battery operated emergency generators

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dabendan

New Member
Does anyone know of a good battery operated emergency generator that is reasonably priced (<$170.00)? Or can anyone tell me approximately how much power it would take to operate 2 freshwater tanks 35 and 15 gallons and 2 saltwater --one 140 gallon reef tank and one 10 gallon quarantine tank....mostly just a guestimate on how much power it would be to keep the water flowing in all 4 tanks and how long it would last. (How much power does it take to run two biocubes and a pump--- and 2 waterpumps and a protein skimmer? plus heaters for all 4?).thanks
 
BigJay

BigJay

Well-Known Member
add up the wattages for everything in each of your tank. Then you can start looking into battery back ups. See how long it will run that wattage for how much time. If your just running pumps I imagine you should have no problem getting an hour or 2 out of a high quality back up.
 
BigJay

BigJay

Well-Known Member
are we talking short term outages or are you looking for something that will last a day or more like for hurricanes?
 
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plahka

Member
I say gas because the length of the outage can never be predicted. And if you're going to buy a back up it might as well be more useful. A basic generator isn't terribly costly.
 
Witfull

Witfull

Well-Known Member
the thing with an inverter Vs. a gene is an inverter is plugged into the house, and is constantly charged. when power goes out it automatically kicks in. a gas gene you have to be there to pull the ripcord and start it up,,,,and hope it does because its been months since it was last turned over and hopefully the gas hasnt gone stale. if it has,,,you cant go and get gas, cause the gas station doesnt have power either to pump gas.
 
BigJay

BigJay

Well-Known Member
an inverter by nature does nothing more then convert DC to AC as a converter converts DC to AC. It doesn't charge a battery either or auto kick in on power outages. For that you need a UPS. If you know of a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) that will allow you to use a deep cycle marine battery could you link it?
 
Witfull

Witfull

Well-Known Member
Safeguarding Your System from Meltdown - Stopping Murphy in His Tracks: Part I by Greg Hiller - Reefkeeping.com

There is currently a device on the market (shown below) that combines a power inverter (DC to AC), a trickle battery charger and an auto-switching relay that senses AC power loss. This device can be easily wired to a bank of deep-cycle marine batteries linked in parallel and can deliver power for a considerable period of time depending upon the pump's power draw and whatever other equipment is plugged in. I set up one of these devices with a pair of marine batteries and found it could run a Gen-X Mak-4 pump for more than 16 hours at normal, full-speed operation; long enough to make it through most power outages.

This UPS system is constructed of a Tripplite voltage converter/battery charger/relay and a pair of deep-cycle marine batteries that can run a main circulation pump for more than 16 hours.
Click to expand...
 
BigJay

BigJay

Well-Known Member
lol not wrong. Thats a complete system using an inverter. Thats basicly constructing your own UPS.
 
Witfull

Witfull

Well-Known Member
more info from the manufacturer

PowerVerter APS Inverter/Chargers provide the most reliable alternate energy sources during utility power problems (blackouts, brownouts, overvoltages and surges). APS Inverter/Chargers pass AC power on to equipment and keep user-supplied batteries charged while utility power is available. When utility power is unavailable, APS Inverter/Chargers automatically provide connected equipment with AC power inverted from connected DC batteries.
Click to expand...



one unit.....excuse my usage of the term......but it is an inverter. it just has more technology built into it that the pepboys 29.99 special.
 

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mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
BigJay said:
lol not wrong. Thats a complete system using an inverter. Thats basicly constructing your own UPS.
Click to expand...


This is what Witty is talking about. It is a UPS that will charge your deep cycle batteries and switch power to them when the wall power is interrupted.
 

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SATELLITE

Member
i wan tto join in too. i seen a generator at a store seems to be pretty good but it runs off a propane tank same as the bbq. now the concern i have is would this have to be out side or can i leave it in the house while running
 
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