Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Reefcast: Epic Episode 30
This latest episode is Epic, so it was named Epic Episode 30. It is a video episode, and thus a large download. Be sure to save it to your computer rather than trying to stream it. Downloads page
My reef is doing quite well. Here's the latest image.
A few projects recently completed:
Vodka Dosing Drip System
Manifold Project - it only took 9 months to get this one accomplished, but two friends made it happen
VorTech Battery Backup Surgery
Algae Scraper - I waited on this one forever, but glad I finally got it
The angled tank is doing well, and has been cleaned up more since this picture was taken. I guess I got that backwards. LOL
My reef is doing quite well. Here's the latest image.
A few projects recently completed:
Vodka Dosing Drip System
Manifold Project - it only took 9 months to get this one accomplished, but two friends made it happen
VorTech Battery Backup Surgery
Algae Scraper - I waited on this one forever, but glad I finally got it
The angled tank is doing well, and has been cleaned up more since this picture was taken. I guess I got that backwards. LOL
Labels: algae scraper, battery backup, macna xx, manifold, podcast, vodka
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Vortech Battery Backup Surgery
I had to do surgery: Vortech Battery Backup Surgery. ;)
This is what it looked like before I began.
And the wire the feeds the pump during a power failure.
That dangling wire was a danger. When I step up on the walkboard behind my tank, I usually grab hold of the doorway and didn't want to ever snag that wire. I definitely didn't want to work around it, not even once. Because I couldn't move the Battery nor the Driver, it had to alter the orientation of the battery's plugs to get a few more inches of wire.
This next part is unrelated to the project itself. If you want to invert your battery backup, just skip this next segment.
FYI: IceCap told me that you can run this Battery Backup right side up, or inverted, but not on its side. So if you have one, make sure it is installed correctly. The battery is sealed, but the cells contain fluid that has to be in the right direction (or it will end up with a dry cell). The battery is locked in place within the case with metal tabs that prevent it from shifting, so there is no reason to worry that the connections will be crushed.
When I got this particular battery, the socket for the power supply was very loose. If I brushed up against the power supply cord, it would drop out. After testing the socket with a different power supply, I quickly ascertained the socket needed to be replaced. I contacted IceCap and asked that they just mail me the replacement part, rather than shipping this heavy battery with the related shipping fees and wait time. They were happy to get those out in the mail to me. I asked for two in case I damaged one during the surgery.
So here's the case with the battery removed.
Using needlenose pliers, I squeezed the sides to work the fitting out of the case.
The side facing you shows a metal piece that should have had some black plastic holding it in position. This part was definitely the cause, and replacing it was simple. I needed the new part, some solder, a soldering iron, and some heat shrinking tubing.
After peeling away the heatshrink tubing, I used the soldering iron to heat each soldered wire to remove the old socket.
I had to feed the wires out of the metal bracket to have room to solder the new piece on. I slipped the heat shrink tubing over the red and black wires first, then made sure I had the part in the right orientation (matching what I saw with the defective piece), and soldered each wire to its respective leg.
Once that was done, I pressed the socket into the metal casing until it snapped into place.
The heat shrink tubing was worked up and over the newly soldered connections, and a lit match helped it shrink down snugly.
Mission accomplished. This probably took all of 10 minutes only because it was in a tight spot with very short wires.
To replace the cover, all I did was flip the battery-side upside down. With the ports facing upwards, I placed the cover so that all the holes aligned, and pressed rivets into each empty hole.
I bought this rivet set 20 years ago, and still haven't run out of rivets. LOL Riveting is easy. Put the rivet into the hole (which would hold two pieces of metal together), put the tool over the exposed aluminum pin, and squeeze the handle. Repeat when necessary.
In this picture, the rivet is all the way in the hole, and the tool is pressed up against the metal completely. The handle is extended to the left.
In this picture, the handled has been squeezed down fully. With some tools, a popping sound occurs, and the tool comes off the rivet.
Not in this case. As I pull the handle back up, the pin is still visible.
Again, I press the riveting gun firmly against the metal, and squeeze once more. Now the popping sound occurs, and the rivet is locked in place, holding the cover to the frame beneath.
Once a rivet is done, open the handle on the tool and the rest of the pin will drop out. Move on to the next rivet, and repeat. This is a very easy tool to use, only slightly more complicated than a stapler.
Here is the finished product with the ports facing up as planned. Note the pins lying around the workbench.
The battery is reinstalled on the wall, and the power supply and 12v lead are plugged in.
It may not be pretty, but at least I won't snag it when working around the tank.
This is what it looked like before I began.
And the wire the feeds the pump during a power failure.
That dangling wire was a danger. When I step up on the walkboard behind my tank, I usually grab hold of the doorway and didn't want to ever snag that wire. I definitely didn't want to work around it, not even once. Because I couldn't move the Battery nor the Driver, it had to alter the orientation of the battery's plugs to get a few more inches of wire.
This next part is unrelated to the project itself. If you want to invert your battery backup, just skip this next segment.
FYI: IceCap told me that you can run this Battery Backup right side up, or inverted, but not on its side. So if you have one, make sure it is installed correctly. The battery is sealed, but the cells contain fluid that has to be in the right direction (or it will end up with a dry cell). The battery is locked in place within the case with metal tabs that prevent it from shifting, so there is no reason to worry that the connections will be crushed.
When I got this particular battery, the socket for the power supply was very loose. If I brushed up against the power supply cord, it would drop out. After testing the socket with a different power supply, I quickly ascertained the socket needed to be replaced. I contacted IceCap and asked that they just mail me the replacement part, rather than shipping this heavy battery with the related shipping fees and wait time. They were happy to get those out in the mail to me. I asked for two in case I damaged one during the surgery.
So here's the case with the battery removed.
Using needlenose pliers, I squeezed the sides to work the fitting out of the case.
The side facing you shows a metal piece that should have had some black plastic holding it in position. This part was definitely the cause, and replacing it was simple. I needed the new part, some solder, a soldering iron, and some heat shrinking tubing.
After peeling away the heatshrink tubing, I used the soldering iron to heat each soldered wire to remove the old socket.
I had to feed the wires out of the metal bracket to have room to solder the new piece on. I slipped the heat shrink tubing over the red and black wires first, then made sure I had the part in the right orientation (matching what I saw with the defective piece), and soldered each wire to its respective leg.
Once that was done, I pressed the socket into the metal casing until it snapped into place.
The heat shrink tubing was worked up and over the newly soldered connections, and a lit match helped it shrink down snugly.
Mission accomplished. This probably took all of 10 minutes only because it was in a tight spot with very short wires.
To replace the cover, all I did was flip the battery-side upside down. With the ports facing upwards, I placed the cover so that all the holes aligned, and pressed rivets into each empty hole.
I bought this rivet set 20 years ago, and still haven't run out of rivets. LOL Riveting is easy. Put the rivet into the hole (which would hold two pieces of metal together), put the tool over the exposed aluminum pin, and squeeze the handle. Repeat when necessary.
In this picture, the rivet is all the way in the hole, and the tool is pressed up against the metal completely. The handle is extended to the left.
In this picture, the handled has been squeezed down fully. With some tools, a popping sound occurs, and the tool comes off the rivet.
Not in this case. As I pull the handle back up, the pin is still visible.
Again, I press the riveting gun firmly against the metal, and squeeze once more. Now the popping sound occurs, and the rivet is locked in place, holding the cover to the frame beneath.
Once a rivet is done, open the handle on the tool and the rest of the pin will drop out. Move on to the next rivet, and repeat. This is a very easy tool to use, only slightly more complicated than a stapler.
Here is the finished product with the ports facing up as planned. Note the pins lying around the workbench.
The battery is reinstalled on the wall, and the power supply and 12v lead are plugged in.
It may not be pretty, but at least I won't snag it when working around the tank.
Labels: battery backup, vortech
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Powerless for day
BWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!
That was the sounds I heard this morning when I started making coffee to start the day. And when I say morning I'm talking 11:15am.
I had just pressed the on button when I heard a sudden surge of power and then battery backups chiming from a couple of rooms. Great, power outage. 
However, to my surprise I saw the ceiling fans spinning and the coffee continued to brew. How odd is that? The reef tank was powerless but the VorTech was running on battery backup so I wasn't too concerned. The lights hadn't clicked on yet for the day.
It appeared that half my circuit breakers had power while the other half didn't. So I could watch TV in my room while sipping a cup of java while I waited for the power to come back on. It didn't, so I called the company. They referred me to another number which is automated, and it promised to restore power by 2pm. While annoying, I was willing to wait for that deadline before dragging out the generator. At 1:47pm a guy from TXU came to inspect the situation. A few minutes later he told me that the powerline behind the house had dropped to the ground and that they would have to come out to replace it. After mentioning my tank sitting without power, he told me that he'd leave the house with 50% power rather than kill it. Within 2 minutes he was back as he'd changed his mind and didn't want any backfeeding to hurt someone due to the downed power line. So he told me to fire up the generator, and left.
Since it was time to run it anyway, I pulled it out of storage. I really didn't want to have to run it because I worry it will get stolen. I chained it to something secure, and ran some extension cords into the house to power the reef, tv, etc. I ran a couple of huge floor fans to create some air movement in the house as we are now in the lower 90s with humidity. For the reef, I just ran power to the return pump and the window a/c to maintain temperature and flow, in addition to the VorTech pump. I could have run more stuff but just wasn't in the mood to go to that much trouble.
By 3:30 a slew of workers arrived to cut down all the trees & hedges encroaching on the easement (the area that belongs to the city to care for utilities). I counted 11 guys that worked the full length of my yard that quickly cut down and removed any branches that were too close for comfort. In about 20 minutes they were done and out front resting in the shade.
An hour after that, three trucks from the electric company came out and 4 guys ran a new power line, restoring power to our part of the neighborhood. They believed what had happened this morning was that due to high winds, a branch pressed the wire against the transformer and this caused an arc, burning it through until it dropped to the ground below.
I was able to power down the generator and get the house back to normal. The reef was 78.5F, but with the lights now on it is closer to 80F now.
Just another day, right?
That was the sounds I heard this morning when I started making coffee to start the day. And when I say morning I'm talking 11:15am.
I had just pressed the on button when I heard a sudden surge of power and then battery backups chiming from a couple of rooms. Great, power outage. However, to my surprise I saw the ceiling fans spinning and the coffee continued to brew. How odd is that? The reef tank was powerless but the VorTech was running on battery backup so I wasn't too concerned. The lights hadn't clicked on yet for the day.
It appeared that half my circuit breakers had power while the other half didn't. So I could watch TV in my room while sipping a cup of java while I waited for the power to come back on. It didn't, so I called the company. They referred me to another number which is automated, and it promised to restore power by 2pm. While annoying, I was willing to wait for that deadline before dragging out the generator. At 1:47pm a guy from TXU came to inspect the situation. A few minutes later he told me that the powerline behind the house had dropped to the ground and that they would have to come out to replace it. After mentioning my tank sitting without power, he told me that he'd leave the house with 50% power rather than kill it. Within 2 minutes he was back as he'd changed his mind and didn't want any backfeeding to hurt someone due to the downed power line. So he told me to fire up the generator, and left.
Since it was time to run it anyway, I pulled it out of storage. I really didn't want to have to run it because I worry it will get stolen. I chained it to something secure, and ran some extension cords into the house to power the reef, tv, etc. I ran a couple of huge floor fans to create some air movement in the house as we are now in the lower 90s with humidity. For the reef, I just ran power to the return pump and the window a/c to maintain temperature and flow, in addition to the VorTech pump. I could have run more stuff but just wasn't in the mood to go to that much trouble.
By 3:30 a slew of workers arrived to cut down all the trees & hedges encroaching on the easement (the area that belongs to the city to care for utilities). I counted 11 guys that worked the full length of my yard that quickly cut down and removed any branches that were too close for comfort. In about 20 minutes they were done and out front resting in the shade.
An hour after that, three trucks from the electric company came out and 4 guys ran a new power line, restoring power to our part of the neighborhood. They believed what had happened this morning was that due to high winds, a branch pressed the wire against the transformer and this caused an arc, burning it through until it dropped to the ground below.
I was able to power down the generator and get the house back to normal. The reef was 78.5F, but with the lights now on it is closer to 80F now.
Just another day, right?
Labels: battery backup, generator
