Battery backup runtime help

[Schulks]

nvm its simple enough..

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

?

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Don't spend more than $400 for a battery back up, harbor freight has a gas powered 1800 watt for $399, 9.5 hour run time. It would run lights and your tank easily

 

[Schulks]

Don't spend more than $400 for a battery back up, harbor freight has a gas powered 1800 watt for $399, 9.5 hour run time. It would run lights and your tank easily

I am planning to use the battery backup to instantly power the tank in a power outage. Hydros will run just my return and 1 powerhead so the battery will last. I plan to get a generator next though. The combination of the 2 will be nice. If power is out for a short time I might avoid pulling out the generator or I could turn off the generator at night and run off the battery.

I can't decide between a 500 watt hour or the 1kwh.
Either 13 hours projected runtime or 26. I am not sure what I want.

 

[Fish Fan]

Don't spend more than $400 for a battery back up, harbor freight has a gas powered 1800 watt for $399, 9.5 hour run time. It would run lights and your tank easily

I second this. I live in Upstate New York which historically has some bad winter storms (though not really in recent years).

I'm looking at something like this, which runs on gasoline or propane. This would keep my tank going in the event of a long term power outage, and would be handy for us since we like to go camping:

Sportsman 4,000-Watt/3,500-Watt Recoil Start Dual Fuel Powered Portable Generator with Protective Cover and Wheel Kit 806564 - The Home Depot

Make your work easy while camping and tailgating by choosing this Sportsman Dual Fuel Powered Portable Generator, Runs on LPG or Regular Gasoline.

www.homedepot.com

The downsides of a generator would be:

• The exhaust - they need to be run outside
• The weight - they are beasts to lug around
• This is definitely not an "automagic" solution; you'd have to manually drag out the generator and get it hooked up

But for the cost, and for the fact that it can power more than just my tanks if we lose power, and again since we could use this for camping, I think a generator is a solid choice.

 

[Subsea]

I am planning to use the battery backup to instantly power the tank in a power outage. Hydros will run just my return and 1 powerhead so the battery will last. I plan to get a generator next though. The combination of the 2 will be nice. If power is out for a short time I might avoid pulling out the generator or I could turn off the generator at night and run off the battery.

I can't decide between a 500 watt hour or the 1kwh.
Either 13 hours projected runtime or 26. I am not sure what I want.

I run a battery charger that is sized twice the anticipated load. However, battery capacity watt hours can be increased anytime by adding 12VDC batteries in parallel.

 

[Schulks]

You guys are right. Power stations just aren't that great for the price.

But I've been limiting my thoughts to how can I use hydros when I have a vectra..
I'll get the Vectra specific battery backup and then a generator with the savings, almost.

Edit: Never mind, the ecotech backup is not better. I can get more runtime from a power station for less. Maybe I should skip the battery and just get a generator but I am out of the house for 12+ hours a lot.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, battery back is highly desirable. If power goes out and you are not home, a generator sitting in the garage is not helpful. I have a generator sitting in an unopened box, but would still plan battery for any outage less than 24 h.

 

[VintageReefer]

1000wh for 450

This brand rocks

https://a.co/d/7NgKhQC

And I bet they will have a Black Friday or cyber Monday coupon

I got the 600 version for $250 last year during a holiday sale (current price is $360)

 

[Schulks]

1000wh for 450

This brand rocks

https://a.co/d/7NgKhQC

I spotted your older posts about that and planned to get it but then my saved listing sold out. When I went to their store page I didn't see another listing. Thanks for another link!

Amazon did just mark down the ecoflow delta 2 to $430 for 1kwh as well. They seem like a premium brand but would you still go with big blue?

 

[VintageReefer]

I would wait for BF I suspect ecoflow is just posting their sale early. The cell powa likely will be $400, and I’m sure they will also have bundles with panels if you’re interested in that

Also I have have comparison tested the big blue and multiple other brands stated watt hours to the runtime formula and big blue is the only one that exceeds the formulas predictions. The formula I assume you’re using has a efficiency multiplier of .85, and for big blue I need to adjust to .91 or even .92 to have the formula match my actual runtime

The cellpowa also has a quicker cutover time in outages. It’s like .01 seconds

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

If you want a serious battery back up, not talking about the tower style with small lithium battery. You can build one up with marine deep cycle batteries. On average a 12 v car battery will run a return pump and wave maker for a few hours give or take. You can build your own battery bank to what ever size you want and use a controller like this 800w UPS Backup Power that costs $170. Two 31m deep cycle marine batteries will keep you going until you can connect a generator in extended power outages

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you want a serious battery back up, not talking about the tower style with small lithium battery. You can build one up with marine deep cycle batteries. On average a 12 v car battery will run a return pump and wave maker for a few hours give or take. You can build your own battery bank to what ever size you want and use a controller like this 800w UPS Backup Power that costs $170. Two 31m deep cycle marine batteries will keep you going until you can connect a generator in extended power outages

Some power heads such as tunze and ecotech can run directly off a battery with no inverter. That helps them run longer and are cheaper to use.

 

[lbacha]

If you have vortexes or vectras then basically all you need is a 12v battery. If you have vectras you will need the 36v converter which is only $35 or so. I bought a 100ah 12v lifepo4 battery and a 15amp charger to keep it charged. The total was $300 so way cheaper than 2 ecotech backups and I can run my 2 vectras for 50+ hrs off of the setup. If I need more time than that I can pull out the generator but I’m more interested in short outages vs extended outages as I can manage a long term outage. A few hr outage in the middle of the night is what concerns me as it could crash my tank.

 

[VintageReefer]

The ecotech battery backup is antiquated lawn tractor battery and the design is unchanged for at least 10 years. It’s drastically overpriced and whether you actually use it or not, the battery needs to be replaced after a few years. It only achieves its runtime from software tricks turning your pumps down to about 20%

My return pump can get almost 40 hours runtime off my 250$ unit and 80 hours from the $400 cellpowa 1000, without needing to reduce flow. And if I wanted, I can just plug my mp’s directly into the power station and have them fully function as well

 

[VintageReefer]

If you have vortexes or vectras then basically all you need is a 12v battery. If you have vectras you will need the 36v converter which is only $35 or so. I bought a 100ah 12v lifepo4 battery and a 15amp charger to keep it charged. The total was $300 so way cheaper than 2 ecotech backups and I can run my 2 vectras for 50+ hrs off of the setup. If I need more time than that I can pull out the generator but I’m more interested in short outages vs extended outages as I can manage a long term outage. A few hr outage in the middle of the night is what concerns me as it could crash my tank.

That’s a cool setup, so the pumps connect directly to the battery that’s natively 12v, or to a converter to 36v? And then the charger is also connected at all times to the battery keeping it topped off In event of an outage ?

Your 100ah battery is equal to a 1200wh power station btw

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That’s a cool setup, so the pumps connect directly to the battery that’s natively 12v, or to a converter to 36v? And then the charger is also connected at all times to the battery keeping it topped off In event of an outage ?

Your 100ah battery is equal to a 1200wh power station btw

The tunze and ecotech powerheads (at least many of them) connect directly and switch over automatically if you get the proper connector from them.

 

[VintageReefer]

The tunze and ecotech powerheads (at least many of them) connect directly and switch over automatically if you get the proper connector from them.

Directly to what? A regular battery?
Tunze I think makes a box that’s lied you to use rechargeable lithium AA batteries I think.

Ecotech makes their own battery backup

Can these products connect directly to a large battery, like a lifepo4 12v battery ?

 

[CHSUB]

Inverter with auto transfer connected to 100 ah battery. Runs main pump and chiller for about 20 hours, automatically transfers to battery power in outage. $400~

 

[lbacha]

Directly to what? A regular battery?
Tunze I think makes a box that’s lied you to use rechargeable lithium AA batteries I think.

Ecotech makes their own battery backup

Can these products connect directly to a large battery, like a lifepo4 12v battery ?

The ecotech controller is designed to have a 12v (vortechs) or 36v (vectra) battery directly plugged into it. When it senses that it's normal house power is cut it automatically switches over to the battery at whatever speed you have it set to. This allows you to just use a battery vs a battery and 110v inverter like a power station would use. I'm not sure how the tunze works but it sounds like it has a similar setup. The benfit of this is that it is way more efficient than taking 12v converting it to 100v through an inverter then converting back to 12 or 36 volts with the power brick. I figured since the controller for the Vectra is designed for this I would take advantage of it. The main issue is it maxes the vectra out at 25% but honestly that is all I need to keep the tank alive for a few hrs so its no big deal.