Battery Backup Sucess Story!

[alligator]

Hello all,

I just wanted to share a sucess story with you that happened to me last night. About 11:30 p.m. I lost power due to some thunderstorms in our area. Nothing amazing about that, it happens all the time here.

Luckily, I had read Reef Central for the past few years, and build the battery backup system shown here (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64918&highlight=battery+backup+playfair) by Playfair. I didn't have mine automated to turn on automatically yet, but I did have all of the components ready, so when the power went out, I simply hooked it up.

Wow, it was amazing. I then went back to sleep, may main pump ran for the next 8 hours without even breaking a sweat. When the power came on, my backup battery began to charge, and things were as good as new.

Nothing in the tank could even tell that I had lost power, and everything was happy, healthy, and peaceful. Plus, I got to sleep last night with no worries!

Thanks Playfair!

- Alligator

[jman785]

Your one of the lucky ones :D

- Jared

[otolith]

Alligator, did you end up buying your stuff locally? I'd like to try and make this, but I'll prolly end up buying one.
Derek

[alligator]

Yes, everything except the electronics. The battery, charger, and battery case came from an auto parts store in Brooklyn Park. Almost any will have something similar.

The inverter should be purchased online. They will try to charge too much just about everywhere you look for them locally.

I cringed at the price of the battery when I first purchased it, but you should have seen my relief last night when I was able to easily sleep through an 8 hour outage without worry. It was worth MORE than what I paid for it.

I also use the inverter to play DVD's in the car when we travel. Cool huh? That too has paid for itself on just one car trip!

[Playfair]

Glad you made it, Gator! Before I had the auto unit, I ONLY had the inverter, and would leave the car idling during the outages. During a wind/T storm once I left the bar (hehe) early because of a "feeling"... Walked in the house just as the overflows finished filling the sump due to powerlines down.

Now, get busy with that transfer switch, for the time you aren't fortunate enough to be home ;)

FYI, whilest this topic is up, I don't recommend running a pump larger than a mag 12 off the 5 amp relay, as after about 10 "tests", my mag 18 caused enough sparks to ruin it.

[otolith]

Pretty cool, I'll have to look into this little project a little more. Gator/playfair, how long did it take you to make this?

Playfair, would you recc. using a 10a or larger relay if one is going to need to run a larger pump? Say, for an Iwaki 70 os something that large.

Derek

[p5ykadelic]

hey alligator

how long did your battery backup able to last? days??? i just had a run in with tropical storm bill--power was out for hours. some here in the city was out for 2 days

i'm thinking of making one of playfair's backup myself:fun2:

[rnmahler]

I actually have several small APC power supplies set up just in case we loose power. I lost for 8 hours once and was still on my first power supply, two in backup. I am basically using APC 650s which are relatively cheep at our local computer store.

www.eazyreef.com

[Playfair]

otolith- The first one took about a month :eek1: (several probs) but the subsequent ones only a couple of hours. Helps when there is a plan to follow :)

Yes, a larger relay would help (or a spike suppression circuit) the drop out voltage spike, but the main problem with the larger pumps is the starting current during. There are no specs on the Mag pumps (of course, I haven't asked the Danner for any either), and the 18 did take out a transister in the inverter after a year (semi-monthly testing). A larger inverter than 300w may help this.

rnmahler- What exactly werer you running off the 650? Couldn't have been much more than an airpump, or perhaps a small powerhead.

[alligator]

My backup system lasted over 8 hours, but then again, I was only running a 50 watt submersible pump (or so the label claims). I haven't tested the pump yet, but I will one of these days with my "Kill-A-Watt" meter.

Given that power consumption, a 95 Amp/hour battery would last me

Power = Current * Voltage
50 Watts = ? * 12 volts
Current = 4.16 amps

95 Amp/hours / 4.16 amps = 22.8 hours.

That's my best guess at the run time, but that doesn't take into account power consumption of the inverter. So I'm guessing I could do at least a half a day on this system.