Who's running a powerhead off a UPS?

I just bought an APC 1500 XS UPS to run a Koralia through a power outage. I calculated that it should run for more than 9 hours. The problem is the Koralia 3 doesn't like the stepped sine wave pattern that the UPS puts out when it running on battery. The thing chatters like crazy. It eventually started one time. Another time the front of the power head came off and the impeller went shooting out. I tried putting a piece of airline tubing over the shaft but that didn't work either.

My Eheim 1262 return pump runs like a champ on the UPS but I'll only get an hour of run time running the return pump.

I've also tried a Maxijet 1200. That will not start on the UPS output either.

Funny thing is during the summer we had a power outage and I ran my tank off my car's battery using an inverter and the Koralias ran fine. So, I thought they would run off a UPS which is essentially the same thing.

I really don't want to spend $350 on a SMART UPS that puts out a pure sine wave. Does anybody know of any powerheads that can be run off a cheaper UPS?

 

Can't really help but I also had this problem. I tried using an APC backup supply, and the koralias and my RIO pump did not run. They would chatter or just hum. I also had to run my tank off my car through an inverter. 7 hours of my car idling in the driveway with an extension cord running up to my window, lol. Took the hydro guys a little longer than expected to change the transformer. Now I'm going to be investing in a beefy generator. At least then I can run most of my house as well.

 

I've seen other people post that they are using UPSs. Are people using different powerheads than Koralias?

 

This is a great post - I had thought about buying the exact same product for the very same reason. Have you tried the vortechs? I have the MP20 and they actually sell a battery backup that is suppose to run them for a couple of hours, so they seem like they were designed to run off of an UPS like power source.

 

The Vortechs cost an arm and two legs. They are DC pumps so they can easily runn from a battery. A complete setup with one of those runs north of $700.

 

i use an APC ES 350

I have only tried my koralia nano. mostly because i went with the smallest PH to get the longest run out of the battery in case of emergency.

I did not notice any oddness about how the koralia nano ran.


I generally have my auto doser plugged into it (so the timers do not get reset) but plug in the PH and heater in case of power loss.

I know it will run 4 hours - but after that I got tired of hearing the beep and quit the "test".

 

Thanks. I'm going to pick up some small powerheads on the way home from work and do some compatibility testing.

 

I picked up a Koralia 1 and a Koralia Nano today. I'm glad to report the Koralia 1 works with the UPS. I never bothered trying the Nano.

Has Hydor changed the designs of the Koralias in the last couple of years. Nor I'm tempted to pick up a K2 and a K3 to see if either of those work.

The power consumption of these powerheads are so low the time remaining on the UPS doesn't changed when they are plugged in. In other words the power consumed by the UPS itself is much greater than the power consumed by the K1 I could add another and not reduce battery run time.

With a single K1 on the UPS it is reporting I have 785 minutes of run time on a fully charged battery. 13 hours works for me.

 

that is rad. good to know.

 

I bought a koralia 2 and a new Koralia 3 today. I wanted to see if a K2 would work with the UPS and to see if a newer K3 would work. Unfortunately, neither of the would work when powered on battery power. So it looks like I'll stick to K1s. Just one doesn't really provide a lot of flow in my 72 gal so I'll need at least one more.

One other interesting point is that the largest UPS won't necessarily run the power head longer than a smaller one. In fact, the opposite is true. I purchased a 1500 VA UPS as well as a 1300 VA version of the same model. When both of these are fully charged the 1300 indicates it will run with no load for 850 minutes (14 hours). The larger 1500 indicates it will run for 785 minutes (13 hours) with no load. This is because the 1500 includes a higher wattage inverter that consumes more power to run itself even with no load. The load of a K1 is so low that it doesn't even register on the UPS and doesn't change the run time. Perhaps going with a lower wattage UPS would run for even longer. I'm sure there is a limit at some point.

So, if you want to keep your tank alive through a power outage a $100 UPS combined with a Koralia 1 will keep you going for about 14 hours.