Back Up Power Thread

[House of Laughter]

All,

I am starting this discussion as an advanced topic as a result of our discussions of the costs of electric etc. I was thinking to myself, self? what if the power goes out? Because electric is so critical to maintaining our environs, I thought I would ask some questions:

Do you have an emergency back up plan?
Do you use a UPS? if so, which one? on what item? for how long?
Do you have a back up generator? If so, see above questions.

Please reply inline with any links, info, etc on what you have.

Also, please reply to the Poll.

House

 

[jhale]

I have a generator I bought at home depot. it sits on my balcony in the city.

It works great as long as you are home to start it up and connect it and have enough gas stored to run it.

I found out during the large east coast black out that having enough gas on hand is key, as I ran out since my area was one of the last to get power in the city.

I would like to upgrade to a inverter hooked to a marine battery. the cost has prevented me from doing this, someday I will have this as I see it as the best back up for my situation.

 

[prattreef]

Great idea Jim. In a rare moment of self promotion, may I point people toward the new issue of Marine Fish and Reef USA 2006 Annual that recently hit the stands. Someone I know very well has an article on just this topic... but it is far from complete so I'd love to hear from others.

Randy

 

[nanoreefer22]

Great idea Jim. In a rare moment of self promotion, may I point people toward the new issue of Marine Fish and Reef USA 2006 Annual that recently hit the stands. Someone I know very well has an article on just this topic... but it is far from complete so I'd love to hear from others.

Randy

Hmmmm I recall glancing over this article .
-Kris

 

[Reefer420]

I would like like to buy an APC back up like this...

http://www.upsforless.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=49

I think I would only have it power my skimmer, heater (heater is housed in my skimmer- so if the heater is on then the skimmer needs to be), and one pump to reduce the drain as much as possible. It should last at least a few hours, if not a full day with that kind of load...

need to add it to my list of things to buy- which is getting much too long again!

 

[cali_reef]

I use a Tripplite inverter\charger and two deep cycle marine batteries to run my return\skimmer pump if the power goes out and no one is home to fire up the 4,500W generator .

The two batteries will run my large Sequence pump for about 5-6 hours, I can extent that run time by adding more batteries.

Here is the link to the unit:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle_cluster?q=tripplite+inverter+charger&pid=4838477716350294118&oid=7338921368875815336&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=&addr=&scoring=p&hl=en

 

[jhale]

cali the link is bad,

I like the triplite's. where did you buy the batteries? local?

I read they can give off gases, are you concerned about this?

 

[Deanos]

I chose, "I have another plan not outlined above". Although it's really more of "I hope it works", than a plan. Co-op City is currently rebuilding their electric power co-generator, which will kick in, in the event of power loss. Here's an article when the action was first proposed.

Article

 

[herman]

I just use a back up ups for the powerheads in the tank. Lights skimmer etc will all be off in case of poweroutage. If the outage lasts too long saltwater is on standby for waterchanges. I have 2 units of the APC RS 1500va. That will keep the circulation in the tank going. I dont know for how long b ut a couple of hours at least. Never tested it.

 

[cali_reef]

cali the link is bad,

I like the triplite's. where did you buy the batteries? local?

I read they can give off gases, are you concerned about this?

Works for me try google TRIPP LITE APS612

I am using two boat batteries from Sears, nothing special. Lead acid will only give out gas if you are deep charging it, trickle charge is harmless. They are in my basement fish room and there is plenty of fresh air exchange so I am not concern. I wouldn?t put two large batteries in an enclosed tank stand, which may be a little risky.

 

[cali_reef]

I just use a back up ups for the powerheads in the tank. Lights skimmer etc will all be off in case of poweroutage. If the outage lasts too long saltwater is on standby for waterchanges. I have 2 units of the APC RS 1500va. That will keep the circulation in the tank going. I dont know for how long b ut a couple of hours at least. Never tested it.

You should test them by letting the battery run down every few months. Gel cells are not very good at retaining their ability to hold charge over long periods of inactivity.

 

[herman]

You should test them by letting the battery run down every few months. Gel cells are not very good at retaining their ability to hold charge over long periods of inactivity.

I know. I will test them tonight. Watch me like get 5 minutes out of them. That would piss me off. The ups is supossed to run 50w equipment for approx 6 hours.

 

[jhale]

I need something that can sit inside an apartment.
perhaps the UPS like herman has is better for me?

 

[herman]

I need something that can sit inside an apartment.
perhaps the UPS like herman has is better for me?

One of the UPS I have will run your tunze for a full day no prob

 

[jhale]

One of the UPS I have will run your tunze for a full day no prob

that's good. my big problem in my present loft is the temperature in the summer. the room the tank is in can hit 100 easy on a 90 degree day, and that's always the days the power has gone out. that's what I had the gennie for. I tested it out on the 1/2 9.5 amp chiller I have, it had trouble keeping up with it. so a bigger gennie, and some UPS is the way I have to go. ugh.

 

[jackson6745]

Herman how much were the UPS's

 

[herman]

Herman how much were the UPS's

about 400 a pop

 

[jhale]

about 400 a pop

ouch. that's much more than I thought they would be

the inverter and batteries are around that price.

 

[Pseudo]

http://cgi.ebay.com/HONDA-EU1000i-SUPER-QUITE-GENERATOR_W0QQitemZ7572601635QQcategoryZ106437QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Here is an alternative to having such a huge generator in your home. And it comes in different sizes and lasts for hours on 1 gallon of gas.

Kasei

 

[Pseudo]

Or for you guys that want lights all the time...

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/ModelDetail.asp?ModelName=ex4500