Our old APC ups system has destroyed the battery pack. This is somewhat my fault for not maintaining water levels in the pack but also the fault of the ups because it has been overcharging constantly. I now have a new battery pack and a new and much larger 5.3kva ups which should be able to maintain the new pack better. I also have quarterly maintenance checks scheduled for the batteries now, so nothing should go unmonitored.
Here is an updated photo of the racks as they sit now. I am using one of the Dell's for this and other websites, and two are running vmware with various servers and services.
This is the new 8000btu window unit. Using the plugin power meter I was able to trend the smaller unit and this newer, larger and more efficient unit and have come to realize that this newer one is cheaper to run. So yay!
This is the sub breaker panel that I assembled to run the racks. It plugs into a 220V 4 wire plug so I have access to neutral and can drop the standard US split 120V if needed but it can also supply single phase 220v which is what the ups uses.
This is the nifty whole house power meter that I bought. It clamps around each leg of the mains and has a powerline signal injector. The meter can then plug into any outlet in the house to receive an update every second. Works like a champ and has enlightened me to a lot of power hogs. The meter is the first and last thing I look at for the day and when I am coming and going. I can tell if something is on that shouldnt be with a glance.
I only have 125amp service to the house but so far that has been enough to run all the things that I run. I have been planning to add air conditioning to the garage and then add a large laser machine in there to operate a home based business, and that will come close to our power limits across our old copper wires. Luckily we are still on a very ancient PUC controlled energy plan so our rates have been rock solid over the years whereas everybody elses has fluctuated and skyrocketed. Adding up all the fees and usage, I believe that we typically get billed just under .12 per kwh and that drops as we use more power. I have a nice spreadsheet of the last ten years of power usage here. And when I arrived, it skyrocketed of course.
Some day I would like to add in a double-sized photo voltaic system as well as a vertical wind turbine all connected to a netplus system. Battery banks are a pain in the butt, but I could maintain such a system of course if ever needed.
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Kazko
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