UPS' for keeping the taqnk running...

[2cvbloke]

I was thinking, in the event of a power failure, a tank's equipment would die, so, I was thinking, why not use a PC's UPS to power the filters or pumps while the power's off?

I have two myself, and I don't normally keep them with my PCs as there tends not to be very many power failures here, but I keep the big one (180watts I think) nearby just incase, so my little one (90watts) would be perfect for keeping a tank's filter running...

 

[duke33]

hmmm...

 

[theotheragentm]

That will not work. There isn't much power in those battery supplies. They are designed so you have time to save and shut down in case the power doesn't jump back on right away.

 

[2cvbloke]

That will not work. There isn't much power in those battery supplies. They are designed so you have time to save and shut down in case the power doesn't jump back on right away.

I've run a small 11w fluorescent light off the 90w for a few hours, and the batteries themselves can power 12v things for a long time, so I see no reason why they cannot be used to power low-wattage equipment during a power failure...

 

[GlitcH]

I wouldn't just assume...........you should test it out.......let us know how long cuz it would be great if it worked.

 

[2cvbloke]

I wouldn't just assume...........you should test it out.......let us know how long cuz it would be great if it worked.

Well, I have used my UPS's for allsorts of things when I've not had electricity, so if they were used to power soley a filter or two then they definately should work...

 

[theotheragentm]

You can definitely run a few small pieces of equipment on the battery backups, but having the filter off for a couple hours is normally not a problem for the fish. The costs on those battery backups are not small I know, and they're supposed to be replaced every year as the batteries are not meant to stay in tip top condition after a while.

 

[2cvbloke]

You can definitely run a few small pieces of equipment on the battery backups, but having the filter off for a couple hours is normally not a problem for the fish. The costs on those battery backups are not small I know, and they're supposed to be replaced every year as the batteries are not meant to stay in tip top condition after a while.

Well, the manufacturers reccomend you replace the batteries, but if you cycle them once a week then they last for a long time...

 

[theotheragentm]

Interesting. I doubt any of the places I consulted at wanted to put that into their IT budget for hundreds of these bad boys.

 

[7Enigma]

I used my old Belkin backup (from my home theater system) to great effect about a year ago. We had a bad storm, lost power for about 12 hours and all was well. I had the AquaClear50 filter and the 100w heater connected in my 20 gallon and never drained the battery. Obviously the tank size and related filter/heater requirements will change the length the backup lasts, but it worked for me just fine.

 

[2cvbloke]

I used my old Belkin backup (from my home theater system) to great effect about a year ago. We had a bad storm, lost power for about 12 hours and all was well. I had the AquaClear50 filter and the 100w heater connected in my 20 gallon and never drained the battery. Obviously the tank size and related filter/heater requirements will change the length the backup lasts, but it worked for me just fine.

Success then, maybe everyone should keep a UPS on their tank's power supply...

 

[mike3epanda]

just want to ask... how long can they last w/out power anyways?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I used my old Belkin backup (from my home theater system) to great effect about a year ago. We had a bad storm, lost power for about 12 hours and all was well. I had the AquaClear50 filter and the 100w heater connected in my 20 gallon and never drained the battery. Obviously the tank size and related filter/heater requirements will change the length the backup lasts, but it worked for me just fine.

Success then, maybe everyone should keep a UPS on their tank's power supply...

More success - see the links in the 3rd post in this thread...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=93598

If you DO use a UPS, then make sure you understand the ramifications of it on your ground fault system. That's spelled out in the 2nd link.

 

[2cvbloke]

More success - see the links in the 3rd post in this thread...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=93598

If you DO use a UPS, then make sure you understand the ramifications of it on your ground fault system. That's spelled out in the 2nd link.

Well, my 90w UPS has a habit of beeping every 10 to 15 seconds when it's running on batteries, so if I did have a GFI connected to the wrong part of the setup, it would let me know!!!

That is, if I did use a GFI... 8O

However, looking at the sinewave stuff, it would seem that my 90w (an APC BackUPS Pro) may not be suitable (plus I think it needs recharging), so my other one (an APC SmartUPS Pro) would probably be better suited...

Just on a side-note, I get UPS' pretty cheaply from a monthly computer fair, I got my SmartUPS Pro for £10, and I got the other one for free (it wasn't powerful enough for a 21" monitor, even on mains power!!!)...

 

[2cvbloke]

Well, I finally got around to trying them out, and both work fine when running off batteries, no motor problems at all on either one, I guess that the 60Hz frequency over there is a bit more troublesome than our 50Hz frequency...

I left them on over night to charge up, hooked up to the tanks of course excluding the heater, I'll have to try running the tanks on the smaller one for a while...

 

[Sicklid]

One thing I am doing is to run a sponge filter in the tank that is being driven by an airstone. The airline tubing that feeds this airstone is split off into two by a "Y" connector that goes to a conventional air pump on one line, and a $15 battery operated air pump on the other which is designed to come on only when the power goes out (it is always plugged in and turned on, with internal circuitry that knows when the power goes out... I see them at many LFS's and even Wal Mart) Both lines have check valves, and the whole system works pretty good. I live in FL where we have power outages all the time... This system actually was working when I came home last Thurs. night, when I came home from work to my house completely black! The good thing is that this is now an established filter, and it will have no downtime at all in the event of an outage. The 2 D-cell batteries run the filter for a good while, and they are cheap and easy to come by. If anyone would like to see photos, I can post... just don't want to hijack a thread!

 

[Alshain]

This can actually be mathematically calculated. You need to know the power consumption of the devices to do it. Then you look at the amount of energy your battery can sustain (amp hours, its probably printed on the side of the battery if you open the UPS) and see how much time you get from it. You also should factor in the power consumption of the UPS itself, although its minimal it does consume some (mostly for beeping).

EDIT: Found a calculator for you (UPS batteries are usually 12V, 10AH). So this would probably work for a small tank but when you start getting up to 300W heaters, its not a sustainable power source. A 300 Watt heater plus a 50 watt canister would only last about 10 minutes.

http://www.solarwindtec.com/batcac.shtml