My UPS - Do you have a UPS back up?

[Reefing102]

So thanks to my tax refund, I splurged a small bit on my set up and got a battery back up. After looking at a few and speaking with a few knowledgeable individuals, I ended up buying a Pecron E500 LFP battery back up system.

My main concern isn’t so much storms (though we do get them) but the power company is upgrading the power lines nearby causing multiple power outages of various lengths (anything from a few seconds to a couple hours at a time) however it’s really messing with my apex. So anyway, here she is plugged in:

All that is plugged in is the Apex, Dos, and a Jebao wavemaker. I have room to plug in a back up heater if it’s deemed necessary but the house shouldn’t be too cold as it warms up. There’s not much plugged into my apex either soo current output wattage is 12 watts total…lol

So my budget was right around $250. This one at full price is $359 but has a $110 coupon on amazon currently. This is it (I am not affiliated with the company at all and do not receive any compensation if you buy it or not) - https://a.co/d/0k8LfQE

Some nice things about this:

It has UPS functionality with a 8-20ms delay (couldn’t really find anything in my price range with much better).

It has an app. I haven’t explored it much but was easy to set up and covers the very basic information right on the main page of the app.

The option to wirelessly charge your smartphone. This wasn’t a selling point, but if I decide to change in the future and take this with me somewhere, could be convenient I guess? Lol

It has 576 watt hours, and 600w inverter.

Fast charging, only 1.5 hours needed.

Compact. Roughly 10x7x7.

The cons:

The fan, though overall quiet, is also a bit loud when it was charging (it was loud in the room it’s in when the house was quiet, but is quickly drowned out as the house woke up).

Only 2 AC outlets. I would have preferred more but as you can see I just used a splitter. On that same token, the outlets are sideways. Again not a deal breaker but the splitter would work better if the outlets were oriented upright.

 

[Timfish]

Power stations work really well for backups and they're getting cheaper all the time. I have a DIY 1200 watt one I put together for about $600 that has a 250 watt solar panel. It won't help much for very long for heating a big system but it'll keep water moving a long while. One of my clients has a 10KW backup that will run both a pump and a heater (200 watts) for a couple days if needed. Inexpensive air pumps with rechargable batteries are an inexpensive option as well.

 

[wvned]

I had the hard lesson. 4.5 days without power when it was 20 out and colder at night. In a cold room the heaters you have will not hold your system temp unless you way oversized them. And then there is summer which is worse because producing cold in a small area is difficult and expensive.
So whole house generator. Run everything including HVAC as long as necessary. The bonus of not renting a hotel room to take a shower ever few days is nice too.

I have gone to power strips. Splitters are great for 2 large amp draws but modern stuff seems to be mostly 10 plugs that draw less than 100 watts each plus your laptop and phone. How about a lamp so you can see?

I had 2 small UPS back ups for Hydros but they died of old age and my Hydros controllers have come back 50 times or more now and I trust them. It only takes 20 seconds or so for the collective to come back. In this time I haven't lost a smart pump controller or anything and the current tech for aquariums is very reliable IMHO.