Emergency Battery Backup For ANY Tank Of ANY Size - Step by Step

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone! So I live on the east coast and courtesy of Irene, I was without power from 5am Sunday to 10:30pm Monday night! Thankfully my ever-so-hearty clowns from Doni made it :) What’s really saved my bacon is my power backup system I setup for my tank.. even though I undersized the battery and have been kind of jery rigging it to work long term, I want to share this with others so we don’t have to put our tanks on the line during a power outage.

I began by looking at computer battery backups, or UPS (uninterruptable power supply) but quickly realized these are meant to run for no more than 10-15 minutes.. just to give you enough time to save your work. There are server grade models that can run for longer, but even those are supposed to only last 30-60 minutes (depending on model number) until generators can be activated. I then began to think about building my own power backup system. I did some research in the “Green” sector and realized many people use a combination of solar power and solar charged batteries to power their entire homes. Sometimes, people who live in Arizona and other “sun belt” states use no electricity from the utilities at all. They charge batteries on really sunny days and run their ENTIRE HOME off of these battery grids during dark or stormy days. I figured powering an entire house is a big chore, but we could easily scale the concepts down to work for an aquarium. The scope of this project is just for the tank, so thankfully it will be much less complex and much cheaper.

I know we have people from all walks of life here, so I’m going to be as simplistic about my findings as possible. Hopefully, this can give people enough information to decide whether a project like this will work for them :D


WARNINGS

This wouldn’t be a Chipmunkofdoom® tutorial if there weren’t warnings :)


ELECTRICAL HAZARD – It’s funny how much I write this, but if you attempt this project, you will be dealing with electricity in sufficient enough quantities to KILL YOU. This is not likely, as the stuff we’re doing is very simple, but if you’re unsure of yourself or you’re not a tinkerer, this might not be the project for you. Having said that, I have a computer science background, not auto or mechanical or engineering… I don’t have a ton of experience with this stuff, but this is all fairly simple. If you’re somewhat handy, you should be able to do this no problem.


EXPLOSION HAZARD – Never thought I’d say this one, but here we are. For this system, your source of power will obviously be batteries. Some lead acid batteries, when charging, release hydrogen and oxygen as a result of the chemical reactions taking place. Hydrogen and oxygen are extremely flammable and can cause explosions. From what I have been able to gather this is not really an issue with sealed batteries I recommend.. we’ll discuss this more later, but know that this risk does exist.


RTFM (Read The Bleeping Manual)! – While I try to explain as much as I can, read all user manuals and guides for all products used in this “tutorial” before moving forward. They have safety information that is vital for each individual device used.


Overview

Let’s consider the standard laptop battery, which usually is around 7”x2”x.5” (LxWxH). This is incredibly small, and yet some of these batteries can run a power hungry laptop for hours. Imagine instead you had something the size of a car battery, something that is much more dense and much larger. It would make sense that something like this would hold more power and be able to run longer between charges. This is the workhorse of our battery backup system, a large 12v battery (not necessarily an automotive battery, but similar). Since mostly everything in our homes (and for aquarium use) runs off AC power and batteries only supply DC power, we also need a middleman to convert the DC power into AC power. This is really all there is to our system. We also need a charger to recharge the battery, but the “meat” of the system is the heavy duty battery and the power inverter.


Who is this project for?

This project, as I said above, can really be done by anyone with a little bit of electronics know-how. It’s also going to be somewhat costly, running around $250 total for a charger, battery, and decent inverter.. perhaps more if you want a large inverter or many weeks of backup. If you have a few grand in corals or a loved and valued fish, this might be worth it to you. If you don’t think $250 is worth it for a few days of power backup, that’s for you to decide. I’m just giving the info, you make the call :spinner:


Battery

For my battery, I started with an old motorcycle battery that I had laying around that still seemed to work. It was relatively small, working out to only supply around 8.6Ah (amperes/hour.. we’ll get into that later). It ended up only running my pumps for 4 hours. Respectable, but not my goal. My power has was out for almost 36 hours, and I’d like something that can at least power the pumps through that.

Batteries are usually rated in Ah, or ampere hours (usually pronounced “amp hours”). To figure out how amps convert to watts, multiply the battery voltage (12v) by the amps (for our example, 35A). Our example battery would be able to supply a total of 420 watts. You could quickly discharge that 35A in one hour, or spread it out over a period of time. If you want to plan for a 5 hour power outage, your battery would give you 5 hours of 5Ah output (60 watts/hour for 5 hours). If you only needed it to last for 3 hours, you could get up to 130 watts for 3 hours (35Ah/3 hours * 12v). It is useful to note the more rapidly you discharge the battery, the less you actually will get out of it. Overworking the battery increases resistance and you’ll start to see diminished returns from it. You’ll get much closer to the rated capacity if you draw 3 or 4 amps from our 35Ah battery over a period of 10 hours or more instead of pulling almost 17Ah for 2 hours. It is also worth noting that all battery math like above is rough at best. Inverters will waste some to inefficiency, and batteries discharge at different rates, meaning you might not get the total power out if you discharge too quickly. It is useful for planning though, and you should definitely get the largest battery possible!

More info on battery ratings:

Capacity and Battery Ratings - Engineers Edge

Battery ratings : BATTERIES AND POWER SYSTEMS

Most good manufacturers will tell you the Ah rating of the battery as well as an ideal discharge rate. It varies with the battery, but this will give you a good idea of what Ah rating you need for how long you want your backup.

So, let’s discuss that whole explosion thing I mentioned earlier. When Lead Acid (LA) batteries charge, the chemical reaction gives off hydrogen and oxygen, which in sufficient concentrations can explode with a single spark, like most inverters do when you connect them. This was mainly an issue with older LA batteries. In the old days, you used to receive your own batteries and add the acid to start the chain reaction. These batteries were not sealed so you could drain the acid and refresh your battery if you so desired. Newer batteries, often called Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) or maintenance free, or AGM (a sealed material that provides superior power) are much less prone to emitting gas because the factory seals these batteries right after filling to make them safer. These batteries don’t (or aren’t supposed to) release any gasses when charging or discharging. They are safe to charge and use indoors, in enclosed spaces. When things go wrong or if an old battery cracks, it certainly can release some gas when charging or discharging, but you should replace the battery every few years just to be safe (most car audio sites, from which I get most of this info, recommend every 5 years or so). Overall, I feel there is little concern of a battery causing an explosion. I would charge it in an open area (outdoors if you really want to be safe) and inspect it regularly. Things can still go wrong, but I think the fear about this is really a remnant of the unsealed batteries of old.

For your battery, look for AGM (absorbent glass mat) ideally, and at the very least maintenance free and sealed or non-spillable. You should get a battery that’s dubbed “deep cycle”. These batteries are meant to be drained and fully recharged. Average car batteries can be damaged by the drain and recharge because they’re meant to give you a lot of power instantaneously (cranking amps, they call that) and then get recharged. Dropping below 50% of their charge is not a good idea. Car batteries would do in a pinch, but I would not drain them too much unless you can dispose of it after you ruin it.

The battery I bought to replace the old motorcycle battery was an Exide Orbital 34XCD. It’s AGM and maintenance free (sealed, non-spillable). They’re very well priced with free Amazon Prime shipping, and they’re pretty popular among the car audio enthusiasts out there. There isn’t any manufacturer’s site or overall Ah rating, but a retailer lists this battery as capable of 50Ah for 20 hours! Again I can't confirm this, as there's no real manufacturers site, but in my case where I’m only powering 2 pumps and occasionally a heater? This could easily be weeks. I’m going to do a full discharge test (it just arrived today :)), but this battery should get me 7+ days no problem.

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In summary:

- Get a maintenance free, sealed, non-spillable battery (look for non-spillable in particular) to be safe for indoor charging
- AGM is a superior LA technology if you can find a good battery with it
- Get as LARGE a battery as possible!
- Look for deep cycle batteries, that were designed specifically for full discharging and full recharging
- Car batteris are not ideal for this project, unless you can monitor them and stop their charge from dropping below 50% (I honestly would skip them all together)


Power Inverter

The middleman of our system, the power inverter, is probably one of the simplest pieces of the puzzle to understand what it does… choosing what type to get? That’s a whole different ball game. This piece of equipment hooks up to the battery and transforms its DC voltage to AC voltage that we can plug our devices into. Sounds simple right? Wrong.

There are two basic types of power inverters, modified sine wave, sometimes called modified square wave (MSW), and pure sine wave (PSW). You can Google for technical specs and all the arguments of people on both sides of the fence, but basically when your AC power comes out of the wall from the power company, it goes up and down in a smooth curve known as a sine wave. A modified sine wave looks more like steps going up and down. It’s blocky and rigid, not smooth. The big difference is the devices get smoother power delivery as well as more complete power (higher highs and lower lows) from PSW inverters. That and some things just plain won’t work with them, like electric toothbrushes and drill chargers (or so my manual says), and may actually be damaged by the MSW. There are many people out there that say that MSW inverters can harm electronics and that PSW is the only way to go. MSW inverters can harm specific electronics, but most cheaper UPSs that run computers have MSW inverters in them. You must be thinking “Well, why not get PSW and be on the safe side?” Good question. PSW inverters cost an average of 2-5 times more than a comparably rated MSW inverter. Pure sine waves are difficult to produce, and you have to pay for the privilege.

Which inverter you will get is up to you. Many people on RV and boating forums won’t plug cell phones, laptops, TVs or anything else into MSW inverters. They simply don’t trust them, stating that PSW is the way to go. Then, you see a post of where a guy runs a microwave, plasma TV and gaming console off his MSW inverter. I think a quality MSW inverter should work fine with most electronics, and that the cheaper MSW inverters are what all the horror stories are about. If you have the money for a PSW inverter, I would go for it. That way, you can plug your other electronics into the inverter with ease should you need to during an outage. For most people, I believe a MSW inverter will be fine. One thing though, if you have a Vortech, I’m not sure how nice the MSW current will play with the electronics in them. One thing that MSW inverters have been known to do is effect timing of electronics plugged into them, like clocks and microwaves. If you have a Vortech, you may want to consider PSW, or at least getting cheap Koralias or Maxijetts to use during an outage.

Having said that, I bought a Powerbright MSW inverter off Amazon. It’s 1100 watts, more than I ever will need, but I liked it because it has a built in fan and some nifty power monitoring features, including a live voltage meter. It was reasonably priced for $70 with free Prime shipping.

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When looking for an inverter, go for one that has a built in fan (that preferably gets good reviews). Shoot for 15%-25% higher capacity than you need. As far as MSW vs PSW, I really think modern electronics, as well as a quality MSW, will have no problems working together. If I had the money, I would have gone PSW.. I knew I would just be powering Koralias and maybe a heater, so I didn't think I needed it. I would recommend PSW if you can, but if not, I don’t think MSW inverters are the bully their made out to be. It’s impossible to tell, because there’s little scientific research and only opinions by hobbyists, but I think a quality MSW inverter will power most of your devices with no issues, especially if we’re just talking about aquarium usage here.

In summary:

- PSW is ideal, but 2-5x more expensive then MSW.
- MSW is fine for simple motors (like powerheads) but advanced timing devices like Vortechs might not play nice with them
- Look for 15%-25% more wattage than you need.
- Read the reviews! Few people actually use these for aquariums from what I gathered, but product reviews will quickly expose the quirks and all the undesirable features of inverters.


Battery Charger

This is a simple piece of equipment that I’ll just touch on briefly. There are many different types of LA (lead acid) battery chargers out there, but I would recommend going with a Battery Tender Junior 12v. This model is for motorcycle and small engine batteries, but it will charge any 12v just fine. They're cheap too, around $35-$40 at most sites. They're easy to use to, you plug it in and it charges and maintains the battery.

2ic198l.jpg


A quick overview on charging: There are many myths and ideas out there about battery life, the “memory” effect, how fast to charge, what Ah to charge at, etc. The general consensus I’ve learned is that it’s best to charge a battery slowly and then maintain it at an optimum voltage. Traditional battery chargers you have to do a lot of math on.. for instance, if you have our 35Ah battery and you have a 5 amp charger, you have to charge it for 5 hours and no more. This is imperfect though, because as the battery ages, it’s Ah rating decreases and you may not know exactly how much amperage the battery needs. The Battery Tender, however, does. The Battery Tender is a trickle charger, which means it charges slowly over a long period of time. It charges at 0.75Ah, so it will be much slower and charging a large battery could take days, but it will also be much easier on the battery. Fast charging heats and wears batteries. When the Battery Tender senses the battery is full, it switches to a maintenance mode, constantly feeding the battery miniscule amounts of voltage to keep it at the optimum charge, prolonging the life of the battery and making sure it’s ready to go when you need it. Ideally, you should charge a battery then leave the Battery Tender attached and charging when it’s finished so that if you need the battery, it’s already at optimum charge and ready to go. This isn’t necessary, and you can top your battery off every week or month, although you may lose some of the benefit of the battery being on the Tender. As with most things in life, slow and steady wins the race with batteries and charging them.

Always unplug the charger before attaching the leads to the battery!


Putting It All Together

This is actually the simplest part. After you have your battery and you’ve charged it with your Battery Tender, you’re ready for a test run! Hook up your power inverter (red to red or positive +, black to black or negative -). Plug in a test appliance (a simple lamp will do) and click on the power switch if your inverter has one. If all goes according to plan, your lamp should fire up.

Now you should test your system. Whether you designed this to run just your pumps or everything but the lights, the only way to know it will work and for how long is to test it. I would advise doing this on a day you’re home so you can get a good idea of how long the system will last. That, and if anything does go wrong, you’ll be there to toss some water on the fire :D (I don't mean real fire, this type of setup will be difficult to start a fire with unless you bury it under gasoline-soaked blankets)


Additional Considerations

- By designing a system yourself you have control over exactly what you want to run and how long. Do you want to run everything, including your 2x 400W MH pendants, in the event of a power outage? Go for it. There are inverters out there that will do that much and you can make battery grids that will power a system like that for a few days. At what point you draw the line is up to you. I will say that as you get into higher powered inverters and more batteries, things start to get much more complicated. Battery grids are a huge headache to charge and maintain, and 5000w inverters are pretty pricey. I would recommend at the very least powering your pumps. I’m also planning on upgrading my battery to allow me to run my heater (150w) in the event my place gets cold during the winter. This is less of a concern, because you can usually compensate with blankets and whatnot, but my point is that if you want to, you can design a system to do almost anything. I think pumps/powerheads and heating (maybe chilling) is a reasonable idea, but I wouldn’t go much further than that. But, if you want to and have the resources, it’s up to you. When you design the system and have a little knowledge about what you’re doing, you can make the call.
- A single battery should work for most folks, but if you feel better having 2, you certainly can. If you lose power and the first battery dies, you can simply hook up the second. What's more, you can charge the dead one at work or a friends' while the other battery maintains your tank. You’ll likely need an extra charger, but having 2 batteries will make running a heater on your backup much easier, as you can have two lower Ah rated batteries as opposed to one high Ah (read: EXPENSIVE) battery. Or, you can have 2 expensive batteries. The choice is yours!
- Lead acid batteries aren’t the most environmentally friendly, and they are the stone-age of battery technology. If you think it’s worth it, you can upgrade to L-Ion (lithium ion) batteries. This usually requires different charging technologies, but it’s a much longer lasting battery in most cases. They’re also more expensive.. the choice is yours.

This is a VERY general overview of how all this technology works, but this should at least plant the bug and give you ideas. You'll likely have to do a little research as to what components work best for you, but my goal was to give people an idea of what is possible with a little research. We don't get hurricanes much in Maryland, but I WILL be prepared if another one comes our way!

Aaaand.. PICTURE TIME!

Power inverter front:

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Power inverter back:

ir2wjc.jpg



Battery Tender charging:

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The system hooked up and running (to my old motorcycle battery):

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Look ma, no plugs!

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Questions/comments/concerns are welcome :hallo:
 

agentgreen

Member
Fantastic write up! Thanks for your work on this!

What Koralias are you powering with this?

Also, could you connect two batteries together inline and just run the inverter off of one? Basically daisy chaining batteries to get extended life. not sure how that would work with charging though.
 

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
Excellent write up !
I lost power for about 3 hours so a battery power air pump from Hagen did the trick but if it would've been longer my tank probably wouldn't have survived.
 

Alien2100

Member
Very nice write up Chipmunkofdoom2,

I hope you don't mind if I add a little insight here, I really think it's a great write up considering the recent hurricane. I see my fair share of them here in Houston, TX and have to deal with the occasional power outage myself.
First, I'm glad to see you mentioned sealed batteries, this is really the only choice for safe indoor use. One of my favorites is still the Optima yellow top, I used them for years in car audio without any issues. They just carry a heavy price tag. And while I do think a battery back up is a necessity for any large aquarium, there are a few things to consider. One important note is you don't need to constantly run the tank during the power outage. And in most cases the pumps would be more than adequate to provide aeration to the tank and keep everything alive. Also most of us don't see power outages longer than a few hours, and during that time the tank can be left alone and be just fine. The important thing is just not to stress the fish in anyway. In the beginning just leaving them alone is best.
I'd like to add a link, it's a write up by my LFS and something that has helped me through many a power outage. The longest being during hurricane Ike, when I was without power for 5 days. At the time my tank was mainly made up of softies, LPS and fish of course. And while the tank showed signs of stress after the power came back on, I didn't loose a single fish or coral. I'm adding this as a link to give credit where credit is due, and Dave the owner of Aquarium World here in Houston is probably one of the most helpful and knowledgeable people I've meet in the business. Hopefully this link along with your above write up on power supplies will help out fellow reefers. Hurricane
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the comments all :)

What Koralias are you powering with this?

Also, could you connect two batteries together inline and just run the inverter off of one? Basically daisy chaining batteries to get extended life. not sure how that would work with charging though.


Hi Agentgreen, I'm running 2 Koralia Nanos (425gph models). They use 4 watts a piece.

It is possible to chain 2 batteries together, but at this point you have what's known as a grid and it requires special maintenance and charging. The batteries you put together have to be replaced at the same time to ensure they are all at the same wear level and 1 battery isn't pulling the weight for an older battery with lower capacity. Battery grids (and charging them) is a little outside my field of expertise, so I would recommend keeping it simple by having 2 batteries and swapping one out for the other when it dies. If a grid is something you'd like to try, you certainly can.. grids are actually better for larger loads. One of the benefits of a grid or group of batteries is they get discharged more slowly since they all get discharged at the same time, meaning less wear on the batteries.

Hi Alien2100, that's fine by me :) I appreciate any input that anyone has to offer. This is by no means a comprehensive guide to all things battery backup and if anyone has any improvements or additional information, I'd be glad to have it here. An open discussion and good information is the goal here. And you're 100% right, you don't have to run anything other than your pumps in most cases, and you don't have to run them all the time. If you'd like to just for continuity, that's certainly possible to plan though. I'm planning to run my heater a little to for the winter periods. If we lose power in a snow storm in the north east and it's out for a day or 2, the temperature inside the home can drop pretty low. Blankets help, but I'd like to have some heat added if possible. Again, that's the beauty. If you only need to power pumps, that's all you can plan for. It's up to you to decide what you would like to run.

I noticed one thing I didn't go over too well is deciding how much power you need. For pumps, for a rough estimate you can trust them to just use what they're rated at (it should say on the box or manufacturer's site). For heaters (if you plan to run one), it's hard to estimate. For a 150w heater, you're not going to be using 150Wh (watt hours) since it comes on and off. I'd plan for it being on 50% of the time or more, or 75w/hour in this heater's case.

A more precise way is to get a Kill-a-Watt meter and see exactly how much power your equipment is using. I'm not sure if they have advanced tracking features, but it would be ideal if you could determine how much power your pumps and heaters use over the course of a day. That way you could get a precise estimate of how much power your system would use. This is more useful for determining what battery to get rather than what inverter to get, as a few hundred extra watts in inverters usually isn't that much more expensive. It's the battery that will determine the longevity of your system.

Any other questions/comments/concerns are welcome! There's another tropical storm that may be headed for the east coast (Katia), so if you're looking for a backup for your tank, no time like the present :)
 

Smokey301

Member
good tutorial, funny I live on the eastcoast aswell and have the same setup lol.(luckily I didnt have to use it this time) I use to have it on the battery but ended up hardwiring the inverter into my truck and now its a moving generator, just need an extension cord.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Fantastic read COD !!! Thanks for sharing !!!

Do have one question... what's your thoughts on an inverter that you would hook up to your cars battery, a member of the RSM club, said he did this recently & let his car run for like 5 hours to cover a power outage... any thoughts related... I really appreciate & enjoy your insight !!!

ans alien nice link & post too
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Thanks Glenn :)

Yes, that's quite possible, and Smokey's quite right.. you will have power as long as your engine is running. Actually, any style of inverter like the kind I used can be hooked up to your vehicle with the supplied clamps. Unless I'm mistaken, you would simply hook it up to the + and - to the positive and negative battery terminals. As the alternator fed and recharged your battery, it would also power the inverter. Perhaps Smokey can clarify?

Now I'm not 100% sure about the efficiency level of running your car to power just a few watts for your pumps, but this would be a great option if your battery died in a long power outage, or if you wanted to power your lights for a short period or something of the sort.
 

BeachBum72

Member
Me too. I have inverters in each of my cars. When we were just out of electricity, I ran my pump, a light and a house fan using an extension cord from my car into the house. You do not have to run the car to use it. Good inverters will switch off when supply voltage drops to a certain level. Just run your car a few minutes every few hours and you're good to go!
 

N83259

Member
Great post! I'll be doing this soon - maybe chaining several together for enough power reserve to cover me while on vacation if I ever get to take one again.

Just to confirm - I've used an inverter running off my car during multi hour outages. It can indeed be used just off the battery with the car engine off. My inverter has a feature that beeps at you when the car battery has been discharged to a certain level so you can start the car back up, letting the alternator recharge the battery. I just let the car run since I was afraid I was going to go to sleep and discharge the battery....thus having a dead tank and no transportation!

Yes, it is inefficient from an energy use stand point. I would definately have another solution by now if power outages were more frequent in my area. But it works well in a pinch. But in my last outage, I was surprised how little gas my car's 6 cyl engine used over 4 or 5 hours. But the engine got hot of course and I left the hood open for a little more ventilation. Last suggestion - use the battery clips only - not a cigarette lighter adapter supplied with some units, especially if you're funning 150W or more of equipment. Otherwise, you run a risk of stressing your car's electrical system.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the input guys! Yes, running a car to run your tank is inefficient, but honestly it doesn't seem like too bad a solution. Gasoline powered motors are inefficient in general. The good thing about your car is it's well maintained and always ready to go. Some generators you have to perform maintenance on every so often, like swapping the fuel, changing oil, or even spark plugs.. your car is something you generally always maintain. Plus, your car will let you run your lights if you need to, so that's a major plus. Also, it can be used to recharge the battery while powering the inverter, which is cool. Since we're talking about a "generator" now (even though it is a car..) if you have a large enough inverter, you can plug your fridge/freezer into it as well if you have a long outage to keep your foods cold. The possibilities are endless really.

So a few of you have said you use inverters, did you go with MSW or PSW? Did you notice any oddities or things that won't work if you did go with MSW?
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
As promised before, I'm beginning a test run today at 12:00 noon to see how long my Exide battery will last. It's just going to be powering the pumps for now, but from that I'll be able to understand how long the battery will go until it's discharged and better estimate how long the heater might run on it too. I'll post my results :)
 

Smokey301

Member
as N83 said, if your going to be running the aquarium with it w/ your car tho, dont use the cig lighter adaptor, use the actual clamps. It wouldn't necessarily hurt the electrical system of the car, but will blow fuses.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Well, I had to cut the test short before I came into work. This morning the display read 11.5v, which is around 20% of the battery's charge left. Measuring charge by voltage is not perfect, but it's really all I could do. It's disappointing to say the least, I was hoping to get a little more out of it than just 2 days, but in reality the battery was very affordable with cheap shipping. All in all it looks like this battery is giving about 50Ah, not including any reserve. Hopefully I'm not going to have a power outage of more than 2 days any time in the future, but at $130 with free Amazon shipping, these are a bargain even if I need another.
 

FishinBob

Active Member
Interesting post!!! I live in south Florida and between random summer storms and hurricanes that's an excellent idea!! Have you considered a marine deep cycle battery? Usually have about 120-160Ah ratings...and are made for complete discharge cycles. I run 2 160ah batteries on my trolling motor system and they last for 18-25 hours of constant use. Might be something to look into. I also have a converter I always keep in the truck!! Great thread!!
 

Crypsis

New Member
Good read, thanks for the info. The only thing I would point out is that Vortech pumps are already DC so they would not need an inverter you can just wire them directly to your battery and the pump will automatically switch from the 24v (AC power plug) to the 12v plug during a power outage. I have both my vortech's and my tunze stream pumps wired to a marine deep cycle battery now I just need a dc return and skimmer pump and I'll be set.
 
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