Running a HOB filter on a UPS

[oxymoron]

Has anyone tried hooking up their filtration system to a computer UPS as a battery back up for power failures? Just curious as to how long it would run.

[fishyrican]

Good question. I was wondering that this morning. I think it should work, but I'll watch this thread to see if anyone has done that.

[malkore]

Haven't done it, but [acronym:f7de4a04a1="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:f7de4a04a1]'s have such a low power consumption, you should get quite a bit of time off a small UPS backup box.

I'd try to find out what the UPS is rated for...lots of times it'll say "will keep a [acronym:f7de4a04a1="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:f7de4a04a1] running for up to 2 hours"...and go off that number. A [acronym:f7de4a04a1="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:f7de4a04a1] (minus the monitor) will take up more power than the average [acronym:f7de4a04a1="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:f7de4a04a1], but its better to be a little conservative.

[oxymoron]

I was thinking the same thin. The UPS would only be running one little impeller correct? If that's the case, it would be the equivalent of running one [acronym:3a2f9f18f3="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:3a2f9f18f3] case fan, it should run for hours. I have a spare one, maybe I'll run a test while cycling my new tank. I'll post the results.

[Hooie]

That would be good to know oxymoron. Yesterday my power went out for 4 hours and it got me to thinking about putting my heaters on a UPS. However, after going to American Power Conversion's web site and using their calculator to figure out how much UPS I need to keep 300 watts of 120v heaters running, well.. lets just say that the I could replace the fish ALOT cheaper. $179 for the cheap model and $419 for the one that I really should get.

[oxymoron]

Totally forgot about the heater, that will draw some power for sure.

[BASSNMAN]

You could probably buy a battery and a inverter for a lot less and have more capacity. Also remember that the heater does not run constantly, especially if you wrap blankets around the tank.

[asaint]

Yup,

I do this. I purchased the biggest UPS's my local computer/electronics store had for my computers. Doing some calculations showed me my computers could run for 16 hours off these big boys. I ended up plugging my tank filters into them too. Now I calculate I will have about 4 hours.

Over the past 10 years here, 99% of my power outages last under 2 hours. Given this, my UPS setup is adaquate.

The size of your UPS depends upon what the average length of time you have for power outages. If they are long enough, get;

1. golf cart batteries
2. Battery Inverter

and setup them up as your own homebrew UPS. Tons of plans online for this.

Best of luck,
Asaint

[hackteck]

i live in the south so if i got a ups i wouldnt need it to run the heater its already hot enough as it is lol

[dax29]

Here in Georgia (and more so in Florida) the outages we've experienced are several hours, and in some cases days, from the hurricanes.

I'm interested in the battery/inverter idea. I'm not sure what an inverter is or what type of battery is required. I need 3 separate setups for the three locations my tanks are in.