Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) questions

[Flake]

I would go look at an office supply store or something like that. Find the biggest one you could possibly afford and buy that one.

 

[jsoong]

I don't know how long these will last used constantly .. my RV deep cycle lasts maybe 2 season, but that is used lots. An occasional use, I would guess 3-4 yr is a good av. battery life.

As to how long the unit will power your pumps ... depends on the battery & the curciut. In theory, a 30 A-H battery should have 3 A-H at 120V, which should power your 2 pumps (total of 20W or so) for 25 or so hours. <I found a site for a B&D 30 A-H box that said 30 hrs at 25W...>

If you need longer, a DIY version is prob better. Eg. my RV deep cycle is 100 A-H <Costs ~150>, add an inverter & a charger <~60-100> & you have a setup that is at least 3x the capacity of the typical powerbox. And you can just buy more bateries if you want a bigger system.

 

[ezy33]

I have a 400 watt Powerbox I bought a few years back made by Husky. I got on sale for $80.00. During a 8 hour power outage I ran a Mag 9.5 and a couple small power heads for about 4 hours. When it ran down, I connected it a spare car battery and ran it for 4 more hours until the power came back on. I suspect it would have for a lot longer especially on a marine battery.

 

[Aquarium1]

And I could also charge multiple batteries too.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Rather than rewrite a bunch of stuff, I'll just post the link here...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/showpost.php?p=764314&postcount=3

Still really like the Xantrex unit I mentioned in the post. They're great for short outages. Since then though, I've bought a gas generator. Too much invested in the tank to do anything but.

 

[Aquarium1]

The problem is, we can have pretty long outages. Although most are a few hours, sometimes it lasts days, and I can't afford a genny.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The problem is, we can have pretty long outages. Although most are a few hours, sometimes it lasts days, and I can't afford a genny.

Unless you go with a bank of marine batteries and an inverter as suggested already, you're not going to get "days" of power. You can maybe get a day with wise use of the Xantrex unit (no heater, air pump/powerheads only), but nothing out there is going to give you multiple days - without recharging. Even with the marine batteries, you're not looking at something that is a long term solution.

I realize that money may be tight, but I think that by the time you buy all the batteries that you need for an inverter setup that will last you the time you want, you'll be looking at a price tag that's getting pretty close to an inexpensive generator. You don't need to be looking at a lot of Watts if all you want to run is your fish tank.

 

[Aquarium1]

I was just going to run filters. It would equal 15w.