Need Advice on Power Out Notification

[fireiko]

Posted this in Reef Discussion, but no takers.....anyone?

Looking for some help on tricky situation. I was out of town and got a call from my "tank sitter" that the tank was completely off! Who knows how long! Anyway, I walk her through a power check. The GFCI circuit the tank is on had tripped for some reason. The house power was still on. I had her reset the GFCI and the tank powered back up and stayed on. I have no idea what would have caused the trip.
What I want to do now is purchase something that will notify me of power out to the tank and also if the house loses power. I currently do not have a UPS on the tank or my computer. I do not have a land phone line either, so I need something that will notify me through email from my computer. I assume I need a UPS for my computer to do this if I want notification of a whole house power outage. I am not sure how to trigger a notification if just the tank loses power. Any ideas? Is there a UPS I can additionally setup on the tank that will kick on when the tank loses power and then somehow send a notification via the computer? Thanks for your help!

[ddboy]

I have a UPS and if I only connect my return pump to it. It will last about 4 hrs as this application is enough for me since so. cal usually go out of power for a few hours at a time during hot summer day. I have a APC Smart UPS 1500, did some searh on it and they said it has to be the smart series, which produce sin wave. And it cost much more than regular UPS, but I got a refurbish one from ebay for $200.

[fireiko]

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll be looking at the UPS thing. Alot to chose from!

[crumbletop]

As far as power out notifications, you can do this with a controller (like an Aquacontroller) that is hooked up to a PC. The top of the line model (the AC III Pro) may also support this without the need for a computer. You'd just need to have the unit itself along with the network router, etc on a backups to maintain your internet connection. You can install a float switch in the sump to catch power out situations (where the sump level will rise) and then trigger a notification via email, to you cell phone, etc off of that. Also, to make your system a little more redundant, I'd spread out lighting and flow on separate GFIs wired in parallel, so that if one GFI tripped, the other(s) would still keep going. You could ask this question in the Neptune Systems forum. I'm sure someone with an AquaController has done this...

Jack

[crumbletop]

Oh, I see you have a reefkeeper. The AC Jr. has a digital input that could help you in this instance -- the RK doesn't have that, I don't think. A different controller could help you with power out situations...

Jack