# Battery Backup



## ecoleshill (Jan 22, 2009)

I am just wondering how many people have battery backups or APCs on their SW tanks? I have been debating for a while now whether I should put a battery backup in place or not?


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

I had one on my vortech MP40.
My primary concern was a summer blackout. 
I've downgraded my aquarium, but I plan to repurchase new MP10s.
And I'll definitely be getting the battery back up before next summer comes around. You can do without lights, and heat in summer - esp. if the a/c is off. But you always need flow.
Worth its weight in gold as far as I'm concerned...


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I have one, and in the two years in the condo we haven't had a single power loss - but for the price of replacing everything in the tank, it's definitely a worthy insurance plan


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

You should check your batteries Ameek. Just to make sure they still work and can hold a charge. I'd turn off the power and see how long it takes to drain the backup.

I had one on my computer for a couple years, then I got a blackout and the dam thing only lasted about 20 seconds.


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Any thoughts on where the cheapest place to buy one is?


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

carmenh said:


> Any thoughts on where the cheapest place to buy one is?


I ordered mine from JLA in Vancouver. They often have lower prices for hardware...


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I got mine from GoReef.com. Definitely the cheapest place ANYWHERE.


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Will a regular computer/electronics one work for those of us who don't have Vortechs?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Of course. And most of the time you can get them used on Craigslist

Here's a kickass one for an amazing price! Not my ad
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/sys/2508273510.html


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## ecoleshill (Jan 22, 2009)

I've been looking at the ones sold at Staples....


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*back up power supply*

costco has them as well not sure of the prices but i have seen them there 
and there warranty on there products is awsome 
cheers 
tom


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## j3tang (Sep 14, 2010)

another option is to wait for Dell Days of Deals. They often have UPS for sale on the cheap. 

Getting ahead of myself here, but it's almost always cheaper to buy a new UPS than to replace the battery in the UPS when it dies if you pick one up through Dell's deals.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

carmenh said:


> Will a regular computer/electronics one work for those of us who don't have Vortechs?


www.tigerdirect.ca and look at the back up power models.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:234|&Sort=4

Forgot how to calculate the runtime for aquarium stuff as it has been a while since I looked into that. Find out what equipment you want to power up during a black out and find out what thier wattage is and add up all the wattage.

Now this is the part that I need everyones help on. Is it Battery backup WATTAGE / WATTAGE (by hour) = Hours the backup power will run the devices for?

ie. 500W / 10W = 50hrs runtime?


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## goffebeans (Jul 23, 2007)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> www.tigerdirect.ca and look at the back up power models.
> 
> http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:234|&Sort=4
> 
> ...


I found the easiest is to just use APC's website. It gives average run times of their units, based on 50w/100w/etc. Also you have to note that the unit itself drains power and the device that you're connecting has to drain a certain amount of power before it's recognized.

Having said that you'd be pretty hard pressed to find anything that will last over 2 hrs that's reasonably priced.


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## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

j3tang said:


> another option is to wait for Dell Days of Deals. They often have UPS for sale on the cheap.


I agree, Dell has good pricing - but I haven't seen any ups' on sale in a while. I've been keeping an eye on them for a couple of months with no luck, hopefully see them soon as there is something wrong internally with my 750.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

goffebeans said:


> I found the easiest is to just use APC's website. It gives average run times of their units, based on 50w/100w/etc. Also you have to note that the unit itself drains power and the device that you're connecting has to drain a certain amount of power before it's recognized.
> 
> Having said that you'd be pretty hard pressed to find anything that will last over 2 hrs that's reasonably priced.


Arggg mitey! I'm not a salty pirate  I'm a freshwater person and the air pump is the main thing for me as I can mod anything to work with air lifting if needed. Like drilling a hole into the AC20 and let the air lift it up which works well if you've got one of those PennPlex 2x D (use AA adaptors) air pump emergency backups.

Can you post a direct URL to the APC website run time thing? Thanks.


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## goffebeans (Jul 23, 2007)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> Arggg mitey! I'm not a salty pirate  I'm a freshwater person and the air pump is the main thing for me as I can mod anything to work with air lifting if needed. Like drilling a hole into the AC20 and let the air lift it up which works well if you've got one of those PennPlex 2x D (use AA adaptors) air pump emergency backups.
> 
> Can you post a direct URL to the APC website run time thing? Thanks.


http://www.apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=13

Just choose the type of UPS and they show the average run times.


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