Peyper Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Hi guys, What should I do do to extend my home alarm system battery life during outages. It does not last for the duration of loadshedding. This is more for the guys in my neighbourhood as I am looking at inverter and batteries for my home. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 3 hours ago, Peyper said: What should I do do to extend my home alarm system battery life during outages. It does not last for the duration of loadshedding. This is more for the guys in my neighbourhood as I am looking at inverter and batteries for my home. My sister has the same problem. The problem isn't so much that the battery doesn't have the capacity to handle two hours (well, in some cases you need to install a new battery because the one that is in there is just too old, but aside from that), it's that the charger recharges so slow that the battery isn't properly recharged by the next load-shedding slot. Seriously, these devices have really dumb chargers. There is no multi-stage charging, it literally relies on permanently floating the battery at around 13.5V. It takes a week to charge a completely empty battery if you use that strategy... So the first thing you can do, is add an external battery charger. A proper one that recharges faster, but not so fast that it blows up the battery. You can put a small solar panel on the roof and a PWM charger. Lots of people do that. You could use an old cheap UPS to power it for a bit longer. In my experience, that's going to give you maybe 15 minutes extra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Thanks @plonkster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seant Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 If you have a paradox Evo or magellan range alarm then you can increase the charge current to accommodate a larger battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 46 minutes ago, seant said: If you have a paradox Evo or magellan range alarm then you can increase the charge current to accommodate a larger battery. Mine is IDS, thanks anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNodashi Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Upgrade the battery to 18A or, even 2x 18a batteries and get a external 4A charger for it. OR hookup a small 20W solar panel and charge controller to it ___ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 59 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said: Upgrade the battery to 18A or, even 2x 18a batteries and get a external 4A charger for it. OR hookup a small 20W solar panel and charge controller to it Thanks @SilverNodashi, I will try the small Panel and charge controller. Will this WRND controller do the job? http://www.wrnd.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68&products_id=195 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNodashi Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 43 minutes ago, Peyper said: Thanks @SilverNodashi, I will try the small Panel and charge controller. Will this WRND controller do the job? http://www.wrnd.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68&products_id=195 Those cheap controllers are fine for something like this but the wrnd chargers had issues in the past. Just check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 10 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said: Those cheap controllers are fine for something like this but the wrnd chargers had issues in the past. Just check it out. I'm currently using one of them for lights during loadshedding. Seem to be OK for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisc Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 (edited) Paradox alarm panels have a much more sophisticated charger than most other panels. First of all it is a switched mode PSU. The charger measures the battery, applies power for 1 minute and takes it off for 5 seconds and measures it again I have managed to recover batteries down to 10 volts with this board On a SP6000 or MG5050, location 700 item 2 allows you to change the charge rate from 350mA to 700mA. However, its vital that you have at least a 50VA transformer attached if you are going this route. On an EVO panel, it is location 3030, item 5 Having said this, I fitted an 18 a/h battery to my system. You can work out the current draw and on page 4 of the EVO installer book there is a list of what each device draws. Another aspect to consider is to enable "power save mode" on the panel. This will switch off the backlight and thereby save power useage I can give you many hints and tips, especially for Paradox panels as I have been installing electronic security systems since 1976, and Paradox since 1988 when Spectrum became their distributor (in South Africa) Edited March 21, 2019 by chrisc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 3 hours ago, chrisc said: Paradox alarm panels have a much more sophisticated charger than most other panels. First of all it is a switched mode PSU. The charger measures the battery, applies power for 1 minute and takes it off for 5 seconds and measures it again I have managed to recover batteries down to 10 volts with this board On a SP6000 or MG5050, location 700 item 2 allows you to change the charge rate from 350mA to 700mA. However, its vital that you have at least a 50VA transformer attached if you are going this route. On an EVO panel, it is location 3030, item 5 Having said this, I fitted an 18 a/h battery to my system. You can work out the current draw and on page 4 of the EVO installer book there is a list of what each device draws. Another aspect to consider is to enable "power save mode" on the panel. This will switch off the backlight and thereby save power useage I can give you many hints and tips, especially for Paradox panels as I have been installing electronic security systems since 1976, and Paradox since 1988 when Spectrum became their distributor (in South Africa) Thanks for the info. Much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clockspeed Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 On 2019/03/20 at 8:36 PM, Peyper said: I'm currently using one of them for lights during loadshedding. Seem to be OK for now. Hi there, This looks like a really cool setup and so far seems like a good way for me to learn more about solar without a big budget. I can't seem to find suppliers for the LED 3 modules, the only one that comes up is Future light. Where did you buy yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyper Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 5 hours ago, clockspeed said: Hi there, This looks like a really cool setup and so far seems like a good way for me to learn more about solar without a big budget. I can't seem to find suppliers for the LED 3 modules, the only one that comes up is Future light. Where did you buy yours? @clockspeed I got them from www.4x4direct.co.za https://www.4x4direct.co.za/modules/8563-led-module-15-watt-ip67.html https://www.4x4direct.co.za/modules/8562-led-module-16watt.html And the Dimmer unit also from them: https://www.4x4direct.co.za/dimmers/6015-remote-controlled-dimmer-for-led-strip-12-24-volt.html?search_query=Led+dimmer&results=47 clockspeed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willief Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Good day Chrisc .I have a paradox alarm 5050 can I fit a extra 18 amp battery plus a 4 amp separate trickle charger I thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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