What if you had all the power you wanted or needed at 125 Vdc, but your site manager suddenly handed you a requirement for 24 Vdc to run some communication gear? You might tell him to buy a 24 V battery and a 24 V battery charger. But, these elements come with costs: initial, maintenance, and probable future battery replacement.

There is another way: for approximately the same cost as the battery charger, you can install a dc-dc converter. This product accepts a power input at 125 Vdc, and through internal magic, produces an output of 24 Vdc for your communications gear. You can eliminate the cost and maintenance requirements of another battery. Another advantage is that the output voltage won’t vary: it’s 24 Vdc regardless of whether the battery is on float or equalize, or the dc bus voltage is decreasing due to a power emergency.

Is there a downside? Well, of course. If the primary 125 Vdc battery fails, you lose communications. With a separate 24 V system, you at least would be able to call someone to inform him that the 125 V battery had failed. But, statistically, the converter approach is more reliable, since there is one less failure point.

A dc-dc converter is based on SMPS technology. Most designs are isolated, meaning that the output power is ohmically isolated from the input. A 125 Vdc system is usually floating; that is, the battery has no connection to earth ground, whereas many 24 Vdc systems are grounded (usually at the positive terminal of the battery). An isolated converter makes this possible; you ground the positive output of the dc-dc converter, and the floating operation of the 125V system won’t be affected.

Isolation, in the sense we use here, is usually expressed in volts. The minimum isolation requirement for a 125 Vdc bus would be 1,250 volts, as specified in nearly every industry standard for power conversion equipment.

If you have any requirements or any kind of query regarding the battery charger solutions, feel free to communicate with our dedicated team at any time at marketing@everexceed.com.