Damn power outages!

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Ok, I don't know if this is related to load shedding, but yesterday we were out for 2 hours, and today I was out for 3.5 hours.

How will this affect my 24G tank? I put a pipe in the water today and blew into it a few times but so far I have nothing in place to help against power outages.

ANY advice is greatly appreciated! If need be i'll go out tomorrow and buy equipment, just not sure what I can do (bear in mind i'm a student so "go get a genny" isn't quite practical hehe)
 
Ok, I don't know if this is related to load shedding, but yesterday we were out for 2 hours, and today I was out for 3.5 hours.

How will this affect my 24G tank? I put a pipe in the water today and blew into it a few times but so far I have nothing in place to help against power outages.

ANY advice is greatly appreciated! If need be i'll go out tomorrow and buy equipment, just not sure what I can do (bear in mind i'm a student so "go get a genny" isn't quite practical hehe)

Battery airpump or a tiny genny:whistling:
 
Kanga: in terms of battery airpump, are there ones that only come on when the power trips (if this happens when i'm out?)

What make/models are people buying and at what prices?
 
Hi Matt
Im in the gennie bussiness, yes thay are expensive. Why dont you look at getting a Detlec Battery with a converter avaiable at any outdoor shop.Im a mech eng, I will talk to our elec eng and see if he can help us out with a simple cheap design. Maybe there is a member on site who can. I know we use a mains sensor on the gennie side maybe he can come up with something. Will report back tomorrow.
 
Hi Matt
Im in the gennie bussiness, yes thay are expensive. Why dont you look at getting a Detlec Battery with a converter avaiable at any outdoor shop.Im a mech eng, I will talk to our elec eng and see if he can help us out with a simple cheap design. Maybe there is a member on site who can. I know we use a mains sensor on the gennie side maybe he can come up with something. Will report back tomorrow.

Bruce that is really cool of you. We have a alot of forum members that are battling with this problem and don't have the budgets to buy R10K + gennies or UPS systems.

If you came up with a cost effective system to run a air pump or powerhead for a couple of hours when the load shedding kicks in, that would really help

Thanks again :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
Bruce that is really cool of you. We have a alot of forum members that are battling with this problem and don't have the budgets to buy R10K + gennies or UPS systems.

If you came up with a cost effective system to run a air pump or powerhead for a couple of hours when the load shedding kicks in, that would really help

Thanks again :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Whoa yes that would be great:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
wouldnt an ac inverter work.That should last a while.Just keep a few car batteries handy
 
Kanga: in terms of battery airpump, are there ones that only come on when the power trips (if this happens when i'm out?)

What make/models are people buying and at what prices?


Hi Matt. Try the RESUN DC-120 battery airpump. +- R56-00
 
Thanks Brucemg! A friend of mine can get me a UPS for R1200, would this work on my 20G tank?
 
Thanks Brucemg! A friend of mine can get me a UPS for R1200, would this work on my 20G tank?
Matt

You would need to check out the amp hour rating Im not sure but the local UPS for that price might not even give you a hour of continues current.Some people are installing UPS for 70k and only getting about 4-5hrs.And believe me that a load of batteries.
You can calculate how much amps your set-up requires as on most equipment it should have the volts and amps require on a label or measure it with a amp meter/tong tester, add all amp figures together and then see.Then you can check the amp hour of the UPS to estimate how long the power will last.
I will clarify this as my elec knowledge is not sharp or should I say sparky.:whistling:
 
Ok friend told me its a 2kva 1200 watt UPS. Would this suffice??
 
Where can one buy these Resun DC-120 air pumps?
Im in Cape Town.
 
Hi All
Had a chat this morning, there’s not much one can do if you want a no-break system but to purchase a genie. The problem is a UPS has only limited time duration and to extend the time you would require installing a few batteries. So if you at work, the UPS will kick in but only last as long as the battery can. This info should be available by the supplier for how long or how many minutes/hours the equipment would run. Just to give you an example at our work our pc’s are connect to a desk top UPS which gives us just enough time [about 10min] to save what ever you busy with. Unfortunately I did not find out what the rating was. Will do tomorrow.
My colleague will look into this in a bit more detail and try and assist us further.

Matt I’m not sure how long the 2kVA would last, this is all depends on what power you require for you equipment and how may pumps, air etc you would run off the UPS.
Once my system is up I intend to buy myself a small genie and hook it to mains with a mains sensor and auto start , unless before that I’m lucky enough to score one for my home from work.
 
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