POWER OUTAGE AND HOW TO SAVE!

[LostMind]

Product# 11-1815-0

This product on cad tires site sounds cool:

The Motomaster Eliminator 1,200 A PowerBox is a portable power system that can supply up to 1,200 watts of household electricity - enough to run almost any electronic product or appliance you might connect to your wall outlet at home.

An excellent alternative to a generator - no noise, no fumes, no fuel, and no moving parts

Provides 120V AC household power, 12V DC power
Built-in 1,200W inverter
Easy-to-monitor, dual-outlet AC panel
Sealed, 60 amp-hour AGM battery withstands long periods of inactivity with minimal self-discharge
Recharge PowerBox from a standard wall outlet or from your car, truck or RV
Jump starts vehicles (cables sold separately)
Ideal for power emergencies - run essential appliances like refrigerators, cordless/mobile phones, radios, fireplace fans, table lamps, microwaves, etc., when the power goes out
Operate power drills, belt sanders, circular saws, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, vacuums, computers, large monitors, fax machines, and inkjet printers
Run blenders, video games, TV and VCRs, satellite equipment, coffee makers, portable coolers and more
With a rugged cart that can be wheeled from room-to-room or outdoors over rough terrain

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I wonder if I could plug that into the wall and plug a few essential pumps and a heater into it. Would it provide the power to the pumps and heater while being continuously recharged? THen, if the power went out, the few essential pumps/heaters would still run, till power came back on, then the unit could be recharged automatically?

If so, I think its a great investment for $250.

hmmm - what's everyone think?

[Azilla]

So at costco they have APC Battery backup units 1000Watts says 90mins of power wont run pumps for long????

[Chad]

I am getting the one that is on sale tonight. 50$.. I figure if the power goes out a little PH should last about 7 hours .

OK, I bought it.. not bad for 57$... at 20W it will run for about 4 hours.. that is a MaxiJet 1200.. But I think in an emergency you can use a smaller PH , heater and air pump. Plus, you can always get the solar power recharger and recharge it. Also, you can leave it in the wall outlet and will recharge when it needs it.

[LostMind]

Is this the one chad?

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Motomaster Eliminator 300A PowerBox

The Motomaster Eliminator 300W PowerBox is easy-to-use and designed for years of reliable service.

Provides 120V AC household power, 12V DC power
Built-in 150W inverter with grounded outlets provides household power, anywhere, anytime
Sealed, non-spillable 12 amp-hour AGM battery
Reverse-polarity detector for safely jump-starting your vehicle
300A booster feature boosts vehicles' dead batteries; jumper clips designed for easy storage on the unit
Built-in light provides illumination in emergency situations at home and on the road
LED indicator for monitoring the battery charge level
Overload and over-temperature protection to ensure longer inverter life
Recharge from household current or from a vehicle
Powers camcorders, video games, stereos, 13" TV, as well as runs fans, computers, laptops, portable stereos, and clock radios

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[Chad]

Motomaster Eliminator 300A PowerBox

yup, thats the one.. so far so good.. even came charged..

[beaker020]

Computer UPS's are only designed to run a computer for no more than 20 min or so. Just long enough for you to finish what you are doing, save your work and shut down. A computer draws 300-400 watts and the monitor draws about 100 watts. As stated by hawk, keeping the tank warm is the major consideration, especially during the winter when it seems most power outages occur. SO your tank heater is likely 300watts or so plus figure about 100W for one circulation pump. So you're right up there with the draw of a computer. 20 min of backup power, even 40 min, is not gonna make much of a difference either way. Your tank can survive just fine all on its own for that little time. Where you need to be concerned is with the outages that last over an hour and up to several hours.

There was a thread on reefcentral awhile ago on a DIY battery backup unit using a deep cycle marine battery and a power inverter and a trickle charger. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...battery+backup
One of the beauties of this set up is you can recharge it with your car if it runs down or even hook it up to your car with jumper cables to keep it going indefinitely.

[steve.bridges]

hey chad have you tried it yet to see how long it lasts running a heater and ph. id be interested to find out.
we had a eleven hour power cut last year, no big deal though cos i was reefless then. different story now though.

[Samw]

I tried running a single powerhead on an APC SmartUPS 450. It lasted about 30 minutes. The battery was less than a year old and was fully charged.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by steve.bridges

hey chad have you tried it yet to see how long it lasts running a heater and ph. id be interested to find out.
we had a eleven hour power cut last year, no big deal though cos i was reefless then. different story now though.

Not yet, been busy this weekend. But I am planning on doing it tonight with my change water, have it run the heater and one PH.

I'll post the results.