Last minute before storm DIY Battery backup!! need some input quick!!

[PR_Reefers]

I've been maintaining my tank in my parents house, having moved out about 3-4 months ago. I visit every day and it sucks but haven't had the time to move the setup yet. Here's the problem there is no generator, unfortunately and no battery backup! The bigger problem A storm is about to hit us later tonight, nothing that serious but I now for sure that the power will be down for sometime just don't know how much and at what time and I don't wanna have to stay up all night calling to check if power was out and if it did aerate the tank with my hand :squigglemouth:

So I decided to do a last minute battery backup I read several threads and it seems fairly easy... so i ran out to radioshack, pepboys, and some other places and gathered most of what I need, I think, however I have a couple doubts and I want to make sure it'll work...so i'd really appreciate the help

What I got

and I am following this diagram

-2amp/12vdc automatic float mode slow charge battery maintainer
-inline fuse holder for 5x20mm fuse
-1.5 amp 250volt fuse
-DC power plug 1.3mm
-8ft 12 awg wire
-soldering tool & rosin

First question
I could not find the 12vdc/18amp battery I saw other people used and is what the original vortech backup actually uses ... but I have a small car battery being charged right now Will this work?

if not them I'm screwed and never mind the rest lol.

If it does...then will the battery charger I bought work? I want this system to turn on my vortech once the power goes out?

 

[PR_Reefers]

Bump!!...anyone??

 

[MurseBS]

so you dont have a vortech battery backup?

 

[gar732]

Do you have a power inverter? The one I saw was hooked up with a power inverter, a battery charger, and a deep cycle battery. Good luck my parents have already lost power.

 

[WrasseSandwich]

Yes the stuff you have will work, I would swap out the car battery for a sealed deep cell, but for now what u have will work

 

[PR_Reefers]

so you dont have a vortech battery backup?

no man that's why I wanted to improvise...

Do you have a power inverter? The one I saw was hooked up with a power inverter, a battery charger, and a deep cycle battery. Good luck my parents have already lost power.

I don't have one but I saw this one you mentioned also, thing is it will not continue on by itself once the power goes out instead I'll have to plug turn it on when the power goes out which could be at 2,3 4 am...
:squigglemouth:.. what do you mean your parents already lost power? where are they? here in PR ?

 

[gar732]

Yeah they are in Adjuntas. I'm not sure if you've seen this thread already but just in case you haven't https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/59473-battery-back-up-your-vortech.html In this thread the vortech is running off the battery all the time and the battery is constantly being charged. The problem is the pump uses a 24VDC power supply and the battery is only 12VDC which makes the vortech run at half speed. That will be fine while the power is out but you wouldn't want to run it like that all the time.

 

[PR_Reefers]

Yes the stuff you have will work, I would swap out the car battery for a sealed deep cell, but for now what u have will work

could you elaborate on the sealed deep cell? what's the difference between that and car bat? sorry i'm a neewb when it comes to some of this

 

[Reef lvr]

Any marine/rv battery would be a deep cell/cycle battery.. Gl with the storm!!

 

[PR_Reefers]

Yeah they are in Adjuntas. I'm not sure if you've seen this thread already but just in case you haven't https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/59473-battery-back-up-your-vortech.html In this thread the vortech is running off the battery all the time and the battery is constantly being charged. The problem is the pump uses a 24VDC power supply and the battery is only 12VDC which makes the vortech run at half speed. That will be fine while the power is out but you wouldn't want to run it like that all the time.

yeah I did see it... I think the pump can also use 12vdc when it is supplied by the backup on the extra power inlet there is at the bottom... and from what I understood is that it's when the pump detects it's running on 12vdc it's run half speed to conserve energy.

 

[PR_Reefers]

Any marine/rv battery would be a deep cell/cycle battery.. Gl with the storm!!

... guess they'll built better and last more then hehe... thanks !!

 

[gar732]

Normal car batteries will vent and and can leak and release gases and you don't want to have that in your house. And I've heard of batteries catching fire while on the charger (no experience with that though). A normal car battery will not be able to hold a charge after being discharged and charged so many times. A deep cycle battery is designed to be charged and discharged numerous times and still hold a charge. sealed batteries won't vent or leak and are safer to have in the cab or house.

 

[gar732]

yeah I did see it... I think the pump can also use 12vdc when it is supplied by the backup on the extra power inlet there is at the bottom... and from what I understood is that it's when the pump detects it's running on 12vdc it's run half speed to conserve energy.

The way it is hooked up in that thread its running off the battery all the time so its always at half speed.

 

[cparka23]

Unsealed batteries vent a bit of hydrogen gas, which is flammable. Charge the battery someplace well ventilated and out of the way. It's fine once it's charged, though.

 

[nixer]

The way it is hooked up in that thread its running off the battery all the time so its always at half speed.

not if you plug it into the backup side of the controller!
if you use an inverter on the battery and plug the vortech into it. it will run full speed, but it will likely only last an hour tops if that.

 

[fish&corals]

PR you are getting rocked down there this morning .. im in fla and she is right on track for my house too .. i went out last night and shut my main power off to see if my generator would kick on .. 5 min time delay and boom it comes on ... wishing you best of luck down there ... been down there a few times on surfing trips ...

 

[eggie]

Thanks To God nothing bad has happend that im aware off some of us still with power and water outage and trees on the ground but nothing seriously bad. We got hit only with winds of 75 MPH
Luckly I have a generator thinking in all the invested from family, food in the fridge and saltwater tank we cant live with out one these days
PR Reefer I hope all is fine
And GOD bless the rest

 

[gar732]

Hey how did this end up working out for you? I'm about to do the same thing for the same storm. I wouldn't have thought it when you first posted.

 

[PR_Reefers]

Hey how did this end up working out for you? I'm about to do the same thing for the same storm. I wouldn't have thought it when you first posted.

LOL... this might be a little late but anyways..... I wasn't able to weld the cable to the vortech power supply, lacking skills or maybe I think I bought a wrong cable, but anyways I ended up buying a 120v 400w power inverter and just ran that out of the car battery I had and connected the vortech power supply to that. It only lasted about 7-8 hrs running at 40% but it got me through the blackout...

anyways I just received the vortech battery backup new cables which were sent for free, due to the recall, and I plan to use these to hook it up to the battery, which I plan purchase soon the same one the vortech backup uses and then run this with the float/mainatiner battery charger for future blackouts.

let us know if it worked out for you!... hope everything is well!!

 

[gar732]

I lost power this morning but I got the backup battery together last night and it's working well so far. I don't know how long it will last for though and I'm using an inverter to run my return pump to circulate my frag tank every couple of hours. I hope that's sufficient enough since I have all my sps in there. We have several downed trees including one that hit the house. What's funny is that all this happened after the storm had died down.