- Today on BRStv Investigates,
"Can you spend half the cost on a UPS battery backup
and get equal or better performance
than the larger, heavier and more expensive options?"
I can tell you that, for me, if the cheapest option
is the best, I don't want to be left in the dark.
So with that in mind, we ran one final battery backup test
in order to find out, and today we'll compile the results
to find out how to choose the right tool for the right job
and by the end of the video,
you'll have some solid insight
into selecting the right UPS backup
for your pumps.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Randy with this Friday's BRStv Investigates
where we put popular reefing gear, theories,
and methods to the test by experimenting
on our own tanks so you don't have to
experiment on yours.
And in today's experiment, we test three
of the cheapest UPS backup's we could find
from the same reputable UPS manufacturer
that we used in previous tests,
and then combine those results
with experiments we've already done
in order to get a wider and more clearer picture
on which options are the best and
how to help identify the best options for your tank.
I have to be honest, I really couldn't have expected
that BRStv Investigates would have me running
around to various computer and electronics stores
searching for UPS battery backup options to experiment on,
but when I think about it, these non-aquarium
intended backup solutions are probably
some of the most popular methods
that thousands of reefers choose
to protect their pets and investment
during a power outage, and hopefully through these
tests we can hone in for the community
which options get you the most bang for your buck.
So with that, let's dive into today's
experiment results and answer the question,
"What's more important when choosing a
UPS battery backup to get your tank through a power outage:
battery size or inverter size?"
In order to test today's question,
we conducted a similar experiment
to our last two experiments,
only this time, we went with three
of the least expensive cyber power options we could find
with lower inverter sizes
with the CyberPower SX950, which cost us
around 80 bucks, and utilizes a 510
watt inverter, and a 7.2amp hour battery.
The next size down we chose was
the Cyber Power SX650 for around 50 bucks
that has a 360 watt inverter and a
5.5amp hour battery.
And lastly, we picked up the CyberPower SE450
for 40 bucks with a 260 watt inverter
and a 2.9amp hour battery.
We also opted to run today's experiment with more
economically priced AC powerheads
using the 7 watt Tunze Nanostream 6045.
Today's data should go pretty quickly,
but afterwards lets unpack all of the results
that we've seen throughout the entire
testing series, and see if we can draw
some more informed conclusions on
which options are going to be the best fit
for backing up your tank and specific situation
during a total power failure.
With that, our test begins with the UPS
backups fully charged and Tunze powerheads
pushing water towards the front of the glass
where from left to right we have the larger SX950,
SX650 in the middle, and SE450 on the right.
We should be able to see each powerhead
shut down and stop pushing water
as each battery backup becomes exhausted and fails,
and to help ID when that happens,
I've also tied a small string to each of the pumps.
After two hours into the test, all three pumps
are still pushing water, however,
at two hours and 22 minutes, the smallest UPS
of the bunch runs out of juice
and the corresponding pump stops.
Surprisingly almost one and a half hours later
at three hours and 58 minutes, the larger
510 watt UPS fails, leaving the middle of the road
360 watt battery backup as the last
remaining pump still pushing water.
However, the last battery backup also
comes to a close shortly after,
reaching only five hours and two minutes of total run time.
Interestingly enough, and opposite of our hypothesis,
we sought out UPS battery backups with
smaller inverters and inherently smaller
associated cost, and we found shorter run times
in much larger UPS backups we previously tested.
So what does that mean for those of us
trying to decide on which one's best
to protect our tanks?
Well lets take a quick look at the data
we gathered in two separate comparisons
since there's obviously some major differences
between the larger, heavier UPS batteries vs.
the smaller, less costly ones.
Again, our original hypothesis was that
the inverter size played a significant
role in how efficiently our battery backups
operated, specifically in our case,
when using them at a far less wattage
than what they're rated for.
Looking at this inverter efficiency chart
that we found from Penn State University,
we see how quickly inverter efficiency
can drop when the output power is underutilized.
In this case, they show at a five percent output
power, you can see about 80 percent efficiency.
But how does that relate to an aquarium pump
and UPS backup because we're using them
way outside of their intended use
at a half to two percent of
their intended operating range.
We opened each of the UPS backups
to take a look at the batteries and
made some calculations based on
the data we gathered in order to get
an idea of how efficiency played a role,
as well as total run time compared to battery size.
Starting with the two larger CyberPower UPS
backups we tested, we see that there
are two batteries in each one giving
the 1500AVR a total of 18amp hours with the
900 watt inverter, whereas the 900AVR
utilizes two 7amp hour batteries for a total
of 14amp hours with a 560 watt inverter.
So with only a five watt pump drawing power
from these batteries and larger inverter sizes,
we see that we actually wound up utilizing
less than one percent of the total inverter capacity,
and if we compare that to the chart
we just saw from Penn State, the efficiency
percentage of that low of a power output
doesn't even make it onto the graph,
meaning for our applications in the aquarium,
we are using these UPS backups well outside
of their intended purpose.
More importantly than inverter size
and output usage, looking at the total run time
in minutes for each of these, with 458 minutes
for the 1500AVR and a 22 percent less amp hour capacity
and 782 minutes for the 900 AVR,
it would seem that efficiency did play some
sort of role here because significantly
smaller battery capacity of the 900AVR
actually ran almost two times as long.
But it's hard to say with 100 percent certainty
that that was the case here and there may be
some other factors at play.
However, my main focus for this
data is the calculation for run time per amp hour
of battery capacity, where we see that the larger
inverter on the 1500 yielded almost 27 minutes
per amp hour, whereas the 900AVR
with its smaller inverter, yielded about
56 minutes per amp hour, or 107
percent longer run time.
Looking at the same comparison for the
three smaller UPS backups we tested,
we see somewhat similar results
where the middle size backup, the SX650,
actually performed the best which is consistent
with the two larger UPS when we compared to the SX950.
However, the smaller SE450 performed the worst
despite its much smaller inverter size
and the higher output usage percentage,
but I believe that the direct causation
of this performance was absolutely related
to battery size, where the 2.9amp hour
battery inside the SE450 is almost
50 percent smaller than the SX650,
and almost 60 percent smaller than the SX950.
So reasonably, we should expect it to run
far shorter than the others.
All right, so what does this all mean
for you and your tank, and what's more
important when choosing a UPS battery backup:
battery size or inverter size?
There's no question that battery
size has an impact on performance.
The two larger UPS with dual batteries
lasted three to six times longer than our
smallest battery UPS, and one and a half to
three times as long as the highest amp hour
single battery option.
For sure battery size matters.
So if you can't open one up right then and there
in the store, heavier usually means more batteries,
and more battery capacity, and might possibly
be the number one factor to choosing the
right UPS for your tank.
However, supportive of that is the
operating efficiency of the UPS' inverter.
Although we didn't come out with super clear
advice and guidance on how to identify
the right inverter, I do believe that
the closer you are to their intended
operating range, the better it will perform,
meaning when I seek out a UPS for my own tank,
I'll likely look for the highest battery capacity
that I can find with the lower wattage operating range,
such as the 900AVR that we tested that provided
upwards of 13 hours of runtime for a five watt pump
which will likely cover 80 percent of the issues
I'll run into, and give me a chance
to do something about them, and definitely
get me through a full work day or while I'm sleeping.
Based on the range of options that we tested,
there were absolutely two clear winners
where for about 110 bucks, I got 13 hours
of run time with that same 900AVR,
and of course, the EcoTech DC battery backup
and pump that lasted six times longer than that,
where we saw 80 plus hours of run time,
where I get a full three days or more of backup solution.
Actually when I open the EcoTech battery backup,
I found a single 18amp hour battery,
which, when compared to the $180 1500AVR UPS
with similar capacity, really drives home the
efficiency of using a DC powered pump
with a DC powered backup solution
as sort of the gold standard for surviving
longer term power outages, yet there are
multiple ways we can ensure our tank
survives the occasional power outage,
and you can check all of them out in this
power outage protection playlist right here.