Battery Backup

[KQuillan]

I'm looking for opinions and help regarding automatic battery backup. What do you use/suggest, etc? I have a jackery for backup but I still have to manually plug things in. I am looking for something that would automatically trigger on if a power failure is detected. If that is something that is even possible.

 

[VintageReefer]

You need one with ups functionally. Most the small ones don’t have it

I have…a bunch. With and without

The big blue ones are a good value and are underrated as far as capacity goes. I like them a lot, and they work well. Autocutover to battery in an outage in 1/100 second. Autocutover back to ac when power is restored, and they start recharging themselves

 

[VintageReefer]

How many watt hours do you need?

Or, how many hours do you need, and how many watts need to be powered for that time frame? I can help you pick one out

 

[VintageReefer]

The one in my last pic will run my return pump for 39 hours, automatically, in an outage.

 

[KQuillan]

I really appreciate it! I would love to have one dedicated for the tank for the heater and pump, for sure and maybe either the skimmer or mat.

 

[VintageReefer]

I really appreciate it! I would love to have one dedicated for the tank for the heater and pump, for sure and maybe either the skimmer or mat.

For how long…and how many watts is the heater?

These stations aren’t great with heaters, they are high wattage draw devices and kill battery life.

Unless it’s a small tank with a small heater. That’s ok

Most normal outages are a few hours. Or less than 24. Most “emergency” outages from a major weather event are a few days to a week or more

If your worried about powering the tank for 3+ days on battery then you will want a generator

If you want the tank to survive for roughly 24 hours, automatically, until power is restored, then you only need to focus on one key area - flow.

Lighting, skimmer, roller mat, all those things can be offline for a day and you won’t have any issue.

I would focus on getting an efficient dc return pump (if you have a sump) or a dc wavemaker and just have that one item on backup power.

 

[KQuillan]

For how long…and how many watts is the heater?

These stations aren’t great with heaters, they are high wattage draw devices and kill battery life.

Unless it’s a small tank with a small heater. That’s ok

Most normal outages are a few hours. Or less than 24. Most “emergency” outages from a major weather event are a few days to a week or more

If your worried about powering the tank for 3+ days on battery then you will want a generator

If you want the tank to survive for roughly 24 hours, automatically, until power is restored, then you only need to focus on one key area - flow.

Lighting, skimmer, roller mat, all those things can be offline for a day and you won’t have any issue.

I would focus on getting an efficient dc return pump (if you have a sump) or a dc wavemaker and just have that one item on backup power.

I get it. I just wasn't sure how much power or such these things are good for. Understanding the powering now. Thank you for your help!!

So, let's say 24 hours, more if you're lucky and to run the return pump for sure.

 

[VintageReefer]

I get it. I just wasn't sure how much power or such these things are good for. Understanding the powering now. Thank you for your help!!

So, let's say 24 hours, more if you're lucky and to run the return pump for sure.

When you have a moment, whatever gear you want to run on backup automatically, plug it in the jackery and tell me the watt load it’s pulling

Also for the heck of it, how many watts is your heater

 

[Tamberav]

Something like this can be set to auto kick on when power is out without interruption.

5 year warranty but this type of battery should last 10 years.

A UPS is meh and the batteries don’t last.

Can buy it with an expansion battery for even more run time

https://www.anker.com/products/a1761?variant=43827729268886&collections_power-stations=undefined&Sort_by=Recommended

If that is too big of a $$ to swallow. Here is basically a smaller version, obviously don’t expect smaller ones to run as long or as many things. I would probably just run a pump for flow on this to make it last as long as possible. In most situations, tanks don’t need heat.

Amazon product

 

[VintageReefer]

Something like this can be set to auto kick on when power is out without interruption.

5 year warranty but this type of battery should last 10 years.

A UPS is meh and the batteries don’t last.

Can buy it with an expansion battery for even more run time

https://www.anker.com/products/a1761?variant=43827729268886&collections_power-stations=undefined&Sort_by=Recommended

The Anker above is a good unit. 1056wh of capacity for an on sale price of $500

But

For $400 I bought this station that has 1132wh - slightly more capacity, but not a lot. It’s basically negligible. But, $100 less and that’s not needing a sale

Amazon.com

And, for $600 I bought this station that has 2131wh capacity. TWICE the anker for only 100$ more.

Amazon.com

 

[Malcontent]

The Anker is currently at its all-time low price of $429, same as BF:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/anker-solix-c1000x-portable-power-station-1056wh-for-home-backupoutdoor-campingrv-1056-wh-capacity-black/6595416.p?skuId=6595416

 

[VintageReefer]

The Anker is currently at its all-time low price of $429, same as BF:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/anker-solix-c1000x-portable-power-station-1056wh-for-home-backupoutdoor-campingrv-1056-wh-capacity-black/6595416.p?skuId=6595416

Good price!

 

[Tamberav]

The Anker above is a good unit. 1056wh of capacity for an on sale price of $500

But

For $400 I bought this station that has 1132wh - slightly more capacity, but not a lot. It’s basically negligible. But, $100 less and that’s not needing a sale

Amazon.com

And, for $600 I bought this station that has 2131wh capacity. TWICE the anker for only 100$ more.

Amazon.com

I don’t know about the one you but

Anker has 5 year warranty

It can switch power fast enough that there is no interruption of power

The app can control how fast it draws power to charge so you can set it lower to make sure you don’t flip the breaker when the power returns (handy if out of town)

The battery is supposed to be built to last 10 years

Do you know if yours is similar? I am in the market to buy one actually.

The anker is looking attractive because of all the features and customer support at the current price.

 

[VintageReefer]

I don’t know about the one you but

Anker has 5 year warranty (some have 10)

The reality is all of these should last 8-10 years and almost none will have issues during the warranty period anyway. SeeDevil gives “2 year full warranty and lifetime support”

It can switch power fast enough that there is no interruption of power

Same with the SeeDevil, and BigBlue, both of which I highly recommend

The app can control how fast it draws power to charge so you can set it lower to make sure you don’t flip the breaker when the power returns (handy if out of town

Only issue on units pulling very high amps to charge. My servomaster has same app capability for charge amps but I no longer recommend this brand and it’s off market anyway

The battery is supposed to be built to last 10 years

Do you know if yours is similar? I am in the market to buy one actually.

Yes they all should be roughly 10 year battery lifespan

What is your budget and how many watt hours do you want ?

I will say this…the biggest SeeDevil is a $2000 unit…and Amazon has it for 600$. The only downside to the SeeDevil compared to others is it does not have that super high speed charging, but also consider it’s twice the amount of battery to charge so naturally it will take more time. There is no app. It’s an American company that built a quality product with no extras.

At the end of the day I want as long of runtime as possible. There simply is nothing else in this capacity near this price. 600$ for 2100wh and 400$ for 1132wh are both great prices. Buy now before they realize the pricing mistake lol

These temporarily are $400 and $600 on Amazon

 

[Tamberav]

Well for $400 vs $430, I would just get the Anker.

The $600 is intriguing. I just can't find much information on it. If it flips the breaker, it is sort of useless for travel though. My dang vaccume will flip the breaker if I put it on a plug linked to the same breaker as the fish tank.

The longest I have ever lost power was 24 hours but you never know I suppose.

 

[VintageReefer]

Well for $400 vs $430, I would just get the Anker.

The $600 is intriguing. I just can't find much information on it. If it flips the breaker, it is sort of useless for travel though. My dang vaccume will flip the breaker if I put it on a plug linked to the same breaker as the fish tank.

The longest I have ever lost power was 24 hours but you never know I suppose.

I believe it pulls 180 watts during charging

 

[Beruka]

More advanced option is to never use DC batteries to AC inverters. I have two deep cycle marine batteries. I recall 50-75 aH each. I configure to 24v so runs ecotechs at lower power than standard 36v brick it comes with.

MP40s have an internal safety relay switch to go to battery if power goes out making configuring simple. It is basically high school electronics to hook up, if you were paying attention. I skipped there 7.5 aH battery wrapped product.

On another note, having a DC sump pump with no DC back up relay is kind of , well dumb. Few do have it but I run danner mag pumps as they are cheap and indestructible anyway.

Most important emergency device I have it from auto zone. Carb starter spray for an old honda generator. This makes it start every time.

 

[Tamberav]

You can do DC to DC on some of these power banks. Maybe all? I didn't look closely but the River has a DC port, I assume they all do.

 

[VintageReefer]

More advanced option is to never use DC batteries to AC inverters. I have two deep cycle marine batteries. I recall 50-75 aH each. I configure to 24v so runs ecotechs at lower power than standard 36v brick it comes with.

MP40s have an internal safety relay switch to go to battery if power goes out making configuring simple. It is basically high school electronics to hook up, if you were paying attention. I skipped there 7.5 aH battery wrapped product.

On another note, having a DC sump pump with no DC back up relay is kind of , well dumb. Few do have it but I run danner mag pumps as they are cheap and indestructible anyway.

Most important emergency device I have it from auto zone. Carb starter spray for an old honda generator. This makes it start every time.

These units i posted all have direct dc outputs and the inverters are on seperate switches. If you want to go dc to dc you can, and will not have any loss from running the inverter. You can get stations with 24v outputs or you can use a inexpensive step up device to go to 24v, or you could use a laptop power supply that runs off a car cigarette charger, as these all have that output built in

The danner mag pumps are old tech and inefficient. I replaced my 60w mag7 with a dc return pump, and it consumes 15 - 20 watts. It’s Been running every day for 6 + years, and has been cleaned twice. Cost me 80$

 

[Dragen Fiend]

If you want simplicity plug and play:

Look for any power station that has the "UPS" feature.

I use ecoflow river 3's. I just plug everything into it and then its plugged into the wall. If the power goes out it switches from AC to DC. If your have more power demanding needs. You should factor that in. I can get away with it for several hours before I need the generator to kick on.

The river 3 plus version has 3x more juice as well for additional needs. That or again look for other brands.