# hurricane proofing



## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

since hurricane season is coming and there's inevitably going to be some power outtages my brother and I want to install a battery backup on our tanks, we only really want to run the main circulation pumps, they are a rio 2100(25 watts), and a quiet one 4000(50 watts), so i think the best type would be a deepcycle marine battery with a dc converter and trickle charger, also we need to make or buy a relay that switches the tanks over to battery power during an outtage. So if anyone has any experience building something like this or has enough electrical know how to help us build a relay any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, 
K-Dawg-


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

anyone? please


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

No idea, but go to the library and check out a book. I'm sure it can't be that difficult. Its bound to be cheaper than an uninterupted power supply for computers, right?


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

i've tried reading online stuff but i really don't understand half of it but w/e i guess it doesnt have to be automic i could just manually switch it over, and it really won't be that much cheaper but its will hopefully run the tank a lot longer since a UPS will probly only run it for about 10 min


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## Forester (Jul 30, 2006)

I would think that your best option would be to get a small gas generator. Tank equipment that plugs into a wall works off of a 110 volt source, where your marine battery is going to be around 12-14 volts. Would the equipment only run on such a small amount of power? Approximately 1/8 normal voltage. You could wire up 8 deep cycle batteries in series though, I would think.

Maybe I am wrong here, and somebody with more electrical experience could chime in.

Amps x volts = watts.


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## k-dawg- (Feb 2, 2006)

well a marine battery is 12volt DC and normal house current is 120AC they aren't compatible at all, but we have a DC/AC converter, a deep cycle marine battery is ment for long term use like on a trolling motor so it should give us i'm hoping 6-8 hours, we also have a generator but i didnt think it was very powerful but today i had to make sure it would start and its 5,000 watts, in total our two tanks probably pull about 1000 watts so i think i can just run off the generator with a super long extension cord, the best solution would be having it trickle charge when the generator is on, then at night turn off the generator and run on battery power so we don't burn all our gas and so we can sleep


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## Forester (Jul 30, 2006)

I was way off on my previous post and it was bugging me. Do you have something like this? 

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100045760

It should work fine just hooking it up to a battery. This particular model is probably made to run off a cigarette lighter, but you can cut the cord and splice in alligator clips. There are other models with alligator clips already installed to hook straight up to a marine battery.

Also, I guess I wouldn't see any problem with keeping a trickle charger hooked up to the battery from the generator. If you have the extra outlet, that would allow it to charge whenever the generator is on and stop charging when the generator is off. 

I hope this helps a little more if you don't have anything figured out yet?


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## ucffishes (Jun 7, 2007)

i would just set it up to run all the time and leave a trickle charger on permanently. that would allow the charger to keep the battery at maximum and power your essentials until the power did go out, then it would just shut off the charger and no worries. sears sells a small 2a 12 volt charger that is meant for just maintaning a allready charged battery. its pretty cheap and im sure would do the trick. also about the powerinverter they range in size from 80 wats (the car charger kind ) to 2000 wats. i would go for a 400 just in case u want add something else in the future. they wire up directly to the battery and do all the work for you. and with using such small amounts of power it would probably last a good while, 

do be carefull keep the battery in a safe container, remember they can leak (acid):!: and dont set it directly on concrete it will drain the battery.

one more thing if this sounds like too much just go out and get a computer battery backup it does the same thing and its packaged in one convienent little set up that even looks good too. those have solid batterys that dont leak and if they die the battery inside can be replaced fairly easily. hope that helps now if i could just find a way to have chichlids and a planted tank id be set lol  do that and your little fishes will have a little :fish: hurricane :fun: :razz:


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