Battery USB backups incase of power outs

[Patai3295]

Could of swore I remember a aquarium co op video of him showing a power bank that you can plug into your regular outlet. And then plug in say your HOB filter so incase there is a power outage it will still keep going..

 

Had a 1minute outage the other week and fried my hob motor. Anyone have any suggestions for this situation?

[Cory]

The only power banks that would do something with a normal plug are going to be much larger batteries. I showed one in a video, cost was $1200, but you can find some as cheap as $300. However you'll need to do math to see how long they'd run and many of them aren't meant to be pass through. So you'd need to be there to switch it over. As for USB devices, you can get much cheaper like $50 and under level devices that'll keep USB going devices going.

[ange]

I haven't seen a power bank that you can directly plug accessories into but a common backup that people keep is a USB nano air pump or similar accessory. It can be used to run sponge filters by plugging it into a power bank in event of power outages. I fortunately have backup power so have never needed to use one in an outage but I have used mine several times over the years for transporting fish in my car.

[Guppysnail]

On 3/22/2022 at 4:30 PM, Patai3295 said:

fried my hob motor.

What filter are you using. Most are not fried.  Removing the impeller and cleaning inside the impeller the putting it back makes them return to life even though they seem dead. If it is an Aqua clear plug it in and use a thin object to shove the impeller it should “jump” start it. Then you can clean it next time you do your filter. Happens to my Aqua clears every single flicker of power.  Occasionally marine lands I use. Hope that helps. 

[Widgets]

On 3/22/2022 at 4:30 PM, Patai3295 said:

Had a 1minute outage the other week and fried my hob motor. Anyone have any suggestions for this situation?

If the power outage did fry the motor of your HOB, it would have most likely been the power surge of either the power going out or coming back on. The cheapest way to try to protect against those surges would be a surge protected outlet. I have the power strip linked below on all my tanks. I love that there is a master on/off switch and each individual outlet has an on/off switch except for one always on outlet. It makes shutting off the filters for water changes so much easier. As for the surge protection, I don't know if I have experienced surges, but the protection does provide peace of mind.

Tripp Lite 7 Outlet (6 Individually Controlled) Surge Protector Power Strip, 6ft Cord, Black, Lifetime Limited Warranty & $25K Insurance (TLP76MSGB) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075NZLYB7/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_Q2D4TRQMHDS7PG4AN2Z7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Now, if you want to power the tank during the outage, you will have to spend more money. You have to figure out how long of a power outage you want to cover, then figure out how much equipment you want to power. Then you can figure out if a battery backup system is capable,  or if you need to get something bigger like a backup generator with a auto switch over system. If you are going that far, you might consider a whole house backup generator. After all, you have to protect the fish food in the refrigerator and freezer.

[Patrick_G]

You can get an uninterruptible power supply. Here’s a cheap one from Amazon. One forum member, I think it’s  @Daniel has multiple units of a higher caliber. 

Amazon Basics Line-Interactive UPS 1500VA 900 Watt Surge Protector Battery Power Backup, 10 Outlets - Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RWMLKFM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZCABBAKB8W5CRKRPT9T8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[Streetwise]

I like seeing UPS threads.

[tolstoy21]

I run a UPS on my 125 gallon. A good UPS will also protect against any power surges. I don't get a great runtime out of it, maybe 10-15 minutes, but it keeps things running smoothly when there is a power-blip.

I think I paid less than $100 for mine at staples or best buy. It would probably run a modest HOB and LED for 30 minutes+ easily. Heaters will drain it much quicker.

[tolstoy21]

This is what I run --> APC Backup UPS

APC is a well known UPS manufacturer. 

[CT_]

you can also get smaller ones.  this is the one I use for my internet router and modem.  IDK how well HOB motors do with "simulated" sin waves though, which is what you get from any UPS under a few hundred $. 

https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE425M/dp/B01HDC236Q/

[StevesFishTanks]

I built my own battery backup. It is in standby 24/7 with auto change over. It outputs clean sinewave power and can run the linear piston air pumps. 

The battery bank and inverter can be scaled up for higher loads or higher runtime. It can be adapted to solar for near infinite run time without wall power.

 

[HH Morant]

I considered getting a backup UPS at one point, but I was unimpressed by the run time. Keeping the filters, heater, and air pump working for a couple of hours is not enough.

Aeration is the most pressing need when the power goes out. I have several air pumps with built-in lithium battery backups (first picture below). They start running on battery power automatically as soon as the electricity goes off. They last for 9 hours or so.

I also have 3 air pumps that work on flashlight batteries (second picture below). 

If I lose power during the hurricane season, not having a working heater is not a big deal because the weather is hot. In the Big Freeze in February 2021, I lost power and it was really cold in the house, I had to put hot water in the aquarium every 4 hours or so to keep the temperature up. I was changing so much water that way, I did not worry about filtration.

 

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[StevesFishTanks]

The aquarium co-op sells an air pump that has built in automatic change over to battery backup power.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/air-pumps/products/aquarium-co-op-air-pump

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by StevesFishTanks

[Odd Duck]

I have mostly 1500VA battery UPS on my tanks, but a couple slightly older 900’s still.  I have only the air pumps on the back up portion, the rest are only plugged into the surge protector part of it.  The air pumps will run for about 8.5-9 hours on the UPS.  If I tried to run all the HOB’s and heaters on them, they would only run for 30-60 minutes, tops.  It takes a while for the tank temp to drop and heaters would be the biggest battery drain.  Either myself or my husband would be getting the generator ready if power was out long enough to drop tank temps to the danger zone.  I would also be wrapping tanks in blankets, etc, if I thought power was going to be out for long.

If I had canisters, I would probably put them on the UPS and make sure I was doing something about it very soon if the power was expected to be out very long at all since a canister is going to pull the battery down much faster than an air pump but is far more likely to get toxic than an HOB.

I haven’t yet tried to see how long the linear air pump will run on an UPS.  I’m planning to daisy chain the extra UPS I’ll have all for the linear after I consolidate the small tanks into one room (and therefore just one air pump I hope). So I’ll have a large UPS on each 100 G in the living room.  Then I’ll have one large and 2 smaller UPS plugged one into the other so each will drain in succession to support the fishroom air pump.  Until I run that set up I won’t know how long that will last.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Odd Duck
Correct size notation of the UPS

[StevesFishTanks]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:36 AM, Odd Duck said:

I haven’t yet tried to see how long the linear air pump will run on an UPS.

You just have to make sure they output a pure sinewave. Its crucial to the linear pumps design.

[Guppysnail]

I run sponge filters along with other filtration in all my tanks. I started with them as an extra sponge attached to a penn plax sab11 D battery operated  pump that came on automatically when power was interrupted. I moved to coop nano pumps with battery back ups and now everything is on the new coop pumps each pump runs 2 sponges. They are amazing by the way. I have had no issues with up to 3 hours of no power with just sponge back up. After 3 it’s generators. 
We have a gas generators so I only need it for short outages or to buy time until it started.  A gas generator has given me peace of mind as I have experienced outages lasting 3 days. The peace of mind that I can keep my tanks going indefinitely is worth every penny. 

[Greg Stewart]

@Odd Duck Don't daisy chain UPS units. You will actually not increase operational time at all. You might actually reduce overall operational time.

Plus, the load needed to power and charge the secondary UPS unit(s) could put the primary over capacity for draw.

 

@Patrick_G A note on the Amazon Basics UPS units: they will not automatically restore power after an outage drains battery. The units remain off until manually reset.

APC and CyberPower units do automatically return to operational when power to mains is restored.

[Wrencher_Scott]

I'm using one, I think it's this one.  There so many. I plug in the canister filter and air pumps into it. It has been used once so far, power was out about 90 minutes and it worked great. 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpower-1000va-battery-back-up-system-black/3938835.p?skuId=3938835

[Odd Duck]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:49 AM, StevesFishTanks said:

You just have to make sure they output a pure sinewave. Its crucial to the linear pumps design.

How would I determine if they are appropriate?

On 3/23/2022 at 10:30 AM, Greg Stewart said:

@Odd Duck Don't daisy chain UPS units. You will actually not increase operational time at all. You might actually reduce overall operational time.

Plus, the load needed to power and charge the secondary UPS unit(s) could put the primary over capacity for draw.

 

@Patrick_G A note on the Amazon Basics UPS units: they will not automatically restore power after an outage drains battery. The units remain off until manually reset.

APC and CyberPower units do automatically return to operational when power to mains is restored.

Would they not just drain in sequence?  I admit I’m not the most comfortable with batteries and electrical stuff despite physics classes and a more electrically smart hubby.

[Greg Stewart]

On 3/23/2022 at 11:42 AM, Odd Duck said:

Would they not just drain in sequence?  I admit I’m not the most comfortable with batteries and electrical stuff despite physics classes and a more electrically smart hubby.

Nah. We never run UPS units serially in datacenters. It's always parallel.

UPS units need extra power from mains to keep the batteries charged, more to charge it if depleted at all. And, the bigger the battery bank in the unit, the larger that draw just for keeping the batteries charged.

While connected to mains, UPS circuitry uses mains power to run. When mains is disconnected, it runs off local battery power--this can include line conditioning. That's on top of the power draw from connected devices.

When you serially connect UPS units, the unit connected to mains must power the second/third/fourth/etc in the series for the onboard circuitry, battery charge supply, AND all connected devices. This increases power draw on the primary by all serially connected devices and UPS units and can potentially overload the primary if you have a lot connected to the serial nodes. This will drain the primary battery, as then the next in turn, much more quickly than it would drain if only dependent devices are attached.

The reason the primary unit needs to supply all the power to all the batteries and all devices is that the secondary/tertiary/etc units won't know that mains power is out and won't disconnect draw from "mains" (the primary unit) to avoid cascading that power draw. Mains disconnection comes from the mains supply, and by serially connecting units you provide "mains supply" to the next unit from the battery on the unit before it in series.

[Odd Duck]

On 3/23/2022 at 11:21 AM, Greg Stewart said:

Nah. We never run UPS units serially in datacenters. It's always parallel.

UPS units need extra power from mains to keep the batteries charged, more to charge it if depleted at all. And, the bigger the battery bank in the unit, the larger that draw just for keeping the batteries charged.

While connected to mains, UPS circuitry uses mains power to run. When mains is disconnected, it runs off local battery power--this can include line conditioning. That's on top of the power draw from connected devices.

When you serially connect UPS units, the unit connected to mains must power the second/third/fourth/etc in the series for the onboard circuitry, battery charge supply, AND all connected devices. This increases power draw on the primary by all serially connected devices and UPS units and can potentially overload the primary if you have a lot connected to the serial nodes. This will drain the primary battery, as then the next in turn, much more quickly than it would drain if only dependent devices are attached.

The reason the primary unit needs to supply all the power to all the batteries and all devices is that the secondary/tertiary/etc units won't know that mains power is out and won't disconnect draw from "mains" (the primary unit) to avoid cascading that power draw. Mains disconnection comes from the mains supply, and by serially connecting units you provide "mains supply" to the next unit from the battery on the unit before it in series.

What would you suggest for a longer run time for the air pump, then?  I would only be connecting the air pump and nothing else.  I have an Alita -15 that will be running my fish room (I hope it’s big enough to run everything).  How can I calculate how long it will run on a single 1500 UPS or do I just need to try it and see how fast it drains down?

[Greg Stewart]

@Odd Duck I'm assuming you're taking APC 1500?

I can't find the input draw on the Alta-15 I see Alita-100, Alita-120, and Alita-200. You'd need to find the input demand on the pump y0ou have, and then you could refer to this chart from APC for general runtime:

https://www.apcguard.com/Smart-UPS-Runtime-Chart.asp

 

[Odd Duck]

On 3/23/2022 at 11:40 AM, Greg Stewart said:

@Odd Duck I'm assuming you're taking APC 1500?

I can't find the input draw on the Alta-15 I see Alita-100, Alita-120, and Alita-200. You'd need to find the input demand on the pump y0ou have, and then you could refer to this chart from APC for general runtime:

https://www.apcguard.com/Smart-UPS-Runtime-Chart.asp

 

Yes, that’s the one.  I know it runs a Tetra-100 pump for roughly 8-9 hours.  How do I find out the input demand?  Where might it be listed and what would be the approximate number and units?  I don’t even know what kind of number to look for.  🤷🏻‍♀️ I appreciate any help you can give me.  I’m willing to get a bigger back up, different brand, etc, if you have one you can recommend?

Wait, I think google is my friend.  Would that be the “Rated Current Draw” of 0.2A or the “Rated Input Power” of 14 W?

Edited March 23, 2022 by Odd Duck
Add pic

[Greg Stewart]

@Odd Duck Use the "Rated Input Power" in Watts (W). That's the real power the unit is drawing from the supply--either direct from the power company via wall outlet, or from the UPS.

Total up all the devices max wattage and then refer to the top line of the chart (Watts), then find the runtime down the chart for your model number.

All the 1500s have the same 5 hour runtime for 50 Watts of draw. So, if you only have that Alita-15 on the APC 1500, you should be getting more than 5 hours of runtime (probably about 7.5 hours for a constant 14W draw), depending on battery health.

I think the Tera-100 pulls about 4 to 5 Watts, as a comparison.

[Odd Duck]

I will only have the air pump on back up and nothing else.  So 14 watts should give me decent run time even if not for as long as the Tetra-100.  Tetra says 5 watts on its underside, is that what that stands for, the Rated Input Power?  I know an older 1500 lasted about 8.5-9 hours when we had a power out a month or so ago when they were replacing a bad transformer nearby.  Maybe I would get somewhere between the 5 and 9 hours, I’m guessing?  When I finally found a chart that showed my model, it said 2 hrs 14 min for 50 watts.  That seems very short compared to what you’re saying.  Doesn’t seem to match my irl experience, either, but I know I can’t directly compare 14 W with 5 W.

Any recommendation for a better brand or different model?  Go big or go home?