Anyone use UPS battery backups?

[Scott.h]

More specifically I'm looking to get a 1500 for my return pump that pulls 48 watts and .4 amps. However if I'm only going to get 15 minutes out of it anyway, there's no real point in spending the money.

Also looking to pickup a smaller unit to run just my apex head unit, router, and modem just so I know when there is an outage. Wondering how long a 500 would run that for as well.

Any insite would be appreciated!

 

[143MPCo]

http://www.apc.com/us/en/tools/ups_selector/home/load

Check out the above like, it will calculate based on what you input and even give you recommendations for units.

 

[Waterjockey]

More specifically I'm looking to get a 1500 for my return pump that pulls 48 watts and .4 amps. However if I'm only going to get 15 minutes out of it anyway, there's no real point in spending the money.

Also looking to pickup a smaller unit to run just my apex head unit, router, and modem just so I know when there is an outage. Wondering how long a 500 would run that for as well.

Any insite would be appreciated!

Do you have a spec sheet for the "1500" or "500" you are looking at? I tried googling "1500 ups", and came up with a variety of amp-hour ratings.
Taking the one with the weirdest/lowest VA/Watt rating (865 Watt...which I assume is 865 Watt-hours delivered), would run your return pump for about 16 hours or so
As for apex head unit/router/modem configuration, you'd have to know what the power consumption of those 3 items together was to be able to figure it out. A kill-a-watt meter or similar will give you that. Alternatively you could look at the milli amp rating on each of their power adapters, and add them together...that will give you a very conservative number, because the device will likely not use as much as the power adapter is rated for

 

[Scott.h]

Do you have a spec sheet for the "1500" or "500" you are looking at? I tried googling "1500 ups", and came up with a variety of amp-hour ratings.
Taking the one with the weirdest/lowest VA/Watt rating (865 Watt...which I assume is 865 Watt-hours delivered), would run your return pump for about 16 hours or so
As for apex head unit/router/modem configuration, you'd have to know what the power consumption of those 3 items together was to be able to figure it out. A kill-a-watt meter or similar will give you that. Alternatively you could look at the milli amp rating on each of their power adapters, and add them together...that will give you a very conservative number, because the device will likely not use as much as the power adapter is rated for

i don't. I was just looking at the biggest ones at Best Buy, being 1500s and I was told you can't piggy back them together. 16 hours would be way more then what I'd expect or need. At that rate I'd likely just get one and run the apex, modem, return pump, and router to one. I'll have to check the back of the other stuff tonight to see what they pull. The guy that does the computers at work seems to think I'd get 20 minutes out of a 450 just for the router and modem, which is no big deal. That's long enough for me to get a few alarms. Just trying to figure out if I need 1, 2, or if it's worth it for my return pump. My mp40 already has the vortech. Just trying to step it up.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I have a 1500VA UPS connected. It will run my ~100W load for a little over an hour. My wife is usually home and I have my apex configured to detect a power outage, so hopefully an hour is more than I'll ever need in a non-emergency situation.

You should get at least two hours runtime from a 50W load on a 1500VA UPS. I have my skimmer and return pump on the UPS so that the skimmer aerates as the return pump circulates.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

i don't. I was just looking at the biggest ones at Best Buy, being 1500s and I was told you can't piggy back them together. 16 hours would be way more then what I'd expect or need. At that rate I'd likely just get one and run the apex, modem, return pump, and router to one. I'll have to check the back of the other stuff tonight to see what they pull. The guy that does the computers at work seems to think I'd get 20 minutes out of a 450 just for the router and modem, which is no big deal. That's long enough for me to get a few alarms. Just trying to figure out if I need 1, 2, or if it's worth it for my return pump. My mp40 already has the vortech. Just trying to step it up.

Your router, modem, and Apex will consume way less than 50W. A 450VA UPS should be sufficient (I have a 350VA hooked up to my modem/router).

By the way, you can't daisychain the UPS together, but you can use them in parallel with loads separated onto each system.

 

[Scott.h]

I have a 1500VA UPS connected. It will run my ~100W load for a little over an hour. My wife is usually home and I have my apex configured to detect a power outage, so hopefully an hour is more than I'll ever need in a non-emergency situation.

You should get at least two hour runtime from a 50W load on a 1500VA UPS. I have my skimmer and return pump on the UPS so that the skimmer aerates as the return pump circulates.

Thats what I was hoping. That's long enough to go home from work and get the generator going without havoc.

 

[Scott.h]

Your router, modem, and Apex will consume way less than 50W. A 450VA UPS should be sufficient (I have a 350VA hooked up to my modem/router).

have you ever experienced how long that lasts during an outage?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I have not experienced anything longer than 5 minutes since I installed both UPS. A 350VA unit is supposed to power a 50W load for more than 20 minutes.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Here in Florida, it's not really the short power outages I'm worried about :/

 

[Waterjockey]

i don't. I was just looking at the biggest ones at Best Buy, being 1500s and I was told you can't piggy back them together. 16 hours would be way more then what I'd expect or need. At that rate I'd likely just get one and run the apex, modem, return pump, and router to one. I'll have to check the back of the other stuff tonight to see what they pull. The guy that does the computers at work seems to think I'd get 20 minutes out of a 450 just for the router and modem, which is no big deal. That's long enough for me to get a few alarms. Just trying to figure out if I need 1, 2, or if it's worth it for my return pump. My mp40 already has the vortech. Just trying to step it up.

Ok....I just looked up the best buy one.
My error re the math earlier. They are rated at the *rate* they can deliver power, not the storage capacity of the battery. The Best Buy 1500 says it will deliver 1/2 power (450 watts) for 13 minutes. So your return pump alone...probably 2 to 3 hours. Return pump and apex, modem, router...1/2 hour to hour mebbe?

 

[Scott.h]

Here in Florida, it's not really the short power outages I'm worried about :/

I hear ya. Here it's always 15 degrees, a freezing rain storm, and week long outages in Michigan. I need a whole house generator. Convincing my wife I need to drop 8k on that for the "family", not so much.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I hear ya. Here it's always 15 degrees, a freezing rain storm, and week long outages in Michigan. I need a whole house generator. Convincing my wife I need to drop 8k on that for the "family", not so much.

I have the same issue, but it is compounded by the fact that I don't have natural gas in my area and would need a propane tank installed :/

 

[Scott.h]

Dang 1st world problems.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

ikr?? haha ;)

 

[pelphrey]

Solid advice on the backups! I'm running a backup on the tv and satellite box in our living room. It will run both for about an hour. Got my apex plugged into one. Desktop computer, various switches routers and modems running off another & bedroom tv is running off one.

In 5 years since I've been in this neighborhood we've lost power a few times for a few minutes. I basically use them to prevent burning up any equipment.

If I keep my ecotech mp40 I may look into their backup just because of how long it will run the pump since it reduces the pump speed.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Solid advice on the backups! I'm running a backup on the tv and satellite box in our living room. It will run both for about an hour. Got my apex plugged into one. Desktop computer, various switches routers and modems running off another & bedroom tv is running off one.

In 5 years since I've been in this neighborhood we've lost power a few times for a few minutes. I basically use them to prevent burning up any equipment.

If I keep my ecotech mp40 I may look into their backup just because of how long it will run the pump since it reduces the pump speed.

Agreed. I may look into doing the same at some point.

 

[jasonrusso]

Here is my write-up from a few years ago. The system is still in place. I have a whole house standby generator now so I only need about 15-20 seconds now. Before the generator, I had at least 45 minutes of continuous run time without an issue.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f183/homemade-battey-backup-197872.html

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

The way it was explained to me, is that UPSs are not really 'backup batteries' - they are made for servers and electronic devices and give the user just enough time to shut down their equipment properly without doing damage or losing data.

 

[pelphrey]

The way it was explained to me, is that UPSs are not really 'backup batteries' - they are made for servers and electronic devices and give the user just enough time to shut down their equipment properly without doing damage or losing data.

Your last statement is true for home users. In a corporate environment UPS's are used to carry the load of our equipment until our generator starts up. There is a 5 second delay between the power going out and our generator coming online, the UPS will keep our equipment up and running during this switch over to avoid any data corruption or hardware failure.

Likewise this statement should stand true for home users. Knock on wood I live in a newly developed neighborhood all of our transmissions are ran underground, this does help in the event of a disaster but we still have experienced power outages. In the 5 years I have been in my new neighborhood we've lost power a few times with the longest outage being 10 minutes. The various battery backups I have around the house can easily handle the load for 10 minutes. This means that none of my tank equipment, PC or networking equipment along with my tv's never see the power go down or come back online. Now with that being said next year once my tank is stocked I will be investing in a generator. The UPS will allow me enough time to get the generator online if there is a potential long term outage.

Ecotech does make a battery backup that according to their specs will run a pump for 36 hours with 1 MP40 and 18 hours with 2 MP40's per their documentation. You can also daisy chain their backups to one another to double the run time. This is very well a viable solution if anyone is running vortech pumps.