So it's always a good idea to have battery backups (1 Viewer)

[PorpoiseHork]

Yesterday early evening I hear a very loud buzz sound from outside and the lights started flickering. So I rushed out to make sure that nothing was wrong with the power drop or my service panel, only to find this happening on the service pole on the other side of my next door neighbor's house.



This caused a 2 hour power outage and the fire department to come out to put out a small grass fire under it.

Luckily all my tanks and other various electronics are on UPS units so nothing went down during the outage. You never know what may happen so it's always best to be prepared for the worst.

 

[gregg]

Please come install one of those ups thingys at my house?!

 

[mikster]

You sent your son away at the wrong time. He missed the best part, the explosion!

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Please come install one of those ups thingys at my house?!

I can do that, and here is how I have mine setup. I run a combination of battery backups for the main tank to keep it running for days if needed.

The primary UPS for the entire system is one of these UPS units.

Main UPS backup unit

This protects all the lights and other various components from electrical issues and provides about 2 hours of power to the main system. But it's only meant for short term backup power. Computer UPS units are not very efficient due to having to convert 12-24v DC to 110v AC so I wanted something better. Since all the circulation pumps are DC powered, I added a secondary battery unit with voltage converters to raise the output from 12v to 24v so all the circulation pumps will continue to run if/when the UPS runs out of power.

Battery Backup

Battery backup modules are one of the best investments any serious hobbyist can purchase. The IceCap Battery backup system is compatible for most 12-24 volt DC powered pumps. Most notably the MaxSpect Gyre 230 and Gyre 250 pumps, along with the IceCap 1K and 3K Gyres. Power outages will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The IceCap unit is vastly more efficient than a UPS since it uses a 12v supply and a very simple diode based circuit to supply 12v dc to the output ports. As a result it it will power the devices connected to it for far longer with a much smaller battery than a standard UPS unit. This is because there is no energy reserve loss when converting from 12-24v to 110v then back to 12-24v for the pumps.

The voltage converters that I spliced in to the outputs of the IceCap unit-

Voltage converters

I also wired in an external 12V 35AH sealed battery to the IceCap unit that increases it's total run time capacity to 43AH. Based on the total AH capacity of 43AH with a total voltage draw of 12v at .65a gives the main return and powerheads about 65-70 hours of continuous power before I need to recharge the batteries.

I know it seems a little convoluted but it's actually a fairly simple setup that gives me plenty of time to deal with sustained power outages if they occur.

For the rest of my tanks I just use a smaller UPS and have the main pump connected to the battery backup side, and the rest on the surge side.

Standard UPS unit

You sent your son away at the wrong time. He missed the best part, the explosion!

Lol.. I think I had my finger covering the mic on my phone. that was my wife and daughters and probably chickens in the background that you can hear.

 

[mikster]

Can.you plug the ice cap to a regular UPS to extend the run time instead of a sealed battery? Is this better than the Ecotech battery backup?

 

[mikster]

Can.you plug the ice cap to a regular UPS to extend the run time instead of a sealed battery? Is this better than the Ecotech battery backup?

Edit
Ecotech is only for their products.
Can.you plug the ice cap to a regular UPS to extend the run time instead of a sealed battery?
I can plug any type of circulation pump to this?
I also looked the the inputs, I don't see where I can just plug in my pump? Is this specifically for just a certain type of pump?

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Edit
Ecotech is only for their products.
Can.you plug the ice cap to a regular UPS to extend the run time instead of a sealed battery?
I can plug any type of circulation pump to this?
I also looked the the inputs, I don't see where I can just plug in my pump? Is this specifically for just a certain type of pump?

Correct. The Ecotech unit uses much smaller barrel connectors than pretty much everyone else so unless you plan on splicing in the correct connectors theirs will not work for most other DC pumps out there.
I have mine plugged into the surge side of my UPS, but it just uses a simple 12v 1A power supply so yes you could plug it into what ever you like.

How the IceCap unit works is it comes with a pair of Y-Splitters for the output side. You plug the power supply of the pump(s) you're wanting to run into the female side of this splitter and then one male end plugs into the battery and the other male end at the pump's controller. Under normal operation the IceCap power supply keeps the battery charged and the pump power supply will run the pump. The circuit board in the unit keeps the pump power from flowing back to the battery. In the event of a power loss the pump's main power supply shuts off and the circuit board in the Icecap allows 12v voltage out to the pump controller instantly so it continues to run.

Now in my case my original powerheads were 12v Jebao's but my main return pump a 24V Current eFlux pump. Luckily for me the Jebao and eFlux pumps use the same size barrel connectors as well as polarity. So the Jebao's ran off one port that I added an additional female to male Y adapter to run both pumps and the eFlux off the second output. For the eFlux I spliced in a 12v to 24v step up converter going from the Icecap to the pump controller so the voltage remains at 24v. The eFlux will run on 12v but you have to power cycle the controller for it to do so. If you dont do that the pump shuts off and the power light blinks at you. With adding a step up converter it stays running when there is a power loss. The 24v power supply for the eFlux plugged in to the provided female end of the y adapter before the converter so the converter is receiving 24v input under normal conditions but drops to 12v if the power fails or I accidentally unplug the wrong thing. I was a little worried about the voltage converter burning out because of the higher input voltage but it's been running like this for over a year now and haven't had an issue.

Depending on your pump's power supply connector you may need to pick up an adapter piece that you can connect it into this unit and then into your pump controller.

 

[mikster]

I don't think this wi work for me unless I slice my power line. I have hydor koralia circulation pumps and they do not have any barrel connectors. It just plugs straight to the wall outlet.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, but it just made more more confused. Lol

 

[PorpoiseHork]

No worries.

Yeah, the IceCap battery unit will only work with 12 or 24V DC pumps. With your pumps running on 110v AC then the best option is a large capacity UPS and only put the pumps on the battery side. Or you can always get a smaller UPS and wire in sealed deep cycle batteries to the UPS to increase the reserve time. You just want to make sure of the voltage for the batteries. Smaller UPS units are typically 12v where the larger units are 24v. There are a plenty of videos on YouTube showing how to safely add external batteries without modifying the UPS at all. It involves matching the gauge of the battery cables and getting the same size blade connectors to tie the external battery(s) in. The best batteries to use for this would be one of those sealed spiral cell Optima deep cycle batteries.

 

[gregg]

I can do that, and here is how I have mine setup. I run a combination of battery backups for the main tank to keep it running for days if needed.

The primary UPS for the entire system is one of these UPS units.

Main UPS backup unit

This protects all the lights and other various components from electrical issues and provides about 2 hours of power to the main system. But it's only meant for short term backup power. Computer UPS units are not very efficient due to having to convert 12-24v DC to 110v AC so I wanted something better. Since all the circulation pumps are DC powered, I added a secondary battery unit with voltage converters to raise the output from 12v to 24v so all the circulation pumps will continue to run if/when the UPS runs out of power.

Battery Backup

Battery backup modules are one of the best investments any serious hobbyist can purchase. The IceCap Battery backup system is compatible for most 12-24 volt DC powered pumps. Most notably the MaxSpect Gyre 230 and Gyre 250 pumps, along with the IceCap 1K and 3K Gyres. Power outages will...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The IceCap unit is vastly more efficient than a UPS since it uses a 12v supply and a very simple diode based circuit to supply 12v dc to the output ports. As a result it it will power the devices connected to it for far longer with a much smaller battery than a standard UPS unit. This is because there is no energy reserve loss when converting from 12-24v to 110v then back to 12-24v for the pumps.

The voltage converters that I spliced in to the outputs of the IceCap unit-

Voltage converters

I also wired in an external 12V 35AH sealed battery to the IceCap unit that increases it's total run time capacity to 43AH. Based on the total AH capacity of 43AH with a total voltage draw of 12v at .65a gives the main return and powerheads about 65-70 hours of continuous power before I need to recharge the batteries.

I know it seems a little convoluted but it's actually a fairly simple setup that gives me plenty of time to deal with sustained power outages if they occur.

For the rest of my tanks I just use a smaller UPS and have the main pump connected to the battery backup side, and the rest on the surge side.

Standard UPS unit






Lol.. I think I had my finger covering the mic on my phone. that was my wife and daughters and probably chickens in the background that you can hear.

Ok so can you do all this? Quote?

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Ok so can you do all this? Quote?

Yep. It all depends on what kind of power connectors your pumps have. If they are standard barrel style connectors, then would just need to make sure they are the same size as the IceCap unit. If they are not then a trip to Electronic Parts Outlet would be in order to get the right ones to be able to connect everything up.

If they use a 3 pin din connector directly off the power adapter to the controller, then it's a different story.

 

[Cody]

How long can you run a single powerhead off of a charge from your batteries? Based off of the UPS that you linked, it shows that it will keep a computer going for 3-12 minutes, per the manufacturers disclosure.

 

[gregg]

My pump is cor20 and I have 2 gyre’s all are plugged into my eb832

 

[PorpoiseHork]

How long can you run a single powerhead off of a charge from your batteries? Based off of the UPS that you linked, it shows that it will keep a computer going for 3-12 minutes, per the manufacturers disclosure.

The larger UPS I linked will run on it's own for about 90 min before shutting off. This is because the actual power draw of the pumps is fairly low at about 45 total watts on my system compared to a computer pulling 200-300w. The smaller units will give you about around 30-40 if only powering a single dc powerhead. A large percentage of the battery reserve time in a UPS is lost in the voltage converter. As I said before the IceCap battery will last for much longer because when there is a power loss it's powering the pumps directly instead of having to convert from 12-24 dc to 110v ac then back to 12-24v dc. If I only had a single powerhead running i'd get about 80-90 hours off the batteries when running 24v at 10-12w.

My pump is cor20 and I have 2 gyre’s all are plugged into my eb832

The cor20 looks like it is using a smaller barrel connector but would be easy to pick up the fittings to get it to work with the IceCap unit. The gyres are probably going to be the same as well. The Apex would be none the wiser as the pumps main power supplies would still be plugged into it.

 

[FernandoK]

I purchased a Coral Box Battery Backup V2 from ReefBreeders earlier this year and it worked great with my wavemakers during an outage I had few weeks ago.

 

[mikster]

Can you change out the ice cap battery when it reach end of life? Usually the batteries in my ups last about 3 to 5 years.

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Yes you can as long as you get the right size. It's a standard 12v 7 or 8 AH sealed lead acid battery like those used in many smaller UPS units. They can be purchased locally from EPO for under $20. The Coral Box and Ice Cap battery units are the exact same. The only difference is the sticker on it.

 

[Reefahholic]

I have a deep cycle marine battery that will run small powerheads for over 12 hrs. I keep it in the garage on a maintenance charge. Eventually ill get a generator.