Use of UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) as battery backup...

[slik_dude@yahoo]

Who uses UPS as a bad weather battery backup? which UPS unit do you reccommend??

Thanks.

 

[michaeldaly]

I dont use one but to get one with enough power to run say 400W for a few hours will cost you alot of money

 

[slik_dude@yahoo]

I was thinking of using it to run only the powerheads and a canister that I use for carbon and flow.

BR

 

[BeanAnimal]

You need a unit with TRUE SINE WAVE output. Anything else will not work and could cause pump damage, UPS damage, or fire.

Bean

 

[jeffbrig]

I have a 1400 VA UPS that keeps a pair of Tunze Streams (6100s) running when the power goes out. My goal is simply to provide basic water movement to keep oxygen levels from falling. The Streams neatly avoid the sine wave problem because they use a transformer to supply the pump with a DC voltage.

The longest I have run it without power was about 4 hours, and the UPS was still going. At that point, it was time to crank the generator.

 

[Lutefisk]

I'm down in Florida where we have a lot of power outages. I have 1100VA UPS driving one pump on each of my tanks. It will run a long time.

Paul

 

[gussy]

I have a few 1000KVA units. Hooked up to some small pumps only. I plan do have some relay connect to an air pump that will turn on only during power failure. Haven't figured it out yet.

You can get those TrippLite 1000KVA w/ LCD from Costco for around $1000.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You mean VA You setup is 1000VA (1kVa).

kVA is a whole different ballgame... Thats the stuff we sell to large datacenters and they are the size of a walk in cooler with battery cabinents that could fill a tractor trailer.

TripLite does not make anything over 5kVA (if memory serves) and at that extent I wouldnt touch one if it was free. Emerson makes large UPS systems, they are the only ones to even think about if you need 5kVA or larger.

Bean

 

[IndyReefMan]

I use one as a power outage back-up on my tank. It's set to run just the basics-- heater and powerheads. That way, it will last as long as possible during an outage. It works great. Best Buy has some pretty good prices on them.

 

[BeanAnimal]

nothing at best buy is suitable to run a pump. Again the output must be true sine wave. If it is not, then you are asking for trouble and wasting your money.

 

[Chef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6531742#post6531742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
nothing at best buy is suitable to run a pump. Again the output must be true sine wave. If it is not, then you are asking for trouble and wasting your money.

since I don't know, can you explain why. or is a pain in the *** too do so?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Very simply, electric motors will not run off of a sqaure wave or squared off sine wave. It causes them to overheat (for several reason). Most consumer grade UPS products put out qa VERY DIRTY step (square) wave or stepped sine wave. In laymens terms the alternating currnet does not swing from postive to negative in a smooth manner.

Computer power supplies could care less, as they are switch mode power supplies and basically use just the peak and valley of the waveform to create power for the computer (very general description to illustrate the point).

You can find A LOT of information on google.

 

[flex13]

I like APC and the rest depends how much you want to spend and how long you want the pump to stay on. Of course the longer the more expensive.

 

[BeanAnimal]

APC is good entry level equipment and may fit into the budget of reefers looking for a sine wave UPS. The "Smart UPS" are the lowest series with sine wave. APC also uses BUCK/BOOST technology for voltage regulation. This can spell bad news to the waveform.

In all honesty a true online UPS is the ideal way to go (APC does not make one) However, for those on a budget the SmartUPS series by APC will likely provide decent protection to your pumps during mains interuption.