Power cut planning

[Just Toby]

A few months back I had a big problem with a power cut where the return pump from the sump was off for a long time and when the power came back on it popped a pipe off which tripped out the electrics, I lost a ray.

I have completely re-vamped my system making sure the pipes are properly secured. I have swapped to a new type of DC return pump which uses far less power and is silent, The TMC reef pump 12000, this is fully controllable and I only need it at 50% for more turnover than I had before and only uses about 30 watts at that level.

At the same time I have swapped my aeration circulation pump (in tank) to an Ecotech MP40, this is also far lower power and silent (38 watts at full but about 20 watts in normal use), it has a battery backup by ecotech and this senses the mains drop out and drops to 8 watt power but still ripples the surface of the water and can last over 12 hours in this state. The battery remains on charge the whole time. You can even add a return from the sump pump but need two battery backups for that.

The backup battery was £168 and the in tank pump was £279. The return pump was around £250.

You can link the pump to an iphone app and control it from there but I cannot see much use for this for me.

It is all very good having a generator but if it needs someone to start it etc... it may not be any good if you are on the other side of the world/

 

[jim barry]

Sounds good to me Toby

I have battery back up but like you say you need to be around to use it.
If money ever permits I will have to look into your new set up.

 

[eddiegunks]

I am building a battery back up.

Two ideas.

1. Small batery and inverter with a switch. When the power goes off the switch switches it to the battery. When the power returns it switches back. I plan to run small bubblers off it. This will be for my smaller tanks.

3. Same idea but a much larger system that will run my large pump and aeration for my pond. Still looking into a switch and figuring how much battery i will need.

I am going for 2-4 hours run time

Both Will have a battery tender to keep the batteries charger while linenpower is on.

I also have a generator. Electric start. (Not auto start. Just push button on). This will give me/people time to start the genny, without being an emergency time frame.

Your sytem sounds good.....what about if you have no power for days? What is your plan?

I stand behind my suggestion for a genny. Electric start is easy on everyone.

 

[rich81090]

my initial idea was to use UPS units on the air pumps, that way if the power went they would automatically kick in. As I have more than one system providing battery back ups for each pump wasn't an option, whereas 3 air pumps feed the whole fish house and the pond while using less elec. they are designed to run PC's for around 15min. a reasonably powered pc pulls 800w, as the load on the UPS decreased the time they can run increases exponentially. so my air pumps at around 30w should last several hours. if required simply add more UPS units.

do the eco tech batteries only work for their pumps or do they have universal plugs so any pump can be plugged in?

 

[eddiegunks]

my initial idea was to use UPS units on the air pumps, that way if the power went they would automatically kick in. As I have more than one system providing battery back ups for each pump wasn't an option, whereas 3 air pumps feed the whole fish house and the pond while using less elec. they are designed to run PC's for around 15min. a reasonably powered pc pulls 800w, as the load on the UPS decreased the time they can run increases exponentially. so my air pumps at around 30w should last several hours. if required simply add more UPS units.

do the eco tech batteries only work for their pumps or do they have universal plugs so any pump can be plugged in?

My experience with those kinds of battery operated back ups for computers are this, the largest one that you can get from Best Buy, cannot run my cash register for eight hours.

My cash register has an LED display and a small motor for the paper feed. I only did 12 to 24 transactions in that eight hour time. I think the problem is is the battery backup unit has a cooling fan inside which tears up the battery.

My solution was to get a 400 W inverter from Harbor freight for $20, and a car battery. Now it has worked for two days straight and still had power and reserve.

That is why I am moving towards the option I talked about above. I suggest that you plug in your system and see how long it runs using that you PS system that you're thinking about. You might be unpleasantly surprised on how little time they actually gain you.

 

[Just Toby]

I think the ecotch one could run other stuff as long as you use the plug, it has a spare port for other items OR you can daisy chain more batteries.

Longer term cuts I have a generator but I need to be here to fire that up.