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[00:59:03]
Jack Spirko: Anyways, lets go ahead and take another one. This one will be a question for expert console member Steven Harris. I will play the question and I will go straight to his answer. Then I will be back for another one that I will take.
[00:59:12]
Chris: Hi Jack, this is Chris from Florida. 'gator bee gal' on the forum. I have an question for expert console member Steve Harris. My question is about adapting a home battery bank system for use as a backup up power source for my aquaponic system. Thanks for your show, Steve, for powering your house from your car. I averted disaster when power went out for 6 hours recently. I was able to power my aerator from aquaponics fish tank using my car and inverter. What I would like to do is have a battery backup already hooked up in case this ever happens while I am at work. I would like to have battery that stays connected to a smart charger all the time and an inverter that also stays connected all the time with the aerator plugged into it. I need a minimum of one aerator on backup, but I would prefer to have two. If possible I would also love to have the water pump plugged into the system as well. The aerators are each 8 watts and the pump is 24 watts. I live in a rural area so when the electricity goes out, it can be out for a long time. I would like the battery to run the system for at least 9 hours in case the electricity is out all day while I am at work. Could you recommend what type of battery, charger, and inverter I should use for this setup if it is do able? Thank you Steve and Jack. I love the show Jack. You have made a tremendous difference in the lives of me and my family.
[01:00:37]
Steven Harris: Chris from Florida, this is Steven Harris from the expert panel calling in to answer your question for you. It is a complicated one but I think I have an answer for you. You can't use a Schumacher battery as a power source, because if it sees more than 2 amps for 24 hours being drawn. It thinks there is a shorted cell in the battery, so it shuts itself off automatically. I can't be used as a charger or a power source in this case. It is a three stage computer controlled smart charger and in this case it is a little bit too smart. Schumacher at this time is really the only intelligent three stage computer controlled battery charger that is available to use as December 2014. Believe me if there was a better one I would be telling you about it. But the Schumacher does the job and it does it good and it is available to you from amazon and Walmart. For all you people out there do not write to me and tell me about
Noco Genius chargers. Just because it has the word genius in it does not mean it is any good. They want over $350 for the same thing a $80 Schumacher does. It is an over price ripoff. If you are paying extra $250 for the word genius in it. Really $350 for a 30 amp battery charger, you got to be kidding. Anyways Chris using the standard stuff on the market without going to a $1000 or more renewable energy inverter, which is a complex thing. There really is no option for you, but for one. There is a company called Royal Power. They make inverters that are both chargers and inverters all in one. They power your load off the grid. when the grid is up and working. They then switch over to the battery and the inverter when the power fails. If you had light bulbs plugged in, they will blink. It takes about a third of a second for the switch over, but it works and it will work for you. It is not like a computer UPS that switches over so fast the computer the computer doesn't fail. If you had this hooked up to your computer your shutoff first. For lights and aquaponics and everything else. It works just perfectly. I have purchased one of these. This is not something I am just reading about and telling you about. I own one of these and it is working everyday. I have had it for over 2 years, and about 2.5 almost 3 years. I have a backup power supply at my mothers house for her nebulizer and her lights and basic functions. I had to upgrade her 10 year old system that I made for her. I just went with the royal power inverter. All I had to do was screw on the terminals for the battery cables and plug it into the wall and plug in the lights and the inverters, and I was done. So far it was worked really good. I have this inverter, the Royal Power, the exact one I am using. You got to be careful because they do sell ones that don't have the automatic transfer switch in it. I have it listed at the very top of the inverters section at
www.Battery1234.com. You can read my comments on it there. It is on Amazon but it doesn't have the best feedback but you have my experience to go on. Hopefully it will be a good fit for what you need. It is $289 but remember it is also a 20 amp charger. It is saving you a $100 there. It is also a 2000 watt inverter. Bigger than you need, but it is the smallest one available for Royal Power. It is like paying $189 for a 2000 watt inverter and then paying a $100 for a 20 amp charger. Which is not too bad, especially since it is all built into one unit for you. It is the only thing available to you, so you have no other choice. Your two aerators and water pump only draw 40 watts. This is not much. At 12 volts this is 3.3333 amps, 3 and a third amps. If you are on a budget, one group 29 deep cycle marine battery from Walmart for less than a $100 would power your system for 22 hours. However I would suggest you get two deep cycle golf cart batteries from Sams Club. They are called GC2 and they are 6 volts each. Two of them will make 12 volts for you. That is the battery deal and will really give you some backup power for the aquaponic and anything else you want to do. Congratulations, really really good work on using your car and an inverter to power your aquaponics when your power failed for 6 hours. Way to go. You get a gold star on your forehead and all the praise I can give you. I am happy that the "How to power your house from your car" class could be so beneficial to you. Which for those of you listening the "How to power your house from your car" class with an inverter is at Solar1234.com. I did it with Jack. You can listen to it one click. For those of you doing christmas shopping and want something preparedness oriented, I have 487 listed. All with my personal description and feedback on them, on all of the 1234 websites. To see my entire family of 1234 websites and everything I have done with Jack please visit Steven1234.com. I hope everyone has a merry christmas and happy new year. Please call in some more questions. Thank you
[01:07:19]
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