Sicce XStream SDC battery backup

[Jasongtr]

cool keep me updated please. I've had a few unsuccessful orders so far.

Ah really, any of them a 5.5/2.5 (hopefully not) failing that I’ll just open up the controller and solder something to the main board inside - it will work one way or the other

 

[Jasongtr]

One other thought, say you buy 3x 3000mah 18650 batteries for example, you could of course buy and 6x and put them in parallel in 3’s so you have 9000mah, what’s wrong with just buying a 12v lithium battery with a 20Ah capacity and save the hastle of using multiple small batteries and the associated holders, isn’t buying the bigger battery just buying an off the shelf solution of a bigger battery, likely cheaper too

 

[Jasongtr]

One other thought, say you buy 3x 3000mah 18650 batteries for example, you could of course buy and 6x and put them in parallel in 3’s so you have 9000mah, what’s wrong with just buying a 12v lithium battery with a 20Ah capacity and save the hastle of using multiple small batteries and the associated holders, isn’t buying the bigger battery just buying an off the shelf solution of a bigger battery, likely cheaper too

Answering my own question after a bit of reading , a 12v lithium battery I doubt would get sufficient voltage to charge from the sdc battery backup port on the controller, looks like a bank of 3x3.7v batteries it is then

 

[Jasongtr]

cool keep me updated please. I've had a few unsuccessful orders so far.

Sicce replied with a powerbank solution that’s been tested their end, they also confirmed the size of the battery port is 5.5/2.5 and suggested I buy these, I’m however going to not use their built in backup solition now and am building my own with an AGM lead acid battery and a switchover module

 

[JHSteepat]

The mains powered plug is 5.5mm /2.1mm and the battery backup has a larger central positive pin which I assume is to stop you plugging the mains adapter into the wrong port so I’m going to assume it’s a 5.5mm/2.5mm and that’s what I’ve just ordered to test, will be a week or so until it arrives though

Did you find out that the 5.5/2.5 plug, positive center worked, or something else?

Edit: ignore this, I missed the second page of responses.

 

[bluecheese]

Sicce replied with a powerbank solution that’s been tested their end, they also confirmed the size of the battery port is 5.5/2.5 and suggested I buy these, I’m however going to not use their built in backup solition now and am building my own with an AGM lead acid battery and a switchover module

What was the powerbank solution? Did they give you a specific battery box to use which had the correct plug?

 

[tREEFarm]

I had the same convo with Sicce and bought the batteries they suggested. The batteries have worked flawlessly for about a year now. But I do wish there was a better solution.

 

[Jasongtr]

What was the powerbank solution? Did they give you a specific battery box to use which had the correct plug?

No I made one myself, works great when required, thankfully I've not needed it other than testing

 

[VintageReefer]

Why not use a lithium power station with pass through charging?

Per the manual the pump consumes a max of 12 watts

Here’s a power station with pass through charging and UPS. this means it can both charge and run the ac and USB ports at the same time. If the power goes out it will switch to Lipo battery in .01 seconds and run off battery. When power is restored it will switch to ac power and recharge the batteries automatically

Might be overkill but hear me out

It’s currently 200$ with the coupon

This is 299 watt hours of power on battery. The runtime formula to calculate for loss from powering the device itself is:

(Watt Hours x .85) / watt load

So for this example

(299 x .85) / 12 = 21 hours

So you could run your wavemaker for 21 hours of no electricity.

If your device is set to 75% speed, then
12w x .8 = 9watts

(299 x .85) / 9 = 28 hours of runtime

If you had an extended outage you can also recharge this device with optional solar panels. Plus the unit has a 5 year warranty and has the battery management safety software equipment built in.

Amazon.com

a.co

 

[Jasongtr]

Why not use a lithium power station with pass through charging?

Per the manual the pump consumes a max of 12 watts

Here’s a power station with pass through charging and UPS. this means it can both charge and run the ac and USB ports at the same time. If the power goes out it will switch to Lipo battery in .01 seconds and run off battery. When power is restored it will switch to ac power and recharge the batteries automatically

Might be overkill but hear me out

It’s currently 200$ with the coupon

This is 299 watt hours of power on battery. The runtime formula to calculate for loss from powering the device itself is:

(Watt Hours x .85) / watt load

So for this example

(299 x .85) / 12 = 21 hours

So you could run your wavemaker for 21 hours of no electricity.

If your device is set to 75% speed, then
12w x .8 = 9watts

(299 x .85) / 9 = 28 hours of runtime

If you had an extended outage you can also recharge this device with optional solar panels. Plus the unit has a 5 year warranty and has the battery management safety software equipment built in.

Amazon.com

a.co

You could make something to exceed that for a quarter of the price and much smaller

 

[VintageReefer]

You could make something to exceed that for a quarter of the price and much smaller

A 4000 mah 3.7v 18650 battery is only 14.8 watt hours. You would need 20 to get the same capacity plus wire them all together, add in surge protection, inverter, automatic charging with battery management, cooling, a casing/housing etc

Plus this can run multiple devices off ac and usb if needed. A return pump could keep water flow in the system and filtration through a sump

What can be made for 50$ to give this functionality and 21 hours of run time at full power ?

 

[Jasongtr]

A 4000 mah 3.7v 18650 battery is only 14.8 watt hours. You would need 20 to get the same capacity plus wire them all together, add in surge protection, inverter, automatic charging with battery management, cooling, a casing/housing etc

I've got 3x batteries in my backup for one wavemaker, gives me 6 hours, so you definitely won't need 20 batteries

 

[VintageReefer]

I've got 3x batteries in my backup for one wavemaker, gives me 6 hours, so you definitely won't need 20 batteries

The reason your 3 batteries connected to the socket are giving you that runtime is because the pump is reducing to 50% power and flow

3 batteries at 50% = 6 hours
3 batteries theoretically at 100% = 3 hours

To go from 3 hours at 100% to 21 hours at 100% as the power station provides is a multiple of 7

7 x 3 batteries = 21 batteries

If the pump was manually turned to 50% in a power outage it would consume 6 watts

(299 x .85) / 6watts = 42 hours of runtime

 

[Jasongtr]

The reason your 3 batteries connected to the socket are giving you that runtime is because the pump is reducing to 50% power and flow

3 batteries at 50% = 6 hours
3 batteries theoretically at 100% = 3 hours

To go from 3 hours at 100% to 21 hours at 100% as the power station provides is a multiple of 7

7 x 3 batteries = 21 batteries

If the pump was manually turned to 50% in a power outage it would consume 6 watts

(299 x .85) / 6watts = 42 hours of runtime

Which is what most off the shelf battery backup systems do, run at a lower power setting, so I'm perfectly happy with my 3" square box under the controller giving me a solution, and I don't need to find room for that thing you put up or even buy it, my return pump is on an automatic switched 12v lead acid battery that will run for 24 hours if required

 

[VintageReefer]

Which is what most off the shelf battery backup systems do, run at a lower power setting, so I'm perfectly happy with my 3" square box under the controller giving me a solution, and I don't need to find room for that thing you put up or even buy it, my return pump is on an automatic switched 12v lead acid battery that will run for 24 hours if required

Never seen someone get offended at a suggestion before…maybe someone else would benefit from the info I posted.

FYI Regarding the return pump backup lead acid shouldn’t be used past 50% of its capacity and as you use lead acid the output voltage is nearly constantly slowly dropping. Once it’s output drops below 12v (which is approximately where the 50% capacity mark is) you are under driving equipment, damaging the battery and reducing its capacity and lifespan

If you are ever interested in switching to a Lipo backup to get longer runtimes in a smaller space (since lipo has a higher energy density it can store more power in a smaller footprint) I would be glad to offer assistance. Lipo you can also utilize approx 90% of the stated capacity and safely be discharged fully and recharged fully thousands and thousands of times with no impact on the batteries health

Have a good night

 

[Jasongtr]

Never seen someone get offended at a suggestion before…maybe someone else would benefit from the info I posted.

FYI Regarding the return pump backup lead acid shouldn’t be used past 50% of its capacity and as you use lead acid the output voltage is nearly constantly slowly dropping. Once it’s output drops below 12v (which is approximately where the 50% capacity mark is) you are under driving equipment, damaging the battery and reducing its capacity and lifespan

If you are ever interested in switching to a Lipo backup to get longer runtimes in a smaller space (since lipo has a higher energy density it can store more power in a smaller footprint) I would be glad to offer assistance. Lipo you can also utilize approx 90% of the stated capacity and safely be discharged fully and recharged fully thousands and thousands of times with no impact on the batteries health

Have a good night

I wasn't offended mate, just personally don't see the point of paying at least 4x times more for something 200x times bigger

 

[VintageReefer]

I wasn't offended mate, just personally don't see the point of paying at least 4x times more for something 200x times bigger

Sometimes it’s hard to read tone across the internet. My apologies also for making a poor assumption

I hear you. Size is an issue. And 6 hours seems fine for you.

For others seeking longer backup duration the difference between your 50$ 3 battery compact solution and my 200$ option is

50$ = 6 hours at 50%, with auto cutover to 50%

200$ = 21 hours at 100%
If you are home and manually reduce pump to 50%, you can get 42 hours

Yes mines more bulky. It’s approx the size of a car battery and yours is like a deck of cards.

Both are valid solutions for different goals, and both have pros and cons. Hopefully people can read this thread in the future, learn about different options and decide what’s best for them

 

[Jasongtr]

Sometimes it’s hard to read tone across the internet. My apologies also for making a poor assumption

I hear you. Size is an issue. And 6 hours seems fine for you.

For others seeking longer backup duration the difference between your 50$ 3 battery compact solution and my 200$ option is

50$ = 6 hours at 50%, with auto cutover to 50%

200$ = 21 hours at 100%
If you are home and manually reduce pump to 50%, you can get 42 hours

Yes mines more bulky. It’s approx the size of a car battery and yours is like a deck of cards.

Both are valid solutions for different goals, and both have pros and cons. Hopefully people can read this thread in the future, learn about different options and decide what’s best for them

Agree it has its place, and most likely a viable option for some, especially if they don't want to or cannot make their own solution

 

[KStatefan]

Both are valid solutions for different goals, and both have pros and cons. Hopefully people can read this thread in the future, learn about different options and decide what’s best for them

There are so many good options now for having a power outage back up solution that it should be part of every setup.

 

[bluecheese]

I had the same convo with Sicce and bought the batteries they suggested. The batteries have worked flawlessly for about a year now. But I do wish there was a better solution.

What did they suggest? Which battery pack did you use?