Power Outtage

[cdangel0]

Power has been off at my house since noon. Delmarva is now "estimating" it will be back on at 8 PM. :mad2:

Anyone have any ideas how long I have until trouble starts? Nems were already shrunk up inside their rocks. Temp dropped 4 degees in an hour and a half.

And I have an electric hot water heater so I can't even do ER water changes to keep temp up.

 

[Gordonious]

:-( Drop by an LFS and see if you can get a small battery powered air pump. Also might want to thrown on glass lids if you have them to help keep air from coming out top.

 

[Shnabbles]

Let us know how everything works out... my wife was just telling me we need a back up source of power in case anything ever happens......

It suprised me as its probally the smartest thing she's ever said lol.

 

[Gordonious]

If you really need you could warm up some water in the stove and put it in small plastic containers.... I have a little battery operated air pump that turns on when the power turns off. I had battery back ups, but the batteries are now dead on them, so all they do is annoyingly beep when the power cuts off.

Keep us updated.

Jon

 

[cdangel0]

Lucked out - power came back on about 3 hours earlier then expected. Everything seems fine. Just bugs me, I will be the first person to advise someone to get a UPS from Best Buy to hook up a heater and PH but I still haven't done it.

I was actually boiling water on my gas grill in case the temp dropped too low.

 

[firecrackerbob]

I would recommend it as well!!!

I have a UPS (650?) hooked up to my main heater and my hang on back penguin filter... seems to be pretty good... when we lost power for a couple of hrs during an ice storm this winter it performed perfectly....

Anyone have an idea how long one of these things would continuously provide power for a heater and PH??

Eric

 

[kaptken]

you could test the UPS by running a known load on it to see when it shuts down. most inverters have a low voltage cut out. when the battery voltage drops to 10.5 volts DC the inverter can no longer deliver 110V to your equipment and shuts down. so they may not run that long.

 

[ronert]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9764552#post9764552 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by firecrackerbob
I would recommend it as well!!!

I have a UPS (650?) hooked up to my main heater and my hang on back penguin filter... seems to be pretty good... when we lost power for a couple of hrs during an ice storm this winter it performed perfectly....

Anyone have an idea how long one of these things would continuously provide power for a heater and PH??

Eric

For an APC BE650R (which should be close to what you have), the advertised run times are:

50W/1 hr 27 mins
100W/38 min
200W/15 min
300W/7 min
390W/4 min (Full Load)

Ken has some good points, above. The most salient .... test it.

The UPS is only as good as the battery that is inside it. And that is a time/age/cycle dependent variable. If your UPS (read that as battery, since they are replaceable) is old, the battery may have lost some of it's charge-capacity. That would equate to a loss of available energy. And that would decrease all of the time numbers above.

The simple answer ... test it. Pull the plug, and wait for it to shut off (oh, and note those two times for later data analysis ... :rollface: ). And test it with the loads that are currently on it. If it has already proved it will support the loads on it (which yours has during your previous outage), there should be minimal risk involved. And periodically (annually maybe) repeat the test.

One more point: The 650 I pointed out above is rated at 390W full load. I would highly recommend not exceeding that rating.

- ted

 

[Gordonious]

The other way to see how long it will last instead of unplugging it and wearing down the battery a bit... Use the USB cable that came with it. The computer will give you a pretty good estimate of how long it will last.

The other advantage there, use it's software to e-mail yourself when there is a power outage. (Just incase you don't have a wife at home to call you when the power goes out while your at work on your computer talking with the guys on RC ;-) )

Anyone seen a cheaper, reliable, place to get replacements for the APC units? I might as well buy a new unit instead of replacing my batteries if I do it through APC.

Jon

 

[ronert]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9765403#post9765403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gordonious
The other way to see how long it will last instead of unplugging it and wearing down the battery a bit... Use the USB cable that came with it. The computer will give you a pretty good estimate of how long it will last.

The other advantage there, use it's software to e-mail yourself when there is a power outage. (Just incase you don't have a wife at home to call you when the power goes out while your at work on your computer talking with the guys on RC ;-) )

Anyone seen a cheaper, reliable, place to get replacements for the APC units? I might as well buy a new unit instead of replacing my batteries if I do it through APC.

Jon

Jon;

The APC s/w does not (to my knowledge) account for battery degradation.

As for replacements, just google the words ups apc battery replacement. You'll see plenty of choices. Most cheaper.

- ted

 

[Gordonious]

You can find a lot on the net very easily, but who to trust... I don't want to buy a used battery or just send my money to the UK and never get anything in return. I also don't know enough about the batteries to be able to tell the difference between a good long lasting one, or one that will fit in my unit or one that is twice as long.

 

[kaptken]

Here You Go! Jimmy Carter is back with the fire side home generator. one of these units , the pedal generator and the battery back up power pack/inverter will not only keep your tank running in a power outage, but you get a good workout too. No need wasting money on the gym.

http://www.windstreampower.com/humanpower/ppack.html

Can't beat that!!

 

[RBU1]

Get an emergency standy-by generator......It will do your tanks house heater, refrigerator and lighting........I am installing mine in 2 weeks.......

 

[kaptken]

I would like to have one. but unfortunately there are no natural gas lines on my street or to my house. all electric. although i could buy a used marine boat diesel/gen set and install it in a small shed out back. add a radiator for cooling and a 20 gallon fuel tank. that would run for a while.