Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,
Just wondering what experience people have had usuing batteries as backup for pumps, aerators etc.
I haven't got kit set up yet but...... had thunderstorms go through on new years eve and lost mains power for 26 hrs . How long do deep cycle batteries keep going or should we have a generator on standby? How does everyone cope with the possibility of this situation?
cheers
yabbie

I use 2 landcruiser batteries which provide me with over 24 hours of backup air. If need be I can plug the inverter into a car as well and run water pumps also.

Cheap 800w generator would be good to have as well.

That would supply enough air for your big tank/sump at home OBO?
Are they connected together or separate and just change over when required?

just to let you know; our kit from Murray came with a battery back up kit, (fail switch, pump & charger), but we had to buy the battery ourselves. We purchased a bigger battery than was reccomended; haven't lost power since setting it up, amazingly, but have tested it by turning power off and it all works well.

I have a UPS that keeps my PLC going but thats all it does. I use a relay with a 240VAC coil connected to my inlet power, the normally closed contacts on the relay are connected to a 12VDC air compressor using 2 x large gel batteries out of a mobility scooter. With normal power supply the relay holds the contacts open, in the case of a power outage the relay contacts close and runs the air compressor. The 12VDC batteries are charge by a solar panel. I also have a 12VDC Bildge pump with its float set slightly higher than the 240VAC sump pumps so that when the power goes off the bildge pump keeps the Sump Tank from over flowing. We have had a few short power outages and all works OK. The relay mentioned above are cheap and readily available, just build it into a plastic junction box on your in let power line if you need to run the bildge pump the same way use two relays. Its a good idea to get bases for the relays that way just unplug the relay if it gives trouble (very unlikely).

As above are all good.

A 100w air pump will suplly a seriously large amount of fish with air for a long time. This would draw around 10A @ 12v from a battery (via inverter). Providing about 6 hours of useable power from a 100AH battery.

Seriously have to get a couple of big batteries and an inverter rigged up...

viewtopic.php?p=216426#p216426

Hi All,

I have been building Bedini energizer battery charging technology over the last several years, and have learned a lot about battery's and charging them.

I will build a Bedini battery charger UPS for my AP system soon...

I recommend using 2 True Deep Cycle, 6V 220 amp Hour Golf Cart batterys hooked up for 12V, with a 12V inverter, or get real serious and use 4 GC batt's and a 24V inverter for 1/2 current draw and 2x run time.

if you use the 100aH Marine/RV battery's, please realize that they are just beefed up Starter Battery's, and are not True Deep Cycle..... thus they will only give about 75aH worth of run time, and you should only pull them down to 12V, or you are hurting them. Most inverters will pull a battery down to 10.5V before they cut off. if you do this to marine/RV batterys more than a cupple of times, it will KILL them...!!!! Been there done that....!!!

where a GC battery can be pulled down to 10.5V many, many times and not hurt them, although only pulling them down to 11.5V is better for them. Some inverters low V dropout point can be adjusted to 11.5V - 12V

Also, you should size the load, to the battery using the C20 rating of the battery, or vice versa, so that the battery will last at least 20hours, or more, before it gets down to the drop out V. If you do this, a battery will last a LOT longer in service before wareing out.

Using Bedini Technology to charge batterys, makes them better and better after a few charge / discharge cycles, thus making them last longer under load, and take less time to charge up... unlike normal DC chargers, or even some of the newer Pulsed desulphnaters that continue to ware out the battery till they will not hold a charge any more.

a Bedini energizer will Replate the battery plates, with a smaller and finer crystalline structure, to the point that they get smaller than when new, meaning, last longer / charger faster, and give a battery 2x or more, lifetime of usage before needing replacing.........

Renaissance Charge

http://www.r-charge.com/index.html

a small ups charger
http://www.r-charge.com/RC_ALM-1.html

12V charger for auto batterys, will charge 12V connected GC batts, but takes a while, i have this unit.....
http://www.r-charge.com/RC_rc2a122.html

12 or 24V heavy duty rejuvenator / charger, I have a 24V model, and use it to reclaim old GC batterys and keep them charged for my home made House size UPS / Bedini experimental test bed as shown below.......
http://www.r-charge.com/rc-30a12.html


a small charger for AAA -18V drill batterys and just about anything in between, I have this one, and have tested it on all kinds of batterys. It will make a 18V drill battery last far longer, and have more torque.......
http://www.r-charge.com/rc-1au.html

As a Shameless Plug, If any of you buy any of these products, please tell them that RS sent ya , so that I get credit for the sell.......

I have a AGM 100 AH deep cycle battery as well as an appropriate charger for it (senses the battery state and will switch to float charge etc.) And also a good inverter and a relay switch that will switch from mains power to battery power for my 60 watt air pump.

As to what you need, some reasearch will be involved.
Check out this thread for sizing of things like air pumps
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646

Perhaps some one can put some battery sizing information into that thread for me.

Anyway, you figure out how much fish tank you have to aerate. Then you figure out how much electricity you need to run an air pump that will provide what you need. Then you look into appropriate batteries to provide that.

As noted, you don't want to run the battery flat and not all batteries are created equal. Some Marine batteries are really deep cycle and others are just starter batteries with thick plates. So researching batteries and chargers is important. A charger for your car battery might not work on a good deep cycle battery. Also, spend a little extra for a good inverter as going for the bare minimum probably won't work. (I've seen some inverters that said they were fine for 100 watts continuous but then in the fine print it said they could only do 100 watts continuous for 20 minutes at a time and my 60 watt air pump burned it up in about an hour.)

I am a bit worried about the fans on both my charger and inverter. I don't think they are meant for the kind of use they are getting (24/7 long term.)

I cant see the cost benefit of using deep cycle batteries unless you have a really really bad power supply.

My 4wd batteries have been going for almost 2 years now, and have not been deeply flattened yet.

Do not get an inverter under 300W even with a 50W air pump on mine it struggles on switching over/startup and then is fine. Picked my battery up from the dump,when dropping off some oil. That was 2 years ago bought it home charged it up and has been working well since.

, didn't noticed it on mine setup, 300W Powertech powering 55W ACO-4 airpump.

as somebody mentioned the fine print, do not forget to check the No Load(Standby) current draw, and compare it with a higher rated unit if considering it

TCL,

yea, AGM batterys, are deep cycle and are good batterys, Bedini/Renaissance energizers will charge them, but is not recommended because a energizer can push the voltage up too high for them to handle during charge........

a 500W inverter is about minimum for anything........

if you can recover old sulphanated Golf Cart batterys with a Bedini/Renaissance charger, than they are well worth it, as they will power a farely large system, for a very long time, vs anything else...... and you dont have to charge them very fast, as they dont need to be used very often, so a small charger will work......

if you have to buy them new, than that's a different story, and you should have the need for them.......

They will have a Solar pannel powered version charger called Solar Kick comming out soon......

My el-cheapo 300w inverter has been running faultlessly, I have had up to 200w being drawn from it on occasion. Currently runs 20w airpump only

Does anyone setup it up such that the battery constantly powers the inverter and the air pump is permanently connected to the inverter and the battery has a charger that constantly charges the battery??

I have a EXIDE 550CCA 105RC battery connected to a 300W inverter and powering an 80W air pump...
I have got the following charger I bought from ebay... not the best since you need to set the mode again on power failure...
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/12-VOLT-12V-CAR-BOAT-MOTORCYCLE-TRICKLE-BATTERY-CHARGER_W0QQitemZ150401813666QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2304a58ca2

But the problem I am having is that it appears that charger cannot charge the battery and power the pump at the same time... after a few hours, the battery drops to about 10V ish... and the inverter shuts down...

I have also used a 30W pump and it appears the same thing happens but possibly after a week...

Any thoughts about what's wrong?? Lousy battery charger??