Suggestion on a power backup system

[mark]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

I am about to order one of these

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product....922&lang=en-CA

unless someone has a better suggestion.

Seems like a good balance between price noise and performance. But it looks like I would have to fill the gas tank every few hours.

I'll got a little generator for camping that I never use and have handy in the garage for the tank (again never really used). Just on the surface the costso seems better than my Princess Auto as is 4 stroke compared to my 2 stroke (needing mixed gas).

As for being off for a 1/2 hour, I'm that much just with a good siphon/water change.

[ALang]

daniella3d:
the said review was actually from the link that you have provided for me, under the 1800W (thanks, BTW). Quite a LOT of the reviews were bad, so I am not sure if they were human errors (Not plugging them in) or manufacture/ design defects.
Some people were using their units to power their home sump pumps and then finding out that it wasn't working after a few months.
Still there were a few that did great reviews, but of course the bad ones always seems to over-ride the good. But for the price, I think that I will do what you did, and rely on the 400W, when I can find one on sale. If it is just a couple of pwr heads and a skimmer, I think it'll do just fine.
Thank goodness that major power outage is very rare here, so if it is good for about a couple of hours, that should be great. Saves me from bucketing water to create flow! (Or worse if we are not home!!)

[Mrfish55]

Alang, I have had the 1800 for a number of years, the internal batteries finally packed it in, I removed the internal batteries and replaced with a couple deep cycle 12 volt units, bad news is it is no longer portable, good news is it used to power my tank for 45 min. tested it over the last couple days and got 17 hours and still had 10% reserve. and unlike the generator I do not need to be home to switch things over, when the power comes back on it automatically recharges the batteries for next time.

[phi delt reefer]

Originally Posted by ALang

daniella3d:
the said review was actually from the link that you have provided for me, under the 1800W (thanks, BTW). Quite a LOT of the reviews were bad, so I am not sure if they were human errors (Not plugging them in) or manufacture/ design defects.
Some people were using their units to power their home sump pumps and then finding out that it wasn't working after a few months.
Still there were a few that did great reviews, but of course the bad ones always seems to over-ride the good. But for the price, I think that I will do what you did, and rely on the 400W, when I can find one on sale. If it is just a couple of pwr heads and a skimmer, I think it'll do just fine.
Thank goodness that major power outage is very rare here, so if it is good for about a couple of hours, that should be great. Saves me from bucketing water to create flow! (Or worse if we are not home!!)

build your own...

Battery Backup Controller (http://autotopoff.com/custom/): (35 us but shipping is like 25 ) this piece will do the switching for you once the power outage occurs.

300w/600w peak inverter is like 40 bux on ebay. you can get a pure sine one for 80-100 bux but i dont know if anything electronic in the aquarium trade will benefit from pure sin power.

battery - your choice - you can go to a battery specialist store and price out one that meets your budget/needs. look to spend 60-200 dollars depending on what you get (you want a sealed deep cycle battery) these can be picked up at walmart as well but the options are limited. usually you can try to find a UPS battery replacement - they are the best from what i have been told but still cost a couple bux

float charger (NOT TRICKLE!) - ten bucks on ebay (shipped )

[StirCrazy]

the Noma is very expensive for what your getting.

find a used RV place and get a used converter, or buy a nice 3 stage digital battery charger for 40 bucks, about 30 bucks. then buy a inverter the size you want/need to power what you want. next go buy two 6V deep cycle batteries like the trojen T100's this will give you about twice the power storage as a Noma for about the same price. then you just make it look pretty if you care.

I sold my set up a few years ago, but I had 2 of my tunze, My two VHO actinic lights, recirc pump and skimmer pump and a heater on it and I went 8 hours and only drained them 1/2 way.

Steve

[daniella3d]

wow awesome! how did you set that up? I would love to know how to hook this in case mine ever have the same problem.

I have 2 deep cycle batteries doing nothing

I bought my Noma 400 watts at Canadian Tire when they were in special price for 59$. I regret not having bought 2 of them! Mine has been working flawlessly for about 3 years.

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Alang, I have had the 1800 for a number of years, the internal batteries finally packed it in, I removed the internal batteries and replaced with a couple deep cycle 12 volt units, bad news is it is no longer portable, good news is it used to power my tank for 45 min. tested it over the last couple days and got 17 hours and still had 10% reserve. and unlike the generator I do not need to be home to switch things over, when the power comes back on it automatically recharges the batteries for next time.

[mseepman]

I bought a couple of the Noma 400W versions when they were $59. They are great. I run one and the other is still in the box. Just running my Tunze, I have gone for 8 hours without fail before. Not sure how long it would last if pressed though.

[Mrfish55]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

wow awesome! how did you set that up? I would love to know how to hook this in case mine ever have the same problem.

I have 2 deep cycle batteries doing nothing

I bought my Noma 400 watts at Canadian Tire when they were in special price for 59$. I regret not having bought 2 of them! Mine has been working flawlessly for about 3 years.

That is a good price, I paid $349 for the 1800w
The conversion was easy, opened up the case, removed the original batteries, extended the power cables, ran them thru the side of the case, closed everything back up and hooked up a pair of deep cycle batteries. works same as before but instead of 45 min run time I am now getting close to 24 hours and still have reserve. I am running 4 ps3 return pumps on it right now, thinking of putting the skimmer for the FOWLR on as well, don't really need 24 hours back up time and I am sure the skimmer plays a pretty big role on the FOWLR with the amount and size of livestock in there.