Recommended battery for powering PXI chassis

[PawelKK]

Hello,

We need to be able to power a PXI chassis for acoustic measurements with no access to the mains network. Our preferred option is to power it using a low-cost battery and inverter, that is with 230VAC, but we are concerned about the impact of dropping battery voltage and inverter stability on measurement accuracy. We would be very grateful for any advice with regards to the suitability of the battery system suggested below, as well as with regards to other recommended solutions for remote powering a PXI chassis. For reference, the hardware is:

- PXIe-1071 chassis

- PXIe-8880 controller

- PXIe-4497 DAQ card for microphone measurements

and the battery and inverter we're considering are:

https://greencell.global/en/ups-and-agm-accumulators/2358-green-cell-agm-12v-84ah-vrla-battery-gel-d...

https://greencell.global/en/power-inverters/2770-green-cell-car-power-inverter-converter-12v-to-230v...

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[santo_13 · Accepted solution]

Regarding measurement accuracy, it is not dependent on the power supply, so it is valid irrespective of the power supply you use AC Mains or UPS/Inverter (ensure that the Inverter output is sinewave).

Looks like the chassis can consume up to 500W. If you can ensure that the UPS is capable of driving a 500W load continuously with a relatively clean sinewave and choose a battery capacity to meet your runtime, you're good to go.

I am not familiar with the GreenCell brand to comment on the reliability.

[PawelKK]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

I assume it shouldn't matter if more devices are powered from the same battery (including an electric motor)? Would you say that the chassis is completely impervious to potential small fluctuations in voltage, or is it a matter of amplitude, that as long as the fluctuations are small enough they wouldn't be visible in the measurements?

[santo_13 · Accepted solution]

It does not matter if other devices are powered by the battery. If you deplete the battery low enough, the inverter might turn off automatically due to low voltage, if the inverter turns off abruptly, you might end up in a corrupted hard drive in the embedded controller.

Battery -> Inverter -> PXI Chassis (Power Supply) -> Instrument

As you can observe, there are multiple stages before any voltage fluctuation at the Battery reaches the instrument. The PXI Chassis power supply ensures that the PXI modules are supplied with a clean stable supply.