What to do in an emergency??

Honda generators produce pure seine wave power this is what is needed for most electronics and T-stats I believe they are the only ones that do.

At the other end of the generator spectrum, they make cheap portable generators designed for the camper or sportsman. They are only about $200 and crank out 1500 or 2k continuous watts. I looked into one of the nicer $800 generators right before the hurricane hit but thought I'd give my sportsman one a shot.

We lost power for 4 or 5 days during during one of the hurricanes last year and it kept my incubator, fridge, freezer, and heat sources running during the day. At night, we put dry ice in the freezer and fridge. All the animals (and our food) made it out fine.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Honda generators produce pure seine wave power this is what is needed for most electronics and T-stats I believe they are the only ones that do.

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Even with those, the sinwave is a little off. I have one and hooked it up to my oscilloscope and compared it to the grid power sinwave. While it is close enough that a proportional thermostat will work I'm afraid that the output will be off. This is because the triac (the electrical component responsible for "dimming" the power output) uses the AC sinwave at the core of its operation. (I could get technical but there really is no need)

Now would I run my proportional thermostats off one for an afternoon? Sure

But I wouldn't want to run them for an extended period of time.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

I live in central Florida, so the threat of week(s) long power outages due to hurricanes is very real...

I have a back up generator, but my proportional thermostats won't run on the "dirty" power that generators produce. So along with the generator I have some cheap hydrofarm (on/off style thermostats) that will work on the power created by the generator.

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I had the same problem but found a really easy solution. Just plug the generator into a large UPS. (Like an APC SmartUPS or one of the larger APC standing ones) This lets you use your real thermostats and not have to worry about changing things around.

Back to the OP's problem, I'm actually suggesting the exact same thing. Get a UPS. For you a SmartUPS is probably overkill, but APC has some smaller ones that will do the job really well. I have an APC Smart-UPS 1500 and it can run my server rack (About 10 servers each with triple-redundant power supplies) for a couple of hours. A good one should be able to heat your snake for at least a couple of days.

Don't forget that temperatures don't need to be perfect in an emergency. Snakes are pretty resilient, and they will survive while you sort things out. Your temps can even be ±5-10 degrees for a few hours, maybe even a day and your snake will be fine. I would still recommend a UPS though, just to be on the safe side.

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Originally Posted by apple2

I had the same problem but found a really easy solution. Just plug the generator into a large UPS. (Like an APC SmartUPS or one of the larger APC standing ones) This lets you use your real thermostats and not have to worry about changing things around.

Back to the OP's problem, I'm actually suggesting the exact same thing. Get a UPS. For you a SmartUPS is probably overkill, but APC has some smaller ones that will do the job really well. I have an APC Smart-UPS 1500 and it can run my server rack (About 10 servers each with triple-redundant power supplies) for a couple of hours. A good one should be able to heat your snake for at least a couple of days.

Don't forget that temperatures don't need to be perfect in an emergency. Snakes are pretty resilient, and they will survive while you sort things out. Your temps can even be ±5-10 degrees for a few hours, maybe even a day and your snake will be fine. I would still recommend a UPS though, just to be on the safe side.

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I have one of those for my CAD Workstation (APS smart-UPS 3000VA) I have tested that as well, their simulated sinwave is even worse than the generators. Dion (owner of spyder robotics who makes herpstats) has said that he does not recommend using UPS's with them. The problem with UPS's is that they store power in DC, then invert it into AC... The result is a simulated sinwave that is inadequate for sensitive electronics. There are a few UPS's avaliable that are but they cost thousands of dollars and not worth it for something like this.

I have two things

• A buddy heater
  
• A generator

If my incubator is not plugged I will only use the buddy heater however if my incubator is plugged I will use the generator instead to provide adequate ambient temps and to power my incubator.

In case of emergency hot spot are not important, adequate healthy ambient temp is sufficient.

Didn't know that about the UPS. I thought you were referring to the inconsistencies in voltage production that a gas generator would produce. Interesting, I'll keep that in mind. Back on topic before this thread gets too technical ;P

I have bags and tubs for each snake, heat packs, gas in my vehicle, and a map...

I have a Generac iX1600 Watt Inverter Generator that I use from time to time when I am out in the bush... If all else fails I'd be using this to power my mini oil furnace and keep my reptile room at 80. This generator cleans DC to AC and claims to be computer safe, but I'm not sure i'd be running my herpstats off it or not.