Anyone use power inverters?

[seldin]

Does someone have a URL or something that is very easy to figure out, how I can take I guess a "marine battery" and make it keep my heaters on, when the power goes out. I am concerned because in the winter my office gets down to 60 degrees. I have a battery for my pump, so just looking to keep heaters going.

There does not seem to be a battery backup for aquarium heaters. Am I correct?
I guess I am looking to power my heaters in aquarium for 12 hours or so.

Also, would love to be able to plug into my car, to charge battery or whatever, if period is extended.

I called tech support for APC a while back. They said a unit to keep my heaters going for 12 hours would be about $1,000 and the battery would have to be replaced every couple of years. Sounds expensive.

Thanks much,

 

[masterswimmer]

Larry, the problem with inverters are logistics. In order to use an inverter for the backup purposes we are discussing you need to be on location to plug everything in when the power goes out.

The best way to set up a battery backup to control your heater is with a computer type APC, Belkin, backup. These will only turn on when the electric source cuts out.

HTH,
Russ

Does someone have a URL or something that is very easy to figure out, how I can take I guess a "marine battery" and make it keep my heaters on, when the power goes out. I am concerned because in the winter my office gets down to 60 degrees. I have a battery for my pump, so just looking to keep heaters going.

There does not seem to be a battery backup for aquarium heaters. Am I correct?
I guess I am looking to power my heaters in aquarium for 12 hours or so.

Also, would love to be able to plug into my car, to charge battery or whatever, if period is extended.

I called tech support for APC a while back. They said a unit to keep my heaters going for 12 hours would be about $1,000 and the battery would have to be replaced every couple of years. Sounds expensive.

Thanks much,

 

[seldin]

Russ,

When I contacted APC ( I think that is correct name in UPS), they said heaters take a lot of power and that I would need a very large one just to operate my 3 heaters for my 55 gallon reef for 12 hours. That is assuming that my office will be 60 degrees during winter time.

Is this correct. If it is not, etc. Can you recommend a UPS ( model number ) for my heaters or chiller, that I think, should be able to run for 12 hours.

Thank you,

 

[masterswimmer]

Larry, they are 100% accurate. I can't recommend one single ECONOMICAL backup to perform that function. The draw by the heaters is high, especially when the ambient room temp is 60.

For that type of application I would have to suggest a generator.

Russ

 

[seldin]

Russ,

Thank you for confirmation.

Have a great weekend.

 

[Imbarrie]

Wow, I didnt think heaters draw that much.

But you are thinking the depths of winter, right now we are having brown/black-outs because it is too hot.

Couple questions though.
What about one heater in a 55 that will maintain a temp of 70ish when its cold outside and maintain a level of flow adequate enough to keep everything alive?
Also, is this an office in a building that will have a generator already? Or is this your home office?

 

[tlpmyd]

ACTUALLY i found out that some inverters come with a switch that automatically kick on when it the power goes out, its still pricey but for anyone that wants more info i called up a pretty recognized inverter company called AIMS they worked me through the entire thing plus told me exactly what i would need, i believe they sell direct too, i didnt buy nothing because its not in my budget but it really sounds promising, now to run everything in your tank off the invertor like the power never went out will cost just as much as a very well gas gen., but if you only have it hooked up to just the basics, like pumps it will be alot cheaper. if i was a man with money who has a very expensive tank i would def. go the invertor route, for the few extra bucks.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

If I had a lot of money and a very expensive tank I'd have a stand by generator system installed. The only thing you need to do witht hat is make sure theres a full tank of diesel, or you can have one that runs off of natural gas as well so as long as your gas service is good its good and run it once a month or so to keep everything in order that way you have no worries the power goes out it automatically kicks on when the power comes back it shuts down. You can still use a UPS for the 30 seconds it takes for the generator to sense the outage and to kick itself on but is well worth the money. I just wish I owned my own house and would be able to put it in but I will by all means when I buy my own place have one.

 

[seldin]

I contacted Aims from tlpmyd. I would be looking to plug in my controller for my 3 heaters ( 250 watts) and my chiller.

They have a 1500 watt power inverter with battery charger and transfer switch using a modified sine wave. Price is $300 with 1 year warranty. Model pvric1500w

I would also need a 105 amp marine battery, maintenance free for $300. They also said, other batteries on web can be cheaper. They thought their battery was more high end.

I would also need cables priced about $70.

So total price would be about $700 to run my 250 watts of heaters for 8 to 12 hours.

Really does not sound like a bad price, when with this type of setup, the marine battery and not the total system would have to replaced every 5-7 years.

What do you think?

I then would have to buy a generator. All to keep my reef happy and still has no electrics for refrigerator, etc.

I did try to get an estimate for a whole house switch over generator and they would go around $8,000 plus. Not happening here.

 

[tlpmyd]

they do make bigger inverters also that could run the entire system, but like i said it does get pricey!

 

[tlpmyd]

oh and just to add i also asked the AIMS REP instead of going with the power inverter would it be possible to get the tranfser switch and connect it to the genarator and he said yes, so with that being said as long as you have enough gas it might be a better option to do it this way since the gen can probably run a big set up with no probs.

 

[masterswimmer]

I contacted Aims from tlpmyd. I would be looking to plug in my controller for my 3 heaters ( 250 watts) and my chiller.

They have a 1500 watt power inverter with battery charger and transfer switch using a modified sine wave. Price is $300 with 1 year warranty. Model pvric1500w

I would also need a 105 amp marine battery, maintenance free for $300. They also said, other batteries on web can be cheaper. They thought their battery was more high end.

I would also need cables priced about $70.

So total price would be about $700 to run my 250 watts of heaters for 8 to 12 hours.

Really does not sound like a bad price, when with this type of setup, the marine battery and not the total system would have to replaced every 5-7 years.

What do you think?

I then would have to buy a generator. All to keep my reef happy and still has no electrics for refrigerator, etc.

I did try to get an estimate for a whole house switch over generator and they would go around $8,000 plus. Not happening here.

Larry, you can get a generator and an ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) to run your reef and parts of your house for A LOT LESS than $8,000. The price you received sounds like it will 'juice' your entire house. In a power outage scenario, I don't find it necessary to have every circuit in my home powered. I must have my fridge, boiler, reef, well pump (we have well water), and a few circuits around the house to have some light & television.

With the above circuits wired into the ATS I wouldn't be surprised if you could do it for somewhere in the $4,000-$5,000 range. That's 37%-50% less than your quote.

Russ

 

[juan319]

take a trip to Dominican Republic, stay for a week or two; while you learn about the way the inverters are used, you can enjoy yourself. Apply what you learned and enjoy the money that you saved.

 

[seldin]

Russ,

I have had 2 electricians come for the generator. Both were recommended from a local company that sometimes sold generators. The automatic turning on kind....

However, they both did not impress me. Both wanted lot's of money.

 

[qy7400]

They have a 1500 watt power inverter with battery charger and transfer switch using a modified sine wave. Price is $300 with 1 year warranty. Model pvric1500w

I would also need a 105 amp marine battery, maintenance free for $300. They also said, other batteries on web can be cheaper. They thought their battery was more high end.

I would also need cables priced about $70.

So total price would be about $700 to run my 250 watts of heaters for 8 to 12 hours.

Larry,
3 250 watt heaters will not last 8 hours on the one battery, you'll be lucky if it lasts over an hour.

Quick formula is AC Amps * 10 = DC Amps, battery AH / DC A = load run, load run / 2 (inverter will shut when batteries reach low voltage) = estimated run time. So.....

3*250W=750W/110V=6.82A (AC), 6.82*10=68.2A (DC), 105AH/68.2A=1.54 hours run, 1.54/2 leaves you with .77 hours actual continuous run time.

So for your setup to work for 8 hours the heaters can only stay on 5 minutes per hour.

 

[seldin]

Joe,

It actually is 3 heaters that are smaller and give a total of 250 Watts total ( not 750 watts, I was not clear). Based on true case, my office will be 60 degrees in winter. Not sure how long heaters stays on. Controller set to go on at 78 degrees, and turn off at 79 degrees.

2 heaters are in display tank and one heater is in sump. I do have a battery backup air pump that will produce bubbles for oxygen for 10-12 hours, going on every 2 minutes and going off every 2 minutes.

Thank you,