DIY battery back up?

[myjohnson]

man, that's all bs what you just posted Qouc.

I can't understand any of it.

Guess I got to wait until I'm not drunk to figure this out.

[RainMan]

I have a APC UPS 300 watt on all my tanks with just the air pump plugged in. During Ike I lasted 20 hours and probably more but I got my power back. I recentally upgraded to the APC 1500 watt UPS on my 125. 0 Fish lost during and after Ike.

[ddaquaria]

I'll keep researching this ... Ecotech Vortech

[myjohnson]

I have a APC UPS 300 watt on all my tanks with just the air pump plugged in. During Ike I lasted 20 hours and probably more but I got my power back. I recentally upgraded to the APC 1500 watt UPS on my 125. 0 Fish lost during and after Ike.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3669+8120&pcatid=8120

This air pump can go 20 hours with out power and is cheap. But I'm looking for more flow.

Additionally, I hate having air pumps on my tank with the passion.

[myjohnson]

I'll keep researching this ... Ecotech Vortech

I'm getting one. Their battery pack is cool. Looks nice and you can stack them but for 140 bucks each you can make a DIY battery back up that lases 3 times as long.

Vortech makes a really nice powerhead, the mp40w has a wide flow distribution and moves a lot of water.

I'm making the DIY battery back up for the vortech.

[fshfrk]

Am I hallucinating or was that EK that posted a few replies back?

[myjohnson]

Yup! We was hanging out yesterday morning and I bugged him about the battery back I'm trying to work on.

He was talking in all that mubo jumbo talk and I didn't understand anything he was saying so I told him to write it on here and give me some links and I'll read over it later.

[ddaquaria]

What if you put the MP40W with battery backup attached to an APC 1500?

I know if is not DIY, but a possible solution for the non-DIYers. I would think you could easily get at least 2x the backup time with that rig - a result of about 60 hours+.

[myjohnson]

I'm sure you can do that and get longer battery life for the pump.

The power consumption on the vortech is relatively low.

But you can stack the ecotec back up batteries, which means that you can plug one battery onto another. You can stack or link as much batteries together as you want.

[myjohnson]

J hooked it up with a link....

http://www.aquariumguys.com/silentairpump.html

Should help short term for those that need the protection and don't got money for the vortech.

[ddaquaria]

We may have already posted this, but I found this on RC this morning:

There is no magic to the Ice Cap battery backup for the Vortech. Its a 12V battery, a charger and a wire in a box. You can DIY this very easily.

Here is the battery I use
http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-35...y-group-u1.html

Here is the charger
http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-50...-charger-2.html

You also need a 1.3mm plug to connect to the Vortech driver. You can get this at Radio Shack.

This setup is 35AH Vs 18AH of the IC unit and will run ~ 2x as long.

You can use these with the Tunze or Vortech

This was posted by sjm817

[myjohnson]

Thanks Donald,

Can you post a link?

Or just a picture of how you set yours up.

I understand the general parts of it, but I'm having a hard time thinking about how the wiring is set up to connect all the parts.

Also, shouldn't there be a fuse in several places to make sure there are no accidents?

[ddaquaria]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...8#post15554938

I have not set mine up yet with regards to the battery backups. You are having the same issues that I am - I can't "see" it yet. I'm just taking the info straight off of what I read.

[ddaquaria]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1673939

With drawn picture...

[myjohnson]

Nice! I'm try to make this one for my vortech.

Don't think all the parts are going to come in before the tank tour. This is really going to help the vortech run time when lights are out.

at 1k gph, I think it can go 240 hours, or 10 days!