Calculating the ideal size of a home UPS battery is critical to the success of the project. For, if we under size our requirements, the system’s performance will disappoint us. Whereas, as if we over provide capacity, we will have bought more than we need. The calculation is quite simple. We just need to know how much power we will require for how long, and run the numbers.
Factors Influencing the Ideal Size of a Home UPS System.
Home UPS systems, within the average budget, will not cope well with the dryer running, and the electric oven on full bore. Therefore, we have to eliminate high demand and non-essential items, if we are to cope with a temporary power interruption.
We begin the calculation on the demand side, by figuring out the amount of electricity we will need to power our core requirements. To do so, we need to know their total watts (or volts and amps) which we should find on their sticker nameplates.
- Watts are the amount of energy a device needs to function normally.
- Volts are the pressure with which the energy flows through the device.
- Amps indicate the rate at which the energy flows through the device.
Critical Calculation to Ensure Optimum UPS Size
You need one, maybe two pieces of information to calculate the ideal size of your home UPS system. Let’s use your television as an example. Read off the number of watts on the sticker plate, and multiply it by the number of hours of the outage you want to cover, to come to the size of the battery you require.
If you can’t find the watts on the television, then you should find the volts and amps listed there. Multiply those two factors together to calculate the watts. Repeat the process with the other critical devices on your list, to determine your total energy demand in watts.
Now source an inverter-battery set at least 20% larger than you require. That way, you should avoid over-straining your home UPS system, and be able to continue when the power is down. A kilowatt is a thousand watts, in case you wondered.
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