Diy Battery Backup ?

H

Hong

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2015
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Hi All,

I like the idea of a UPS, now that winter's almost here and who know what else.
But I'm not sure the ones for sale is what I'm looking for.

Was thinking of rigging a few items together with the theme being best bang for the buck.

500W power inverter connect to a marine deep charge battery that is connect to a smart trickle charger.
Just wanted to bounce it of some of you for potential issues/unforeseen problems.

Thanks and Cheers.

Hong
 
C

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
I am thinking about this too.

12v to 120v iverter
Marine deep cycle Single or double 8D battery

Double 8d battery seems to be the best option but will run several hundreds bucks
 
S

shamous113

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Location
Stratford
I saw a diy on reef central that auto switched on when the power went out. very similar in concept but with a few extra parts. I'll see if I can find it again
 
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J

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
OK, I don't want a DIY, but I need to get a backup quickly. Any suggestions for my 32G LED Coraline biocube? Thanks
 
J

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
i am jus not sure of the specs i require. I need at least 4 plug spots for a heater, lights and 2 powerhead,but can you educate me on any other necessary SPECS?
 
N

Nighthawk26

Active Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Location
Waterloo
Lights are by far the least of your concerns. Powerheads first for sure, then heater. To be honest, I am not really super educated on what specs are needed. Was throwing the general suggestion out there for research. Personally, I have a 300+G system, I'm literally at the same time you are looking at this, looking at generators. If this was my forever house, I would get a whole home without question. For now, just looking at portable. Some of the inverter units are small, aren't too loud, and fairly efficient. Is that an option for you.
 
C

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
Janice said:
i am jus not sure of the specs i require. I need at least 4 plug spots for a heater, lights and 2 powerhead,but can you educate me on any other necessary SPECS?
Click to expand...

Like I mentioned on your other thread already, if you get Vortech powerhead you can get their battery backup and you are good for hours and hours
 
J

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
Not sure. I have an Eheim heater for a 32G tank and I just ordered the Jebao RW-4 Series wave maker with controller, plus the output discharge (flow nozzle) of the Coraline 32G LED Coraline Biocube. I checked the specs of the biocube and the specs regarding the wattage are not listed.
 
S

shamous113

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Location
Stratford
During a power outage you don't need the lights running. you need a powerhead to maintain the surface disturbance to keep the O2 levels up. during extended outages you would need to keep the tank warm, wrapping the tank in a blanket helps reduce heat loss. I believe the rw4 uses 10 watts, and lets say your heater is rated at 300w so a total of 310 watts required at max load. so a inverter that can provide a true 400 watts continuous would do the job. the problem with a ups is that they are designed to do 1000 watts for 15-20 min not 1-8 hours. so even at 1/3 load (310 watts) you will be lucky to get a couple of hours.yes you can use a ups but it's not near the reliability of the 2 DIY linked above. I'd love to put in a stand by generator or the Tesla powerwall
 
scubasteve

scubasteve

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
Send me the volt and amp rating or wattage and voltage of each thing you want to run and how long you want to run it and I will tell you how many and what kind of battery you want. The inverter will lose some power so that's something else to consider. Plus you can't drain your battery completely or it's useless. If I ever get a small inverter my seahorse tank (45 gal) will be completely run off a small solar panel and a small wind turbine. Only difference between battery backup and solar is your house charges instead so I suggest reading around about solar power there's tons of good info for diy battery banks
 
scubasteve

scubasteve

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 4, 2014
Location
Cambridge, Ontario
Canadianeh said:
I am thinking about this too.

12v to 120v iverter
Marine deep cycle Single or double 8D battery

Double 8d battery seems to be the best option but will run several hundreds bucks
Click to expand...

High a/hr rating is what is key the more amps the longer the run time. 6v golf cart batteries are actually the best and cheapest to use then you hook them in series to get needed voltage and parallel to increase amperage.
 
J

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
shamous113 said:
During a power outage you don't need the lights running. you need a powerhead to maintain the surface disturbance to keep the O2 levels up. during extended outages you would need to keep the tank warm, wrapping the tank in a blanket helps reduce heat loss. I believe the rw4 uses 10 watts, and lets say your heater is rated at 300w so a total of 310 watts required at max load. so a inverter that can provide a true 400 watts continuous would do the job. the problem with a ups is that they are designed to do 1000 watts for 15-20 min not 1-8 hours. so even at 1/3 load (310 watts) you will be lucky to get a couple of hours.yes you can use a ups but it's not near the reliability of the 2 DIY linked above. I'd love to put in a stand by generator or the Tesla powerwall
Click to expand...
That is very helpful. But I am a techno dweeb with this kind of stuff. Any chance you could give me links to one or two that would satisfy the 400 watts requirement. I am going away and it could be 24 hours before my house sitter comes in and discovers an outage-so I need something other than a blanket to keep the heat up.
 
H

Hong

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2015
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
What I'm thinking about is modify a UPS. Upgrade the battery on the UPS to a deep cycle marine via Youtube. I'll try not to blow myself up. :)

 
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