Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V5 #437

["Giancarlo" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

This is interesting and very possible, the UPS I tested is a few years old,
cheap, but old. I did not test the sinewave output of mine however I'm
guessing it's a simulated sinewave like most of them, perhaps with a little
more effort put into it to round things off. This unit actually died on me
last night after various tests, it now runs a 200W heater for 6 seconds, my
PC for 0 seconds and the canister for just under 3 hours! I will be taking
home a new APC 500VA today to test it and will let you know what it runs
like. My main interest is to run the filter during long blackouts to avoid
losing any bacterial colonies, running ballasts and other items is out of
the question for these little guys. I have new batteries ordered for a
1700VA rack mount smart UPS which I'm guessing has a true sinewave output,
I'll let you know how I make out with the new $50 APC unit.

Buying an old UPS from ebay with dead batteries is fine, replacements are
easy to find and you can save on shipping if the seller will remove the dead
batteries before sending it to you.

Thanks

Giancarlo Podio

--- Original Messgae ---

So it actually worked for you?  I didn't have the same luck a few months
back when I tried the same thing with a few of my UPSes.  I have a large
1250VA APC Back-UPS unit that I was going to hook up to my small
nano-reef tank.  Unfortunately, none of my water pumps nor the CF light
ballast would accept the power supplied by the UPS when it was on
battery.  The lights would flicker and the ballast would crackle, and
the pumps would clatter and make unhappy noises.  I'm assuming this is
because of the pseudo-squarewave output of this particular UPS not being
compatible with things like flourescent ballasts and magnetic pumps.

Perhaps the UPS you used has a more sinewave-like output?  I seriously
like the idea of having backup power on my aquarium equipment
(especially the reef!), but none of my UPSes would work.  They are all
easily large enough to handle the load, but they are all APC Back-UPS
units which probably all have the same squarewave output.
-joe