A
Anonymous
Guest
GreshamH":lniui4i4 said:sfsuphysics":lniui4i4 said:Ecotech's really have that? IS that a standard feature for the $360 pumps or do you have to pay more ontop of that??
No, it's a add-on, and not available as of yet IIRC.
oops - yeah, I guess it is still in beta, and I'm sure it will be very pricey.
But it still looks neat.
jayo
A
Anonymous
Guest
Well ok, I had my first encounter with the enemy! PG&E scheduled power outage (replacing a transformer). Well ok I was prepared, 200 watt car inverter I figure I can run 100 watts worth of return pumps (between two tanks) and be happy as can be with plenty of head room.
Try one: 8:30am power goes out, my plan goes into action, I walk downstairs plug the inverter into my car, powers up no problem. Drag extension cord to tank one, "tee off" with a surge strip, plug in return pump one (Quiet One 3000, ~40watts) good to go, plug in extension cord two, go to other pump, (Rio HF20 ~70watts) it fires up no problem. Then I get creative and unplug the main thing plug in my Kill-a-watt meter because I was curious how much power my batteries can supply... plug back in.. nothing. I go back to the inverter it's dead, no power at all... ahhhh #@*(&
So a freak for a bit, then figure no problem I can go to Kragen I saw an advert for a 400watt one, I get there, they didn't have a 400watt one only a 1200watt one.. Overkill so I pass, and zoom to Target (where I got the original one) I run in, get a 400watt one (figuring that maybe the power draw over loaded the 200 watt initially or something) then I think.. hmmm I don't know if I have the receipt for the first one, lemme buy a 200watt one as well and I can return it and just sell the new unopened on ebay or something.
Try 2: Get home, plug the 400watt one, in, it has two plugs so I figure one plug for each pump, first one (quiet one) no problem... I plug in the second one (Rio HF) Cuts the power... GRUMBLE#@(*&(#@& What the hell? I had 400 watts of head room no way that pump could have drawn that much additional power.
Try 3: Luckily I had the unopened 200watt inverter, last try (this time I won't use the HF instead a simple Seio 1500 to move water around). Plugged it in, everything works! I figure I'll plug in the other Seio in the tank 2600 watt... but then think better of it. Everything is working fine whew... now I go to the other tank, figure I'll plug in a Seio620 it's only 8 watts... plugged in it... BZZAT fried another Fricking inverter! WTF!?!
So I go about opening the inverters figuring I some how burnt the fuse out... look in, nothing nada (at this point the power turns on so I'm in the clear) but now I'm a little confused as to why these things didn't work. I had more than enough headroom as far as wattage. What is it about the pumps that caused this? Is it that initial power draw that pulls too many amps that spike kills them? Is it a POS cheap chinese made crap they sell at target? Is it something about the Rio brand pumps that draws a funny current? Is it the "sine" wave that the inverters make that's more like a square wave with pumps that makes it screwy??
Eitherway luckily I have reciepts for two of them, maybe I can find the third, but I need to think about another plan for power outtage now. There's something to be said for redundancy but the fact these inverters (3 of them!) all powered off really has frustrated me as to why it did it.
Try one: 8:30am power goes out, my plan goes into action, I walk downstairs plug the inverter into my car, powers up no problem. Drag extension cord to tank one, "tee off" with a surge strip, plug in return pump one (Quiet One 3000, ~40watts) good to go, plug in extension cord two, go to other pump, (Rio HF20 ~70watts) it fires up no problem. Then I get creative and unplug the main thing plug in my Kill-a-watt meter because I was curious how much power my batteries can supply... plug back in.. nothing. I go back to the inverter it's dead, no power at all... ahhhh #@*(&
So a freak for a bit, then figure no problem I can go to Kragen I saw an advert for a 400watt one, I get there, they didn't have a 400watt one only a 1200watt one.. Overkill so I pass, and zoom to Target (where I got the original one) I run in, get a 400watt one (figuring that maybe the power draw over loaded the 200 watt initially or something) then I think.. hmmm I don't know if I have the receipt for the first one, lemme buy a 200watt one as well and I can return it and just sell the new unopened on ebay or something.
Try 2: Get home, plug the 400watt one, in, it has two plugs so I figure one plug for each pump, first one (quiet one) no problem... I plug in the second one (Rio HF) Cuts the power... GRUMBLE#@(*&(#@& What the hell? I had 400 watts of head room no way that pump could have drawn that much additional power.
Try 3: Luckily I had the unopened 200watt inverter, last try (this time I won't use the HF instead a simple Seio 1500 to move water around). Plugged it in, everything works! I figure I'll plug in the other Seio in the tank 2600 watt... but then think better of it. Everything is working fine whew... now I go to the other tank, figure I'll plug in a Seio620 it's only 8 watts... plugged in it... BZZAT fried another Fricking inverter! WTF!?!
So I go about opening the inverters figuring I some how burnt the fuse out... look in, nothing nada (at this point the power turns on so I'm in the clear) but now I'm a little confused as to why these things didn't work. I had more than enough headroom as far as wattage. What is it about the pumps that caused this? Is it that initial power draw that pulls too many amps that spike kills them? Is it a POS cheap chinese made crap they sell at target? Is it something about the Rio brand pumps that draws a funny current? Is it the "sine" wave that the inverters make that's more like a square wave with pumps that makes it screwy??
Eitherway luckily I have reciepts for two of them, maybe I can find the third, but I need to think about another plan for power outtage now. There's something to be said for redundancy but the fact these inverters (3 of them!) all powered off really has frustrated me as to why it did it.
A
Anonymous
Guest
My friend had his running like that, then nothing. He pulled everything apart, tested everything.....but......he never looked to see if he blew the fuse in his car.....Well, he did look there, after replacing the inverter with a new one :lol:
A
Anonymous
Guest
Ah, while I didn't check the fuse explictly, I know for a fact that it's a 15 amp fuse, now there's no way in hell any single pump that i have could have drawn 15 amps. I did test the socket though with a cell phone charge, and the plug still works for power purposes, infact after I blew the first one, I plugged in the second and it worked initially and when that blew, the next one went in, if the fuse of the car was blown the other ones wouldn't have worked initially.
Roberto,
I dont have gas down here in south Florida, I mean some people do but most dont. I could get a propane running generator that would run the whole house. They go for 16,000+tax and the propane cost about the same as gas. So all in all it turns out to be the same. The battery operated air pumps work the best for their money :wink: i have some corals and they all lived through not lights for 12 days, just O2. :wink:
This is why I tell people not to sweat it when a light goes down and you wont have the money til next week. The corals will do fine. It is not sunny every day all day. So next time a ballast goes out, Dont FREAK OUT just get it fixed as soon as you can. Eveything will be OK :wink:
I dont have gas down here in south Florida, I mean some people do but most dont. I could get a propane running generator that would run the whole house. They go for 16,000+tax and the propane cost about the same as gas. So all in all it turns out to be the same. The battery operated air pumps work the best for their money :wink: i have some corals and they all lived through not lights for 12 days, just O2. :wink:
This is why I tell people not to sweat it when a light goes down and you wont have the money til next week. The corals will do fine. It is not sunny every day all day. So next time a ballast goes out, Dont FREAK OUT just get it fixed as soon as you can. Eveything will be OK :wink:
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