APC Backup UPS for reef?

Having a fire inspector in my house yesterday spooked me as I have a lot of extension cords running my reef. I've had a UPS on the to do list for a long time not only for the backup during power outages but for the 10 outlets on the back of one and the surge protection, etc..

Anyone have any experience with an APC backup UPS?

APC Back UPS XS Series Battery Backup BX1500G 1500VA865 Watt by Office Depot

My friend has one for his computer and audio mixing equipment and I was impressed. I think it is time to pull the trigger.

I think this one may do to run a few things, but I need to do the math and figure out durations.

matt

 

I think it was either xmetal or Blackraven who helped me before with this and was pretty knowledgable

 

Yes. I ordered 12 APC RS BX1500LCD's for my lab last year. These particular UPS's provide a digital display of the current charge, current voltage in & out, current load measured in watts & percentage, and an estimated time in the case of a power-outage. Obviously this varies depending on load. What else would you like to know?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101313

 

Did you search sir?
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/ups-battery-packs-95929.html

I believe this is the tread Trent is thinking of.

I use a CyberPower UPS (850) myself. It's been just fine for me, and I now have both my Vortech's plugged into it. I'm not totally certain how long it will last, but based on short duration testing it seems like it would buy my 8-10 hours.

 

If you want to use a UPS to run pumps you need one that produce pure sine wave power. The APC Smart series will produce that kind of electricity. They are more expensive.

I have a APC Smart 1000va and will run three Koralias for 8 hours. With only the main pump a Little Giant 4 will run for two hours.



smart apc ups - Search at Office Depot

 

CyberPower manufactures one that is comparable with some cost savings. It is very popular and with good reviews. If you're not committed to the APC brand name, it's a better choice.

Newegg.com - CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series GreenPower UPS CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W 8 Outlets UPS

 

Probably both.

What are you planning on running with the UPS?

I love my APC UPS. I have only had to change the battery once in the 4 years I have owned mine. The previous owner owned the UPS for roughly 2 years before they gave it to me.

Here is the slightly updated version of mine. A little overkill for what I use it for, but it cost me nothing.

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1500JB&total_watts=50

 

I use the UPS you linked, Matt. Its saved power to my pumps for quite a bit of time at a clip.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

If you're looking to power 2 X Vortech MP40 powerheads, they are rated to consume 28 watts each. An average total of 56 watts.

I went ahead and tested one of my APC BX1500LCD (rated @ 850 watts) UPS's by plugging in a 17" LCD monitor which is reported by the UPS, to consume 20 watts of power. At it's current power consumption, the UPS reports that it will run for 170 minutes before the battery is consumed. By tripling the power consumption to power 60 watts, you would see an approximate run time of 56.66 minutes.

This is the UPS tested:

Newegg.com - APC BX1500LCD 1500 VA 850 Watts 8 Outlets BACK-UPS XS 1500VA LCD 120V

The unit tested is less than 1 year old.

Hope you find this info of some assistance.

Edit: 170 minutes @ a constant 20 watts.

 

However, it's not quite that simple, as MP-40s consume 9-28W, depending on their settings. So 56W would only be correct if both were running continuously at max power.