end can plug into your power bank, and the next end can be connected to your router. Note that the live time of the router will be entirely based on the capacity of your power bank.
Final thoughts about UPS as a primary backup source with DC device isolation:
- It increases the backup time of the primary power source (at least one and a half hours) since the DC devices use separate power sources.
- The external monitor keeps on for a long time, which is good for people who need dual monitors.
- You can use the DC backup solutions in a very portable manner whenever you want.
- It can cover a mid-power outage.
03. Off-grid explanation —Don’t limit yourself to a single room
So far, we have used UPS as the primary power source. But as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, I assumed there would be limited devices in one room. But the real scenario is different. We should need power for several rooms and need to run multiple devices. You can’t do this by using UPS; if you want, it needs multiple UPS, but it is not recommended.
This is the place where off-grid systems come into the picture. Off-grid systems are not connected to the public electricity grid, so your backup source is fully isolated from the main grid. I’m not going to talk about the on-grid systems because it is a kind of investment based on a return and is directly connected to the public grid.
There are three types of off-grid systems available in the market.
- Off-grid system with solar — An off-grid solar system is a standalone solar power system that is not connected to the electricity grid. It generates electricity from solar panels and stores it in batteries when the sun is not shining. Off-grid systems are typically used in remote locations or for backup power. They can be designed to provide power for a single home or a small community. They typically include solar panels, an inverter, a charge controller, and batteries.
- Off-grid system without solar — This is the same as above, but there are no solar panels. It uses the power of the electricity grid to charge the batteries instead of solar panels. During a power outage, it uses the stored power to generate the backup power.
- Hybrid off-grid system — It's simply a combination of the above two types. This type of solar system includes solar panels and uses the electricity grid to charge the batteries (These settings are configurable). So if it is a cloudy day, a hybrid off-grid system can charge the batteries without any issue.
If you plan to build a hybrid off-grid system, you will cost a considerable amount for the following items.
- Solar panels
- Solar inverter
- Charging controller
- Batteries
Solar inverters and charge controllers can also be seen as a package. These are called Solar Hybrid Inverters, and mobile apps can also control those devices.
04. Easy off-grid installation for non-technical people
As mentioned in topic 03, a hybrid solar system is the best. As for my experience, the easiest way to build this system is to use a hybrid solar inverter with a solar panel and battery. The solar panel here is optional; you can use it without a solar panel.
Selecting the Hybrid Solar Inverter
It is very important to choose the right inverter. Calculate the sum of the W-values of all the devices you want to power. The inverter should have a W value that is higher than your needs. Inverters have two factors, continuous power and peak power. It would be helpful if you only considered the continuous power because the peak power is the power that the inverter can provide for a short period of time, usually when the appliances are turned on.
Selecting a battery
Several types of batteries can be used in off-grid solar systems, including:
- Lead-acid batteries are the most common batteries used in off-grid solar systems. They are relatively inexpensive and have a long lifespan, but they are heavy and require regular maintenance.
- Lithium-ion batteries: These batteries are becoming increasingly popular in off-grid solar systems due to their high energy density and long lifespan. They are lighter than lead-acid batteries and require less maintenance but are more expensive.
- Nickel-cadmium batteries: They have a long lifespan and are relatively inexpensive, but they are not as energy-dense as lithium-ion batteries and can be more difficult to recycle.
- Flow batteries: These are a newer type of battery that is particularly well-suited for large-scale energy storage. They have a long lifespan and can be easily scaled up or down, but they are relatively expensive.
- Sodium-ion batteries: These are quite new, but they have a high energy density, low cost and are easy to recycle. They are also more stable and safer than lithium-ion batteries.
The cheapest selection is Lead-acid batteries, and the best is Lithium-ion batteries. A lead-acid battery will be enough if you don’t want to run heavy electric items like fridges, rice cookers, hot water showers, etc.
The next factor is the battery capacity. Normally it uses Ah (Ampere hours)to measure the battery capacity. As lead acid batters are not designed for fully discharged, they can only discharge up to 50% for better battery health. You can use this website to calculate the capacity based on your requirement. And the battery should be matched to the purchased inverter’s voltage.
The solar panel should generate enough voltage for the inverter. The inverter has a recommended voltage like 12V, 24V, 48V etc. So you need to select a solar panel that can generate on or more than the recommended voltage.
04. My low-budget off-grid system for extra-long power outages
I didn’t want to pay much for an all-in-one hybrid solution, so I decided to build an off-grid solar system since I had the required technical knowledge. The below list is my minimum, continuous and maximum Wattages. Please note that I used every tactic to reduce power consumption in a power outage, so some might be slightly lower than the values listed here.
Minimum: 70W (Monitor + Room Bulb)
Continuous: 80W (Monitor + Room Bulb + Mobile charger + Amazon Alexa)
Maximum: 190W (2x Monitors + 4x Room Bulb + 3x Mobile charger + Amazon Alexa + Laptop + LED TV + 1 FM radio)
Now you should have an understanding of my usage. The next important thing is the number of hours I can use the system. Here they are:
Minimum: 10–12 Hours +
Continuous: 9–11 Hours
Maximum: 7–8 Hours
The components that I used to build this system:
- 120 Ah lead acid battery + 35 Ah lead acid battery
- 12V 10A DC SMPS charger as the battery charger
- Volt meters to measure the battery levels and output levels
- 2000W peak and 1500W continuous power pure sine wave inverter
- Two solar charger controllers (One for direct grid charge and one for solar charge)
The below photos were taken at the early stage of the system.
Conclusion
This article contains all the important points for someone looking into a backup power system. Some of the points were not mentioned because the article became large. If anyone has any queries, feel free to use the comment section or chat. Don’t forget to share the article.
