Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What??? No, it was a human killing monster.
Topsy killed her trainer after he burnt her with a lit cigar. Seriously... what was Topsy thinking?

Then, to make matters worse, she killed two more people for something as little as stabbing her with pitch forks.

Crazy nut job elephant.

/sarcasm

Screw you Edison, and your stupid screw

Thats going a bit far Werdna, I reckon the screw fitting is way better than the bayonets!

No way, bayonet FTW

had to look that up
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/FTW

For the win

Considering the age of this area it needs a kick and my questions have most likely been answered elsewhere.


Rob Bob's Backyard Farm & Aquaponics yesterday posted a Youtub about backup power. so..

1 what type size are the air pumps he is using?
2 where could I buy them from?
3 There must be advantages of going solar but being a novice in that arena and not understanding the tech jargin what do I need? etc etc

Tonzz,

Check this out and it will give you a bit of info.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9805

bummer that a couple of suppliers no longer seem in business..from that Joblow.
gawd wish there was an easy way.

Tonzz all the components that make up the backup power supply unit are readily available at most electrical shops.

POWER SUPPLY: is an old mobile phone charger
RELAY: a 12 volt car headlight relay
Fuse: an inline 12 volt fuse (no need to be as heavy as mine, that was all they had)
WIRE: again no need to be as heavy
SPADE TERMINALS: no soldering and a good connection
PVC CASE: this was the most expensive component of the backup power supply unit

The unit only runs on 12 volts supplied from a charger or power supply and has NO MAINS POWER running through it like some units on the market.

I think the absolute easiest way is to just use a UPS battery backup. They make many different sizes for computers and such (APC is a reasonable brand). then just plug in what MUST run during power out. No assembly required. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034KO59U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a 1000 watt APC battery backup with my 100 watt air pump plugged into it. That will only run the airpump for about a half hour. So I replaced the internal battery with two external marine deep cycle batteries (assembly required) and now it is always ready, and will run my airpump for 12 to 16 hours.

It's saved my fish several times.

We are talking about at least a $70-$100 cost difference for someone who is just starting out, and one of the great things about anything to do with aquaponics is the fun of building it yourself.

I get a lot more enjoyment from building and tweaking my system than just watching the veggies grow.

I'm with you on that one......

Hey Joblow, I just realised it was you who posted the same backup system photos and diagram on a thread I created back in Aug/Sept last year. I built the system and it worked perfectly and it's still working perfectly now. Every now and then I unplug the water pump just to check the backup kicks in and so far it hasn't missed once. Thank you!

If you add an inverter, does it complicate things?

Or is it just better to stick with DC components only?

After this last outage, 10 hours (off-on), I want to have some peace of mind to go check and see if turned on rather than baby sitting for extended periods of time.

Adam

Bro hay, I don't know what an inverter does but my pump is a 240v AC with a 240v to 12v adaptor for the relay. If the 240 goes down then the relay closes and connects my 12v circuit from the car battery.