vacation concerns

[dragonyze]

i will be going on vacation for 2 weeks next month and up here in my part of Maine, lengthy power outages are a somewhat common thing in the winter. Ive got a battery backup air stone pump but that wont help my tank through a 5+ hour spell of no power = no heat. So my question is concerning the use of a battery backup designed for computer systems. Is this a viable solution to at least provide power to a small heater and pump for a little while?
im not sure how these things work as far as wattage is concerned, but if its enough to power a computers basic functions through an outage, it could work for a 50 watt heater right?
I couldnt find any products on fish websites for this type of problem, but if someone knows of one designed for aquariums that would be perfect.
thanks for any suggestions!!!

 

[bertoni]

A lot depends on how cold the house is going to get, but Maine gets pretty cold... I wouldn't count on the computer backup lasting very long, but I haven't run the tests yet. If you go that route, I think you should get a high-end UPS, like some of the APC series, with a sine wave output.

 

[dragonyze]

the house thermostat will be left at 50. Outdoors is anyones guess around here. Its 50 outside right now, but will probbaly drop to about 20-25 tonight.
Someone will be by the house each day to check/feed all the hairy pets as well as the scaly ones.
Could there be a concern of OVERpowering the heater (boom!) with the UPS?

 

[bertoni]

No, you can't overpower the heater unless, I suppose, the UPS really malfunctions some way or the other, but some equipment won't work well with the step function that some UPS equipment produces.

 

[keto]

a 50 watt heater draws about 1/2 an amp not a big deal i think it would work fine

 

[kappaknight]

You could try running a couple of tests before you leave. Unplug the UPS and see how long it lasts, etc.

 

[dchao]

There are many types of computer UPS units. Ranging from the sub $100 ones with crude step-function of the sine wave. To the mid-range $200-$100 with better interpolation of the sine wave, , to the high-end server ones, analog sine wave.

Generally speaking, the mid-range (for workstation) UPS's are good enough to drive the PH's without creating too much mechanical noise from the impellers.

The problem is your heater, 200W heater is going to drain any computer UPS dry in 15-30 min.

Can you keep the house thermostat to 60's? or get someone to turn it up in the event of power outage? And just drive the PH's from the computer UPS. This way, a large workstation UPS can easily last 4-5 hours.

 

[dragonyze]

looks like ill be going with a mid range UPS and just run the PH's off it, like you said dchao, 200W's of Heat isnt going to last very long, and the 100W of heat i use now wont last much longer.
The tank has survived a couple sporadic nights of no heat due to a bum return pump, and my corals were not too happy about being in a 70 degree tank for 6+ hours with no water movement.
Anyway, thanks for the info everyone, maybe somewhere along the way theyll market something more geared towards aquarium UPS's, for now ill just go the DIY route!

 

[p4ck37p1mp]

Marine battery and inverter, lasts longer than ups.

 

[dchao]

p4ck37p1mp:

Good solution, can we get an 12V inverter that switches on automatically in the event of a power outage?

A good pure sinewave inverter will also set you back quite a bit.

 

[p4ck37p1mp]

For pumps and such a good sinewave isnt as important as for electronics. Not sure how you'd do an auto switchover, maybe via a small UPS. I have two 1400va UPS that just dont last long with just powerheads, I know people with battery/inverter setups last 4x as long. A lot of loss is incurred with the fans, circuits and such in the UPS.