Re: Transformer Current


<usenet2@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:353a2a4c-9d2f-4c55-a570-522681b2ed5a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have two "Basement Watchdog" battery operated sump pumps. The
batteries are 6 cell 12V lead acid batteries. The control panel on
each unit charges the batteries as well as giving status and alarming.
The controller accepts a dry contact (float) to trigger a pump cycle.
It has some led's, a piezo and a button to silence alarms/run pump.
The main load runs from the battery all the time.

I don't know if this is the same sort of unit that my friend had in her
basement, but it sounds similar. In her case, the battery would not stay
charged and it failed the self-test as well as the routine that was
supposed to cycle the battery and fix problems, so we got a new battery.

But I tried to test the system by pouring water into the sump where the
pump was located, and it seemed like it would only work when the water
level got very high, and then it only pumped out a small amount before
shutting off. The level sensor seemed to be very poorly designed.

She also had a regular 120 VAC sump pump, which had been disconnected, but
I saw from the nameplate that it was fairly new. I plugged it in, and it
very quickly drained nearly all the water out of the sump, as would be
expected with a 1/3 HP motor. The tiny pump in the original design was
probably about the same as your 25 watt pump, which is about 1/30 HP, so it
would take ten times as long to do the job, and apparently did not do a
very thorough job at that. I think she fell victim to a fast talking
salesman who sold her a "bill of goods" she really did not need, and he
probably installed it poorly.

So, I bought a 1000 watt inverter for about $60, and hooked it up to the
battery, which I left on the original charger, which seemed to work OK. I
could have rigged up a transfer relay to detect loss of AC power and switch
over to inverter power, but that would have taken a large power relay to
switch the 12 VDC primary at 50 amps. So I instructed my friend to simply
move the plug from the sump pump to the inverter and turn it on if power
was lost. She is home most of the time and there is fairly good drainage
anyway, so it's not as if it needs to run very often.

You could also use a heavy duty UPS for the regular pump, which I would
trust more than the wimpy backup pump. It's a good idea to check the
operation of your pump like I did, by simply pouring a 5 gallon bucket of
water in the sump and seeing how it works.

Paul


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