Float Switch turning OFF Return Pump?

[quangtam7]

If the tubing is small enough (1.25" thin wall pvc pipe), you can place or glue it inside the pre-skimmer box.

 

[quangtam7]

1.25" pipe with cap on bottom end, make sure it is waterproof.

 

[oldsaltman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7967639#post7967639 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Disagree all you want What type of pump and what type of UPS. Kind of an empty statement without any facts.

You are the one with all the "facts" maybe you should have ask me this information first, and saved all of your coments until you know some real information.

 

[oldsaltman]

Oh, and by the way my pump is a mag 7, and my UPS is a APC Smart-UPS V/S 650 and I have several of them that I use for other projects around the house. Now you can look it up and tell me what is can't do.

 

[BeanAnimal]

SA057, your kind of insufferable. You posted a comment disagreeing.. with no information, just the fact that you disagreed. I asked for the infromation. Get a grip.

In any case... Mr Secret Agent Man, your comments are contrary to the point I am trying to make and therefore simply prove my point. Your just to busy trying to disagree to read. Either that, yoru you have no clue what your talking about but simply want to argue for the sake of argueing. You would think a "Secret Agent" would have better reading and research skills.

An APC "SMART UPS" is NOT A LOW END CHEAPIE UPS....that is what we were talking about. It is APCS server line of UPS. The output is a stepped sine wave. However it is very close to a TRUE SINE WAVE. That is what we were talking about (sine wave vs square or badly shaped sine wave) They acutally used to advertise the unit as a TRUE SINE WAVE unit. Due to pressure from competition, they have tighted their claims and made them much truer to reality. In any case the "stepped sine" output is close enough to a sine wave that your SMALL pump runs without much problem. The "stepped sine wave" of this unit, is MUCH MUCH better than the "stepped sine wave" of the cheapies. So much so that if you looked at them on a scope... the Smart UPS would pretty much look like a smooth sine wave and the cheapie units would look like a seismograph chart on it's side.

You in theory have 650 VA to deal with. However the battery management technology on that unit is not the greatest. So you will not get the "calculated" run time out of it. Add to this the fact that there is a loss of torque and efficiency due to the "step wave". The plain old "smart ups" is the lowest in the "sine wave" line. APC has a few other slight improvements (the XL and the RT).
Actually the Smart UPS 650 has been rebadged the Smart Ups 620 because it really didn't live up to the 650VA rating.

It has around 5% output distortion at full load. Not good, but not bad, esp for computers. However this means that that "aproximated sine wave" that is really a "step wave" gets kind of ugly. It means that running a LARGER pump becomes more problematic.

RUN TIMES:
Half load on that unit gives around 14 minutes with NEW batteries and a stable load (read switch mode PSU). So I would imagine you get maybe 20-30 minutes max with the mag pump plugged in. Likely a lot less after 6 or so months of battery degredation. So in the real world with a real worl load, maybe 10-18 minutes.

As to the "quality" of these units... well I guess they server their purpose, but they are missing a lot of features for their price and intended market (server back up supplies). The Liebert GXT series is the gold standard (which BTW would be top notch for an aquarium pump). Trip-lite also makes some good true sine wave units. They are geared more towards industrial application, not server rooms.

Anything else you want to know? I am an authorized APC channel partner, Liebert Channel partner and have several engineers that can provide you with as much technical information as you need. FWIW, I would not sell you this (smart ups) unit for your intended purpose

Next time... don't be such a troll.

 

[oldsaltman]

I didn't ask you to sell me anything. When I tested mine it has run over 3hrs and works great for my intended purpose.

 

[BeanAnimal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7969223#post7969223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by quangtam7
Here is the solution, find 2" acrylic tubing (5-6" in length), seal the bottom, mount a floatswitch inside the tube, put some small rock/marbles in it (to keep it submersed) and hang it inside the tank with the top edge of the tube just 1/4-1/2" above water level. When the siphone breaks, water in main tank raises and fill up the tube, which in turn shut down the pump, as water drains back to the sump, that tube is still filled with water so pump will remain down.

Thats using your noodle

Not a bad idea if you can deal with the "ugly" factor!

A small piece of pipe, painted black withthe float inside and a nylon thumbscrew and clamp could be used to mount this to the back edge of the tank. You may even be able to rob one of those clamps off of a heater or powerhead.

Nice idea.

 

[CoolUsername]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7969592#post7969592 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by quangtam7
1.25" pipe with cap on bottom end, make sure it is waterproof.

Nice job. I guess I didn't have a open enoung mind on this one. Hide it in the overflow.... Good solution.

 

[Stidd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7966424#post7966424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by David Grigor
Instead of coming up with all this stuff, why don't you just address the root cause and either drill it or take it somewhere to get drilled.

30g tank is not the end of the world to temporarily house your livestock in a tub while you drill or take it to get drilled. We aren't talking some 500lb monster that have to get 5 guys to move the thing. Take your lumps and do it the right way.

I hear ya... Would love to get the tank drilled. At this point however, for me it simply doesn't make sense. The overflow I purchased is a great overflow. It will not lose siphon unless it does get pulled from the box. I've also done some math and used the calculator at the front page of this site...

The sump holds about 4.5 Gallons of water. If I keep my water level down to about 2 inches below the rim of the main tank, it would mean that the tank can hold an additional 3.7 Gallons of water before overflowing... What I've done is placed the Return Mag 9.5 on a 2 inch ledge (tupperware) only allowing about 2.25 gallons of water pumped into the tank if siphon were to stop.

I plan on keeping this tank for a little while but basically purchasing the needed equipment for a 90 Gallon with a built in overflow that I have.

I'm sure there are MANY folks that successfully run a tank with a siphon overflow...

Just want to thank everyone for their ideas... Really awesome stuff... Still trying to wrap my mind around everything... For now... this temp solution will work for me for a while but I may start to mess around with the float switch ideas you've all come up with.

There are so many aspects to this hobby that can be mastered. Its so neat to see that some folks really take it on full force!!!

Thanks again!

Guy

 

[Stidd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7969223#post7969223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by quangtam7
Here is the solution, find 2" acrylic tubing (5-6" in length), seal the bottom, mount a floatswitch inside the tube, put some small rock/marbles in it (to keep it submersed) and hang it inside the tank with the top edge of the tube just 1/4-1/2" above water level. When the siphone breaks, water in main tank raises and fill up the tube, which in turn shut down the pump, as water drains back to the sump, that tube is still filled with water so pump will remain down.

Wow!!!

Great idea! I can see how this would work! Simple too! I may have to mess around with this idea!!!

Where did you get that float switch? And how in the heck does it get wired??? Sorry... Really new at this...


Guy

 

[BeanAnimal]

Good luck and have fun!