Battery back up?

[Fignewton]

Somebody put a transfer relay (power off, unit on) on the unit I posted earlier.

http://www.backuppoweronline.com/products/x1500/product_x1500_Transfer.htm

Still way cheaper than a computer ups of that size.

 

[reefgeek84]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6636878#post6636878 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjmcat
Any one looked into gel celled batteries?Ive got 5 of these and 2 500 watt power invertors.The gel batteries seem to last longer then my marine ones did.I live in tornado alley and have not yet had a problem with losing anything.

P.S. dont waste your money on the name brand of the battery.Also if you have a sams club nearby their power invertors are cheap.

How do you have yours hooked up? Do you have to manually hook it up? or do you have it set up to where it kicks on if the power fails?

 

[Brent Thomann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6636113#post6636113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefgeek84
I was hopng to find something that would be connected into the wall and run off that power, but when the power goes out switch to the battery power. I can not believe that with all the people who own aquariums that have thousands and thousands of dollars invested that there is nothing that serves this purpose, like the ups for computers but holds more juice.

I too would be very interested in what you're looking for! Let you now if I find anything!

 

[frank2926]

If you want to spend thousands of dollars then yes their is a way
You can get a generator wired to your house that kicks on when power goes out.

 

[CoralFiend]

Unfortunately I am all too familiar with this subject. Many of us that live on the Gulf coast or east coast are becoming all too familiar with long term power outages. I lost my 6 year old 75 gallon reef inhabitants to a TWO WEEK long power outage from Hurricane Rita. No simple solutions to that.

Portable gas powered generators will work, but use a lot of gas and only run a few hours until they have to be refueled. You better have lots of gas on hand before the power goes out, because you won't be able to find any after a major event, like a hurricane. You also have to realize that if someone without a generator hears yours running, you may lose it if it isn't chained down. Another thing to consider is that you may not be able to get back to your home in time to even start a generator, much less keep it refueled. That is what happened to me.

The only cure I know of for these situations is to purchase a residential generator that runs off of your home's natural gas or propane supply (Kohler is one manufacturer of such systems). For a 8.5 kw - 12 kw system, you are looking to spend somewhere between $5,000 - $7,500 (that is just an estimate based on some articles I have read. I have not actually priced a system - yet). A lot of money to save an aquarium. But, if you have ever tried to live without electricity for weeks, you might not think that is such a bad deal.

For short term help to run the bare essentials of your tank (like powerhead or air pump) something that will keep a marine battery charged and ready to transfer the battery power when the electricity goes off is a reasonable option. This is one such system that I have run across. Not cheap, but I don't believe that anything that is cheap will protect you for very long.

http://www.jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/HARDWARE_/Battery_Backup_System/battery_backup_system.html

Of course, if you are a capable DIYer, you can build something similar, like Playfair did.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64918&highlight=battery

Anybody out there a solar power guru?

 

[escape2theocean]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6654079#post6654079 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoralFiend


Portable gas powered generators will work, but use a lot of gas and only run a few hours until they have to be refueled. You better have lots of gas on hand before the power goes out, because you won't be able to find any after a major event, like a hurricane. You also have to realize that if someone without a generator hears yours running, you may lose it if it isn't chained down.

I learned a lot about this lately too. I went a week w/o power from hurricane charley in 8/04 and a couple days from wilma a couple months ago. I have a generator but as mentioned above, it used a lot of gas. Like 10 gallons per day. And yes gas is VERY hard to get before & after a hurricane. I waited in line for 2 hours & 45min after charley to get gas and they only let you buy $20 worth, I did make a nice cable that plugs into my generator and on the other end of the 30' wire is a 4 -prong 240v plug that I plug into my cloths dryer outlet. You just have to turn off your houses main breaker and then your up & running just like normal. The only thing that wouldnt work is the a/c ... oh well. It works a little better if I wire it directly into the breaker box but thats a PITA so inthe dryer plug it goes. Gotta love those darn hurricanes...

EScape

 

[New2This]

Im looking at getting the largest Marine battery Optima makes, with a good inverter. When the lights go out for a while I have a 7500w gen. Keep 10g gas on tap.

 

[tkeracer619]

I also have a generator even though my tank is only a few weeks old. I am trying to find the same ups for my return pump as i have on my computers so incase of outage I have time to start the generator. I dont have any gas yet but plan on haveing 2 5gallon jugs plus what is in my integra and jeep. I keep the car full so thats another 10 gallons. I doubt my power will go out for longer than that if so im going to the neighbors with a syphon and a checkbook.