BATTERY BACK-UP

[Reef Pilot]

Every fall, I bring home our 2 Crappy Tire inverter batteries and RV battery (which connects to the inverters) from our lake cabin (charged by solar there in the summer). We live in Langley and our area is notorious for power outages during winter storms (usually in Nov and Dec, except this year).

We have had outages for more than 24 hours in the past, and this system has been enough to keep water pumps (on low power) in the display tank (100g) and a heater going without depleting the batteries. I have never suffered any tank losses with an outage. I now have another 135g downstairs, so will have an additional electrical load now.

I do shut down the sump, skimmer, reactors, etc. and I do have tank covers and canopies, so that helps keep the heat in.

I also have a 6000 Watt diesel generator on standby, but have never had to use it.

The inverter (Eliminator) batteries can be had for around $110 on a sale, and I got the RV battery for 60 bucks (cash) at Edmonds Battery. So it doesn't have to be expensive.