Battery Backup: UPS or Inverter and optima battery

[ReeferMaddness843]

Which would you recomend or which are you running? If running one, what brand and a/h?
I'm looking to run kessil a160 x2, maxspect gyre, eshoppes skimmer (rated for 150), and an eheim 3230 pump. (believe that's the model)

 

[imjedi76]

a ups or any battery would not last long running all those. If you anticipate long outages get a generator. When it comes to battery backups you want to be picky about what goes in. Use a separate power strip that's plugged in to the ups and only plug in essentials (return pump and power head, heater if its really cold in your house)

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Thx. I'll opt to remove all but the return and a power head then. Unfortunately I live in an apartment so that wouldn't be a go to option.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If you have an Apex, you can configure it to sense loss of external power and cut power to nonessential devices.

A large, deep cycle battery with an inverter would run quite some time with your load. What outage duration were you looking to ride through? For shorter outage durations, you could shed the Kessils to extend runtime.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Rarely does my power go out, and if it does, I'd say the max has been 4 hours one time in the past 6+ years. No apex. Yet. As at the moment, I still have that "new" feeling to my tanks after almost a year of this one running so I like to be hands on more than automated. Some people see the work as a pain, but it actually relaxes me and I enjoy it. Plus kiddos are getting to the age where I can start teaching them the responsibility of upkeep.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Was a car audio nut for a while so I may actually have a yellow top sitting in my garage.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I don't know the wattages on the gyre or the return pump, but if I guess a total load of 125W excluding the Kessils, a 75 Ah battery should last a good four hours. Since everything is manual, if you have variable speed devices, you could slow those down extend runtime.

Truth is, the battery may even last longer than that as I'm just trying to provide a conservative guess.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Perfect. I'm going to look up some specs now so can make an educated purchase then. Thanks for reaching out!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Let me know the wattages of the devices you want to run, and I'll help you size the battery.

 

[imjedi76]

The question is, what happens when there's an outage and you're not home?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Skimmer: eshoppes 120 cone (35watt max)
Return: eheim 1260 (65watt max) I do have a restriction on flow to slow pump, don't know if that's affect the draw
Gyre 150: 25-30 watts based on my settings I use.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

@imjedi76 That is a good question. Lol
Normally either myself or my wife is home as we work opposite schedules. I work a mile from home so beating able to slide out and fix if needed isn't an issue either. However, I may have to find something to prepare for the event of that as well.

 

[gar732]

I would run just the power head. Everything else is unnecessary for a power outage for of 4hrs. I ran my tank for 5 days on a dry cell battery and a vortech during hurricane Irene. Even during a freak October snowstorm I was without power for 4 days still only running the vortech. It was two days later before I had to worry about tank temps dropping too much. Both instances I didn't lose anything. Oxygenating the water is the most important thing. I've since bought a generator and haven't had to use it once, lol.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If the pump is not variable speed, restricting the discharge has a minimal effect on power consumption. Your listed loads indicate about 135W total consumption, which is about 11A total current draw. A 125Ah battery should theoretically last about 11 hours, but I always derate expected performance by 50% to be conservative.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Good to know. Being in South Carolina, storms and hurricanes are a real possibility. Wanted to get prepared. Had a pretty nasty storm for an hour or so today and got me to thinking.

 

[sNaFu]

The one plus to a battery and inverter is you can invest in a cheap solar powered battery tender which if power lose was during daylight would continuously put juice to the battery as well as even keeping it fully charged.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Thanks @AllSignsPointToFish. Appreciate the insight and help. Thanks to everyone else chiming in as well!!!!

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

@sNaFu that was an option as well for security as my tank is next to the living room window which catches direct sunlight as well.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

The one plus to a battery and inverter is you can invest in a cheap solar powered battery tender which if power lose was during daylight would continuously put juice to the battery as well as even keeping it fully charged.

That's good advice

 

[sNaFu]

That's how I am planning on setting mine up.