Disaster prevention

Hey all,

So I am starting to think about power outage plan for my tank. I posted about this a while back but i have put more thought into it now and am looking for some feedback on my plan. When hurricane Sandy hit my area we were without power for 8 days in the beginning of november. Some of the supplies I will definitely be getting will be styrofoam boards to wrap the tank and insulate it. I also want to get some battery powered airstones to keep oxygen levels up.

I haven't quite figured the next part of my action plan out yet though. I need a power solution that will work in an apartment building setting. This means a generator will not be possible. I looked into getting a UPS but they only provide a limited amount of power and are rather expensive for the amount of time they would get me. I was thinking about getting a battery for a mobile home. One that I saw could provide 5.5 amps of power for 36 hours my tank uses 2.7 amps (says my neptune) this is without the heater running. I started the tank in the summer and have yet to seen it run, so I am not sure how much draw it will have. Another feature that makes a RV battery very attractive is that since people usually only use them once a year the batteries are designed to hold a charge for a very long time.

I have to say I am by no means an electrician and know very little about the workings of electronics. So I am really going to need some help here. I know they have power inverters to convert dc power to ac. But I don't know what one to get or what would work with a battery that large. Also is there a way that i could charge the battery from my ac power in my apartment? I am really going to need help here.


I was looking at the srm-4d
RV Deep-Cycle/Starting Batteries

 

any thoughts?

 

I like the RV battery idea, I don't know how you would set it up as I am not an electrician but having a couple on hand and charged up probably wouldnt hurt if you could find a way to hook them up to the equipment. I have a couple computer battery back ups I keep charged just in case but yea they will only buy a little time. I have heard of people using their cars for battery back up but the problem there is being in an apartment. I know Ecotech Marine makes a backup battery system but theirs may just be for their pumps. Something to check out though. Let us know what you find because if you find a good system it may be something for more of us to set up

 

So heres what I'm thinking. First I need the batteries. I think two will be more than enough. Then, leading up to the a potential storm I will need to be able to top off the batteries. Something like this may work

Schumacher Speed Charge 12-Amp Battery Charger - Walmart.com

Then I need the inverter. Im thinking about this

TrippLite 4-Outlets PowerVerter 1000W Compact Inverter : Surge Protection, UPS Back-up | Dell

that inverter is good for 1000 watts of power. I believe i could run almost everything with that. Then all I'll need is a set of wires to go from the batteries to the terminal on the inverter.

I'm just wondering if this plan will work or not.

 

Battery back ups work good only when you charge and discharge your batteries on a continuous basis. You also have to maintain the deep cell batteries by adding deionized water every once in awhile. If there is no load on the battery for to long a time the battery will not work when you need it to. If you plan on using this type of system you should integrate it into your tank so the system is used regularly ie. let it run a circulating pump or power head so when you do need it it will work. I had a back up battery sub pump for my house which I left unused for 8 months and when I tried to test it the battery was dead.

 

It looks like it would work to me. With a couple battery cables to hook into those inputs on the inverter I would think it would make a decent back up. having two batteries would be a good idea just in case the 1st doesn't last as long as you need. If they truly use the amount of amperage you were saying they should last a decent amount of time. Im not sure if the inverter might draw some extra amperage converting DC to AC, so that might shorten the battery run time, but if you have two just in case it shouldn't be an issue.

If you set it up, it wouldn't hurt to do a test run and see what you get out of them just for piece of mind.

 

And of course like he said...make sure to keep the batteries functional with regular use and testing