# Any experiences w/battery back up power supply?



## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

Woke this morning to a power outage, thankfully it was and easy fix but it got me thinking. 

Has anyone used an appropriate backup battery that can take over if a voltage drop is detected? 

I've had a quick look online but the prices and specs seem to vary wildly so, does anyone have a review? 

Cheers.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

There are devices called UPS's (uninterrupted power supply) that are used in server rooms to provide power in the event of a mains failure. However they are not intended to run the equipment continuously. Their purpose is to provide you with 10 - 30 minutes to either safely shut down the server to prevent corruption to the data, or start up a generator and switch over to that as a means of maintaining power.

These UPS's work by charging a battery which then through an invertor outputs mains voltage. This means that the battery life is such that they often need replacing regularly, typically annually.


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## tayloss (11 mo ago)

As above, the main device would be a UPS, but this would have to be spec'd according to the amps you expect to have pulling on the unit. They aren't a cheap options, but what i have used in the past is a 12v car battery connected to high powered invertor (which is effectively what a UPS does) to keep the heat running only. This would be in an extreme situation where you expect to have a power outage for long periods of time!

Expect to pay around £200+ for a UPS that could actually take the load of a small reptile tank for say 30-40mins.. 

Hope that helps?


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## Gaboon (Jun 20, 2005)

Thank you both for your replies.

I had initually looked at the possibility of a UPS but for the same reasons you both outlined they are not quite what I'm looking for.

I will look into the idea of using a 12v battary and an inverter. I've seen this DIY system discussed elsewhere and it may be the best option, which surprises me as it seems like there isn't a product on the market for this problem. Can't see much on the aquatics market either, which is very odd as something like a reef tank is going to really suffer without power.

Cheers!


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

The stay alive system used in reefing, and in fact most UPS's work on the same basis, using battery power and an invertor to provide 240v ac. With reefing, the key is circulation rather than temperature, so typically just the pumps need to be run, and as most of these are low voltage (derived from a mains powered controller) the loading is quite light, often totalling less than 100w. To drive the heating used in a stack of vivs, which could total 600w or more a UPS of substantial size would be needed, requiring a lot of battery power to run them for any length of time. As mentioned, the purpose of an UPS is to buy you some time to implement a backup system such as a generator or the like.

If you really want to run the house off the grid then you need to look at solar power systems that implement huge battery storage (Tesla for example) and possibly modify that, but then you are talking thousands of pounds, and given the UK's climate and how rare long term power outage is (although I must admit it seems to be an annual event these days) this may be overkill to maintain a collection of reptiles.


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## tayloss (11 mo ago)

No worries, good luck and let us know how you get on.. Happy to help if you need anything... But all I say is, go for the best and biggest invertor you can afford as the cheap ones are fine, but will run very warm and not include any real way to remove the heat.. Also, be aware that if it has a fan, then the length of time it will provide the power will be less, not massively, but certainly to be considered..

I had to do this while our house was being rewired, so have some experience with running reptile and fish tanks on batteries..


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