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Hurricane Ike motivated me to find a solution to keep my aquarium running for 1 week without power. First, I had to figure out the how much power my setup consumes. To do this I dusted off my Seasonic Power Angel http://www.seasonicusa.com/power_angel.htm and hooked it up to the Belkin surge suppressor that powers my aquarium setup.
My ADA60P has the following: Aqua Medic 150 watt MH, Ehiem Ecco 2234, ADA EL selenoid valve, 2 timers (one for the lights, other for selenoid). Lighting period 6 hrs/day. I monitored the power consumption for 24 hrs. Here are some figures:
Lights out - 16 VA; 10 watts; 0.14 amps
Lights on - 183 VA; 180 watts; 1.55 amps
For the entire 24 hour period the setup used 1.49 kWh
Given this, it seems that a UPS in not a viable option, unless we run the filter only. Short of a generator, I wonder if a 12V car battery hooked up to an inverter might do the trick. Anyone know if this might work in theory at least?
As an aside, my utility charges $0.156/kWh, so it costs me $7/month to keep this thing running.
My ADA60P has the following: Aqua Medic 150 watt MH, Ehiem Ecco 2234, ADA EL selenoid valve, 2 timers (one for the lights, other for selenoid). Lighting period 6 hrs/day. I monitored the power consumption for 24 hrs. Here are some figures:
Lights out - 16 VA; 10 watts; 0.14 amps
Lights on - 183 VA; 180 watts; 1.55 amps
For the entire 24 hour period the setup used 1.49 kWh
Given this, it seems that a UPS in not a viable option, unless we run the filter only. Short of a generator, I wonder if a 12V car battery hooked up to an inverter might do the trick. Anyone know if this might work in theory at least?
As an aside, my utility charges $0.156/kWh, so it costs me $7/month to keep this thing running.