My intro and first projects

Hi all,

My first post.  Hoping to tackle a few small projects at home + at parents’ home and I will definitely need some advice.  These projects are mostly focused on backup power for essential items, led lighting and CCTV.  My knowledge on these subjects is minimal.  Motivation behind planning the projects is primarily security based but also I’m considering a few strange twists which come from curiosity.

So, the project I’m considering at the parent’s house involves 4 things:

1.       Network backup power > Basically keep the fibre and wifi running at least during load shedding and potentially for longer outages.  Probably some off-the-shelf UPS involved here.

2.       LED Lights outside  >  Basic LED lighting outside the house for security purposes, especially during load shedding and other outages.  No need to be able to play cricket under these lights – just need to see what’s going on around the house from the inside.  Need some good coverage all around the house without adding too much (or any) electricity costs and potentially even add some smart controls to it (at least an easy remote switch).

3.       Secondary indoor lighting system > This is where I get a bit crazy.  I want to enable a secondary lighting system inside the house mostly as backup for load shedding. I’m saying “secondary” because I have no desire to tamper with the house’s wiring system (i.e. the primary lights system).

4.       CCTV > This becomes straight forward again.  A few CCTV cameras around the outside of the house.  Requirements are they work during load shedding and don’t use wifi for video transmission.

There are a few basic design principles to consider.  These are:

·         Implement solutions for all 4 problem statements above separately, i.e. independent from each other or combined in groups for example power network backup and CCTV together while running the indoor and outdoor lights on a separate system.

·         Make use of 22V devices (LEDs, indoor lights etc) and run them all off a big UPS/inverter i.e. a centrally powered solution running everything off mains power and cutting over to UPS battery + inverter when mains fails.

·         Power everything centrally still but keep it all off grid with 12V LEDs and devices, a big battery and solar panels.  No need for an inverter and save on mains power costs.

I’m leaning towards:

·         Doing the network backup and CCTV system together on mains and one UPS.

·         Running the lights indoor secondary system + ourdoor off large battery & solar only.

I already have considered quite a few lower level solution details but this post got really long so I cut those out for now.   So then that's my very long introduction story.  Probably not ideal to discuss the whole project here in the intro thread.

I will probably repost most of this and my additional solution details in a more suitable forum area OR, break it up into smaller sub projects and ask more specific advice in those relevant sections on the forum.

Thanks

Christoff