What to do during power outages?

Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
So I moved into the mountains at the end of summer and have a new concern. I wasn't worried about power outages when I lived in the city (they are so rare), but we have power outages all the time in the mountains.

Does anyone have a specific product that keeps your incubator going during outages? A battery or something?
 

JustAWookie

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19
Location
San Diego, CA
How long are the outages typically? I use an APC ups, stands for uninterrupted power supply, basically a small battery with surge protection, on all my fish tanks. It will keep a typical 20g tank up for anywhere from 30 mins to an hour depending on drain. My only issue is the things beep loudly every few minutes and it can be annoying but at least it tells you the power is out if you didn't notice already. They might make ones that don't beep or can be turned down.

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Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
It depends. They can be anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Sometimes we have bad storms and trees hit power lines and whatnot. I would like a device that lasts longer than 30 mins to an hour, but I imagine fishtanks use a lot more power than my incubator would.

How much did your APC ups cost, because a quick google search is bringing up things no cheaper than $200. I don't mind spending the money, but that seems pretty expensive for just an hour of power?
 

JustAWookie

New Member
Messages
19
Location
San Diego, CA
It depends. They can be anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Sometimes we have bad storms and trees hit power lines and whatnot. I would like a device that lasts longer than 30 mins to an hour, but I imagine fishtanks use a lot more power than my incubator would.

How much did your APC ups cost, because a quick google search is bringing up things no cheaper than $200. I don't mind spending the money, but that seems pretty expensive for just an hour of power?
It definitely depends on load. How much power does the incubator pull? I got my UPS from Amazon for about $60 each and it's rated for 500VA. There is a 1500VA version for $170. I would think the 500VA would probably last a couple hours at least with a low wattage device but it's hard to say really. Mine have to keep a filter, heater, lights and C02 regulator going so a pretty decent load.

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Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
A battery would definitely be preferable to a generator. I'm assuming the generator would have to use gas, and I wouldn't want to use a gas powered generator in my house.

JustAWookie, $60 isn't bad at all. I'm not entirely sure how much power it would use. I mean, it would need to run my Herpstat which would run the heat tape. So, I'm assuming the Herpstat uses 120 volts. But I don't actually know, I'm really not an electronics-y kind of person. I'm not sure what the power used equated to with the Herpstat + heat tape. But surely it uses less power than a filter, heat, light, and CO2 regulator.
 

JustAWookie

New Member
Messages
19
Location
San Diego, CA
A battery would definitely be preferable to a generator. I'm assuming the generator would have to use gas, and I wouldn't want to use a gas powered generator in my house.

JustAWookie, $60 isn't bad at all. I'm not entirely sure how much power it would use. I mean, it would need to run my Herpstat which would run the heat tape. So, I'm assuming the Herpstat uses 120 volts. But I don't actually know, I'm really not an electronics-y kind of person. I'm not sure what the power used equated to with the Herpstat + heat tape. But surely it uses less power than a filter, heat, light, and CO2 regulator.
What size tape are you using and how much of it in length? That will tell you the load. It's prob between 6 - 24 watts per foot. Plus the Herpstat itself. If that's all you want to keep on you shouldn't have a problem with a 330w/500VA. You could always get two and have them plugged in and ready to switch over if the outage lasts longer.


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Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
It's 4 inch, 6 watts per foot and I would just be running 1 foot. Yeah, I'll probably go with the 500 VA. And see how long it can run that stuff for. Do I need a DC to AC converter or anything?
 

Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
That might be a good option. I calculated it roughly, and it could run my incubator for around 6 or 7 hours. I'm going to look around for other stuff, too, though.
 

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