I needed to find a solution for my parents and mother in law to watch tv and run Wi-Fi etc. during 4 hours continuous load shedding.

Built 2 system 9 months ago in a plastic utility "ammo" box and works very well, their friends and my people at work asking me to build for them to , so "JuiceBox" started.

350W pure sine wave inverter, 640wh Lithium battery and 7ah Victron lithium capable charger.

Here's my FB page, I sell them for R8750 each and can ship anywhere in SA.

 

https://www.facebook.com/JuiceBoxSA

2 page Brochure.pdf

1 hour ago, Chris_H said:

I needed to find a solution for my parents and mother in law to watch tv and run Wi-Fi etc. during 4 hours continuous load shedding.

Built 2 system 9 months ago in a plastic utility "ammo" box and works very well, their friends and my people at work asking me to build for them to , so "JuiceBox" started.

350W pure sine wave inverter, 640wh Lithium battery and 7ah Victron lithium capable charger.

Here's my FB page, I sell them for R8750 each and can ship anywhere in SA.

 

https://www.facebook.com/JuiceBoxSA

2 page Brochure.pdf 1.06 MB · 1 download

Good to put a person and name behind the Juicebox I read about some months ago. 

Most people, especially end users, have barely a grasp what an inverter is, let alone understand that these devices are not very efficient.  20 to 50W idle consumption is not uncommon.  So to put this in context, if the end-user wants to run a laptop and a WiFi router, then it means the the inverter can self-consume as much precious battery power than the required load.  This is a frightening thought, considering the expense of the batteries.

The above reason is why am so against inverter use.  There are many, many instances where an inverter is not warranted.  The problem is that nobody provides inverter-less solutions, and yes, there are some hurdles to overcome.  Sadly, there is no plug and play solution.

@Chris_h, I would like to refer to your Juicebox as an ACJuiceBox.  At R8750 it is very good value, I think your margin must be quite small.  There are many commercial products that offer similar performance.  Many use Lead Acid batteries which is obviously not ideal.  I propose that you, or someone else that has the time and wants to fill a gap in the market, makes a DCJuiceBox.  I have yet to see such a product.

The DCJuiceBox would be similarly packaged but would NOT come with an inverter.  Instead, you would mount two Boost regulators that are pre-set to output 19VDC.  (These typically cost R100 each.) You would also include two cigarette lighter sockets for raw battery voltage and some high current USB sockets.  Individual outputs should be switchable (so as to reduce quiescent current consumption further, by turning off circuits that are not required).  Cheap and readily available car fuses should be used to protect the 12VDC outputs and also the various regulators.

Most laptops run from 19VDC.  Many PC monitors as well as miniPCs also use 19VDC.  And a few 32" and smaller TVs (Samsung for instance) run from 19VDC.   More and more electronics make use of USB chargers and you can get 3W and 6W 12V spot-lights.  Set-top boxes and routers are normally rated for 12VDC as well.  Yes, a charging battery can go up to 14.5VDC, it ***SHOULD*** not be a problem but one cannot say with 100%.  I personally would not hesitate to power a set-top box from say 13.5VDC as they all use further switching regulators.  To be on the save side, one could add 2 or 3 silicon diodes in series with the output.  In charging mode, these diodes are left in circuit, when the charger is done, a relay could short-circuit the dropping diodes.  Or one could forgo the power loss and leave one or two diodes permanently in series.  Still better would be some voltage monitor that could switch a relay or MOSFET, but that would add some cost and might not be so easy to source.

A DCJuiceBox is certainly not for everyone but it would be good to have such an option available, at least for those user that are a bit tech savvy.  The cost savings on the inverter, battery savings or longer run-times (when using same batteries) and silent (fan-less) operation are all huge advantages.

40 minutes ago, Modina said:

Most people, especially end users, have barely a grasp what an inverter is, let alone understand that these devices are not very efficient.  20 to 50W idle consumption is not uncommon.  So to put this in context, if the end-user wants to run a laptop and a WiFi router, then it means the the inverter can self-consume as much precious battery power than the required load.  This is a frightening thought, considering the expense of the batteries.

The above reason is why am so against inverter use.  There are many, many instances where an inverter is not warranted.  The problem is that nobody provides inverter-less solutions, and yes, there are some hurdles to overcome.  Sadly, there is no plug and play solution.

@Chris_h, I would like to refer to your Juicebox as an ACJuiceBox.  At R8750 it is very good value, I think your margin must be quite small.  There are many commercial products that offer similar performance.  Many use Lead Acid batteries which is obviously not ideal.  I propose that you, or someone else that has the time and wants to fill a gap in the market, makes a DCJuiceBox.  I have yet to see such a product.

The DCJuiceBox would be similarly packaged but would NOT come with an inverter.  Instead, you would mount two Boost regulators that are pre-set to output 19VDC.  (These typically cost R100 each.) You would also include two cigarette lighter sockets for raw battery voltage and some high current USB sockets.  Individual outputs should be switchable (so as to reduce quiescent current consumption further, by turning off circuits that are not required).  Cheap and readily available car fuses should be used to protect the 12VDC outputs and also the various regulators.

Most laptops run from 19VDC.  Many PC monitors as well as miniPCs also use 19VDC.  And a few 32" and smaller TVs (Samsung for instance) run from 19VDC.   

What would the buzz around town be if you sell these units and the buyers have a Dell, Acer or Lenovo laptop that needs a anti pirate 3rd pin on the DC socket together with the 19V supply. 

Many multi connection point universal chargers fail to charge Dell laptops due to the above. Years ago some had a Dell connector but it only kept the battery at the SOC it was when connected. 

Inverters no sweat. Just plug in your normal adaptor. Not sure what inverter these units have but I have China high frequency inverters that have a below 10W standing load. This is for 750 and 1500W full time rating. 

I think you get the 50W from the power transformer type of inverters in 2/3kW size. 

Edited February 27, 20233 yr by Scorp007

@Scorp007 You are correct, the power plugs are a problem.  On my Lenovo miniPC I had to resort to buying a spare charger just to obtain the correct plug & cable.  An expense of about R 300 which I will pay any day for the luxury of having an always-on system that is noiseless and has basically zero idle consumption.  Small inverters of 2KVA or less are normally either of very poor quality or prohibitively expensive, at least when compared to say, a 1KVA or 3KVA Axpert Inverter.

On 2023/02/27 at 6:06 PM, Modina said:

Most people, especially end users, have barely a grasp what an inverter is, let alone understand that these devices are not very efficient.  20 to 50W idle consumption is not uncommon.  So to put this in context, if the end-user wants to run a laptop and a WiFi router, then it means the the inverter can self-consume as much precious battery power than the required load.  This is a frightening thought, considering the expense of the batteries.

The above reason is why am so against inverter use.  There are many, many instances where an inverter is not warranted.  The problem is that nobody provides inverter-less solutions, and yes, there are some hurdles to overcome.  Sadly, there is no plug and play solution.

@Chris_h, I would like to refer to your Juicebox as an ACJuiceBox.  At R8750 it is very good value, I think your margin must be quite small.  There are many commercial products that offer similar performance.  Many use Lead Acid batteries which is obviously not ideal.  I propose that you, or someone else that has the time and wants to fill a gap in the market, makes a DCJuiceBox.  I have yet to see such a product.

The DCJuiceBox would be similarly packaged but would NOT come with an inverter.  Instead, you would mount two Boost regulators that are pre-set to output 19VDC.  (These typically cost R100 each.) You would also include two cigarette lighter sockets for raw battery voltage and some high current USB sockets.  Individual outputs should be switchable (so as to reduce quiescent current consumption further, by turning off circuits that are not required).  Cheap and readily available car fuses should be used to protect the 12VDC outputs and also the various regulators.

Most laptops run from 19VDC.  Many PC monitors as well as miniPCs also use 19VDC.  And a few 32" and smaller TVs (Samsung for instance) run from 19VDC.   More and more electronics make use of USB chargers and you can get 3W and 6W 12V spot-lights.  Set-top boxes and routers are normally rated for 12VDC as well.  Yes, a charging battery can go up to 14.5VDC, it ***SHOULD*** not be a problem but one cannot say with 100%.  I personally would not hesitate to power a set-top box from say 13.5VDC as they all use further switching regulators.  To be on the save side, one could add 2 or 3 silicon diodes in series with the output.  In charging mode, these diodes are left in circuit, when the charger is done, a relay could short-circuit the dropping diodes.  Or one could forgo the power loss and leave one or two diodes permanently in series.  Still better would be some voltage monitor that could switch a relay or MOSFET, but that would add some cost and might not be so easy to source.

A DCJuiceBox is certainly not for everyone but it would be good to have such an option available, at least for those user that are a bit tech savvy.  The cost savings on the inverter, battery savings or longer run-times (when using same batteries) and silent (fan-less) operation are all huge advantages.

hi Modina, thank your for the detailed response.  Although my system is AC, the inverter has a fairly good efficiency of 90%, compared to some of these backup trolleys with inverters that has as low as 60% efficiency, the downside to a DC only system is you cut out your AC devices for utilising it, as well has the complexity of having to cater for different DC voltages.

MY main selling point is having batteries with 3000+ cycles compared to the Ecoflow/Gizzu's etc you looking at 500 to 1000 Cycles. Mine is modular so you can easily upgrade or replace components. When these other small fancy boxes fail after warranty period you sitting with a big door stop.

30 minutes ago, Chris_H said:

hi Modina, thank your for the detailed response.  Although my system is AC, the inverter has a fairly good efficiency of 90%, compared to some of these backup trolleys with inverters that has as low as 60% efficiency, the downside to a DC only system is you cut out your AC devices for utilising it, as well has the complexity of having to cater for different DC voltages.

MY main selling point is having batteries with 3000+ cycles compared to the Ecoflow/Gizzu's etc you looking at 500 to 1000 Cycles. Mine is modular so you can easily upgrade or replace components. When these other small fancy boxes fail after warranty period you sitting with a big door stop.

@Chris_H

Thanks for sharing some more information. I like your modular approach with your design. I feel it is early days and belief we need to see if this wave of boxes is going to end well. The bit I have looked around I could not find any battery replacement information. Yes you can get an extra battery but the original should also be available. If not as you said the most expensive door stop.