Emergency Battery Backup For ANY Tank Of ANY Size - Step by Step
- Thread starter chipmunkofdoom2
- Start date
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi FishinBob. Thanks for the input. I would definitely like to get some higher Ah batteries in the future. I mainly got the 50Ah Exide because it is deep cycle, though it's a dual purpose, and it was a fantastic price. I think I paid around $100-$150 with free shipping. I may look into another Exide or a higher Ah battery though, this will be my first winter in this home and area, so I'm not sure how reliable the power grid is here. One thing I will also look into is a higher amp charger. The trickle charger is great for the long term maintenance of the battery, but when you're talking about charging a 50Ah battery with a .75Ah charger, you're looking at a very substantial recharge time. Just something to keep in mind for everyone out there.
Cypris, thanks for the info. Another reason I'm kicking myself for buying the Koralias over a Vortech.. still, that's very good. You wouldn't have to worry about whether a MSW inverter would harm your Vortech or mess with its timing if it was connected directly to the battery. Probably more efficient too.
Cypris, thanks for the info. Another reason I'm kicking myself for buying the Koralias over a Vortech.. still, that's very good. You wouldn't have to worry about whether a MSW inverter would harm your Vortech or mess with its timing if it was connected directly to the battery. Probably more efficient too.
gundamcichlid
New Member
Great post Mate! Thank you for the article.
I am really happy to find this article as I have been looking for this step by step for a while.
If I may asked a quick one, if we want to use the marine deep cycle as advised by FishinBob, for example 120Ah, this mean the battery is 120x12=1,440 Watt and the power inverted that we need to get should be bigger that 1,440 Watt, right?
Thanks
I am really happy to find this article as I have been looking for this step by step for a while.
If I may asked a quick one, if we want to use the marine deep cycle as advised by FishinBob, for example 120Ah, this mean the battery is 120x12=1,440 Watt and the power inverted that we need to get should be bigger that 1,440 Watt, right?
Thanks
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi Gundam,
Thanks for reading! The inverter doesn't have to match the capacity of the battery. I would size the inverter for your needs, so if you had 15 watts of pumps and 150 watt worth of heater you'd like to power off your system (a total load of 165w), your inverter should be at least 200w or so. The 1,440 watts figure is correct though, and that would give you a good idea of how long your system would power whatever load you needed it to. For a simple set of pumps totalling 14w, that would be around 100 hours of backup. Not too shabby at all!
gundamcichlid
New Member
Thanks for the info Patrick.
I did few reading at the internet, based on their article, in my understanding, we still need to recharge the deep cycle when they have been discharge at the very low level left, recharge before the battery reached 20% is recommended.
How can we know the remaining power ("amp per hour") left in the battery?
Also, If we use the battery with 120Ah, we can still use the charger in your example for this but it will take longer time to recharge.
Pardon me if i asked to many question but my knowledge about electricity is very limited.
Thanks
Rendy
I did few reading at the internet, based on their article, in my understanding, we still need to recharge the deep cycle when they have been discharge at the very low level left, recharge before the battery reached 20% is recommended.
How can we know the remaining power ("amp per hour") left in the battery?
Also, If we use the battery with 120Ah, we can still use the charger in your example for this but it will take longer time to recharge.
Pardon me if i asked to many question but my knowledge about electricity is very limited.
Thanks
Rendy
Hey Patrick - are you still happy with this inverter? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NIG2FG/?tag=reefsanc-20
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gundamcichlid
New Member
Thank you for the warm welcome Glenn.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi Rendy,
It's no trouble at all, I'm happy to help. You are right, even though deep cycle batteries are more resilient than typical LA batteries, they should be recharged before they reach zero. It can get tricky trying to determine the remaining charge of a battery. There are ways to estimate the charge based on voltage, but these are estimates only. You can buy advanced battery monitoring tools, but I feel that the voltage estimates are fair enough. The inverter I got, which Glenn linked to a few posts above, actually has a volt meter built in, so using the chart in that link I posted you can actually get a decent idea of how much power you have left. Now, bear in mind, each battery is different and as they age, capacity at certain voltages might be different, but it's still good for just getting a basic idea of the charge remaining.
As for using the battery while charging, I don't have much experience with this. Typically, I would think that if you had a way to charge the battery, you would not need to use it, but I think it would be possible to charge while using. You would likely have to get a special kind of charger with some advanced circuitry though, as I'm not sure the Battery Tender would be designed for this. You would also have to make sure the charger you got would be able to charge the battery as fast as you are discharging it.
Glenn, I'm still very happy with the inverter I got. Thankfully I only had to use it once so far.. haha. I chose that one because if I did get more batteries or set up a grid, I would be able to power much more than just my basic pumps with it, enough to give the tank a few hours of light if I really felt like it. As for it only being modified sine wave vs. pure sine wave, I haven't had any problems with that so far. Really, from what I've read, MSW inverters are fine for everything but advanced medical equipment.
It's no trouble at all, I'm happy to help. You are right, even though deep cycle batteries are more resilient than typical LA batteries, they should be recharged before they reach zero. It can get tricky trying to determine the remaining charge of a battery. There are ways to estimate the charge based on voltage, but these are estimates only. You can buy advanced battery monitoring tools, but I feel that the voltage estimates are fair enough. The inverter I got, which Glenn linked to a few posts above, actually has a volt meter built in, so using the chart in that link I posted you can actually get a decent idea of how much power you have left. Now, bear in mind, each battery is different and as they age, capacity at certain voltages might be different, but it's still good for just getting a basic idea of the charge remaining.
As for using the battery while charging, I don't have much experience with this. Typically, I would think that if you had a way to charge the battery, you would not need to use it, but I think it would be possible to charge while using. You would likely have to get a special kind of charger with some advanced circuitry though, as I'm not sure the Battery Tender would be designed for this. You would also have to make sure the charger you got would be able to charge the battery as fast as you are discharging it.
Glenn, I'm still very happy with the inverter I got. Thankfully I only had to use it once so far.. haha. I chose that one because if I did get more batteries or set up a grid, I would be able to power much more than just my basic pumps with it, enough to give the tank a few hours of light if I really felt like it. As for it only being modified sine wave vs. pure sine wave, I haven't had any problems with that so far. Really, from what I've read, MSW inverters are fine for everything but advanced medical equipment.
Thanks Patrick ! gone to get me one
good :read:
a good read