ReefMon September 14, 2003 Share September 14, 2003 Looks like we may be in for a rough few days later this week. I strongly suggest everyone has their back-up systems in hand and tested, as we may be looking at extensive power outages if the current projected path of Isabel holds true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo September 14, 2003 Share September 14, 2003 yeah baby, im ready. the last couple of weeks with all these lightning storms the generator has saved my tank from meltdown and wouldent start a large reef tank without one. hopefully it won't hit us but if it doe's im ready. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krish September 15, 2003 Share September 15, 2003 I just am back fantically browsing the reef related sites after having spent all evening rigging up my battery/inverter switching box to run the power heads. Took a few hours of cutting/drilling/soldering. This should be able to power a 17W power head for 10-12 hours. I need to document the project with pictures and post it. I have 2 relays and it connects the battery to the inverter and feeds the power to the power head. When the supply is restored, it dis-engages the battery from the inverter and the power heads will keep continuing to run from the mains. I also have a piezo electric buzzer that will beep when the power is out and the inverter is engaged. I still need to add a manual cut-off switch to dis-engage the buzzer or someone at home is going to be upset. 10 -12 hours is enough time to find a place to rent a generator -krish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg September 15, 2003 Share September 15, 2003 My 2 battery air pumps came in last week. Hooking them up to some air lift tubes in the next night or 2. A bit of a relief. When I first moved here 4 years ago, there was a storm that knocked our power out for 2 days. This time I'm going to be ready! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail September 15, 2003 Share September 15, 2003 Just picked up a 300W inverter from Radioshack. On sale for $79.99 (usually $99.00). It can run off your battery directly or off the cigarette lighter. Provides 2 outlets of 110V power. Surge power capable up to 600W. Store is on Maple ave near Nutley. They still have one left. It is usually used for in car use of TV/DVD for kids on the road. This should run pumps and if I'm lucky, my 250W heater (as it is not constant on and most of the pumps run really low power anyway once they are on. Hoping I don't need to go whole hog w/a full generator setup. This should get me through a 12hour shift w/out too much hassle. Will be running my car in the garage w/extension cord back to the tank. Need to keep air flow in garage to avoid CO poisoning, but it should work... Or just park it outside and sit the inverter under the hood. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon September 15, 2003 Author Share September 15, 2003 I was just in the Tysons Radioshack, they had 1 300w inverter left. Reports are there are no generators left at any of the HD's and Lowes in the area. BTW, if you reload this page you'll get the latest 5 day projected storm path directly from NOAA-NHC. Here's Some links for anyone who wants them: National Hurricane Center / Tropical Prediction Center http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ Satellite Services Division Tropical Products http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/ Weather Underground: Tropical Weather http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav September 15, 2003 Share September 15, 2003 Anyone want to take a guess... How long would a UPS run a powerhead? How about an air pump? how about if I set the timer to go on/off every 15 min, would a sweeping 90 degree powerhead, with the air line hooked up keep me alive okay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krish September 16, 2003 Share September 16, 2003 The UPS has a small battery. Hence the juice it has is limited. It typically keeps the computer system for 10 minutes. say around 200W for monitor and another 200 for the cpu. That is 400W load. If 10 minutes is what it can hold, then the power contained in the UPS is around 400W/6 = 67Watts/hour. If the airpump is rated at 15W, you will have around 5 hours or so. An air pump would go a bit longer than a power head is my guess. The Hagen 802 is rated at 17W. That is 400gph of flow with 17W. A new auto battery is around 500 cranking amps. I would be safe and estimate it at 30amp/hr. Which boils to 30 * 12 = 360W/hr. So if you run a 360W heater, the battery will last you 1 hour. If you run a pump that sucks 36Watts, it will run for 10 hours. Now this is assuming that the battery 12V is used as such. Interposing an inverter cuts down on the efficiency. Say 90% to be conservative. That would still leave around 300W/hr of power. At 17W for a hagen 802, that means 300/17 = 17 hours. We are speaking of DC power. The 17W mentioned for the hagen is AC power and might change the calculations a bit. But if the battery is sucked out as such, it needs to be trashed. A deep cycling marine battery is the way to go or swap the battery with the one in the car and let the car engine run for a while. Doing this every 5 hours or so should keep the battery in a reasonable shape. Btw, i have the same 300W inverter that i picked up off ebay for $24 shipped. You might want to check out costco if anyone has a membership. The 1000W one is only 69 bucks. This past weekend, they had a generator on the shelf at the one in sterling. May be things have changed since. Also check out trak auto or auto trak etc. They have the inverters as well. The other day, i was discussing with a person at work on adding a 12V auto battery to the computer UPS, thus converting it to a high capacity UPS. Basically, the UPS will charge the builtin battery. You can have a standalone auto battery charger that charges the auto battery in automatic mode and hence not overcharge it. You can then use a relay that disconnects the auto battery from the UPS battery. This relay is powered by the mains. When the power supply is interrupted, the auto battery is connected to the small UPS battery. When the supply is restored, the auto battery is disconnected. Doing this will isolate the auto battery from the UPS battery and will avoid the UPS built in charger from quitting due to the excessive current drain by the auto battery. Also, adding the auto battery will prevent the voltage sensor in the UPS to not shut the unit down when the UPS battery voltage drops. There are other fancier ways to engage/disengage the auto battery. The fun stuff is that adding another auto battery in parallel just doubles your capacity. I am not sure if this auto battery supplement to the UPS battery will work. It was a concept that should work,but might involve opening up the UPS which can void the warranty. I don't have one to open up and muck around. But is not rocket science and is doable. If folks have got their ultra complicated reefs up and running, this is just plain simple as such. good luck krish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquariaUSA September 16, 2003 Share September 16, 2003 For some reason we just left 3 generators in Charlotte, NC over the weekend (didn't think Isabel would get to far), but we bought another one at the Lowes in Laurel, MD. THey brought in 20 or so of the Coleman 5550s ($659), and had a line inside the store at 11PM. They were originally going to sell them at 6AM Tuesday morning, but people refused to leave the store I guess. When we left there were still 6 or so on the truck. I would call first, unless you don'd mind the drive. PennPlax makes a decent battery operated airpump ($12-20) that can run at least two airstones on D cells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg September 16, 2003 Share September 16, 2003 I ran the 2 airlift tubes last night. Took about 15 minutes using scrap PVC laying around. Knowing my luck with storms in the area, we will lose power again. Glad I hooked something up finally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quazi September 16, 2003 Share September 16, 2003 If you do not have at least battery operated air pumps, buy them now. KMart has them for $6.99. Good luck to every one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier September 16, 2003 Share September 16, 2003 Michaelg... what's at the lower end of the air-lift tubes? Is it just to move water from the bottom to the top and agitate the surface? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller7 September 17, 2003 Share September 17, 2003 Larry, Most of my airlifts are wide open on the bottom with a street fitting at the top for directional water movement. In tanks with "pipe-lovin" critters I cap the bottom and cut 15-20 slits with a table saw horizontally to keep them out. Driven by an Alita 40 and Wisa 1000 hanging off a 3kVA extended run UPS. When the UPS power finally dies(12-18hrs), a NO solenoid kicks on a 20lb bottle of compressed air. Really wanted to rig up dual aluminum 80's before this event, but I'll be ready next time. Best of luck folks, Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcjm September 17, 2003 Share September 17, 2003 I have 20 tanks to worry about. I bought a 700W XPOWER inverter from Microcenter yesterday for $50. They have 400W and 175W for $35 and $29. Still have couple of left. The 700W one can produce 500W continuously. As long as the car has gas I have power to run air pump. That reminds me to fill my gas tank tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo September 17, 2003 Share September 17, 2003 I just purchased a 400W power inverter for my tank - It seems like this will run my return pump at least. After talking to Quazi about what happened to him, I think it's time to make a backup plan. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail September 17, 2003 Share September 17, 2003 I have two radioshack 300W inverters available at cost. Brand new, in box. This is cuz... I caved and bought a power generator at Lowes... Generac 4200 for $799 (expensive, but it has the commercial grade Honda engine so it oughta be relatively quiet and run fer ever). Allows me to keep the septic field pumps working as well as my reef tank and refridgerators. Somehow keeping the house plumbing running in an outage seemed a priority to me... :p PM me if interested. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg September 17, 2003 Share September 17, 2003 wide open, cut at a 45 degree angle with the good ol sawz-all. no sort of prefilter- they run about 3" above the sandbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail September 18, 2003 Share September 18, 2003 It ain't quiet and it came w/a 30A male plug, not a 20A male plug. Gotta find one now. ARGH. Otherwise, it runs like a champ. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon September 18, 2003 Author Share September 18, 2003 If your power goes out and you have no back up, or it's out longer than your able to manage please contact me or one of the other officers and we'll see if we can assist you. (IE your powers out and mine is fine, I'm more than happy to let you use my generator) I can be reached at 703298*4000 cell or 703759*3021 h or email the officers at info@wamas.org Good luck to all, thank god that we don't have the cat 5 storm we were looking at earlier this week! Glenn R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail September 18, 2003 Share September 18, 2003 It ain't quiet and it came w/a 30A male plug, not a 20A male plug. Gotta find one now. ARGH. Otherwise, it runs like a champ. s Rexell electric saves the day w/the correct plug. Up and Running! Lots of power fluctuation here. Been having big surges slam through about every 20-30 mins. Wondering when it all goes out... yuk s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon September 19, 2003 Author Share September 19, 2003 our power went out at 6:30 and is still out. Michael and Tony lost power around 4. We hope everyone's safe and secure tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo September 19, 2003 Share September 19, 2003 I lucked out - Just some surges so far, but I still have power - We'll see if it lasts the night. Good luck everyone else. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier September 19, 2003 Share September 19, 2003 My power went out around midnight and came back on around 7:30 this morning. I had a little battery-operated air pump running with just 1 airlift tube. Looks like everything survived. Watch-out you Fairfax County folks. They say in my office in Chantilly that the water quality is questionable due to power loss at the treatment plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kimo September 19, 2003 Share September 19, 2003 If anyone is looking at extended outages, or knows of anyone who is, I have room in my tank for some corals if anyone needs it. A little late, I know, but I just thought of it. Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon September 19, 2003 Author Share September 19, 2003 Looking at the extensive tree damage in my area, it's going to be days before we get our power restored. Got the tanks, refrigerators (and the neighbors) lights and radio hooked up to the generator. Just having a hard time explaining to the wife she can’t use her hair dryer. :p We are under orders to boil all tap water, but I have 30 gal on hand to drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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