A few days ago, I posted a thread about lessons learned from a loss of power. I hooked up my generator to some CFLs and my aquarium and all was for the most part good. It got me to thinking, I have a small Honda generator that is usually here, but when I go camping I take it with me. If another power loss, I want to save my fishes in my aquarium and if I'm not around, there is a good chance I'm camping with my generator. My brother lives three doors down from me and is highly mechanical (JPL Flight Hardware Engineer; how many people do you know that have actually designed/built stuff this is sitting on the Moon, Venus and Mars).
Anyway I started looking at computer UPS backups as a solution, but found most of the $100 to $150 units will back up a system pulling up to 750 watts for something like 11 to 20 minutes!!! WTF! I added up the loads from my bubblers, powerheads and filter systems and came up with about 150 watts. I think I can, in an emergency, cut down to around 100 watts (exclude lights and a filter). At that power drain, I figure a UPS would be good for and hour or three max. I want like six days in case I can't get home. This is where my brother comes in. I have a power inverter for a car that can handle about 125 watts, the power plug in the Camry Hybrid is good for that. I'll have my brother plug the inverter in, shut off all other functions in the hybrid (lights, A/C, etc) and run an extension cord to the aquarium power strip. I figure the only real load is the aquarium and just let the car sit in "On" mode until I get home.
I know this sounds extreme, but other than buying a self-starting generator, and an automatic load switch this would be good. Besides, I already own the inverter and extension cords.
Sounds like an extreme for a rare event, but I have a lot of nice fish, and this is minimal expenditure and just a little planning.
Any thoughts?
