Ecotech Battery BackUp Question

[deutchriffer]

Hi all, so I have been doing some thinking and after seeing a video from reefdork around a DC battery UPS (ideally designed for modems) it got me thinking before I pull the trigger and buy one.

The ecotech marine drivers have 24v and 12v connectors, I understand the logic behind the battery backup, if power is cut to the controllers 24v the 12v takes over at 50% speed.

My question is, does the controller have the smarts to ignore any 12v input if 24v is being supplied?

Because most of the UPS type devices I’m looking at are designed to obviously power a modem and then the battery takes over when the power is cut, however I don’t want to run this device to my 24v radion port as I want to retain functionality of turning that power on and off as needed, however I have concerns about supplying both 24v and 12v simultaneously.

Hope this makes sense, also willing to have your opinion and suggestions. My reason for looking into this type of device is purely down to size, and my reason for wanting to retain the 24v power is for controllability on the möbius enabled drivers as I do not want to go down the APEX MXM as I’ve heard mixed reviews.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007411394447.html?src=google

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I would think that the UPS backup would be similar if not better than the ecotech battery backup.

 

[deutchriffer]

Yep this is why I’m looking into it. However my question is relating to these ports.

The centre port is for the main correct power supply I have that to mains power on my apex.

The left port is the 12v battery back up port, what I am asking is, in a traditional ecotech battery back up, the left port goes to the battery, the battery has a trickle charger and then when it detects power is lost, it supply battery over that left socket 12v line, I assume it does so only when it detects its (the battery) own power has dropped and thus the power head would be losing power also.

I’m just not sure if the power to the 12v is smart enough to know the 24v power brick is powering the power head so don’t take the 12v unless the 24v disappears (power outage)

 

[Sleeping Giant]

ohh no idea, thought you would be just plugging it directly into the UPS

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

Bumping this, wondering the same question as the OP. To ask a different way, does the ecotech marine drivers have a ATS? From reading comments from people opening up ecotech battery packs, they are very basic. So I am assuming the Drivers have the auto transfer switch to sense loss of power to 24v and switches to 12v input power. Not able to find this information, anybody know this? If so, what the OP is referring to from reefsork would work properly and efficient over UPS invertering back DC.
Sorry if this has been discussed, just getting back into reefing. 10 years away so I have to unlearn some bad practices and catch up the lastest. Drink from a fire hose right now.

 

[deutchriffer]

Ok so I never got my answer but I set mine up yesterday and this is how it works.

Main power takes priority over back up battery power.

The ups I bought is designed to supply dc power continuously to the port so I have my main dc plugged into my wall outlet, and my back up battery wired to this battery

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOhvtpN

I have the 2 mp40s on a single port Ysplitter

Then another port for my vectra

Then the last for my Axis40 pump which supply’s water through my filtration (Elos sump problems)

So although constant power to the battery backup port it’ll only start drawing if and when the power is turned off.

This poses a new issue for me as I have no way to turn the pump off while doing a water change but that’ll hopefully be solved with a couple of these

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqHCvJh

Seems messy or overkill but now I’ll have DC<>DC power so these should run for 48hr+

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

Thanks for the response and happy it works! Sorry for my few more questions here, but you expect 48 hrs for both mp40 and Axis 40? The DC UPS has a 25600 mah battery. Assuming a common lithium-ion battery voltage of 3.7V, 25600 mAh is equivalent to approximately 94.72 Wh. Is this math right?

 

[deutchriffer]

Also the vectra..also I’ll be real with you…I didn’t do any math I just know it’ll be longer than any other option for the form factor I can set up..happy for you to tell me though

 

[VintageReefer]

Thanks for the response and happy it works! Sorry for my few more questions here, but you expect 48 hrs for both mp40 and Axis 40? The DC UPS has a 25600 mah battery. Assuming a common lithium-ion battery voltage of 3.7V, 25600 mAh is equivalent to approximately 94.72 Wh. Is this math right?

I believe your math is right and I also was questioning the runtime from such a small battery

If the 2x mp40 and axis all consume (complete guess) 10w each, at 12v, then

95wh / 30w = approx 3 hours runtime

 

[backbayreef]

Check this out - I have this setup across all my tanks, either with MP40 or MP60.

DIY Bootleg "EcoTech" Battery Backup

Decided to make my own instead. BTW, I'm a huge fan of EcoTech products, just not the battery backup. Not feeling like soldering (and I have a background in micro-soldering), I decided to make it a plug and go system right off the shelves of Amazon (mostly). Been working great for a year and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[backbayreef]

https://a.co/d/0Olr5xQ
ECO-WORTHY Portable 12V Lithium Battery, 20Ah LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery, Built-in BMS, 4000+ Cycles,Perfect for Outdoor Camping Fishing RV Marine Trolling Motor Fishfinder

https://a.co/d/2DGMVHv
ECO-WORTHY 5Amp 12V Automatic Smart Battery Charger and Maintainer with LCD Display for Lead Acid and Lithium (LiFePO4) Battery

https://a.co/d/3LEUbPU
GINTOOYUN 2 Pack DC5525 Power Extension Cable, DC 5.5mm x 2.5mm Right Angle Male to Female Power Adapter Cable，3FT 18AWG Heavy Duty Cord for Strip Lihgt,CCTV,Car,Monitors,etc. 1M

https://store2.ecotechmarine.com/products/fused-vortech-battery-backup-cable
Fused VorTech Battery Backup Cable 10427

You can also try the bigger battery - video from Reef Dudes. Concept is the same.

 

[deutchriffer]

Someone get me an “I’m with stupid —>” shirt

I guess where my logic was coming from is the 27000mah is 27ah right, If the ecotech battery back up is 7ah then is nearly 4x but obviously that’s a 12v battery so maybe I’ve gotten myself muddled up, that being said I am extremely limited with space and assumed after watching a reefdork video that I was on the right track…feeling embarrassed

 

[FMF0331]

feeling embarrassed

Don't feel embarrassed ... I had no idea what this thread was about. You lost me at : 27000mah is 27ah

 

[VintageReefer]

Someone get me an “I’m with stupid —>” shirt

I guess where my logic was coming from is the 27000mah is 27ah right, If the ecotech battery back up is 7ah then is nearly 4x but obviously that’s a 12v battery so maybe I’ve gotten myself muddled up, that being said I am extremely limited with space and assumed after watching a reefdork video that I was on the right track…feeling embarrassed

This might be more like what you want. convert all gear possible to dc barrel Jack or convert to usbc. You can use the ac outlets but if it’s dc gear it’s a waste to go from ac to dc when you can just go dc to dc, but still can be done and then it will run full power instead of clocking down to 12v

Sounds like the actual devices ignore the dc 12v input, if they are getting 24v power from the AC/DC brick? And then in an outage it reverts to the 12v Jack?

This is 384 wh @ 12v = 32 amp hours
On sale for $190

Amazon.com

This has full ups functionality and 2 dc 12v outputs and then you have usbc which is a dc out as well. I believe usbc will go up to 20v. You just have to get creative to utilize it.

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

Also the vectra..also I’ll be real with you…I didn’t do any math I just know it’ll be longer than any other option for the form factor I can set up..happy for you to tell me though

Not sure what the watt draw on all of those as a collective, but you should give it a test

Someone get me an “I’m with stupid —>” shirt

I guess where my logic was coming from is the 27000mah is 27ah right, If the ecotech battery back up is 7ah then is nearly 4x but obviously that’s a 12v battery so maybe I’ve gotten myself muddled up, that being said I am extremely limited with space and assumed after watching a reefdork video that I was on the right track…feeling embarrassed

No stupid here, it is confusing. I was struggling too, as information on the these types of battery/backup systems sometimes not listed or assumes a industry standard or some **** like that. I thank you for putting this out there as I had same many of the same questions. As for the battery stored energy, 27,000 mah (Lithium assume 3.7 volts), so that is just under 100 watt hours of power or if a powerhead pump runs at 10 watts, you get 10 hours. Maybe only have one mp40 for emergency backup?

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

https://a.co/d/0Olr5xQ
ECO-WORTHY Portable 12V Lithium Battery, 20Ah LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery, Built-in BMS, 4000+ Cycles,Perfect for Outdoor Camping Fishing RV Marine Trolling Motor Fishfinder

https://a.co/d/2DGMVHv
ECO-WORTHY 5Amp 12V Automatic Smart Battery Charger and Maintainer with LCD Display for Lead Acid and Lithium (LiFePO4) Battery

https://a.co/d/3LEUbPU
GINTOOYUN 2 Pack DC5525 Power Extension Cable, DC 5.5mm x 2.5mm Right Angle Male to Female Power Adapter Cable，3FT 18AWG Heavy Duty Cord for Strip Lihgt,CCTV,Car,Monitors,etc. 1M

https://store2.ecotechmarine.com/products/fused-vortech-battery-backup-cable
Fused VorTech Battery Backup Cable 10427

You can also try the bigger battery - video from Reef Dudes. Concept is the same.

This has nice battery power or 256 wh. What do you backup with this?

 

[VintageReefer]

This has nice battery power or 256 wh. What do you backup with this?

All in one device with ups and 384 (32AH) battery for $189

Also a 665 wh (55AH) version for $70 more

 

[backbayreef]

This has nice battery power or 256 wh. What do you backup with this?

All my tanks have at least 2-3 MP40s each. The big 450gal has 4 MP60s so I need one battery for each tank.

 

[backbayreef]

All in one device with ups and 384 (32AH) battery for $189

Also a 665 wh (55AH) version for $70 more

That’s a pretty good deal actually. These things will continue to come down in price; well, at least not recently due to foreign policies.

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

All in one device with ups and 384 (32AH) battery for $189

Also a 665 wh (55AH) version for $70 more

Does this power station supply DC output? What I have read, DC to AC inverters can be very wasteful.