Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - Electronics suppliers - Surrey/Langley

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- - Electronics suppliers - Surrey/Langley - DIY Battery Backup (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=107949)

True, true - Any battery could cause a fire - I "play" around with Lipos because I am trying to get my 5 year old into R/C car racing like I used to be... they can be very dangerous.

We also have a few SLAs around the house. Alarm backup, alarm cell backup, UPS for my little home server/wifi. They are contained in steel cases and their factory cases so hopefully that was thought about. I have a steel box that can hold this little project.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154 (Post 903988)

SLA will eventually dry out & then they're trash. With proper care, a deep cycle flooded battery will serve you well & IMO longer than an SLA.

I've tried slow charging an SLA after refiling it and carefully pulling the top off. It does give it some more life - in fact it worked for at least a year again. There are tons of youtube videos on how to do it. I would do it very carefully and do it outside while you can watch it.

Are there small sized deep cycle batteries as well? I don't have a lot of space around the tank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scherzo (Post 903989)

Are there small sized deep cycle batteries as well? I don't have a lot of space around the tank.

Not to my knowledge. The thing that makes them 'deep' cycle is plenty of lead & I don't think there's a market for a smaller flooded deep cycle. Most of them are made for golf carts, off grid power storage, etc.

Seems the SLAs are working for you & you're keeping an eye on things. There are also AGM (absorbed glass matt) batteries as an alternative. I suspect SLAs use similar technology. Like SLAs, AGMs tend to be a bit pricier than the traditional flooded type.

Wouldn't it be simpler if you went to Costco to purchase a small UPS to keep the Vortech running?

Just a thought.

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The UPS would run the Vortechs at full power.

The point of using the battery backup system is so that the Vortechs will sense that the main power went out and switch to the battery backup. It then runs them at a slower rate so that they last longer and keep the water moving. It is a built in feature and I don't feel like spending $200 on their official package when I could make it for $70-$80.

If I ran a typical UPS the Vortech controller wouldn't sense the power failure and continue to run the normal programming. (Plus deplete the UPS battery much faster).

How long will the Vortech run in battery backup mode?

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