DIY Bootleg "EcoTech" Battery Backup

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Decided to make my own instead. BTW, I'm a huge fan of EcoTech products, just not the battery backup. Not feeling like soldering (and I have a background in micro-soldering), I decided to make it a plug and go system right off the shelves of Amazon (mostly). Been working great for a year and is a Lithium Iron Phosphate 20 Ah, battery for about $150. Video show instructions with parts list. Hope this helps somebody. Nothing worse than a dead tank when you get home from vacation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[NickE]

I wonder if I could use this for a Neptune system? Thanks for another idea haha

 

[bakbay]

Decided to make my own instead. BTW, I'm a huge fan of EcoTech products, just not the battery backup. Not feeling like soldering (and I have a background in micro-soldering), I decided to make it a plug and go system right off the shelves of Amazon (mostly). Been working great for a year and is a Lithium Iron Phosphate 20 Ah, battery for about $150. Video show instructions with parts list. Hope this helps somebody. Nothing worse than a dead tank when you get home from vacation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for sharing — very cool. I might want to build one myself since it looks super simple! It was challenging trying to find the parts list from the video. Do you mind sharing the full list here? Much appreciated.

 

[Reef.]

Decided to make my own instead. BTW, I'm a huge fan of EcoTech products, just not the battery backup. Not feeling like soldering (and I have a background in micro-soldering), I decided to make it a plug and go system right off the shelves of Amazon (mostly). Been working great for a year and is a Lithium Iron Phosphate 20 Ah, battery for about $150. Video show instructions with parts list. Hope this helps somebody. Nothing worse than a dead tank when you get home from vacation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Why did you decide to diy l your own? Doesn’t seem cheaper to make if the battery alone cost you $150 plus the other parts.

 

[SpyC]

The expected life of this one is over triple that of the ecotech. $800 in that time vs $150+parts

 

[TheHarold]

Very nice! I also made a DIY one with a different style. The central unit gets mounted to a control board, and then the pumps, battery, and battery charger plug in to the central unit.

 

[spsick]

Very cool!

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Thanks for sharing — very cool. I might want to build one myself since it looks super simple! It was challenging trying to find the parts list from the video. Do you mind sharing the full list here? Much appreciated.

The full parts list with links are in the video description.

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Very nice! I also made a DIY one with a different style. The central unit gets mounted to a control board, and then the pumps, battery, and battery charger plug in to the central unit.

View attachment 2884048

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Why did you decide to diy l your own? Doesn’t seem cheaper to make if the battery alone cost you $150 plus the other parts.

I discuss that in the video. The Ecotech is only an 18 Ah lead battery v. a 20 Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate in my build. Lead batteries are only good for a few hundred cycles (discharges) v. thousands for lithium, so we're talking triple the longevity with more capacity, and 50 dollars less. Hope that answers your question. The $150 is for ALL components (battery, charger, and cable), not just the battery.

 

[SpyC]

What has been the the longest you can run your pump for and what what power percentage?

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

What has been the the longest you can run your pump for and what what power percentage?

I run it normally at 10%, this consumes 26W and 0.3A. The battery is rated for 20 Ah. 20/0.3 = 66 hours max. I haven't decided to run it on the battery until it dies since I don't feel like checking on it all the time to see if my return pump stopped. Even if I get half that, I'm fine. By then I'll be able to get the backup generator running so I can get my heaters running. The main advantage of this build is that It should last 3 times longer than some other products on the market. You can always get a bigger battery if you want to run it longer, but I don't see the point of that unless it's going to run your heaters which draw a lot of current (amps) and would require an enormous battery bank and mucho dinero.

 

[bakbay]

The full parts list with links are in the video description.

Thanks - found it! I was an idiot and couldn’t find the description. Was trying to look at the “end of the video” - lol.

 

[diverjm]

Decided to make my own instead. BTW, I'm a huge fan of EcoTech products, just not the battery backup. Not feeling like soldering (and I have a background in micro-soldering), I decided to make it a plug and go system right off the shelves of Amazon (mostly). Been working great for a year and is a Lithium Iron Phosphate 20 Ah, battery for about $150. Video show instructions with parts list. Hope this helps somebody. Nothing worse than a dead tank when you get home from vacation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Great info! Question, I plan on making one of these for dual Mp10’s. How would one plug in both pumps? Thanks!!

 

[SpyC]

Donyou have any concerns about the battery cable not fully inserting into the Ecotech controller?

 

[bakbay]

I run it normally at 10%, this consumes 26W and 0.3A. The battery is rated for 20 Ah. 20/0.3 = 66 hours max. I haven't decided to run it on the battery until it dies since I don't feel like checking on it all the time to see if my return pump stopped. Even if I get half that, I'm fine. By then I'll be able to get the backup generator running so I can get my heaters running. The main advantage of this build is that It should last 3 times longer than some other products on the market. You can always get a bigger battery if you want to run it longer, but I don't see the point of that unless it's going to run your heaters which draw a lot of current (amps) and would require an enormous battery bank and mucho dinero.

I have mostly Ecotech & Neptune gear but not really happy with the Ecotech battery as well. Currently, I'm running on a UPS; but as we all know, it's very inefficient due to AC/DC conversion. I could only get 4-6hrs max so several days will be awesome! I've ordered the battery & gear (thanks again) and will try them out next week. Will share the result...

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

I have mostly Ecotech & Neptune gear but not really happy with the Ecotech battery as well. Currently, I'm running on a UPS; but as we all know, it's very inefficient due to AC/DC conversion. I could only get 4-6hrs max so several days will be awesome! I've ordered the battery & gear (thanks again) and will try them out next week. Will share the result...

Awesome. Let me know how it works out.

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Donyou have any concerns about the battery cable not fully inserting into the Ecotech controller?

Good observation, and I probably should've addressed it. Believe it or not, that's actually the cable provided by EcoTech with the booster cable. It looks like it was something janky that I put together, but it's exactly how they intended it. It secures with a sort of click just as it would if it were the proper length and is no more likely to come undone than if it were a couple mils shorter. The thing to watch out for (and I've done this a couple times) is plugging it into the 10v control port right next to it thinking it's good to go. IMO this was a terrible design flaw since they are not visible from the bottom and feel exactly the same upon insertion, lol, and this can obviously lead to no backup power and subsequent tank crash. Does anybody use 10v anymore?

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Great info! Question, I plan on making one of these for dual Mp10’s. How would one plug in both pumps? Thanks!!

Don't quote me on this, but I believe you could run a splitter cable, something like this:
Obviously you wouldn't need the EcoTech booster (a $1 resistor in a plastic box) because that's for a vectra pump being 24v. Just cables and and an adaptor are all you'd need. I have an MP40 upstairs ghetto rigged off an IceCap battery backup using 5.5 mm plugs with an adaptor. I've been using one from this power supply that I've had laying around (bought to replace one that went out from an IceCap Walk stirrer btw). So what you'd need is 5.5 pigtail to 2 x 5.5 mm cables, to 2 adapters. I'm assuming the MP10 is similar. Good luck!

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

I wonder if I could use this for a Neptune system? Thanks for another idea haha

To power up your Apex? I run Apex, but not on battery backup. Just pumps.