Generators

[OzShrimp]

I am curious about generators but wouldnt know the first thing about whats good.

So what does everyone use how quiet are they and are they cost effective to run? Also how much did it cost you and from where?

 

 

Ultimately i think i would want one that isnt really loud but other then that no clue

[revolutionhope]

do you mean a generator to power your aquariums if there is an outage? if so then im curious how many watts do you need to keep your tanks oxygenated?

edit-

I just realised you may be wanting cooling or heating as well if you are depending on chillers which probably use quite a lot of juice. I connected a large car battery to a computer UPS which should give me half a day worth of power for my eheim classics and I recently installed a window aircon which I picked up for free and it has been keeping the room cool on super hot days luckily. I think a/c has an advantage over chillers in one way at least which is that it doesn't create heat running the motor inside the room which you're trying to keep tanks cool in! side benefit is that if theres an outage then my room will hopefully stay cool long enough! Im only keeping cherries so far so I guess they can handle some fluctuations better than many of your shrimps :-) - I could be in a bit of trouble if theres a big outage in winter as I certainly wont be heating my whole room!

Admittedly I am very new to this, I'm not very well off and I'm not keeping expensive or fragile shrimp by any means; but i wonder would it be possible and would it be more economical (definitely would be quieter) to get some deepcycle batteries and hook them up in series with a ups / inverter of some description?

probably im way off track / missing something important here but that's my 2 cents for what it's worth anyway :-)

love n peace

will

Edited February 8, 2015 by revolutionhope

[Squiggle]

I've got a 700w petrol with a digital sine wave inverter, it's enough to run all my sumps, air pumps & LED lights & it was only $300, the bad part is that the tank only lasts about 3hrs & when it's an extended blackout it can get frustrating. The last blackout lasted 24hrs so I didn't get much sleep & had to take the next day off work, but everyone survived so money well spent.

[revolutionhope]

wow that is a lot of power and I had no idea generators are so cheap - probably cheaper than an inverter and a bunch of 2nd hand batteries really - that's a big surprise for me! i hope I never have to deal with a 24 hour outage that's horrible !!! do you must have to run a power cable through a window into your house am i right? I've never used a generator but they must be stinky and too polluting to run inside im guessing?

[northboy]

I have a 7 KVA Gen to run Bug collecting lights out bush, its 4 stroke and quite, I only hook it up to my tanks if its more that about 5 hours without power. Big gas tank as it was a purchase option so it will run for 10 plus hours on 15lt, but it only needs to be run about 2 hours of every 6. 

 

I have lots of 60lt tanks holding things like, 300 neons  and 40 Corys, others have 80ish Platty or 250 assorted Tetras and numbers like that in them and they go the 5ish hrs with out power.

 

I don't over feed and if I think there is going to be a power problem I stop feeding a couple of days before, if I can. Most of us over feed our pets by a large amount any way

 

Any gen above you required amount by 25+% that is 4 stroke will do the job and if you want really quite one buy a camping gen, they are quite but cost more, go to a good dealer that will know what they are talking about, have your power require and don't go the  big 2 hardware  chain stores, there staff know  sfa

 

Bob

Edited February 9, 2015 by northboy

[OzShrimp]

In terms of knowing the power requirement what is the best way to work this out, is it just a matter of working out the wattage or volts per item ? 

[Squiggle]

Each thing should be 240v no mater what, if you plug it into the wall it's 240v. Work out the watts by adding them together, every piece of equipment will have it on a spec chart, sticker or the box it came in, simples!

[OzShrimp]

cheers, now if only i kept the boxes lol. Not looking at a generator till i move. 

When you say camping ones are quiet are we speaking quiet enough to not annoy neighbours? 

[keego]

Got this one from Master, 2.2Kw or 2200 watts for $679, Same day as Squiggle, as we both copped the 24hr blackout. Runs my chiller, air pump, sump pumps TV, fridge. Had it ready for last weeks cyclone. Thankfully didn't need it, is peace of mind sitting there ready to go 

 

https://www.masters.com.au/product/900001143/909-2200w-generator-inverter-i3000

[Jenbenwren]

We had an unexpected 24 hour+ blackout and we borrowed a generator from one of our friends. We only have 3 tanks, but it kept their air pumps, cannister filters & lights running, as well as running our phones, laptops & Galaxy tab chargers, the TV, fridge, deep freezer and the hot water system (until we lost water mid shower when they started trying to fix the water main that was damaged when a tree near it moved so much in the wind it's roots broke the pipe).

I thought I was a touch noisy, but the neighbors didn't hear it and they've never had any complaints when they use it when they are camping.

http://www.generatoryamaha.com.au/store/viewItem.asp?idCategory=3&idProduct=159