Anyone use a UPS as a backup power source for an electric fence charger?

[bayareapilot]

Just wondering if any of you have tried plugging a fence charger into a UPS (that is uninterruptible power supply)?

For those of you who have done this as sort of a backup in case your electricity fails, about how long will it run your fence charger?

What started me thinking about it was two things, one recent power outage at night, the other is I've been using a wattage voltage measurer on the power cord that goes to the fence charger and I notice that the current draws rather low. Starting me thinking that maybe a 1500 rated UPS might be able to run things for a while at least a good handful of hours? Perhaps?

 

[Ted Brown]

I have no direct experience with a fence charger & UPS but do have experience with a PC and UPS.

You should be able to figure the answer out yourself. The charger should have the watts usage available either on the device or in documentation or directly from the manufacturer support lines. UPSs come in a variety of sizes/prices go to the manufacturer website and they will have storage size and available watts information. Obviously both the size of the batteries in the UPS and the wattage used by the charger will vary by model.

I guess that chargers use very little energy when they are in "monitor mode" and significantly more when they are in the act of deterring predators. Given that there are solar based chargers it seems likely that a charger/UPS set up is plausible. Of course you will have the logistics of protection from elements and recharging the UPS and...

Good luck.

 

[cmom]

I have used a auto jump starter with an inverter when we had lost power. It held up over night and was still going strong when I disconnected it. I also put a battery maintainer on it so if the power did come back on it would maintain the battery in the jump starter. I also have lights in my coops but they draw very little, 1 watt each. I have 9 coops with lights. Try it as an experiment and see how long it lasts. A few years ago we went through a hurricane. We did loose power for a week. I put a battery powered radio on a talk radio station so the predators would hear voices in our barn which is behind the coops. It may have been enough because I had no issues. I also have game cameras and did see some predators on the cameras. Good luck...

 

[bayareapilot]

I have no direct experience with a fence charger & UPS but do have experience with a PC and UPS.

You should be able to figure the answer out yourself. The charger should have the watts usage available either on the device or in documentation or direclty from the manufacturer support lines. UPSs come in a variety of sizes/prices go to the manufacturer website and they will have storage size and available watts information. Obviously both the size of the batteries in the UPS and the wattage used by the charger will vary by model.

I guess that chargers use very little energy when they are in "monitor mode" and significantly more when they are in the act of deterring predators. Given that there are solar based chargers it seems likely that a charger/UPS set up is plausible. Of course you will have the logistics of protection from elements and recharging the UPS and...

Good luck.

Many thanks!

Yeah I had no trouble figuring out the length of time a UPS would support a computer monitor router system. The math is relatively straightforward. Since the charger and standby state uses very little as I witnessed on the usage monitor that I have attached to the line that goes out to the fence charger.
I'm guessing I should be able to get a good handful of hours from the UPS should the power go down in that in my area anyway it's usually more than enough time for the power to come back on.
The reason for my query I was wondering if anyone had tried that before and I was wondering if there any issues that I hadn't considered when plugging into a fence charger?

 

[Ted Brown]

The reason for my query I was wondering if anyone had tried that before and I was wondering if there any issues that I hadn't considered when plugging into a fence charger?

I cannot think of any, UPS are pretty simple devices that are built to isolate the connected device from the electrical supply, pretty safe.

As I indicated above I think your biggest issue will be protecting it against weather, I would consider using an enclosed plastic box, making a hole for the wiring and sealing with silicone.

If you go ahead update to let folks know how it works out.

 

[bayareapilot]

I cannot think of any, UPS are pretty simple devices that are built to isolate the connected device from the electrical supply, pretty safe.

As I indicated above I think your biggest issue will be protecting it against weather, I would consider using an enclosed plastic box, making a hole for the wiring and sealing with silicone.

If you go ahead update to let folks know how it works out.

Will do. My plan was to place the UPS inside my backyard tool shed protected from the elements

 

[Ted Brown]

Will do. My plan was to place the UPS inside my backyard tool shed protected from the elements

Better yet, for some reason I was thinking it would be outside.

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Just wondering if any of you have tried plugging a fence charger into a UPS (that is uninterruptible power supply)?

For those of you who have done this as sort of a backup in case your electricity fails, about how long will it run your fence charger?

What started me thinking about it was two things, one recent power outage at night, the other is I've been using a wattage voltage measurer on the power cord that goes to the fence charger and I notice that the current draws rather low. Starting me thinking that maybe a 1500 rated UPS might be able to run things for a while at least a good handful of hours? Perhaps?

What is a UPS?

 

[bayareapilot]

What is a UPS?

Uninterruptible power supply

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Uninterruptible power supply

Thank you!
Nice signature by the way!