Prepping for disaster : Car battery, 12v Pump and 12v Charger

qguy

Piranha
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Nov 10, 2009
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Connect pump and charger to battery, pump will be running on the grid while there is power and once there is a power interruption, the pump will use the battery.

Is this a good idea?
 

markstrimaran

Potamotrygon
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Nov 21, 2015
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12 volt pumps are quite expensive, and energy inefficient, compared to 120 volt AC pumps.

However a small 300 watt inverter connected o a battery, is do able, with purpose built relays, or diy with a 12 volt fuel cutoff solenoid connected to a 3 way toggle switch.
The solenoid powered with a small dc transformer on house current. If the power goes out, the magnet in the solenoid is de energized, a spring then releases, and the plunger Trips the 3 way toggle switch, to battery.
A small 2 watt solar panel would keep the battery full. Or a small wall charger, 100 millivolts
 

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
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May 16, 2011
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Hello; Posting in order to follow the thread. I am not sure exactly what sort of controller you will need for this to be automatic. Perhaps something similar to those used with standby generators?

For keeping the battery charged up I use a "float charger" on my deep cycle marine battery. These type chargers sense when a battery is fully charged and stop charging. When the battery charge drops a bit they turn back on and top off the charge. You can leave them on and connected to the battery all the time.
 

markstrimaran

Potamotrygon
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I personally use the manual override method. I have batteries, inverters, extension cords. A fully oxygenated aquarium is going to last 8 hours at least, heavily stocked.
My main problem is heating, with out power, a car battery will not last very long powering a 300 watt heater.
So my back up involves, using two 4000 watt inverters, powered by a diesel truck, with a high output alternator.
 

freak78

Potamotrygon
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Jan 25, 2013
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I just use a generator can't beat it. Don't know if you have room for one but it's a wise investment. I can run my 220, 125, 55 and 20H with it. Also sump pump or refrigerator if needed. Just had to use it this weekend.
20171105_111526.jpg
 
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TwoHedWlf

Potamotrygon
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Mar 2, 2017
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Connect pump and charger to battery, pump will be running on the grid while there is power and once there is a power interruption, the pump will use the battery.

Is this a good idea?
I use the "Wait for power to come back" method. But if I was going to set up a backup I'd get a true sine wave UPS and just run my filters on it. It has to be a sine wave because the square wave less expensive ones use doesn't work well with most pumps.

Most only use something like 7 or 15 amp hour SLA batteries, but you can connect them to a deep cycle or car battery. You can build something similar for cheaper, but this way it's closer to an all in one package.
 
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