Battery Backup

us~^>shark

Member
I'm considering a battery backup in case of power failure. Most of the good ones for computers say they will run for 60-90 minutes, but I've been told that it would last hours if used only on a pump and heater. I think it might be a good investment. Anyone else use one and have any advice?
Thanks.
 

fishmamma

Active Member
What type are you looking at? I have been shopping the same products. I think I may go with a small portable generator sold at Home Depot rather than a battery back-up power strip. It also has an air hose etc......so it can be used for things other than tank back-up. I thinkit was about $89.00. I don't know how long a strip would run and I already have too many wires between the tank equipment and GFCI strip. Do you have one of those yet? Safety First!!
 

slinger

Member
I was thinking between those as well but realized a power outage when I am at work or not home makes it hard to run a portable generator. Anyone else got some other ideas or experiance with any of this?
 

fishmamma

Active Member
Does the power strip w/battery back up come on automatically? I have seen airstones with batt. back up that you plug in and will they will go to battery automatically with power failure.
What is the biggest danger with loss of power? I would assume lack of aeration in tank and then temp drop? Also you can lose good bacteria in filters right?
:notsure:
 

us~^>shark

Member
Most of them I've looked into do have a cold start so that when the power fails, the backup automatically comes on. I've been told that if the power rating is about 60 minutes to drive a computer, it would last much longer if just driving a pump and heater. The biggest reason I would want one is to keep the pump going in the wet/dry sump for filtration and to be sure it doesn't back up and overflow as well as to keep the heat on to ensure consistent temperature.
The generator wouldn't work for me because it can't come on automatically.
Anyone else have any experience with the battery backup?
 

farmboy

Active Member
What are your power requirements? How big is your pump and heater? What is the power output of the UPS? The math will tell the tale of how long you can run X amount on Z battery.
BTW we use them at work for computer systems. Auto switching when the power goes out. VERY slick. OPeration is nice if it will last for you.
 

teresaq1

Member
I have been thinking of getting the battery back up also. Living in Florida, we get a lot of weather. Charlie took out most of my trees. At least i could run a power head and heater, and recharge it on the generater
 

mudplayerx

Active Member
I have a 4 hour backup ups and it lasts 2 hours when the power goes out. I have three 170ghp powerheads, two 330gph filters and a 90gph skimmer hooked up to it.
 

ohiorn67

Member
If you go back and look up a post of power outtage, I just went through this less than a month ago. My husband put a battery backup....just like the one you described for about 90 minutes maybe...it lasted 2 1/2 hours. Our outtage was for 6 hours total..we had 2 backups and a small generator to use only to charge up each battery backup. was fantastic setup. The battery backups beep very loud and then come on automatically. We only have attached to battery back up our filter and heater....so that it will last as long as possible. This worked like a charm and I highly recommend. We made sure lights were attached to other source cause they are the more energy eaters and not necessary in emergency. I had never been so grateful to that backup......
 

fishmamma

Active Member
Thanks ohiorn. How do you have the battery back up installed? I know that sounds like a stupid question but I have a GFCI plugged in to my wall outlet, my light timer is in transit- but it will also go through GFCI along with filter/heater/skimmer cords etc. I am afraid of throwing too many cooks into the kitchen if you know what I mean.......... :thinking:
 

ohiorn67

Member
well, we have 2 wall units that we plug into..that are both protected by a plug in gfci unit. One has a power strip coralife timer plugged to it where all the lights are timed and power heads also on there and skimmer on the always on plugs. The other the backup battery is plugged into, no different than a strip but a very heavy bigger box. On the back of this we have plugged in our filter, one powerhead I think, the heater...that is it..so in an emergency we lose power..the other ones are off...that are plugged into the coralife timer....*it has 4 slots of timer, 4 regular plugs. When we lost power....the battry backup made a loud obnoxious beep through the house, scares the #$#% out of you. Then the filter and heater and the one powerhead never shut off. Once it got to the 2 1/2 hours, it beeped loud again as a warning that it was almost out of juice, that is when we switched to the other battery backup...and put the one out of juice on the small generator. Was fantastic....we could have done this indefinitely...was a good system and not too expensive. Battery backups we got at an auction for about 20 bucks a piece, new they are probably closer to 80 but try to find some on sale...I see them regularly at officemax and places like that. Let me know if I helped explain that ok!
 

fishmamma

Active Member
Thanks ohiorn, you explained it well. That sounds like a great system. I only have access to one outlet for oneof my tanks but I guess I could still split the outlet with 2 GFCI strips and run the timer off one and the back-up off the other. While we are on the subject how "small" is your generator? Do you use it to run anything else in the house? We have been looking at them but are unsure what to do. Is your generator hardwired into your house?
 

ohiorn67

Member
no it is small and would run I think like 2 major appliances for like 12 hours or something like that...I have a feeling we would be able to recharge these batteries for days if needed....we have not used it for anything else so far and bought it just for this. We got it at home depot for under 100.00. Hope that helps.
 
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