Post:Power Up

From Fozzee.net

So it's been really busy around here lately, with stuff going on at work, the passing of Grandpa Sahs, and just the usual grind. I've been doing some thinking (and reading) on emergency preparedness lately (based on a variety of recent events), and realized that I have most of the components in place, but that I just need to organize them. While some guys stockpile guns and food and prepare to dash to the wilderness, I think being well prepared for more likely scenarios (like a broken-down car, short to mid-term power outage, etc) is more prudent.

I had the realization that I'm starting to get to a point where I have quite a bit of stored energy laying around in stacks of SLA batteries, and it'd sure be nice to be ready to harness that reserve in case of a power outage. To that end, I've started work on building a "field-hardened" UPS/AC Inverter out of an old APC Office-UPS with some issues. It makes strange beeping noises from time to time, and tends to drop the load occasionally. This might be attributed to a crappy battery (which is dead beyond desulfation) but I figured what the heck. I removed said beeper (as I dont want an alarm when it's on battery, because that's by design) and removed the power cord (replaced it with an removable IEC Male jack, so it can still be used as a battery charger). I also added external power lugs, so it can easily be connected to a car battery, cigarette lighter, or random gel cell (including the pair in the scooter). There is one thing that I was unable to resolve tonight, and that is a pair of internal 30amp fuses (on the battery input). In the interests of long-term survivability under fire, I'd really like to replace them with a circuit breaker, though I had nothing appropriate in stock. Next time I get to the store, I'll try to score a Buss self-resetting thermal circuit breaker, which means one needn't carry fuses and a soldering iron to keep this thing going.