[Azreal]

So the power went out this morning. My wife likes to keep the house at a balmy 50-55 degrees in the area that the tank is in. So my night time temp gets to about 75-76, which is fine. BUT, the power went out and it started to drop like a rock. 2 degrees in about an hour. I was JUST about to start boiling water and putting it in a container and drop them into the tank when the power came back on. Thank god!!! Didn't want to lose my fish!

That being said, what do you all use for power outage setups? I'm thinking I can get a 5-6hr back up which could just run a power head and a heater, or do you think I should just run the heater and forget the rest?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[glampka]

After losing my tank last October to a week long power outage this boy bought a generator.

[emccullough1]

I'm with glampka on this one. A generator is the way to go. For what you would pay for a big enough battery back up for 5 hours you can get a generator. And then you can save your tank for days if needed. And for that mater your freezer by switching between them. I maid 3 days after a ice storm in IN.

[Azreal]

yikes, a whole generator really? wow!

[rlcline76]

I would consider it, especially where you're located. Hey, "balmy" to me is about 78-80! lol

[Jeremy0322]

Where are you guys putting generators, how much can you run off of them, and what is powering the generator. I dont know why but when you said this i thought about gas powered ones and that would be HORRIBLE in a house, lol!

[Azreal]

My parents have a gas powered generator that they keep in the garage and run a long extension cord into the house. I'd do the same thing...

[glampka]

Originally Posted by Jeremy0322

Where are you guys putting generators, how much can you run off of them, and what is powering the generator. I dont know why but when you said this i thought about gas powered ones and that would be HORRIBLE in a house, lol!

You don't put a gas powered generator in the house. Well, maybe Eliiott would. lol depending on the size of the generator you can run your tank, refrigerator, furnace, etc. You don't want to run your computer or high end electronics off of it since they don't put out a constant voltage.

[Jeremy0322]

Alright, then I am lost as to what other types of generators are out there unless everyone is putting them in the garage and running a cord. Please enlighten me

[stephaniesquires]

On Reefs.org there is a section for DIY stuff. I saw a plan based on a car battery - I don't know if its a real option or if it would work but you might check it out...

[e_baer]

Originally Posted by glampka

You don't put a gas powered generator in the house. Well, maybe Eliiott would. lol depending on the size of the generator you can run your tank, refrigerator, furnace, etc. You don't want to run your computer or high end electronics off of it since they don't put out a constant voltage.

only if i was desperate..... no, but i have a fire place and loads of wood, so im set...

[jimw369]

Im sure glad I live in the best place in the US. Atlanta GA

How Bout Them Dawgs!!!!

[Lazy Iguana]

A car battery is not going to work very well or for very long.

To understand why, you need to know about this simple formula.

Watts = volts x amps. This means amps = watts / volts, or volts = watts/amps.

Sp lets say you have a 100 watt heater that uses 120 volts. The draw is only .83 amps.

But what if you want that same power using a 12 volt battery? Lets find out! The load on your 12v battery will be 8.3 amps to produce the same 100 watts the heater needs. That means 10 times more current (amps) is needed to produce the same power (watts) at 12 volts VS 120 volts.

You can think of volts as buckets, amps as the number of buckets, and watts as a tub. Do you need to make more trips to fill that tub if you use a large bucket or a small bucket? 120 volts is a bucket 10 times larger than a 12 volt bucket.

In other words, you will need a very large battery bank and a very large power inverter.

Lets say you want to back up a total of 1000 watts of stuff (heaters, pumps, etc).

1000 = 120 x amps. So if you have a generator you will need only 8.3 amps of power - or a very small gas generator.

If you go with 12v batteries, you need enough batteries to handle a load of 83.3 amps (1000 watts = 12volts x 83.3 amps).

83 amps is a heavy load for a battery. A standard auto battery will be drained rather fast. You will need multiple batteries connected in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). And even then, unless the bank is very large (and very heavy) you will quickly run out of power. For a load of 80 amps, you need marine house batteries normally used in cruiser sailboats or cabin cruisers without a generator. Anything with the word "marine" attached to it is expensive.

Oh yea, and for a constant load of 1000 watts you should get a power inverter rated for at least 2,000 watts, because appliances require more power to start up than to run. A 1,000 watt inverter can really only handle 800 watts continuous (more or less).

Now if your needs are simple, you can design a back up using only a battery and an inverter. Lets say you want to have only a 100 watt heater and a power head that consumes lets just say 10 watts. For this a somewhat inexpensive 300 watt inverter would work. Applying the formula we can see the load on the battery is only 9.16 amps. Not too bad - and that heater is only on for brief periods of time so the constant load will only be less than 1 amp.

Now what you can do is hook the inverter up to the battery, plug in the heater and emergency power circulation pump, then connect a battery maintainer to the battery that supplies a constant charge of 12v at 1.5 amps. Set the heater to kick on at a temperature below what you main heater kicks on at. The pump will just run all the time.

If the power quits, everything goes black. The battery however is 100% charged because the charger is supplying all the power the circulation pump needs and still has enough to keep the battery up. So your circulation pump is still on. When the temperature drops - the emergency heater kicks on.

Hopefully, the main power returns before the battery runs out.

Your best bet is to get one of those Honda EU generators. There are three models, the EU1000i, the EU2000i and the EU3000i. I have the EU2000i. It produces 2000 watts at 120 volts - or about 15 amps Same as a standard wall socket. So whatever I can plug into one wall socket without blowing a house fuse I can plug into the generator. It is very quiet - running at 100% it is still quiet. Put it 100 feet away outdoors and you will barely (if at all) hear it. And it only weighs about 40 or 50 pounds, so it is portable.

The EU1000 produces 1000 watts, the EU2000 produces 2000 watts, the EU3000 produces 3000 watts. You can hook two EU2000 together to produce 4000 watts total power.

The i stands for "inverter". The power these generators produce is very clean. The generator creates 12v power and then inverts it to 120v true sine wave power. So it is safe for electronics.

There is a modification for the EU series generators to allow them to run off an external 5 gallon gas tank. The internal tank for the EU2000 is only 1 gallon or so. For extended running, the external tank means less refilling.

A battery backup system like the simple one pump one heater thing listed above will work for times you are at work when the power quits. When you get home, you can crank up the generator.

Generators require regular maintenance. U keep my generator gas tank full (prevents moisture from getting in) and I use Sta-Bil in the gas (same stuff I use in the boat). I also fire the generator up once a month or so and let it run with a hair drier plugged into it for a few minutes - just to keep it all lubricated and to prevent the fuel from going bad and gumming the thing up. At least once a year, or whenever the manual suggests (based on hours of running time) you should change the motor oil in the generator. I change my oil once a year (start of hurricane season so I do not forget) if I do not use it enough in a year to hit the 100 hours (or so, I forgot) that Honda suggests between oil changes.

[stephaniesquires]

Geeez, that made my head spin!!! Bottom line (if I absorbed it all correctly) car battery idea only works for a minimal time with a minimal load, anything other than that and you need a generator (or the power back on!!) Did I get it?

[Jareth]

I did a DIY marine battery with converter and solar recharger for my sleep apnea mask. I wouldnt say car battery, but marine as they are deep cell I believe.

[Lazy Iguana]

A car battery and a deep cycle marine battery are similar. The big difference is in the lead. What kills a lead acid battery is sulfation, or the crystallization of lead sulphate. This happens when a lead acid battery is discharged for too long.

With an automotive battery, once the thing is allowed to discharge (dead battery) the useful life is limited. Auto batteries are not designed to discharge. They are designed to provide a lot of current (amps) for starting. Once the engine is running then the car engine takes over supplying all the power the car needs.

Deep cycle batteries take being discharged better. The plates resist the formation of lead sulphate. Deep cycle batteries tend to be larger and heavier than other types of lead acid batteries of the same amp hour rating.

A lead acid battery backup system CAN work - but you have to realize the limitations and either have a large enough battery bank for all your stuff OR carefully pick what devices you want backed up.

You also have to take into account the size of your tank. The larger the tank - the bigger the pumps - the more power is needed to make it run. You may be able to back up everything for a nano tank - lights and all. But if you are talking about a 250 gallon reef tank with multiple 300 watt HQI lights forget about backing that up with a battery system unless you have a small room or walk in closet that you can fill with batteries.

But you do not always need to back up everything. If the power outage is only a few hours then maybe all you need are a few circulation pumps. In this case a simple battery backup system would work.

But for longer outages that last a few days - you pretty much are going to need a generator.

I wish I could say that a solar system would work, but the cost is still too high. I looked into panels for my boat that would be able to put a charge on a battery, as opposed to simply maintaining a battery. In other words, I needed a panel that could supply at least 55 watts (or around 5 amp hours). This would charge a battery drained to 50% in a day or two. It would also supply enough power to run some of my boat electronics.

Even better would be a 125 watt panel. A 125 watt panel would run all my electronics.

But a 55 watt panel costs at least $500. Now add the charge controller and voltage regulator and you are up to $600 easy.

So I ended up with a $100 dual bank (5 amps charge for two batteries) smart charger that plugs into the wall.

Now what solar chargers are great for is keeping a battery at 100%. Lead acid batteries discharge over time. Every day, every hour - they are slowly discharging. Maintainers work by supplying just enough current to counter this effect. So your battery is always at 100%. You only need a little bit of power for this, even for a large battery. Maintainers sold for cars only put out 5 watts of power. These chargers require no charge controller or voltage regulator - as the power they generate is not enough to do anything unintended (larger panels CAN overcharge and cook a battery by boiling off all the acid and/or splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen which in turn could cause an explosion).

The problem is a maintainer can not charge a battery - only keep it topped off. Think of it like trying to fill and empty aquarium using a dosing pump. How long would that take?

To have a decent amount of charging capacity, you will need at least 15 - 30 watts of solar panels and a charge controller rated at at least 7 amps. Once you get to 100 watts of solar you need a larger controller. The best price I can find for a 15 watt panel (I did not look too long) was $100 at Sportsmansguide.com

I am hoping that as time goes on, and more companies get into the solar kick, prices for panels will drop.

And if Honda or Toyota would make a car with a 55 watt panel built into the roof - auto batteries would last much longer. I am surprised that the Toyota hybrid does not already have a solar panel roof. Park that thing in the sun and catch a free charge! Sounds good to me.

I would not count on GM or Ford to do this. Dodge maybe - as the parent company was bought up by Mercedes Benz and those Germans are heavy into the solar thing.

[Lazy Iguana]

Oh yea, one other thing.

Forget about conventional power heads. If you are going to design a 12v backup system, just get stuff that works on 12 volts! That way you do not need a power inverter, and your system will run longer. Power inverters will shut down when the battery voltage drops, but a 12 volt pump will keep working - at a slower speed.

They are big, and they are ugly - but a boat bilge pump or live well aerator pump will keep water moving. And they run directly on 12 volts, so they are more efficient to use with a 12v system.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by glampka

After losing my tank last October to a week long power outage this boy bought a generator.

After that AWESOME discourse about batteries and such its thumbs up to the generator

[stephaniesquires]

Originally Posted by jimw369

After that AWESOME discourse about batteries and such its thumbs up to the generator

Yep!! One more thing to add to the never ending list of things you gotta have for saltwater!

[yorkcoparamedic]

Honda 2000 gen set for backup. 1 gallon of gas = approx. 14 to 16 hours run time at 1/4 load.

Honda Gen set = $1000.00
1 gallon gas = $3.05

My saltwater investment = Priceless!

Actually I had purchased the genny to run the a/c on my boat at night but now it has a new purpose!