wrote in message news:a2add6e8-9f45-43be-a90a-

stuff snipped

True, but it doesn't have to be used that way. He could have a
typical UPS that you'd use for say a PC, leave it plugged in
and only connect it manually to lights when the power goes out.
If he does that by plugging in some floor lamps, that's cool.
But it sounded like he wants to put plugs on the end of his
existing light circuits in the house, which isn't kosher.

Oy vay, is it NOT kosher. He asked if there was a way to do with that would
not use a transfer switch AND would be "inspectable." No way, Jose. I got
a whole bunch of Philips' "Stumble Lights" from a wholesaler a few years
back. They are 4 LED units with motion and ambient light detectors that run
off a 9VDC wall wart. To make them work during a power failure I removed
the wall warts and now they are all connected to a deep discharge, 80Ah
wheelchair battery. Because they draw so little power on standby they can
(and have) run for days when the main power has failed.

Fortunately, the long wire runs back to the main battery drop the voltage
almost exactly enough to run at 9VDC. As you walk through the house, even
in a total power failure, the Stumble lights sense motion and light up the
way. They've saved a lot of banged up knees and worse. Installed their
precursor (strings of LED lights) after I forgot I had left a big, black
stereo speaker on the floor and broke my toe on it one night.

Yes, I agree. But from what he's written, I think the intention
is to use a basic UPS that he already has and I doubt it's designed
for being hardwired in.

Agreed. While we can't be exactly sure of his intentions, the parameters he
set (using existing gear, no transfer switch and being code-compliant) seem
impossible to fulfill. At least not without an UPS the size of which I have
never seen and not even then because it would still need a transfer switch.

You could easily wire in 12VDC LED lights throughout the house on low voltag
e wiring for far less than such a massive UPS would cost. They would be far
more efficient because there would be no losses from taking a battery,
creating 110VAC from it and then powering LEDs that transform that AC back
into DC. As someone else pointed out, backfeeding the grid like that would
not be a good idea nor would the UPS last very long. Jimmie has a good
idea, it just has to be implemented in parallel with the existing lighting,
not using the existing lighting.

--
Bobby G.