Back up power need help setting up

[Omari Jaffe]

all i know is i need to get a 12v car battery everything else i am lost about.  

in my location i experience power outage a lil to often and i had to use a hand held bicycle pump to pump air into my fish tank which was funny but i was home that day and the outage was for 10 hours for maintenance work, it won't be so funny with dead fish so i need so advice my fellow Aquas 

[Bradly]

Omari

I looked into this, and found it to be kind of expensive... to do it right you need battery, relay,12v pump, good trickle charger for battery.

I have opted to just use my battery from my RV and get a trickle charger for it to keep it topped off. I already own a little 12v-120v inverter I used to use in the car.  So when power goes down I will need to manually unplug my 120v air pump from the wall and then plug it into the inverter which is connected to the battery.

The right way seems will cost about $200 + Battery,  but the way I'm gonna do it (since I have the inverter) is $45 for the trickle charger + battery.

Hope that gives you a heads up....

[Bradly]

Omari

I forgot to mention, they do have 120v air pumps that have batteries that will kick in if the power goes off.  From what I can read though-they don't seem like they provide a whole lot of air very deep.  My fish tank is 3.6' deep so I didn't consider these pumps as feasible, that's why I didn't mention them previously.  If your fish tank is shallow, maybe they'd be worth looking into.

[Omari Jaffe]

Mr. Bradly thank you so much now with the information i will do a google search on the parts. 1 more question so what i will need to have it work automatic just in case i am not home ?

Bradly said:

Omari

I looked into this, and found it to be kind of expensive... to do it right you need battery, relay,12v pump, good trickle charger for battery.

I have opted to just use my battery from my RV and get a trickle charger for it to keep it topped off. I already own a little 12v-120v inverter I used to use in the car.  So when power goes down I will need to manually unplug my 120v air pump from the wall and then plug it into the inverter which is connected to the battery.

The right way seems will cost about $200 + Battery,  but the way I'm gonna do it (since I have the inverter) is $45 for the trickle charger + battery.

Hope that gives you a heads up....

[Bradly]

I've never built this keep in mind, I only researched it.

If you want it to kick in when you're not home, you'll need the more expensive way to go.

Here is a link to a guy who did a 12v DIY version (cheapest way probably)...but a little rough looking. But it will give you the idea of how it has to go together using a 12v pump.

Take a look at this

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9805

[George]

I use two 12-volt AGM batteries for backup, along with three 195 watt panels.  A 12-volt pump for redundant aeration runs 24/7 from the batteries but the system pump normally runs from house current.  If I had it to do over, I'd skip the solar and just use batteries/inverter or batteries and 12-volt pump for backup.  Keep reading - try the off grid group.  Good luck.

[jim mckee]

Depends on which type of back up you want.

Auto back up or manual back up.

For manual I'd suggest an off the shelf gas powered generator or better a tractor pto generator.  Now when the pwr goes out you can use the gen for your aquapincs and your home.

 

Also for manual you can use an inverter, 12vdc water pump and 12vdc air pump, bring an automobile or engine with enough alternator amps over to your aquaponics area and hook the inverter to the battery.

 

For Auto back up you can go with an auto start gen  or an auto start 12vdc with inverter.  Going auto costs allot.

jim

[Bradly]

Wow Jim, you gave me some great ideas too.  I'm so stupid...I have a tractor in the shed right next to the AP area -I'm gonna check the system voltage to make sure what it is...but I can use that in an emergency.  I never thought of using it to charge a battery or  or run an invertor for a while.   Although the diesel will be kind of costly, or the gas in the car...nonetheless it is a way to run the air pump and even the water pump every once in a while.

I didn't know they have an autostart12v DC Inverter...gonna look into that too.

Thanks

[jim mckee]

Howdy

Check out http://www.generatorjoe.net/

They have pto gens.  If your system is 120/240 then I'd get a 120/240 gen.  That way it's the same as your home. and since it would be 3pt hitch mounted you could just move the tractor to your home and power it till the electric is back on (there is a bit to do though to set that up,, not too expensive but less than frozen pipes , thawed freezer etc).

The only problem with a tractor running a gen is you don't have a Governor.  A gens speed makes its 60 hertz freq. so when you start to use amps the engine will slow down and reduce the hertz which is bad news for motors.

Voltage loss detection devices to trip a relay are an off the shelf item but it has to be set up correct.  Backup gens have them installed but auto start backup gens are more expensive than you start the gen yourself.

 

Another way to consider it is how long can your system go without electric.  And are you always home or not.

If your out allot then an auto start would save the value of what you would loose. 

If you value the ability to run the basics in the house also then get a bigger wattage gen.

jim

[Bradly]

That's a 10-4 on all counts.

I'm gonna look into it.  My daughter is on oxygen machine and I have a generator to keep her machine going, but I've thought a lot about needing more...for like freezer, refrig, and now at least air pump for fish tank.

Thanks again for tips

 

[Michael Welber]

I bought an Azoo aerator that has a built-in battery backup. I don't have many power outages but when we get a spike or something it pops the breaker on the GFI into which the aerators and pumps are plugged. Not a week after I got this I had just such an incident in the middle of the night. The pumps shut off but it was no problem for the fish because the aerator kept working. They claim it will run for 18 hours. 

[Bradly]

Michael

So you run this aereator all the time ?  Or does it only come on if power goes down?

[Michael Welber]

It runs all the time but only switches to the battery if the power goes out. Really puts my mind at ease.