Battery Backup Inverter Sizing..Modified or Pure Sine preferred?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Val

Val

Member
Mar 17, 2012
121
NY
Ok... If I want to put a battery backup on the 2006 Harman Accentra, I can always go by the manufacturers power specs .

But sometimes people with actual experience using an inverter specifically on a pellet stove might suggest going more watts? Or sometimes does a smaller inverter has the reserve capacity to run the stoves automatic igniter? Also...I would think a modified sine inverter is just fine to use, but do cheaper inverters put out crappy sine waves?

I am familiar with the Stove Sentry SF707.

If I were to hook up a battery backup to the Harman Accentra or P43, what would you suggest?
(Please note: this is expensive, I know it is so I do these projects in stages and dont buy everything at once...no hurry)

I think Harman recommends the SF503A rated at 750 watts for automatic ignition.
But has anyone run the SF512 at 550 watts for this model?

Ok...Will the SF707, rated at 600 watts work for this model? It is not so much the pure sine wave quality, but I really like the switch and charger. To me, you would pay extra anyways for a transfer switch, if you bought one separate and wanted one. The SF709 is 1000 watts, but then we are getting higher and higher into pricing.

I can always buy aftermarket inverters and transfer switch and do my own setup, but a lot of times I don't know the quality of the inverter or the switch. It seems like you have no choice but to pay more for something better quality that will run a circuit board, as opposed to cheap inverters to run a fridge or lights...etc.

I dont even trust a generator, unless it was an inverter quality to run a pellet stove. I wonder if anyone has wrecked a circuit board using irratic voltage?

Thanks.
 
This is what I'm building now:
http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-806-1206-PROwatt-SW-600-p/806-1206.htm
http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-808-0915-PROwatt-SW-Transfer-Switch-p/808-0915.htm
I already had the inverter and battery so I'm going this route instead of a UPS..
Some one should reply with real experience. How long does the auto ignition stay on for and can the lower watt inverter surge rating handle it? Also because you have auto ignition on the P43 or Accentra I believe it will go into shut down mode on Modified Sine Wave..
 
TimfromMA said:
I built a battery backup for my stove using and APC and a pair of marine batteries. You can read about it here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/index.php?threads/Homemade-Battery-Backup.125698/
Click to expand...
I see that and I am surprised that a "computer style" battery backup works. I looked it up only briefly and I think it must be 865 watts output at 120 volt. I often thought computer backup packs were designed for lower watts. But I know you had to do bigger batteries, not only because the original batteries died, but because the original batteries are too tiny. were you able to retain the charging system on the APC to keep the big batteries charged- although they would take longer to recharge than original tiny ones. Also, if those big batteries were liquid units, I suspect they need a different type of "charging" pattern than the tiny sealed batteries. Overall, I like the APC idea but I often wonder how well they would work because I often thought you need extra surge power to handle a motor startup and I never thought electronics APC would do that the same as a utility style inverter.
 
gfreek said:
This is what I'm building now:
http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-806-1206-PROwatt-SW-600-p/806-1206.htm
http://www.donrowe.com/Xantrex-808-0915-PROwatt-SW-Transfer-Switch-p/808-0915.htm
I already had the inverter and battery so I'm going this route instead of a UPS..
Some one should reply with real experience. How long does the auto ignition stay on for and can the lower watt inverter surge rating handle it? Also because you have auto ignition on the P43 or Accentra I believe it will go into shut down mode on Modified Sine Wave..
Click to expand...
I like that inverter and switch, but is 600 watts enough power? And what I thought was interesting was the switch...that the switch plugs into the inverter and the pellet stove gets connected to the transfer switch. I know on Stove sentry, the stove will plug into the inverter, and the inverter plugs into the switch. Kind of backwards where the switch seems to be put inline. That is something to look into- how different these inverter/ switch set ups can be. Also- what are you doing for charging? Maybe a simple battery tender hooked up? those are nice little chargers.
 
SKOAL MAN said:
Two years and 10 blackouts later! http://www.harborfreight.com/750-watt-continuous-1500-watt-peak-power-inverter-66817.html[/quoteI ]
did this work on an automatic ignition pellet stove? I am familiar with this inverter because my boyfriend has it in his car. It works well in the car but I remember that if something had a power draw a little higher than its rating it wouldn't power it, I think like a drill or hair dryer...but I could be mistaken...I am convinced he has the 750 and not the 400 watt one.
Click to expand...
 
Val said:
I like that inverter and switch, but is 600 watts enough power?
Click to expand...
For my Harman, yes. No auto igniter, just comb blower, auger motor, and room blower. I test ran the inverter on the stove, battery voltage dropped to 11.9V and settled there for at least 2 hours, drawing 100watts, so I had more output and time to go. Low voltage shut down is 10.5V. Waiting on the relay switch..I use battery tenders. I've been doing a lot of research on this. And use what I have already have .. Trying to keep the stove going, no smoke in house, or shut it down, when I'm not home, and till I connect my generator.. So will see how this all goes..
 
Last edited:
We ran our Quad 1000 3 days on a Coleman 1750 Gen set

The room air fan whined a bit, but seemed to shrug it off without bother.
 
Not that I would ever (I have standby generation with latching in 45 seconds after dropout) but I'd have to run pure sine wave for the electronics end.
 
Val said:
Ok... If I want to put a battery backup on the 2006 Harman Accentra, I can always go by the manufacturers power specs .

But sometimes people with actual experience using an inverter specifically on a pellet stove might suggest going more watts? Or sometimes does a smaller inverter has the reserve capacity to run the stoves automatic igniter? Also...I would think a modified sine inverter is just fine to use, but do cheaper inverters put out crappy sine waves?

I am familiar with the Stove Sentry SF707.

If I were to hook up a battery backup to the Harman Accentra or P43, what would you suggest?
(Please note: this is expensive, I know it is so I do these projects in stages and dont buy everything at once...no hurry)

I think Harman recommends the SF503A rated at 750 watts for automatic ignition.
But has anyone run the SF512 at 550 watts for this model?

Ok...Will the SF707, rated at 600 watts work for this model? It is not so much the pure sine wave quality, but I really like the switch and charger. To me, you would pay extra anyways for a transfer switch, if you bought one separate and wanted one. The SF709 is 1000 watts, but then we are getting higher and higher into pricing.

I can always buy aftermarket inverters and transfer switch and do my own setup, but a lot of times I don't know the quality of the inverter or the switch. It seems like you have no choice but to pay more for something better quality that will run a circuit board, as opposed to cheap inverters to run a fridge or lights...etc.

I dont even trust a generator, unless it was an inverter quality to run a pellet stove. I wonder if anyone has wrecked a circuit board using irratic voltage?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the UPS rec'd by the Harman supposed to provide power for a shutdown and nothing else? And that the modified sine wave output is recognized by the Harman as the signal to go into shutdown pulse mode?

If so, it would seem to me that in order to avoid the auto shutdown, you'd have to go with a pure sine UPS. And, if you want to run it for any amount of time, you'd have to go the route of Tim by adding batteries, or there are more expensive commercial APC units that can connect in series with battery packs.

As for whether a small UPS can run an igniter, I have a CyberPower PFC1000, which is a 1000VA, 600 watt unit, but it's got a pure sine wave, and it can run the 330 watt igniter in my stove, the only problem is that it can run for only about 10 to 12 minutes, which means that the power will be all gone by the time the igniter shuts off. Under normal running loads of between 80 and 110 watts, the UPS' live load readout says it can run for 30 to 40 minutes. There is a larger unit in this line with 1500VA/900Wm which could give you more time. The specs say 129 minutes at 50 watts.

I don't need to run just on the UPS since I have a standby generator, which kicks on, I just need to bridge between when the power goes out and when the generator comes on, about 20 secs.

If I didn't have the standby generator, I'd consider the same UPS, which should give me over 30 minutes to connect and turn on either an inverter like gfreek, since I have a hybrid, the car will automatically come to keep the battery charged, or connect a pure sine gas inverter generator. I once looked at a Ramsond Sinemate1500. Should do the trick.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

F
Anyone Using a Pure Sine Inverter for Harman Accentra ?
Replies
0
Views
1K
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
FionaC
F
A
Inverter/Battery backup for Harman P68
Replies
28
Views
8K
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
DeadTreeBurner
D
rhanauer
Battery backup plus portable inverter generator
Replies
17
Views
3K
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
Ashful
Ashful
Mjhco6
Harman P43 battery backup
Replies
19
Views
5K
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
bogieb
bogieb
B
Solar/battery powered inverter generators.
Replies
35
Views
4K
The Green Room
woodgeek
woodgeek
Top Bottom
Back