What UPS to get???

[Ian]

Im going on a week long honeymoon at the end of June and Im trying to prepare for it ahead of time. One thing I need to get is a UPS(Universal Power Supply). I have too much money and, more important, time into my systems to lose them because I skimped on a $200 piece of equipment. I have a generator but that only works if Im here.

Im willing to invest in the best one I can get within reason.

Those of you that have one, can you reccomend one to me? Or, is there a thread where thhis has been discussed?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Mako]

Have you calculated the load requirements yet?

Personally, I like the Tripplite APS series like the one Jehmco sells. I like these as you can basically role your own as far as the amp hours available. I use this on my main system. Have seen the 1000 version of this on Ebay, new, for the price Jemco sells the 750.

I have my 750 tied into a pair of 6V Trojan T105 batteries. These are wired in series to produce 12v and give me 225Ah for backup. I run my main circulation pump, 4 Tunze, 4 80w T5's, and my AC3pro off this and can easily get a full day +. Plenty of time for me to get a generator hooked up to the feed line.

Also have a couple other tanks on APC1000 UPS's. These work well and give you about an hour and a half if you keep the load at 1a. Usually just run a small Tunze in these and with the draw less than 50w I get about 3 hours of them. Plenty for circulation.

Whateve you do, get a UPS rate for sine wave output and not modified sine wave. Most motors don't like the modified sine wave.

 

[Ian]

So, you get a full day of the 750 w/ 2 6v in series but only 1-3 hours with the 1000?

 

[Ian]

So, it looks like that is just a large power inverter that knows to come on when the power goes out, no matter what they need an external 12v battery?

 

[reefergeorge]

Mako, I have an apc 1500, and only get around 1.5hrs using only a koralia #4. Maybe I need new batteries????

 

[Mako]

Yes, you supply the battery. Can be as simple as a group 24 or group 27 deep cycle marine which will give good results also.

Not just a power inverter, but an inverter with battery maintenance/charging also. Think of it like a stock UPS, but you choose the size battery/batteries you wish to use in your bank.

 

[THE ROOK]

You are correct. i guess some inverters have problems with our pumps/powerheads due to not being a true sine wave. Whatever that means. Tripplite & a marine battery would be great.

I believe that would cost nearly as much as a Vortech w/ battery backup. I'd rather have a vortech as I'm in the city & long outages are rare.

I also like this new air pump. Good for nearly 150 hours. I'm going to be getting one very soon.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/pro...il&utm_content=Aquatic&utm_campaign=AES022709

 

[Mako]

reefergeorge - Isn't that Koralia only like 8w draw? Man on a 1500 you should be getting like 20hrs. Check out the run time ratings for APC here.

Might want to serial into that thing or use Powerchute and check out the battery.

 

[Ian]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14668721#post14668721 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mako
Yes, you supply the battery. Can be as simple as a group 24 or group 27 deep cycle marine which will give good results also.

Not just a power inverter, but an inverter with battery maintenance/charging also. Think of it like a stock UPS, but you choose the size battery/batteries you wish to use in your bank.

So it keeps the battery charged and ready for use and if the power goes out and uses the battery up, it'll recharge it when the power comes back on?

Sorry for the redundant questions, I just want to do my homework before I drop the dough...

 

[Mako]

Yes, smart charging is included. You can find more product details on Tripplite's site.

 

[Ian]

So, the difference with one of these...

http://www.jehmco.com/html/battery_backup_ups.html

is that you can't decide the size of the power capicity, right? Is there anything else that justifies the extra cost of the Tripplite 'inverter' along with the price of the battery?

Thanks for your help Mako...

 

[Ian]

I found the Tripplite 1000 for $150 and the 1500 for $230 so far...

I just want to figure out if its worth the $345 + cost of a battery to do it that way.

Someone local got the Tunze back up connected to a 12v battery w/ a solar charger on it...

 

[Mako]

The problem, IMHO, with using computer UPS's is that the battery selection is almost exclusively NiCa. These batteries, while very useful, can not match up to the capacity, nor longevity, of any type of lead acid battery. They are just simply not the best choice for a good, consistently reliable, backup system.

I have pulled many a twisted and distorted NiCa battery out of UPS's and let me tell you....them batteries can do some weird things when they get used up. I have actually had to bend frames just to get them out as they were too swollen to exit the normal opening.

 

[bergzy]

i use a tripplite 1000 for my tank(s).

i have three tunze 6025's modded to each give me 1200gph (or so).

a 6025 goes into my 180g display, my 110g display and sump (fish in there).

this will give me about 35 hours of run time.

i dont run a skimmer, lights, heater etc when the power is out. 275g of total water vol will take a while to change. if power is out for more than that, i have a back up generator.

tripplite 1000 is $99 at costco.

the BEST money i spent and continue to spend is on a tank sitter when gone for extended times. i give the sitter (no reef or fish experience ness...only needs to be responsible...and that is even more rare than an experienced reefer) about 12 pages of instruction of what can go wrong and about one page of daily requirements...which is empty skimmer auto waste collect and top off with fresh water since i dont believe in auto top off.

big pictures with explanations work the best. i also show them what needs to be done and ask them to go through the whole run at least twice.

i always leave them with a contact number for any emergency...basically which is water on the floor or something beeping...other than that, i dont have a lot of worries when i go somewhere...