backup battery

[michael grady]

Hey guys...

I had a near crasha few weeks ago, and want to install a backup battery that would just run my main pump.

I'm not sure where in the system it would fit though. If I plug the pump into the battery backup and then plug the battery backup into what is currrently the outlet from the apex, I'm afraid that would kill the shutdwon of the main pump during the feed cycle, no?

Thanks!

Michael

[Crackem]

Just curious but what kind of battery back up are you going to use?

[kurt_n]

If you plug the battery backup into the Apex and then the pump into the battery backup, then the pump will never turn off - even when the Apex is telling it to. Apex tells outlet to turn off and it does, and then the battery backup senses power is lost and kicks in... turning the pump back on.

You need to plug your Apex into the battery backup, hook the auxilliary power supply up to the Apex base unit and plug the power supply into the wall, and enable "power monitoring". Then you can tell each outlet whether it should be on or off during a power outage, and the UPS will power the EB8/4.

However... is you're thinking a normal UPS for your battery backup, you're not going to get much run time out of it powering a return pump. If you're just talking about a powerhead, that should be OK.

[swearint]

If your intention is to run more than just the base unit, then as Kurt mentioned you will need a substantial UPS. I started with a inverter/charger and a single marine battery and ran the main pump off of it. As already explained, you lose any control. I eventually added a second EB8 and a second battery for more capacity. This allows me to run one EB8 from the UPS and the other from mains power. So the one on mains is used to detect a power loss. Non-critical devices on this EB8 will automatically shut down due to no power. Critical devices are on UPS, and are controlled by the Apex as needed to preserve power.

Todd

[michael grady]

Hmmm...I "think" I understand. So, doesn't it make sense to just run the main pump if there is an outage? I can't imagine a situation where there would be more than a day or 36 hours of power outage (I'm in Ga).

Do you guys have a recomendation for a particular battery backup?

Thanks,

Michael

[swearint]

Tornadoes. Last year here in North Alabama, I survived the tornado but we had an extended power outage of a week. A generator combined with the UPS got me through it without any loses. One thing I learned is that shutting down auxiliary pumps (such as a closed loop) will create anerobic areas in the plumbing. I have since programmed them to cycle while on backup. This keeps them aerobic and preserves battery life. As for backup, I use a Tripp-Lite charger/inverter. Not cheap, but worth it.

Operational strategy depends on the situation. The UPS was sufficient to keep things going until I got the generator in place. But the generator was a bit undersized when trying to keep the tank, a refrigerator, and a freezer running. So, I would swap things around periodically.

Todd