How do you cater for load shedding?

We all know that load shedding has been implemented on a regular schedule. What are you doing to ensure your tank's ecosystem will endure and to avoid a crash? I have already noticed that my water is not clear (as when you have a bacteria bloom) but is not too hectic yet. I am not always home to start the generator so I am now going to be using my 1200w UPS and hope that it will carry my water pump for at least 75% of the time the power is off.

I have seen others talk about inverter setups, if you are using one please share where to get it or how to set it up!

 

Hi,
One of the members pointed me to this thread: Backup power supply at great price
As far as I know an inverter and battery system alone wont switch on automatically when the power cuts, the battery also wont automatically charge when the power comes back on.
So you could invest in a more expensive inverter that has the functionality built in or if you have the knowledge (or even better get an electrician) buy a AC relay from a electrical store and wire it into your system with a battery charger.
I am also facing the same problem and already lost a couple of fish in my 2months old tanks. A Computer ups (The small ones) did power my pump for 4 hours, so If you only need to run the pump it should handle the outage... I also invested in some battery operated air pumps +-R70, just in case...

 

Thank goodness in the part of Durban I live there is no load shedding.

 

Soon Ill be getting a 2000va 1200w 24v battery centre.
If this can run 4 servers and a whole lot of network switches at the office for 4 hours. My tv and tank should be fine

 

That is because you need to have power to be load shredded ;-) - but jokes aside for a very long time our neighbourhood was also never load shredded - then the substation blew-up and now city power knows about us and we get hit every time eskom plugs a kettle in.

2kva is cool - give you some options

Later Ferdie

 

Thats a good one f-fish, but i live on the same grid as engine refinery so we never get load shedding and my fish tanks are happy about that.

 

he he he ... see the house prices in your neighbourhood get a few extra % points --- I can already see the a new metric in house purchases - location location location - near refinery so power shredding seldom a problem.

Wonder if the same is true for other suburbs - like those near airports, or glass factories

 

Let 's start at the beginning. "1200W UPS" by itself doesn't tell us much. We need to look at either Whr or VAhr to have an indication of what amount of energy you have available for how long. Perhaps post a picture of the UPS data sheet, UPS type or data tag.
Then I would suggest you wire your 'essential equipment' to be fed by UPS. I assume it will be first your filter, what is it's consumption (or type so it can be looked up)? From that it can then be determined how long your filter will run on UPS power.
Whether you need heaters to be fed via the UPS probably depends on your location, the type of fish you keep ( normal tank temp) and the season.
Personally I would have 2 heaters, the one set to normal tank temperature and fed via normal power and a second one set slightly lower (2-3 degrees) connected to your UPS.
This will ensure that the heater doesn't drain your UPS at the detriment of the filter which is more important. Once your tank has cooled down to the lower temperature, the second heater comes on and keeps the tank from cooling down further until the UPS is 'empty' or Eskom power is restored, whichever comes first.

 

He said with undue confidence...

 

I have an inverter that I bought at Mica a few years ago. It was pricey and I probably paid too much. I justified it because I sometimes work from home and can't afford to not earn. But it has been a God send for the fish The extension cord for the tanks are plugged into the inverter. It switches on automagically when the power goes off and charges when the power is on. In summer, when the heaters are off the batteries last longer than the power failure. In winter there have been some tense moments. I am going to add an extra battery for this winter.

 

I also never get load shedding. In the past 6 months we have only been without electricity for 2 hours at max.

 

@Jenn - What the average time the inverter lasts?

 

More than four hours in summer and I think about 3 and a half hours in winter with the heaters on.

 

There is no limit as such. The inverter merely converts your DC voltage (battery supplied) to A voltage, either pure sinus wave or 'less pure'.
The battery's capacity (and obviously the consumption) will determine the duration it will last.
However you can add batteries, connect them in parallel with the first/main battery to increase capacity.
Just make sure that your inverter is in a position to charge them.

 

Hi,
I came across this add in Gumtree - does not give much specs on the system but considering the cost it might be an option?
Protect your fish during power cuts!! SPECIAL!! R550 promo discount!! | Randburg | Gumtree | 118177400

Maybe they can ship to CT?

 

Hi,

Yes that was the thread i started, and yes my system is completely independant. i do not interfere with it. If the power trips it crosses over right away, and when the power is switched back on then it starts to recharge battery again. The only thing i have to do for my tank is feed the fish and do water changes.

So yes, the system in which i referred to will do everything itself.

 

Was not 100% sure as some inverters I was looking at did not have a charger and auto-switch on system built into them.

 

Hi guys.
Lucky are you that don’t get power cuts but, for the rest of us, many of the good brands of inverters will have an automatic switch that will start up as soon as eskom power shuts down. Like the previous poster said, how long it lasts depend on how much power you are drawing from the battery.

For example I have a 12v 102amp deep cycle battery on a 1000w inverter. I am only running my sump return pump and an air pump that both use a total of 100w. So to do the calculation you take the 102 amp battery size and multiply that by 12v. 102 x12 =1224 watt hours. Now take the amount of watts you are using for example I am using 100 watts and divided that by your 1224 watt hours.
This will =12.24 hours. Remember a deep cycle battery should not be drained more than 80% as the recharging process will be affected. I hope this helps.

 

Does anybody know of a company in Johannesburg that sells inverters? I found a company in Centurion (Zultech) that has a lot of inverters at good pricing, but they have a lot of bad remarks on hellopeter so I am not to sure about them...

 

I got mine from Mica hardware.