My Power plan...

WarDaddy

WarDaddy

New member
In respect to those who have suffered so much I am looking at what I have in place to keep my system alive long enough to arrange a generator to keep it going long term.

Please take a look and let me know if you think this will work, where I can make improvements or any other changes.

My system is a little on the unique side, so my power solution is a bit complicated, well it is a bunch of small pieces.

I am going to break the system into it pieces to highlight my solution.

REEF SYSTEM

Display 90 gallons:
Tunze 6000 powered by APC Back-UPS RS 1000VA
- With the 15watt draw, I estimate 5 hour runtime, it may be much longer

Display Cube 15 Gallons:
Penn-Plax SILENT-AIR SAB11 (battery powered air pump)
- should run 5 hours (need to test)
- Planning rechargeable batteries for extended run time

Sump 55 gallons:
Nothing now, thinking of a battery air pump to keep rock happy

Refuge:
Nothing now, thinking a battery air pump as well.

SOFTIE SYSTEM:

Display Tank 55 gallons:
Seio 6320 on a APC Back-UPS RS 800VA
- with 8 watt draw I hope to get 5 hours run time.

Power failure notification:
I have my Aqua Controller 3 connected to the UPS on the Reef System. My Cable Modem and Router are connected to their own UPS. The theory here is that the AC3 will SMS my cell phone when the power fails to notify me of the failure. When I get that e-mail I know I have 5-10 hours to get plan B in place...

Plan B is renting or buying a generator for long term outage.

What do you all think?
 
Instead of multiple battery operated air pumps, I would get a single CoraLife Luft pump and run it off another backup battery.

First, rechargeable D-cells don't last as long and tend to lose their charge over time, so they are high maintenance, and charging batteries uses a lot of electricity.

Second, the spare backup battery will be, well, a spare. Backup batteries DO fail. I unfortunately learned this the hard way.

Third, the Penn-Plax SILENT-AIR is horribly noisy and doesn't work very well because they have almost no pressure. Just a couple inches of water and they don't have enough pressure to drive any air in. I'd still have a couple around, but I wouldn't use them except in dire emergency.

Fourth, the Luft pump can run all your air needs and more. The elex usage is variable, so when you turn the pump down you use less energy. it also has enough pressure (up to 7psi) to get air almost anywhere you need it. Add some gang valves, airline and airstones and you are rockin'.

I would not worry short term (<12 hours) about running air to the fuge or sump, unless they have corals or fish. O2 usage is only going to be an issue with big O2 using livestock around.

Yeah... and get the generator. Or have one close by you know you can borrow (and not from someone who might be needing to use it at the same time.)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7832627#post7832627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NicoleC
First, rechargeable D-cells don't last as long and tend to lose their charge over time, so they are high maintenance, and charging batteries uses a lot of electricity.
Click to expand...

If you need to go with the rechargeable D-Cells then get the 8000mAH rated batteries. Will last 3x longer than the Alkaline batteries. The rechargeable Energizer ones you buy at the stores are only 1500 mAH.
They sell the 8000mAH D batteries at numerous online battery vendors.
 
^Don't forget the special charger to get that kind of capacity.

The rechargables I use do 1800mAH, I think. My old ones were 1200, I think, and they were almost useless!
 
Luckily I do not have the energy problems like ya'll out west, not yet anyway.
I was reminded of someone who posted on here in the past year about air stones being fed from a scuba cylinder. I wonder how long you could get a 80 cubic foot scuba cylinder to bleed air into your tanks when power fails. They are 140 bucks new on average in Indiana and fills are only $4.

An average human uses less than 1/2 cubic foot per breath and that works out to be 160 minutes (on or above sea level) from a 80 Cuft tank at about 120-135 psi.
Think about the amount of air you could push 'on demand' for almost free!
I am also curious how we could use compressed air to move water enough to get a little flow and still be efficient enough to operate from scuba cylinders. - (there is another one of my million dollar ideas)
I have scuba tanks laying around all the time. I dont have a generator, but I would say having battery driven air pumps / stones would be a basic minimum- and LOTS of extra batteries.
Power inverters connected to Marine deep cycle batteries could work out good for running pumps. If you use regular auto / truck type battery the drain/charge/drain/charge can take its toll and cause failure in just a few cycles. Those marine batteries are intended for this type of use. Then again, you have to have a place to keep a couple of big batteries.
 
I went to Best Buy today, but couldn't decide which baterry back up to buy. I was looking at the APC Back-UPS RS 1000VA and another brand that i can't remember. They were all in the same price range but some were 400watts-860watts. How to u know how long it will actually last? On the 400 watts it said 8 hours, but some only said like 2 hours.
 
APC's site has a battery calculator. It only works for their products, but 600VA is 600VA no matter the brand.

I would not get stuck on a particular brand. Nor do you need any battery with bundled software; it's irrelevant for use with pumps and such.

DO get the biggest battery you can afford, one with a fuse you can reset, and one with a replaceable battery -- batteries go bad and it will be cheaper to replace the battery than the whole unit.

Once you get to the bigger batteries, many can be expanded by adding more batteries. Also a nice feature, if you go that high end.

Here's another idea -- a portable solar power station. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11138292&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1
http://www.siliconsolar.com/portable-solar-power-systems.php
 
You need to test your pump and UPS to see how long they will really run. You might get a big surprise. some pumps wil not run on a UPS especially the smaller UPSs. It is better to know about it now. Also you pumps will run hotter on a UPS. My pump went from 110 to 124 degrees in 15 min.
I have my main pump on a new APC 1500VA UPS and it ony lasts a half hour. My old 750 VA by Best Power lasted longer when the batteries were new. Needless to say I was pretty disapointed in the APCs performance. It took 3 emails to get a reply from APC. Here is what I asked APC and what they had to say.

"1: Why would the ACP BX1500, with twice the capicity only run my pump for half the time the Best Power Fortruss 750 did?

mainly this BX1500 is for computers not for pumps, UPS is meant for only IT purpose, so this model will not support to the Pumps

2: Is there a UPS that would be better suited for this application?

I think so all the APC ups for IT, There will not be any APC UPS which supports pumps."
 
My return pump is using about 180 watts, I think I would only get 30 minutes out of the UPS.

I have two 6100 tunze streams so I am thinking of hooking those up to a UPS and hopefully I get 3-5 hours out of the battery, aso I will be adding a maxijet in my fuge to keep flow in there.

I am stressing out because I am going on vacation for 3 weeks in August and I have 9 days to get everything tested out.

One thing I did though was I set up my tank at my family's business, so there is someone available 24/7 if the sh't hits the fan.
 
with APC the 1500 number shows you how much power it is rated to handle, not time it will run. you need to look at each units specifics to see runtime. Runtime is a direct product of the number of batteries in the unit. If you look, most of these units are rated to power a full load for 6 minutes. It is enough time to SAVE and SHUTDOWN.

APC and Pumps... it all has to do with the Power wave, apparently the UPS squares off the power wave. Depending on the pump this can cause issues. I am running a Tunze powerhead off the UPS. I am just trying to maintain flow, in the tank, to promote gas exchanges.

here is a thread about the Tunze on the APC...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=861834&highlight=UPS

So readng that I suspect a normal pump running off the UPS may runinto issues, but the tunze gets around this because it uses a DC Transformer.
 
I would not attempt to run a whole tank load off backup batteries, or even a powerful return pump. The costs would be prohibitive and the benefits slight. In my 100g (at least until it goes away this weekend), I have a Seio 820 running on a backup battery. It's the only thing on the battery and it will run for LONG time by itself, providing needed circulation and oxygen exchange, expecially because it is positioned to create an unwelling current (takes water from the bottom up to the top, so O2 levels are more even throughout the tank.)

I think the $50 oxygenator is a really cool item! Too bad it doesn't have a battery backup. The solar pump seems too low flow to be of much use for an actual pond, although it might be a good backup for folks with ponds to keep some circulation happening or even an emergency pump for a tank since it DOES have a backup batttery.

For a little more money, this item does 125gph and there's an optional backup battery:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/shop/catalog/Medium-Output-Solar-Fountain-Kit-p-8.html

150gph with battery:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/shop/catalog/HP-300FX-High-Output-Solar-Pump-Kit-p-11.html

Also a 400gph unit, but getting pretty pricey and no battery:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/shop/catalog/High-Output-Solar-Pump-p-16213.html
 
I like the scuba tank idea-you could get a Normally open solenoid and plug it into the wall. When the power goes out the solenoid would open and begin to trickle air into the tank....

Good stuff =)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7832736#post7832736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NicoleC
^Don't forget the special charger to get that kind of capacity.

The rechargables I use do 1800mAH, I think. My old ones were 1200, I think, and they were almost useless!
Click to expand...

For my 8000mAH D batteries I used my slow old school timed Nimh charger. The manufacturer said that I need to charge it 3 times to get it fully charged (about 24 hours). Im using the one set of D batteries for my flash light and the other in my son's mobile which he wants on every night before he sleeps.


A 500 watt power inverter will help run your powerheads and air pumps for a while off your car battery. Inverter costs less than $50
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7832627#post7832627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NicoleC


Third, the Penn-Plax SILENT-AIR is horribly noisy and doesn't work very well because they have almost no pressure. Just a couple inches of water and they don't have enough pressure to drive any air in. I'd still have a couple around, but I wouldn't use them except in dire emergency.
Click to expand...

dont know about yours but the one I got pumps about 8 feet of tubing down 24" of water fine. I test it all the time and it puts out a good amount of air. I'm planning on ordering 3 more this weekend.
 
Kevin, how much did u get it for? I went to Pet Smart today and picked up three for $15 each, forgot to get a print out though.
 
since we are on the topic of Backup systems. What do you guys think of this one. APC BX900R its suppose to run for 2hr at 50watt load. Iam also looking at this one APC BR800BLK same run time but smaller unit. Thinking of running my Tunze off of it. Using only
 
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