Battery Backup: UPS or Inverter and optima battery

Ecotech Marine
Jump to Last
with solar being a popular option nowadays and tesla introducing a home battery that might also be a consideration, albeit an expensive one ;)
 
Now you have me thinking, if i could connect a yellow top to my UPS, then I can get more run time, and have an auto failover in the event of a power outtage.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
ReeferMaddness843 said:
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.
Click to expand...
Yes a restriction to control flow will increase the load on the motor and draw more power. On the other hand, a bypass line with a control vale will go a long way to reduce power consumed by the pump. This can easily be measured with a clamp on amp meter especially if it will read out a couple of decimal places.
 
Deltec
ThePapa said:
Yes a restriction to control flow will increase the load on the motor and draw more power. On the other hand, a bypass line with a control vale will go a long way to reduce power consumed by the pump. This can easily be measured with a clamp on amp meter especially if it will read out a couple of decimal places.
Click to expand...
Thx! I'll bring my fieldpiece meter home tomorrow and get a true load.
 
The power draw will be fairly constant unless you're severely restricted or have absolutely no pressure drop in the discharge piping. In the former, power consumption actually decreases when compared to optimal performance. In the latter, power consumption increases as the pump runs off of the end of its curve. For your purposes, it's probably simpler to just assume the pump is consuming the maximum rated wattage for your sizing calculations.
 
jasonrusso said:
Here is what I did. I did it some time ago. It ran successfully for 1/2 an hour at one time. I have a standby Generac now so the most it has to last now is 15 seconds.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f183/homemade-battey-backup-197872.html#post2211018
Click to expand...
I like your setup but your line losses for 12VDC through #14 wire under load are a whole lot larger than they are At 120V AC. My suggestion is to move the UPS close to the batteries and your pump and heater will run a whole lot longer.
 
Nutramar Foods
Hows the best way to gauge if it would last for 8 hours? What measurement?
 
Figure out how many watts your equipment is using. Then convert the battery rating into watt/hr. VxA=watts. So a 100 amp hr battery would be 12v times 100 amp/hr = 1200watt hr.

If your equipment is pulling 300 watts that's 4 hours max, but more realistically 2 hours reliably.
 
Tidal Gardens
That doesn't sound right. A 100ah battery should last a lot longer than that even if you are discharging it to 50 percent.

Check out this online calculator:

https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/calculator-sizing-a-battery-to-a-load.html



jasonrusso said:
Figure out how many watts your equipment is using. Then convert the battery rating into watt/hr. VxA=watts. So a 100 amp hr battery would be 12v times 100 amp/hr = 1200watt hr.

If your equipment is pulling 300 watts that's 4 hours max, but more realistically 2 hours reliably.
Click to expand...
 
Ok, I ran the numbers. Where am I wrong? How many watts are you running?
 
Keep in mind that most times a flooded lead-acid battery is assumed. Other battery types (AGM, gel, etc.) may not require as much capacity to power the same load for a given time. Just a thought.
 
Using the battery calculator I posted up. On a flooded 100ah acid battery I should get about 4 hours of usage on a 4ah draw (810 watts). This is around 50 percent discharge.

The calculator will tell you how many AH battery you need. Just convert your watts into AH (watts / 110 for USA).
 
810 watts /120 is 6.75A AC. 810 watts /12 is 67.5A DC. Where did you get 4 A?
 
jasonrusso said:
810 watts /120 is 6.75A AC. 810 watts /12 is 67.5A DC. Where did you get 4 A?
Click to expand...
You are correct. Folks often assume that amps are constant for a given wattage, but that is not the case. This is EXACTLY the reason why a 350W DC inverter comes with wiring and fuses for 30A (30A x 12VDC = 360W).

810W draw on a 12VDC system is quite a substantial load.
 
Nutramar Foods
This has the lowest idle power draw I could find, plus overhead enough to deal with more stuff if I add it later.. I don't live near earthquake or hurricane stuff, just rough storms and crappy winter so I don't really need to worry about more than a few hours. I think the worst I've seen in this area was probably 10 years ago and power was out for a couple days because of a crap ton of freezing rain.. 250$ (aside from inverter) though for 7 hours of maximum wattage for 2 tanks including heaters isn't bad.

https://www.amazon.com/Power-PICOGL...8&qid=1467220351&sr=8-1&keywords=1500+ul+aims

https://www.amazon.com/Vmaxtanks-Vm...Vmaxtanks+Vmaxslr125+AGM+Deep+Cycle+12v+125ah

If I ever needed more juice I can just add more batteries. Though right now I only have this setup.. (30-35 gallons of water in main, then ~5 gallons in frag tank)
Inverter:
Nominal Efficiency: >92% (Peak)
Line Mode Efficiency: >95%

Unless the battery backup calculator I'm using is wrong on this random website:(using a power factor of .8 for the ups; which is lower than what it is I think? ie: 90%ish efficiency)

13.5 watts for inverter consumption
at 121 watts full power(3 heaters continuously) = 134.5 watts = 7 hours 8 minutes
at 20.5 watts (no heaters) = 34 watts = calculator reports 4 hours, so I assume it's errored somewhere. :)
https://www.backupbatterypower.com/pages/ups-run-time-calculator


1 of the 2 mp10's in main tank has it's own vortech battery, neither is included on this circuit

121 watts max off battery for both main tank and frag tank

main tank full wattage 77 watts

frag tank full wattage minus ATO, 44 watts

main tank 1.2 watts idle power for all dosers and reef angel

main tank:
reef angel controller
dosers 3 watts x 6 = 18 watts
heater 75 watts

frag tank:
heater 25 watts
hydor smart ato 5 watts
ato pump 3 watts
skimmer 2.5 watts
pumps, 4 watts x2 = 8 watts
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Need some help!

My critical systems run 155.5 watts and I want to run 8 hours optimal. What is the watt or VA I need?

I'm not familiar with this and I get a number between 6-9 hours. I'm not sure how to tell amp hours on a battery of 1500 VA and 900 watts.
 
AI Nero 5

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…
TCK Corals
Tidal Gardens
Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
Chewy.com
Deltec
Nutramar Foods
Top Shelf Aquatics
World Wide Corals
New Posts
Back
Top