Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #32
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    "Grounding" is done for, roughly, Three Reasons:

    1) Some things need grounding to work correctly--some florescent tube fixtures and some spark ignition on gas stoves (pretty rare).

    2) Lightning grounding: For smaller systems, generally nobody bothers to ground. Fixed systems, and systems in "lightning country"--You need to think about it... You have solar panels on the roof of an RV and battery+inverter+appliances inside--We need to talk.

    3) Grounding to prevent a short circuit from "energizing" an appliance or starting a fire. You don't want to grab a metal cased electric drill and get a shock, or have a short circuit in a lamp -- And when you touch the fixture -- You get a shock.

    For smaller/portable systems, generally nobody worries about grounds. All of the normal appliances (and solar power system) you would power will work fine without grounding.

    For systems mounted in a vehicle (RV, Car, Pickup, etc.), Generally you just use the vehicle chassis as the "safety ground"... Tie the Battery Negative terminal to the chassis ground (just like your car battery is tied to the body/frame of the vehicle).

    For Cabins/small homes... Generally a good idea to treat the cabin just like you main home... You ground the AC per NEC -- National Electric Code -- And tie the Battery Negative to the same AC ground rod/safety ground/water pipe ground. Outside metal structures (solar panel metal frames, metal racking, etc.) is also tied with safety ground wire back to the common main ground rod.

    In lightning country--Need to also to ground the various components using rules that recognize how lightning strikes/flows... Lightning is a "radio frequency" event and has different rules than NEC green wire safety ground would follow)... If you need lightning grounding, again, we need to talk more.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • elia
    elia Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭
    #33
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    BB -- Thank you for your answer. I'll keep it (along with the rest of this thread) for reference.

    This would be a simple small portable system for now, just for backing up a laptop and router, and maybe using a light as well, during power outages. I'd use a small battery maintainer/charger to keep the battery charged, probably powered from ac (possibly a 5W solar panel at some point for trickle charging). I'm leaning strongly towards a using small inverter with two ac outlets.

    I'd like to keep the entire setup indoors. Using one or more AGM batteries appeals to me.

    We do get lightning occasionally. It's common practice to unplug electronics and take other safety precautions during thunderstorms; that's something I do automatically as a former fire lookout.
    The house is very small and doesn't have a lightning rod.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #34
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    Just make the solar array "pluggable" next to the outside wall--And if lightning is predicted, pull the plug and move them ~7' or farther apart outside the home... Then you will have less chance of bringing the "lighting inside".

    The small battery bank+inverter+wiring in the room--Don't worry about it (anymore than if you have an extension cord in the room).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • elia
    elia Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭
    #35
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    I can easily live with that. Thank you very much.
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  • baker
    baker Registered Users Posts: 2
    #36
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors
    Blackcherry04 wrote: »
    The only thing not mentioned is making sure you have the correct polarity. There is never a guarantee that one or the other is the + / - on the power supply or modem. Some will be marked and some not. Generally it's the center post, Positive, but not always.

    The wrong connection will give you Magic Smoke real quick.
    .

    That's happend to me when I connected the router to battery in wrong polarity , is there a chance to repair it or I need to buy new one ??? Please I need an answer as quick as possible
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #37
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    Without a schematic--You really do not know what to replace.

    And, the wrong voltage can stress other parts--So even if you can get it working again (perhaps it is just a fused traced on the circuit board)--Other parts can fail months/years later--So it would not be worth while to spend too much money attempting to fix the router.

    Since, at this point, you have nothing to lose--Pop open the case and see if you can find a failed trace or fuse. Sometimes you get lucky.

    Sorry this is the reason for the first post on the forum.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • baker
    baker Registered Users Posts: 2
    #38
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors
    BB. wrote: »
    Without a schematic--You really do not know what to replace.

    And, the wrong voltage can stress other parts--So even if you can get it working again (perhaps it is just a fused traced on the circuit board)--Other parts can fail months/years later--So it would not be worth while to spend too much money attempting to fix the router.

    Since, at this point, you have nothing to lose--Pop open the case and see if you can find a failed trace or fuse. Sometimes you get lucky.

    Sorry this is the reason for the first post on the forum.

    -Bill


    Thank you for replay , I didn't notice any failed fuse or anything wrong even there is no scent of smoke, is there any hope to repair
    And what are the parts usually failed?
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #39
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    Re: Powering 12v router from a 12v battery bank, 12v connectors

    Don't really know... It depends on the input to the circuit board. You could have a simple switching power supply that blew out a switching transistor or it could be the regulator IC that blew--And you have to find out what they used and replace that (may be surface mount--a whole 'nother round of fun).

    Or, the "voltage" could have passed through the DC input section and wiped out various IC's/components on the board. "Back in the day", the mfg. would wipe off IC markings to make it more difficult to copy/repair their systems and bypassing the OEM.

    If there is nothing obvious and you don't have any idea of what failed--Just replace the unit (new or from Craig's List, etc.).

    I have helped design, manufacture, and repair larger networking systems more than a decade ago--I am no expert in this stuff--And I would not waste my time--Especially one that was hit with reverse or over voltage on the DC power input--Electronics are just not designed to withstand these types of events (in general).

    If you need to power from DC--You might ask here for recommendations of Routers that meet your needs and work well from battery DC systems. And there are some units very popular with people that like to download Open Source software on to these units.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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