I've been very happy with the sidekick since I installed it with one issue. We have occasional power outages that last longer than a few minutes and the 'standard' battery doesn't last very long with the added load. I'm wondering if there is any guidance for increasing the backup battery system beyond the standard one that came with the original system. I've considered connecting a larger LiFePo4 but am unsure that the charging wall wart and/or circuitry in the panel would be correct or sufficient for that. Thought about using a different charger for such a battery but unsure how that would work when interconnected to the system (obviously would disconnect the original wall wart). Would a larger AGM type battery be a better solution and would the standard charger work (and up to what size battery)?
Any ideas, suggestions, experienced wisdom?
Increasing/changing battery backup
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GrandWizard
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Re: Increasing/changing battery backup
Whoa!
Your standard 7Ah 12Vdc SLA battery (sealed lead acid) is designed to provide 4-12 hours of battery backup for both DSC and Honeywell systems. If you don't get at least 4 hours then you have a dead battery. Battery suppliers recommend replacement after 10 years and the security industry generally says 5-8 years.
For very large systems and for systems that need to meet certain fire regulations, you could put two of these batteries in parallel to double your backup capacity.
The Sidekick only draws 80mA so its not a significant load. The big loads are usually keypads that don't have DC-DC converters onboard so they tend to draw a lot more than they should.
Your standard 7Ah 12Vdc SLA battery (sealed lead acid) is designed to provide 4-12 hours of battery backup for both DSC and Honeywell systems. If you don't get at least 4 hours then you have a dead battery. Battery suppliers recommend replacement after 10 years and the security industry generally says 5-8 years.
For very large systems and for systems that need to meet certain fire regulations, you could put two of these batteries in parallel to double your backup capacity.
The Sidekick only draws 80mA so its not a significant load. The big loads are usually keypads that don't have DC-DC converters onboard so they tend to draw a lot more than they should.
Re: Increasing/changing battery backup
Thanks for the reply. It could be that I'm due for a new battery. I've just had a couple of longer outages in the last year (one was 23 hours) that's maybe gotten me thinking about battery requirements as for very short outages the current battery seems to be working ok. I'll look into getting a replacement for the standard battery. Thanks again!