When choosing equipment for power supply during periods of outages, think carefully about what you need from it.
The events that have taken place over the past year have made even the most ardent optimists understand that the "neighbor" will not let us rest so easily, so the issue of personal energy independence needs to be dealt with more seriously. Accordingly, the market for uninterruptible and guaranteed power supply systems has adapted, offering the average consumer a large number of technical solutions in a different range of prices and quality. Various charging stations and hybrid inverters were added to the previously widely presented UPS and DSU. Thanks to the introduction of stabilization power outage schedules, when charging devices was not given much time, more expensive lithium batteries began to win back a "place in the sun" from traditional VRLA. Li-Ion batteries, regardless of chemistry-NMC, LFP, etc. - provide a deeper discharge, faster charging, and are actually the only alternative in similar conditions.
Owners of private homes-who in the winter of 2022 found themselves in a more privileged position compared to residents of high-rise buildings, because they had the opportunity to use generators-realized that getting electricity from direct burning of diesel fuel is a bit expensive in the long run. Therefore, they will look at more flexible energy storage systems based on hybrid inverters with lithium batteries. Together with solar panels and diesel generator sets, such systems are a serious step towards energy independence for any household. Systems are quite complex, so to implement them, you need to contact specialists who know what they are doing. So there are usually no surprises here.
Apartment dwellers were slightly less fortunate. Due to the more limited space and often the lack of the possibility of organizing a secure connection, this consumer opted for charging stations with lithium batteries. Such devices are characterized by a more interior-friendly design, intuitive configuration and management, the ability to quickly recharge in the intervals between power outages and a large possible number of charge-discharge cycles for batteries. With proper selection of the model-in accordance with real needs-and subsequent balanced use, such a device can become a real godsend for everyday life in the modern realities of life and close the issue of regular blackouts.
In practice, however, it turned out that quite often the consumer expected too much from this technique. Despite the fact that they are still household appliances with the appropriate resource, the stations were used as a UPS. That is, they were in operation constantly and even at a time when there is voltage in the network. Another problem was when the stations turned on the opposite network, turning off the introductory circuit breaker to heal the entire apartment during power outages, while ignoring any safety warnings. What to hide: even respectable Ukrainian marketplaces officially sell "killer" cables with plugs at both ends. With this kind of use, it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong; at best, the station will be damaged, at worst, a fire will start.
As a result, service centers that officially work with such equipment are overloaded for months ahead. And those who bought their devices abroad are at risk of being left alone with their problem.
There is another option. When, trying to save money completely, car, VRLA– or even lithium batteries are connected to a conventional inverter. This solution will also work. However, unlike charging stations equipped with protection and temperature control systems, such installations are completely dependent on their operating conditions. And if the consumer does not know them perfectly or does not comply with them, it can also end in failure. These are the stories we read about in the news from time to time.
Against this backdrop, it is sometimes surprising when businesses start looking at the residential market segment in the hope of saving money. For example, traditional UPSs with VRLA batteries, which are installed in almost every server room, are unable to provide the required level of protection if, for one reason or another, there is no support from the DGU. In such a situation, it would be logical to switch to a double-conversion UPS with lithium batteries, which, although more expensive, combine all the other advantages.
The above advantages of lithium batteries are complemented by the fact that such UPSs are designed to be part of infrastructure solutions and have the appropriate life span for this. However, from time to time, when we receive requests to use charging stations or hybrid inverters for server rooms, we would like to emphasise that these systems are not designed to power server and telecommunications equipment. It would be as if 10-15 years ago we started using back-UPS to protect such equipment. Of course, technology has advanced since then, at least in the sense that modern inverter systems are capable of producing a pure "sine wave", which similar devices of those times could not boast of. But it's one thing to provide backup power for lighting and office workstations, and quite another to provide critical equipment designed to process and transmit information. After all, we all know that in today's world, information is the backbone of business, and losing it does not contribute to its success.
As you may have already understood, this article is not about brands of different types of equipment, but about approaches to choosing this equipment depending on the task at hand.
Therefore, if you are planning the energy independence of your business, home or household and do not have enough experience, then contact a specialist, or even better — to several. When you experience problems with your body, you go to the doctor because you know that self-medication can be harmful to your health.
Denis SHAPOVAL,
Head of the measuring electrotechnical laboratory of SEETON GROUP LLC
Seeton, as a system integrator, provides a wide range of services in the field of uninterruptible power supply systems for office and server premises. Our specialists provide services consulting, development of technical solutions and project documentation, as well as implementation of such systems. The company has experience in building engineering infrastructure for data centers both as a general contractor and as separate subsystems (SCS, power supply systems, air conditioning, electric lighting and security).
The company has created an electrical laboratory with a corresponding fleet of measuring equipment, which has the ability to conduct acceptance tests of 0.4 kV electrical networks. also, the laboratory specialists perform technical inspection of power supply systems for office and server premises, measure the main electrical parameters of the network, including schedules of daily consumption of electrical equipment. Based on the results of such a survey, a report is developed with appropriate measurement protocols and, if necessary, specific technical modernization proposals to improve the power supply system to increase its reliability. As a separate service, the daily consumption of electrical equipment in the office and server rooms can be measured to determine the maximum power and then select the UPS to protect the equipment.
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