Battery Backup

[reeffirstaid]

Also, it's important to remember that a host of things happen, when a system is running less than 100%. If you have a high fish load, then CO2 build-up can happen quickly, even when using a simple battery powered air pump. Without carbon, protein skimming, mechanical filtration, reactors, etc - fish waste can become trapped in the system, overwhelming the bacteria population that normally operates with reduced levels of waste. Anaerobic bacteria that is kept alive in slow flowing areas, like a refugium or reactor, starts to die-off along with aerobic bacteria. Without lights, photosynthesis cannot take place, lowering ph and allowing for greater carbon build-up. While after an outage, where battery powered air pumps are primarily used, the tank may appear okay - it's likely that long-term damage has been done.

 

[authentic]

Is it worth having a generator for the tank only ??

 

[JBNY]

I have had an inverter/charger UPS on my tank for about 12 years, Last year I finally replaced my old Tripplite inverter/charger. This time I put in an AIMS 1000w Pure Sine wave inverted/changer. The unit is really nice and I am very happy with it. Transfers the load back and forth with zero issues, and the pure sine wave it outputs means the pump will not even notice the power changeover.

I have it in the garage on the wall shared with the sump room. I found out years ago it is better not to leave a UPS in the sump room. I think even a little moisture does not work well with batteries and the unit would start to corrode prematurely. Anyway it is hooked into a 95Amp hour deep cell battery and gives me about 2.5 hours of of power for the main 200watt pump.

 

[MCooper]

Is it worth having a generator for the tank only ??

I think so! About to get a Generac generator myself

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Generators are nice, but a wind or solar charged inverter/battery setup will last longer. :)

 

[1fishjones]

You can always pick up a two cycle generator from Harbor Freight Tools. Once in awhile they'll even have the 62cc 700 running watt model on sale for $88. This normally sells for around $130, still a great deal.

 

[Rybren]

Generators are nice, but a wind or solar charged inverter/battery setup will last longer. :)

And will cost significantly more than a Honda EU2000, especially if you go wind. Expect to pay 10x to 20X more than the Honda for a reliable and safe wind generator.

I have an off-grid solar powered cottage and there's no way I'd spend that kind of money to back up my tank. A Honda or Yamaha inverter generator is the way to go. Plus, they're near bullet-proof.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

And will cost significantly more than a Honda EU2000, especially if you go wind. Expect to pay 10x to 20X more than the Honda for a reliable and safe wind generator.

I have an off-grid solar powered cottage and there's no way I'd spend that kind of money to back up my tank. A Honda or Yamaha inverter generator is the way to go. Plus, they're near bullet-proof.

I guess it would depend on the setup and how much power you need. In the last year or so I've moved to more automation and smaller water volume, so using a constant 50 watts is all there is for my tank aside from the 75w heater. :D
But as time goes on, solar and wind will outlast gas usage, unless it's a no-wind night. heh.. I consider the cost very little though compared to the time and amount of livestock that is my tank. Kinda funny when I thought about it and spending 800 bones on a battery backup setup. Then I realized, "ok, that's about 1/3 of the cost of all the livestock". :\ (worth it)

 

[Rybren]

I agree that it does make sense to spend money on a back-up system. The question then becomes what to use.

You can set up a cheap and small solar system to trickle charge a deep cycle battery just to keep it topped off, but it won't have the ability to recharge the battery(ies) to keep your system alive for a prolonged (say 8+ hour) power outage. To get that kind of performance from solar, you'd need to spend a few (or more) thousand.

Wind is even more expensive and difficult to set up. You can expect to spend $15K to $20K to get something that will keep your system going. If you live in an urban area, it would be difficult to get permission to set up a 100' tower in your back yard. Furthermore, you'd need a large safety zone around the turbine to protect people and property from damage for when either the turbine breaks apart or the tower comes down in a wind storm.

A Honda or Yamaha inverter generator will cost $1000 to $1200, will run for an incredibly long time on a tank of gas, are extremely reliable and portable, and you can throw on a multi-fuel kit for propane or natural gas to keep it going indefinitely.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I would totally go with a full-house generator if I didn't rent.. :mad:

 

[143MPCo]

Ok guys what upc would you recommend to run
Mp40 x2
Mp10
Eheim 200w heater
Jebao dc 9000 return pump

For at least 48hrs

A simple rule-of-thumb calculation you can use to determine how much UPS is as follows:

1.6 * Wattage Load = Minimum Volt-Amperes (VA)

Volt-Amperes are the standard measurement used to describe the capacity of UPS units. Using the equation above we see that the minimum VA rating we’d want for our 400w needs would be a 640 VA rated system.

Now that you have a minimum rating, the next question is most likely: How long will that minimum system run the setup? After all you’re getting a battery backup system for your EB8 (or anything you want on UPS) to keep everything running when the power is out, for as log as possible or as much as you can afford.

Unfortunately there isn’t a super quick rule-of-thumb calculation for determining the runtime like there is for determining the necessary minimum VA. In order to calculate the estimate runtime of a UPS system you need to know four things: the VA rating of the UPS unit, the number of battery cells in the UPS unit, the DV voltage rating of those batteries, the capacity (or Ampere-Hours) of the batteries. Unfortunately not all of this information is easily cribbed off of a simple web site listing for the product you’re interested in running the calculation on so you’ll likely need to dig through a PDF of the manual, supplemental documents, and so on to get it all. In other words, it’s a huge pain.

Once you have all the requisite information, however, you can plug it into the following equation:

( Battery Voltage * AH Rating * Efficiency) / VA Rating = X
X * 60 = Estimated Run Time in Minutes

Pretending we’re looking at a theoretical UPS unit that has the following specs:

VA Rating: 700
Battery Voltage: 12
AH: 9
Efficiency: 0.9 (90%)

When we plug those numbers into the equation we get the following:

( 12 * 9 * 0.9 ) / 700 = 0.139
0.139 * 60 = 8.3 minutes

So this particular UPS unit could sustain the system under full load for a little over eight minutes (longer if the system is under partial load) and long enough for the Apex/Fusion to email you the power is out yet again.

Hope that is somewhat helpful.

 

[tgp4274]

ok... sooooo... I have two ep10's and a 20w return pump that I have been thinking of buying a UPS for
what would it take to run for say 6hrs???
as for the UPS I fig if I get one I can always pull out the buzzer..

 

[stunreefer]

For most reefs battery back-up is a short term solution to keep everything alive while you get a generator running. As previously mentioned in this thread the system starts to decline in many ways when it shuts down. We use Ecotech battery back-ups on Vortechs in all holding systems and displays, with a gas generator ready to fire up.

Whatever you choose, make sure to test your back-ups regularly (monthly). These batteries will go bad over time just like other batteries, and will require replacement.

 

[Ontheway]

Installed a 2400W /24V inverter along with two 12v trailer type batteries and integrated it to home electric panel. Everything runs (inc. heater) 8 h. Just headpump and protein skimmer, about 24 h. This is with 50% drain limit of batteries. I think mpp solar sells it in US, model name should be something like PIP 2424, which outputs 110v. Im in 220v/50hz part of the world.

 

[Colin Chaplin]

Tesla Powerwall solar home battery back up

 

[Sharvey103]

I put in a whole house 22 kw generator plumbed into gas line. Fires up every Sunday and does a self check, emails me the results and shuts down. Whole thing installed last year for $8500. Great investment as I have lost power twice in the last year for more than 3 hours.

 

[Philt56]

Is a pure sine wave UPS required for certain devices? Not sure what the other type is called...

Will a mp40 and/or vectra M1 work with a ups? What’s different about using a ups vs the battery backup that ecotech sells for them?

 

[THX1138CY]

I have a 200 gallon system and when I crunched the numbers the only solution that made sense was a 1.2 KW generator, UPS's simply cannot power the heaters+skimmer+return pump during an outage, at least for my system, those three components draw more than 600w which is the max output of all the reasonable UPS's on the market.