Power outage protection..will this work?

[Doubledown]

OK, with all the power outages and horror stories I have read (sorry Aiko and Doug), I am compelled to do something to try and protect my livestock.

I am not going to add a new generator to the house I am currently in (we are moving soo enough), so I have been checking out battery UPS for computers.

My questions:

How large of a UPS will I want (I've seen some as large as 1500 watts)?

What would be best to plug into the UPS? (I have 2 180 gallon tanks, one's a reef the other FO)

What about temp drops?


I thought I should get the largest model I could find. That way the power supply will run things longer, does this sound accurate?

I figured at minimum a small airpump/stone and a powerhead in each tank to maintain oxygen levels and a slight bit of circulation. The Seio 620 seems like a good choice using only 8 watts.

What do you guys think?

 

[Bryan89]

There are many, many threads on RC about the use of UPS as a backup power supply. One of the issues as I recall is the quality of power that comes out, in that a lot of the UPS devices make a step sine wave rather than a true sine wave that you power company provides. This can cause pumps to run loud and hot and may damage some pumps. I am not sure how it would work for a Seio. I'd recommend a search under UPS or power backup in the DIY thread, there are many opinions and answers stated there.

Bryan

 

[Doubledown]

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

[wmilas]

We use alot of ups stuff at work so I think I can help/answer a few questions. Coupla of things:

1) APC is a good brand and not that expensive. We have had cheaper UPS units and well, they end up failing at the worst time. You kinda get what you pay for. APC units do self tests regularly, and the worstation on up to the big boy units have diagnostic ports for you to log into and check status, runtime, ect.

2) 1500 Watts isnt a whole lot or a very large unit to begin with. You can pick up a 1500 RS for 260ish. You can add another module to it doubling its runtime for another 100-120.

3) UPS units are measured on Volt amps, not in watts. I know this sounds wierd but not all 1500watt units will run for the same amount of time. The easiest way to understand this is to go to APC's web site, and put your wattage draw into thier calculator for each unit and it will spit out the runtime.

4) Good UPS units will have hot swapable batteries. Since these are lead acid batteries thye are heavy and will fail once ever 2 to 3 years and need to be replaced. Hot swapable is NICE as you dont have to turn everything off. New batteries for teh 1500 rs listed above are in teh 65 dollar range. A good UPS will tell you when its battery needs to be replaced.

5) UPS's need ventillation. You cant shove em somewhere with no air movement.

6) Buy the non rack versions. We run rack versions ehre and while you can get some really monster sizes, they cost an arm and a leg because of the size constraints and the fact that if you need a rack version, they KNOW you can pay for it

 

[DragonFish]

This one is pricey, but it is the best solution for our needs. It creates a current that best replicats the current that comes from an outlet. I know this for a fact because I bought it for work. We needed to test some switches at a mobile brance using a generator for power. This was the best UPS for smoothing out the the current to an even 60 hertz sine.

APC UPS

 

[Racenrich]

Dragon...ouch, $931 is pricey.

Chris, I use to use a APC UPS, 1500 version, the APC Back-UPS RS 1500VA...Only $225....i had it hooked to my main pump only.....it has a hard time trying to kick the main pump back on.....i no lonmger use it for that....not sure why, i think the power curve of the BLueline HD70 is too much for it to turn it back on....will run the pump no problem, yet if the power goes out....its a hit or miss with it starting again.....

ive been looking into the marine battery setup with a converter and trickle charge that'll kick in if power goes out......i have to get that going....real soon is what i say!
there are a few threads on this....you can search for them.

HTH and keep us posted, cause im going to follow suit!

RJK

PS you do the scuba yet?

 

[Doubledown]

Thanks all.

From what I was able to read, I would need to find a "true sinewave" UPS for it to be of use with most pumps/powerheads (the Tunze 6060 model is reported by Roger to run fine on a modified sinewave, but not the 6100s which I have). The smart UPS that Dragonfish posted is reported to be one of those. This could explain the issues Rich is having with the blueline.

The best option for power outages (most reliable for longest time frames) is a gas (natural or standard) generator. Next is supposed to be the deep cell batteries with a power inverter - recharging off a car alternator. The UPS battery back-up is at best a bandaid for a short period of time.

I'll check out the APC site and run the calculator to see what it shows.



And yes Rich, we had our 2nd certification class last night. All is going well with that.

 

[jnb]

I use a tripplite inverter/charger with a healthy marine battery and I figure it will run my ehiem 1260 and tunze topoff for 20 plus hours - they have directions to the inverter chargers where you can figure out how long a certain configuration will run a certain amount of devices amp/watts on tripplite website (manual from any assortment of their inverter chargers - I figure it run me about $700 or thereabouts - sometimes I have to evacuate and can't be there to get the generator going - this keeps the main water flow circulating, etc. When I get back I may need to get generator going for everything else If I lived in a cold place and icestorms were the culprit then I might run an additional battery in parallel with the first just to make sure I was covered for x hours - I would never be without having a generator handy, mine is small and is an inverter gen so that the power is clean sine wave wise and it allows the generator to run at lower rpms unless more power is needed.....

I have a relay that flips an airpump on that runs off the battery as well to supplement O2

 

[wmilas]

The RT is the rack version of the rs. It's bateries are a bit denser and will run about 2.5x as long as a RS. Also, as noted above it does have better eletronices and produces a pure sine wave.

We have multiple XL 3000's with pack addons in chains (each unit being about 9000wats. The XL's have a higher crest factor and have no problem taking a 17 amp load with no cycle loss. Note however that tthe 300XL's take a20 amp circut with a 20 amp twist lock plug (ie wont work in a normal 15 amp plug)

For work stations we use the 1500RS's instead of the RT's. I've measured the sine waves on teh RS's and they ARE 60 hz and smooth. The problem however with pumps is that pumps draw so much wattage they you would drain a 1500RS in aprox 20 minutes.. about an hour on a RT. Thats really not long enough to accomplush much of anything. If you had power heads and a bubbler the RS would run damn near a day.

 

[ykh]

Good discussion. I found this article which can be useful:

Here

 

[ykh]

I think that a refurbished UPS unit will work as long as the battery has been replaced.

 

[joroscoe]

As far I understand it, the primary cause of loss during power failure is low oxygen. Therefore, oxygenating the water should be your first priority.

I think some people here have put just one of their display pumps (maxi, seio, etc.) on a UPS. An average UPS can power a small pump for a considerable amount of time.

 

[Twins Guy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8276204#post8276204 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Doubledown

From what I was able to read, I would need to find a "true sinewave" UPS for it to be of use with most pumps/powerheads (the Tunze 6060 model is reported by Roger to run fine on a modified sinewave, but not the 6100s which I have).

hey dd-
you are right that most pumps will run better on a true sine wave (more expensive) BUT since the Stream 6000 and 6100 (and 6200 for that matter, same will apply to the 6055-all the "electronic" models) are DC pumps they are well suited to use on a UPS with a modified sine wave form. in fact better suited than most pumps. the 6060 and 6080 will run too on a modified sine wave form but they may be a little loud/rough.

here is a thread where roger vitko confirms this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=935187

so you had me scared (since i had battery backup plans in the works-to run my stream pump) but it's all good! so rest assured that your ups is just fine paired with the tunze 6100s.

take care
tg

( i realize this is an old thread but i was searching last night for battery backup info and stumbled onto this thread-and yes i realize i'm in the chicago reefers forum:rollface: )

 

[yznhmr]

i found some electric start gas powered generators on ebay for about $500 will run 8+ hours on a tank of gas, i figure that i could dissabmle the key starter and set up some sort of auto switch over for a couple circuits and make it start automaticly just enough to keep the main pumps running and a couple heaters.. i haven't worked out the details for the auto switch over, but with s few relays and some wiring it shouldnt be tooo bad.. i figure ill build a small "shed" to cover this and keep it out side.... all for under $1000, , would also like to find one with a natural gas conversion kit..

 

[yznhmr]

ebay

 

[Whaledriver]

Any reasonbly priced battery UPS wont last long at all, hours at best. If you wont long use the best you can use is a UPS and a simple airstone.

The only true solution is a automatic natural gas solution. Its going to cost about 3 grand but it will keep everthing going and also run your fridge, sump pump, and furnace.