jolliolli Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Just wondering if anyone else in chch experienced a power cut this morning? Woke up at 4.30am to the house alarm beeping every couple of minutes, apparently a fuse had blown on a breaker and had taken out the power to several house in burwood. Our house was the only one in our lane to lose power but a couple of other small streets lost power also. Power outage lasted until 7am, so i lit the gas fire to keep the tanks warm and started stirring the saltwater tank every 15 minutes to keep the water flow circulating. Didn't experience any losses but i'll definitely be buying a battery powered air pump and possibly an inverter.. anyone else used an inverter hooked up to a car battery to run pumps, heaters etc? Anything i need to check for when buying one apart from the amps required and the watts needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlid7 Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 no power cut here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwipete Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 You may be better off buying one of those cheap $100.00? generators that Bunnings/Mitre10/Warehouse/Kmart sometimes have to run your setup. Cheaper than an inverter IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 The inverters i had seen were around $100 for a 1000W version. I looked at the generator option but after talking to the guy at bunnings he said the cheap versions weren't very reliable, they don't output a true sine wave so not suitable for sensitive electronic equipment and you have to make sure the petrol you keep is fresh (and in a power outage the petrol station can't pump petrol)... so the inverter option looked quite good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlid7 Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 (and in a power outage the petrol station can't pump petrol) just siphon it from the car :roll: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEKA Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 You will probably get a better sine wave out of a cheap generator than you will out of a cheap inverter. Remember with an inverter you will need a charged battery - something else to maintain. Batteries go flat quicker than petrol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 You can get additives to put in your petrol that looks after it. I put it in the chainsaw if I am not using it for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEKA Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Whats your excuse for being up so early Alanmin. I am in Oman 8hrs behind you its still Thurs here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 I was up at 3.45am and usually am. Another member has just dropped in on the way to work. What is your excuse for being in Oman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEKA Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Got a call to come and assist with an extension to the terminal at Muscat airport for six months. That was in Jan - have now booked my return in Dec. At least the weather should be warmer in ChCh by then. Would be a bit of a shock coming from high 40s to snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 the other option is something like this, http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~ ... ndor~.html although ill have to find out if you can use them with tunze powerheads rather than the vortech brand. My ideal solution would be to have the powerheads and heater plugged in to something like that and for it to switch on automatically in a power out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 You will probably get a better sine wave out of a cheap generator than you will out of a cheap inverter. Remember with an inverter you will need a charged battery - something else to maintain. Batteries go flat quicker than petrol. Yeah I wouldn't worry about the quality of the sine wave. Any device that needs quality power will have filtering anyway. Fish tanks and pumps certainly don't need a perfect sine. I've run tanks off petrol gens before, worked perfectly fine. Petrol can sit for a while, just not forever. If you have a petrol lawnmower just keep two cans, and alternate which one gets used. If you have a battery, sitting for ages (I do in the garage), just put a charger on them, set it to low charge and leave it. Keeps the battery topped up, and will turn off if it reaches full charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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