Power Outage Planning

[joro]

I've gotten all of the the various components for our new 90G reef which is being controlled by the Apex and EB8 strip.  Right now, everything is just plugged into a wall outlet (GFCI protected) but I'm trying to plan for redundancy in the case of a power outage.  In looking around, I've seen some suggestions to us a 12V backup for the Apex Base Unit (in particular the Belkin BU3DC001-12V) but it looks like this is just powering the brain but not any of the connected components in the EB8.  On my primary desktop and server rack (which includes our home automation, router, etc) I'm running traditional UPS style backups but not sure whether this is the best bet.

 

Would like to hear what you all are doing for backups and hear any suggestions you may have as I put this final piece together.

[Jon Lazar]

I'm between controllers at the moment, so I can't be too specific about the Apex.  But the most important piece of functionality for me is the ability for the controller to provide electronic notification of a power outage.  I think only the base unit would have to be on the UPS for that.

 

I plan on a separate, dedicated 12V backup power supply for in-tank circulation.  That way the battery can directly power the DC pump, and avoid efficiency losses from converting between ac and dc.

 

I don't put other tank utilities on a UPS or backup battery.

[joro]

I'm between controllers at the moment, so I can't be too specific about the Apex.  But the most important piece of functionality for me is the ability for the controller to provide electronic notification of a power outage.  I think only the base unit would have to be on the UPS for that.

 

From what I've researched that seems to be one of the issues if you put the EB8 strip on UPS since the unit wouldn't detect an outage since it would be powered continuously (unless of course you burned through the battery power as well).  

[DaveS]

There is a 12V port on the Apex head unit. That is the port that should be on the UPS.  It's keeps power going to the head unit in the event power goes out to the normal plug.  The loss of power to the normal power plug is what allows the Apex to know that power went out and trigger notification.

 

In addition to the head unit, you need to ensure power is still supplied to your switch, firewall and router so that the notice can go out of your network.

 

There are a few threads on here about planning for power outages.  They usually come up just before a big storm is predicted.  Talk about prioritization of devices, appropriateness of UPS' and generators.

[menglish]

Here is what i did.

http://forum.neptunesystems.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=852&d=1381707379

I have 2 EB8s that i put on separate circuits and i made sure to put my return pumps and some power heads on separate circuits just in case one of them trips.

Also, i got a battery backup for one of my MP40.  This will keep things going for up to 24 hrs.

As for backup power,

I got 2 UPSs, one (small one) for my cable router and the other one for my Apex (see link)

I also have 2 Deep cycle marine batteries (I think they are about 750 Ah each), a battery charger (tricky charger), and a 1100 watt power inverter.

The marine battery  and the power inverter can easily last 2 days.

You can certainly go with this set up for a while.

Of course, a generator will be the next best thing.

You can certainly get a really small one to charge the batteries if power is out for a very long time.

 

good luck