chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi All!
So a while ago, I created a post about battery backup for our tanks. The system still works and the concepts still apply, but it's not the most elegant of systems. In the event of an outage, you have to drag out your battery, drag out your inverter and manually attach everything. Not the worst thing if you happen to be home at the time of the outage. Not so great if not. I've gone through several iterations of this system, and while my version was a bit more DIY, what I'm going to recommend is fairly straight forward and anyone with a bit of common sense should be able to do it.
My system is a bit more complex than it may need to be, but I have certain requirements that the system must meet:
1. Must be upgradable. If I want to be crazy and buy 7.2kWh of battery power and run my entire system for days in the event of an outage, I wanted to be able to do so.
2. Every part must be commercially available and off-the-shelf. If I can't search on Ebay or Amazon for it and find 10 different variations of it, it's too specialized and too rare. This also means that functionality must be compartmentalized so that broken parts can be replaced without throwing out the whole system and starting over.
3. The system must have an automatic changeover, meaning I need to do nothing for the system to start powering my tank. The system must automatically switch back over to AC once power is back up, and the batteries must recharge on their own without any intervention from me.
There are easier ways to do at least two of those, but it was hard to find all three.
HOW IT WORKS
So first, it's probably best to describe how this system works.
At the end of it all, you will have your load (your aquarium, or whatever devices you'd like to power). I power my Vortech MP10 and my return pump with my system, but I could potentially power more. While a robust system will power many things, it's best to only power the bare minimum (return pump, circulation in DT, dosing pumps/skimmers if necessary). The less power you use, the longer the system will last.
At the beginning you have your power sources. This means the AC power when your power is on, and a battery power source when it is not. Since batteries are DC and most of the stuff we use in our aquariums is AC, we need something after the battery to turn the DC into AC. Those are called inverters and come in all shapes and sizes. More to come on that later. You'll also need a battery maintainer to keep your battery topped up when your power is on. Again, more to come on that later.
Finally, we have something in between the power sources and the load (your aquarium). There has to be some sort of device that detects when power fails and switches the load from your wall power to the inverter. The device also needs to see when the power comes back on, and make the switch back to battery power.
THE EASY WAY OUT
Before I go into the specifics of this system, there is a device that will do mostly all of this for you. All you need to do is add a battery and you're good to go. It's called an inverter/charger. It works essentially like the system above. You connect a battery to the device, plug the device into the wall, and connect your load (aquarium) to the device. The result is that the inverter/charger charges the battery and keeps it topped off while you have power. When the power goes out, the device switches AC power to the inverter and begins draining the battery you connected. When power comes back on, the inverter switches to AC power and charges the battery back up. Easy as pie, and some like the Tripp Lite to which I linked are very cheap, < $200.
Personally, I do not like inverter/chargers. The main reason is they combine a LOT of functionality. They charge your battery. They convert DC to AC. They sense AC power failure and switch to battery power. If any single one of these functions fails, your inverter/charger is now worthless. If you're lucky enough to still be under warranty, you may get it fixed, but if not, you have to buy a whole new system. With my setup, if your AC switch fails? Buy another and replace it. Inverter? Same thing, buy a new one and replace the bad one. If your battery carger breaks, buy a new one. I really needed this modularity in my design, as I hate the idea of having to throw out a device because one single piece fails. There are lots of other nuances that I don't particularly care for with these devices, but that'll have to go in a follow-up post.
If you need the simplicity of a single device, however, an inverter/charger may be for you. Additionally, if you don't have much DIY or electronics experience, I think this is probably the best way to go for you.
NO TURNING BACK NOW
Before we get started, be aware, this project messes with 120VAC. This can easily kill you. If you haven't worked with electronics or wiring before, I would recommend you not undertake this project and just go with an inverter/charger. Or, learn a bit more first.
I'm going to supply a rough parts list below. While all of these will work together, just about any battery, inverter, or charger will do. I encourage you to learn about every single one of these pieces of the system before attempting something like this. You don't have to be an expert, but a bit of knowledge will really help you understand how these things work and your other options.
Inverter: Standard 1000W MSW inverter - $70
Just about any inverter will work here. This seems to be a well-reviewed inverter with decent capacity (1000W).
Battery: 12VDC 35 Ah (about 420 Wh) - $64
Similar to the inverter, a decently reviewed and priced 12V battery. You can use a larger battery, smaller battery, a bank of batteries wired together... really you can add as much battery power as you want. This is just a decent battery to get you going. Any battery you buy, though.. make sure it's AGM (absorbent glass mat) and/or sealed (SLA or sealed lead acid).
Battery charger: Black and Decker 12V Charger - $20
The charger charges the battery (duh!). Since you're getting an AGM battery, make sure your charger is designed for AGM batteries (this one is).
Transfer switch: Xantrex Auto Transfer Switch - $65
This switch switches between the wall and battery power. Very important. I haven't been able to find many alternatives to this. Basically, if you want to switch AC and you don't want to wire up a relay (like I did), you need something like this.
Grounded three prong extension cord: (any will do) $10.
This should be an extension cord, meaning one end has the three prongs (male), and the one end accepts three prongs (female). I got mine at target and it was < $10.
So for about $230 (give or take) you can have this whole system up and running. You may want to change out a few parts (I'll discuss some of these in another post), but that will get you a basic system.
ASSEMBLY
So the assembly is pretty basic, and may vary based on the parts you get. But, the core concepts remain unchanged.
1. Attach your battery charger to your battery and plug it in. This should always remain attached to the battery and will always keep it topped off. How you connect your battery to the charger may vary, but most chargers should come with either clips or screw sets to make the connection
2. Take your 3 prong extension cord. Cut it about in half, although where you cut it doesn't matter. I simply got an 8' three-prong extension cord from Target. You should have a white, black and green wire coming out of the cord where you cut it (you may have to strip off some of the black shielding to expose the individual leads). Here's what mine looks like:
**NOTE** - For the following steps, NOTHING SHOULD BE PLUGGED INTO ANY WALL OUTLETS, ATTACHED TO ANY INVERTERS OR CONNECTED TO ANY BATTERIES.
3. You'll also notice on the transfer switch that there are three wire bundles coming out. One of these says "From Utility," and it also has a green, white and black wire:
This is where your "wall power," the stuff from the electric company, goes. Take the male end of the extension cord (the one with the prongs sticking out) and attach it to the "From Utility" wires coming out of the transfer switch. Attach green -> green, white -> white and black -> black. For safety, I'd recommend soldering the leads together and wrapping with heatshrink. (note: I don't actually have the Xantrex switch I'm recommending here, which is why I'm using stock photos. I went with a simple relay. However, the connection is pretty straightforward). Since this wire is "From Utility", we'll eventually be plugging it into the wall, but not yet.
4. Take the female end of the extension cord (the one that accepts the three prongs). We will want to attach this to the "AC Output To Load" cable coming out of the other side of the switch:
Same deal, attach black -> black, white -> white and green -> green. This is where you will plug in the equipment that should run during power failures. You will have to use a surge protector or something along those lines if you need to plug more than one thing into the system.
5. Plug the "From Utility" cable into one of your wall outlets
6. Attach the inverter to the battery and turn it on.
7. Plug the "From Inverter" cable into your inverter.
8. Plug your aquarium equipment into the "AC Load To Output" cable.
And presto! You're all done. To test it out, unplug the "From Utility" cable from the wall. Your power source should automatically switch over to the inverter. Plug it back in, and it should automatically switch back to the utility power. To make sure that it is running off of the wall, try unplugging the "From Inverter" input from the inverter.
I'll follow-up with another post regarding some useful information about inverters, batteries, and capacity. I wish I could have done more pictures of my setup, but I actually wouldn't recommend my setup to anyone who hasn't worked with electronics before, and didn't want to confuse an already long thread.
Any questions, let me know!
So a while ago, I created a post about battery backup for our tanks. The system still works and the concepts still apply, but it's not the most elegant of systems. In the event of an outage, you have to drag out your battery, drag out your inverter and manually attach everything. Not the worst thing if you happen to be home at the time of the outage. Not so great if not. I've gone through several iterations of this system, and while my version was a bit more DIY, what I'm going to recommend is fairly straight forward and anyone with a bit of common sense should be able to do it.
My system is a bit more complex than it may need to be, but I have certain requirements that the system must meet:
1. Must be upgradable. If I want to be crazy and buy 7.2kWh of battery power and run my entire system for days in the event of an outage, I wanted to be able to do so.
2. Every part must be commercially available and off-the-shelf. If I can't search on Ebay or Amazon for it and find 10 different variations of it, it's too specialized and too rare. This also means that functionality must be compartmentalized so that broken parts can be replaced without throwing out the whole system and starting over.
3. The system must have an automatic changeover, meaning I need to do nothing for the system to start powering my tank. The system must automatically switch back over to AC once power is back up, and the batteries must recharge on their own without any intervention from me.
There are easier ways to do at least two of those, but it was hard to find all three.
HOW IT WORKS
So first, it's probably best to describe how this system works.
At the end of it all, you will have your load (your aquarium, or whatever devices you'd like to power). I power my Vortech MP10 and my return pump with my system, but I could potentially power more. While a robust system will power many things, it's best to only power the bare minimum (return pump, circulation in DT, dosing pumps/skimmers if necessary). The less power you use, the longer the system will last.
At the beginning you have your power sources. This means the AC power when your power is on, and a battery power source when it is not. Since batteries are DC and most of the stuff we use in our aquariums is AC, we need something after the battery to turn the DC into AC. Those are called inverters and come in all shapes and sizes. More to come on that later. You'll also need a battery maintainer to keep your battery topped up when your power is on. Again, more to come on that later.
Finally, we have something in between the power sources and the load (your aquarium). There has to be some sort of device that detects when power fails and switches the load from your wall power to the inverter. The device also needs to see when the power comes back on, and make the switch back to battery power.
THE EASY WAY OUT
Before I go into the specifics of this system, there is a device that will do mostly all of this for you. All you need to do is add a battery and you're good to go. It's called an inverter/charger. It works essentially like the system above. You connect a battery to the device, plug the device into the wall, and connect your load (aquarium) to the device. The result is that the inverter/charger charges the battery and keeps it topped off while you have power. When the power goes out, the device switches AC power to the inverter and begins draining the battery you connected. When power comes back on, the inverter switches to AC power and charges the battery back up. Easy as pie, and some like the Tripp Lite to which I linked are very cheap, < $200.
Personally, I do not like inverter/chargers. The main reason is they combine a LOT of functionality. They charge your battery. They convert DC to AC. They sense AC power failure and switch to battery power. If any single one of these functions fails, your inverter/charger is now worthless. If you're lucky enough to still be under warranty, you may get it fixed, but if not, you have to buy a whole new system. With my setup, if your AC switch fails? Buy another and replace it. Inverter? Same thing, buy a new one and replace the bad one. If your battery carger breaks, buy a new one. I really needed this modularity in my design, as I hate the idea of having to throw out a device because one single piece fails. There are lots of other nuances that I don't particularly care for with these devices, but that'll have to go in a follow-up post.
If you need the simplicity of a single device, however, an inverter/charger may be for you. Additionally, if you don't have much DIY or electronics experience, I think this is probably the best way to go for you.
NO TURNING BACK NOW
Before we get started, be aware, this project messes with 120VAC. This can easily kill you. If you haven't worked with electronics or wiring before, I would recommend you not undertake this project and just go with an inverter/charger. Or, learn a bit more first.
I'm going to supply a rough parts list below. While all of these will work together, just about any battery, inverter, or charger will do. I encourage you to learn about every single one of these pieces of the system before attempting something like this. You don't have to be an expert, but a bit of knowledge will really help you understand how these things work and your other options.
Inverter: Standard 1000W MSW inverter - $70
Just about any inverter will work here. This seems to be a well-reviewed inverter with decent capacity (1000W).
Battery: 12VDC 35 Ah (about 420 Wh) - $64
Similar to the inverter, a decently reviewed and priced 12V battery. You can use a larger battery, smaller battery, a bank of batteries wired together... really you can add as much battery power as you want. This is just a decent battery to get you going. Any battery you buy, though.. make sure it's AGM (absorbent glass mat) and/or sealed (SLA or sealed lead acid).
Battery charger: Black and Decker 12V Charger - $20
The charger charges the battery (duh!). Since you're getting an AGM battery, make sure your charger is designed for AGM batteries (this one is).
Transfer switch: Xantrex Auto Transfer Switch - $65
This switch switches between the wall and battery power. Very important. I haven't been able to find many alternatives to this. Basically, if you want to switch AC and you don't want to wire up a relay (like I did), you need something like this.
Grounded three prong extension cord: (any will do) $10.
This should be an extension cord, meaning one end has the three prongs (male), and the one end accepts three prongs (female). I got mine at target and it was < $10.
So for about $230 (give or take) you can have this whole system up and running. You may want to change out a few parts (I'll discuss some of these in another post), but that will get you a basic system.
ASSEMBLY
So the assembly is pretty basic, and may vary based on the parts you get. But, the core concepts remain unchanged.
1. Attach your battery charger to your battery and plug it in. This should always remain attached to the battery and will always keep it topped off. How you connect your battery to the charger may vary, but most chargers should come with either clips or screw sets to make the connection
2. Take your 3 prong extension cord. Cut it about in half, although where you cut it doesn't matter. I simply got an 8' three-prong extension cord from Target. You should have a white, black and green wire coming out of the cord where you cut it (you may have to strip off some of the black shielding to expose the individual leads). Here's what mine looks like:
**NOTE** - For the following steps, NOTHING SHOULD BE PLUGGED INTO ANY WALL OUTLETS, ATTACHED TO ANY INVERTERS OR CONNECTED TO ANY BATTERIES.
3. You'll also notice on the transfer switch that there are three wire bundles coming out. One of these says "From Utility," and it also has a green, white and black wire:
This is where your "wall power," the stuff from the electric company, goes. Take the male end of the extension cord (the one with the prongs sticking out) and attach it to the "From Utility" wires coming out of the transfer switch. Attach green -> green, white -> white and black -> black. For safety, I'd recommend soldering the leads together and wrapping with heatshrink. (note: I don't actually have the Xantrex switch I'm recommending here, which is why I'm using stock photos. I went with a simple relay. However, the connection is pretty straightforward). Since this wire is "From Utility", we'll eventually be plugging it into the wall, but not yet.
4. Take the female end of the extension cord (the one that accepts the three prongs). We will want to attach this to the "AC Output To Load" cable coming out of the other side of the switch:
Same deal, attach black -> black, white -> white and green -> green. This is where you will plug in the equipment that should run during power failures. You will have to use a surge protector or something along those lines if you need to plug more than one thing into the system.
5. Plug the "From Utility" cable into one of your wall outlets
6. Attach the inverter to the battery and turn it on.
7. Plug the "From Inverter" cable into your inverter.
8. Plug your aquarium equipment into the "AC Load To Output" cable.
And presto! You're all done. To test it out, unplug the "From Utility" cable from the wall. Your power source should automatically switch over to the inverter. Plug it back in, and it should automatically switch back to the utility power. To make sure that it is running off of the wall, try unplugging the "From Inverter" input from the inverter.
I'll follow-up with another post regarding some useful information about inverters, batteries, and capacity. I wish I could have done more pictures of my setup, but I actually wouldn't recommend my setup to anyone who hasn't worked with electronics before, and didn't want to confuse an already long thread.
Any questions, let me know!