Wrangler of magic smoke (not that kind...)

[Joekovar]

Hello everyone,

I'm a fire alarm technician by day, and I like to tinker at night. We like to joke about how someone "let out the magic smoke" when we come across dead electronics in the field, hence the title. This evening I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver some 1/4" conductive copper tape, because I want to see how much electrical current I can run through it before it catches on fire.

I'm pushing 40, and recently got the first tank I've had since I was a kid. It's a 55 gallon from Petco, nothing special, but 5 times as big as my childhood tank. Something to start with nonetheless. I've never had a marine tank, I'm doing a lot of reading as I go though.

Power outages seem to be a big deal with these things. Since I have access to fire alarm system power supplies that already have all sorts of circuit protection, power monitoring, and backup batteries built into them, I'm aiming to keep everything on my system DC powered. So far, heaters are the only thing I'm having a tough time finding DC options for (not counting $$$ custom silicone encapsulated ones), and realistically, they'll probably be alright long enough to wait for an AC powered heater to turn back on. I'm never away for long.

Anywho, this seems like a nice place to exercise the old thinker while I patiently wait for my own tank to get through it's steps.

See you around!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

 

[Retro Reefer]

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Big G]

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[P-Dub]

Welcome!!! Good to have a thinker tinkerer aboard. Looking forward to hearing more as you progress along on your build.

 

[Mav88]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[DMG Reef]

Welcome to R2R! Good luck with your magic smoke!

 

[Quietman]

Welcome Aboard!!!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and your new reefing family.

 

[albano]

Welcome... I think we’ll be hitting you up for some of those DC ideas! Even though I have a generator, I like to have backups for the backups!

 

[Salt & Peper]

Welcome!

 

[lapin]

Howdy
So you know salt water and electricity dont mix?

 

[Joekovar]

Welcome... I think we’ll be hitting you up for some of those DC ideas! Even though I have a generator, I like to have backups for the backups!

The power supply I'm using has dry contacts for AC fail and low/missing battery. I'm going as far as to put an isolated battery/air pump those contacts will trigger so if all else fails, at least there's bubbles. I've also got a nearly unlimited supply of 12v 7/12ah sealed lead acid batteries that while not good enough for fire alarm systems anymore, will run my setup for days.

 

[Twitchy]

DC heaters is going to be the hard part, as heaters are power hungry... the bright side is heaters are a resistive load, so if you find or make a DC controller you can run a lot of AC heaters out there on DC if you have the voltage and current needed... If it was me I would build a thermoelectric setup for heating... you get all the power you put in as heat(like a resistive heater), aswell as some extra heat you pumped from the room. Most use these for cooling smaller aquariums, but with the right circuit you could use it for both.. and they usally run of 12v DC. Hmmmm I might have to build somthing fun up now that I think about it...

 

[motortrendz]

Welcome.
..

And youd be fine not having the heaters run off the backup. Unless your talking days. But I've found that most of the dc pumps run on 12, 24 and 36 volts. So depending on the pumps your using you could tie In marine batteries (either in parallel or series, dependong on voltage needs) into a simple t splice so they're charged by the ac power supply and when power fails they will take over and buffer the system. you could always have a dedicated 12v battery to run a 120v ac inverter to back up a heater if needed. But depending on your amp draw you could drain a battery fairly quick.

 

[jsker]

Hello and welcome to R2R.