UPS's, battery backups and the like....

project5k

project5k

Reef enthusiast
so, on my old 75 i had a basic UPS system, it was just really a little computer one that you coulda got at any walmart or whatever a few years back... well, it wasnt really designed to carry the load of my return pump. It really wanted more of a resistive load, than an inductive one like running a pump... well, long story short, it died...

well, now that i have my 210, i'm considering what my options are for some kind of a battery backup, not for the lights, if power goes out the lights can go out, but i'm thinking i'd really like to keep at least one pump running, if not then at least a couple powerheads, just to have a little flow and gas exchange while the power is out...


so... what do yall have, and what do you reccomend?
 
I don't think you're going to get what you're lookign for out of a UPS system. I could be wrong but I think they're only designed to give you 15-20 minutes so that you can shut down the computers properly. I don't believe they're designed to give you the ability to run your computers (or fish tanks) for hours without juice.

Did you consider one of those generators that are attched to the outside of the home? But I think those things are pricey.
 
I have the ecotech marine battery backup for my vortechs. That will at least keep flow moving for around 30 hrs or so, at least that's the specs on it.
For anything more than half a day or whatever, i have a gas generator.
 
yea, all i'm looking for is a couple hours, just so if the power fails, say while i'm gone to the grocery store, then it'll keep things moving till i can get home and fire up the genny, i have a portable genny that i have used during extended outtages in the past to keep freezers and fridges and tanks running...


and you can get different sized units to run different loads different lengths of time.. where i last worked, we had a room of basically car batteries, and they would keep the servers up for about 24 hours, but that was a big load, this is only a couple hundred watts, for say 2-3 hours...

the issue i seem to be running into is the inverters in the cheaper units dont seem to like inductive loads... reverse emf and all...

echotech marine, arent thoes dc powered?
 
Last edited:
Can you use deep cycle marine batteries? You can get pumps that operate on 12v. The trick is the automatic switch to turn it on when the power to the house drops out. Maybe that's the simple part? I'm no electrician.
 
That is just a simple relay.

Hook the pump and battery up to the normaly closed contacts and then the coil up to the AC. Power goes out, causes the relay to de-energize and pump goes on. Power comes back on, relay re-energizes pumps go off. Hook up a trickle charger and it is automatic.
 
I think most any big box will sell those little battery maintainers. My friend must have a dozen of them in his garage. He's got motorcycles, go carts, ATV's, camping trailers and about 5 vehicles. He plugs one of those battery maintainers into each vehicle while it sits. The battery maintainer automatically charges any 12v battery up to about 13.8v +/- and then shuts off. It monitors the voltage as the battery sits. Every battery will slowly loose energy while it sits. When the voltage drops below a certain point (12v ?) the maintainer kicks back on and charges the battery back up to 13.8V +/-

It's automatic. Never overcharges a battery. Never lets it drain down. Always ready to go when you need it. Seams like the perfect solution if you just need short term emergency power for a couple pumps. You could keep 2 batteries fully charged all the time and probably run at least 4 pumps for a few hours. I know we used to use an electric trolling motor on my dads boat for about 6hrs before we even noticed it was starting to slow down. It still had enough juice to start the 40hp Mariner outboard after trolling all day on the battery.
 
Rcpilot said:
Can you use deep cycle marine batteries? You can get pumps that operate on 12v. The trick is the automatic switch to turn it on when the power to the house drops out. Maybe that's the simple part? I'm no electrician.
Click to expand...

You can just get an inverter then you can use AC pumps on the battery. And like BJ said a simple relay will start and stop the pumps.
 
Read the thread people.

He already has a portable generator.

He wants instant - emergency power for a couple pumps to keep the aquarium oxygenated in a 2hr power outage. NOT an overnight power outage. He ALREADY has a generator for that.
 
What would be cool is to have an electric start generator that when the power dropped it would start automatically to power your tank, fridge, etc. Then when power returned it would shift everything back to the grid and shut itself down. I know auto shifts are out there but don't know how you could get it to only power a few items.
 
Just thought about this. The battery UPS probably didnt work out too good because they are designed so you can safely shut down a computer in a couple minutes. Not to constantly be drained by running something. I would bet that if you could swap the battery out with a deep cycle battery, it would work a bit better.

Also you might be able to work something out with a battery powered Ace in the Hole sump pump.
 
Most Computer Battery UPSs do not simulate syne wave and your water pumps will thus make a rattling sound. YYou could run a heater and airpump off a UPS for a while
 
hmmm dc pumps huh... now we may be getting somewhere... i have a 30 amp 12vdc rack mounted power supply with a battery maint/backup port on it... it can handle any battery i wanna use, i just have to open the case and set the voltage levels depending on what chemistry of battery i end up with.....


hmmm dc pumps...... where to find thoes, and holy crap, how expensive are they gonna be?
 
My company gets a sizable discount through APC, so I've purchase multiple units. I have two APC 750va BACK-UPS ES' and a single APC 1500va BACK-UPS RS system. I have the main pump (filtration/refugium) and Fluval G6 connected to the 1500va BACK-UPS RS and in testing I've generally gotten 170min + before the loud pulsing alarm continues to go off to signify pending shut off.

In case that all fails or runs out, I have an old XPower 400 + portable in the closet that I keep for earthquake/emergencies that will help backup as well...

All-in-all it's much cheaper than a full generator system or jerry-rigging something and it's instantaneous!

I have two koralia pumps and the full tank LED lighting and 70w heater connected to the regular BACK-UPS ES system and they've generally gone about 2.5-3 hours before shutting off.

I've had one significant PG&E power outage here in the bay area and the whole system switched over and ran fine. I even shut off the lights because they weren't sure when power was going to come back on.

The pumps do make a knocking/twitching sound but only when the unit tests itself in battery mode or during switch over for a split second... otherwise they don't seem to have any issues overall.
 

Similar threads

Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
728
Mike
Mike
Stellabl3u
Just looking for some pointers or advice
Replies
0
Views
2K
Stellabl3u
Stellabl3u
M
Novice needing advice!!
Replies
0
Views
1K
montgrl99
M
D
Anemone difficultly!!!
Replies
7
Views
2K
SarahSmile
SarahSmile
C
Wavemaker stopped working
Replies
0
Views
3K
clancaster23
C
Back
Top