Battery backup for incubator

What does everybody use? Would a battery backup designed for aquarium pumps work? We get power surges from time to time where I live. If I was to lose power for a given time, it could get really bad. My incubator is so well insulated that when I first fire it up, it takes at least a day or so to level out. Initially it gets way too hot and takes a while to cool off and level out. At any rate, I'd like to get or design some kind of battery backup to prevent any issues in the event of a power outage.

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Originally Posted by Hypnotic Exotic

What does everybody use? Would a battery backup designed for aquarium pumps work? We get power surges from time to time where I live. If I was to lose power for a given time, it could get really bad. My incubator is so well insulated that when I first fire it up, it takes at least a day or so to level out. Initially it gets way too hot and takes a while to cool off and level out. At any rate, I'd like to get or design some kind of battery backup to prevent any issues in the event of a power outage.

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Really? Nobody?

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Originally Posted by Hypnotic Exotic

Really? Nobody?

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I was thinking about this as well. Wouldn't any decent UPS do the job?

If I lose power long enough whether we are talking about keeping the snake room warm or keep the incubator running I have a generator :gj:

Generator i use to run all the heat tape and incubator.

Propane indoor heater keeping room temps up

I just wouldn't open the incubator, its insulted good enough and got enough water in there, were it shouldn't drop temps too much for a few days, any longer than that and id have a generator anyways

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

I just wouldn't open the incubator, its insulted good enough and got enough water in there, were it shouldn't drop temps too much for a few days, any longer than that and id have a generator anyways

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for a few days?

ambient temps will determine mostly likely how long it can stay cool/hot.

Lost power years ago, house was 100 degrees. 10 hours later power came back on and freezer was just above freezing and meat was starting to show signs of thaw. Very hard to imagine an incubator that can open that is insulated better than a freezer.

Unless you are there the whole time or have an automatic generator (most of us probably don't) a generator is not practical. Can't just let a gas generator run while you're gone as it will walk off. As for holding temps, it's not getting cold that bothers me, it's the heat spike when it comes back on. Surely there is a battery backup that would work for this?

I have actually looked into a battery back up quite seriously. NO a UPS will absolutely not work at all. Most are designed to run 300 watts for a max of 20 min. You might get 30 or 40 tops but that likely isn't long enough.

The controller for the incubator matters a lot as well if you are running a pulse proportional (herpstat/ Helix) the inverter (or generator) MUST be a pure sein wave inverter. Most on the market are modified sein wave and Dion at Spyder robotics told me that this can cause the unit to 'stick' wide open 100% power with out shutting off. To the best of my knowledge only Honda makes pure sein wave inverters.

It is possible to design a battery back up using deep cycle marine batteries running a pure sein wave inverter that can be triggered to switch on after a power failure (that takes about 30 seconds) A small incubator depending on how cold the space it is in gets and how efficient the unit is it could be used for 12-24 hours. I have been talking to a electrical engineer to design a similar unit only not for an incubator but to run a back up heat source for my collection to keep the enclosures at 82-85º for 24 hours off a battery it is likely going to be fairly expensive... Just electrical components no heat source and just a simple 1 degree throw thermostat and it looks to be well over 500$ the inverter is 475$ alone.

A automatic generator is likely not a bad option. Check the specks on the inverter that it uses the cheap ones likely will cause controllers to fail.

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

for a few days?

ambient temps will determine mostly likely how long it can stay cool/hot.

Lost power years ago, house was 100 degrees. 10 hours later power came back on and freezer was just above freezing and meat was starting to show signs of thaw. Very hard to imagine an incubator that can open that is insulated better than a freezer.

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well in my 60 some degree basement my incubator got unplugged for some reason for 2 days and dropped a whopping 2 degrees over 2 days.

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Originally Posted by Hypnotic Exotic

Unless you are there the whole time or have an automatic generator (most of us probably don't) a generator is not practical. Can't just let a gas generator run while you're gone as it will walk off. As for holding temps, it's not getting cold that bothers me, it's the heat spike when it comes back on. Surely there is a battery backup that would work for this?

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I got an outlet inside my garage that i use to backfeed the house and then just run some flex tubing from the exhaust up to the vent cap on the roof of the garage. no walking off to worry about inside a locked garage.