Jestersix

Ecotech Battery Backup

Turns out my off-brand (Coral Box) was super easy to open - case has screws instead of rivets. BUT... as luck would have it, the fuse was blown! Cheap fix, if that's all it was.
@fishy408 Question: is your backup still warm/hot to the touch at all times? Mine is. I have an old version and a new one. They also smell a bit like chlorine, maybe how you described a smell like rubber.
Maybe I need to look up EcoTech's setup, but my enclosed instructions are confusing and I already looked it up online. Do you have your backup power supply and your pump power supply plugged in at all times?
 
Hey Maureen,

  • My backup battery is sometimes hot and sometimes cool. From tech support, it should only heat up when it needs to charge.
  • For the smell, I have isolated the battery backup in the back of my tank and mounted so it is away from all other cables. Before there were a few power cables near and touching it. This was before I knew the battery heated up so hot.
  • My Battery backup is connected to the outlet at all times and the 2x MP40 is connected to the battery at all times.
Hope that helps.
 
It's been a while since I looked, but I seem to recall the Ecotech is nothing more than a battery where the terminals are hooked up to charging and output, no fuses, nothing special. The smell of chlorine/rubber is a bit worrisome, not sure what it would be which is why it is worrisome.
 
Thanks for the responses. Trying one out on 10g QT I set up at home for before and after frag swap, so I can keep an eye on it. Lucky, since I lost power two nights ago. I guess Coral Box and Ecotech are different bc mine definitely has a fuse. I heard mine may be same as IceCap. I will look into it more.
 
Ecotech integrated a fuse into their cord that connects from the battery to the pump. So probably the same idea just put elsewhere into the system.

Looking at the Coral Box & Icecap units they look like they were fired out of the same manufacturing plant, same case, same location of plugs, similar specs (Coral Box says 24V output, which may be a typo since all other battery backups output 12V), just a different sticker on the case.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Ecotech integrated a fuse into their cord that connects from the battery to the pump. So probably the same idea just put elsewhere into the system.

Looking at the Coral Box & Icecap units they look like they were fired out of the same manufacturing plant, same case, same location of plugs, similar specs (Coral Box says 24V output, which may be a typo since all other battery backups output 12V), just a different sticker on the case.
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For ecotech the fuse thing was an oversight. I remember when they did not have a fuse in the cords. I think they realized it was a safety issue and added in the fuse at a later date and everyone that had pervious versions got new power supply cord with a fuse.
 
iani said:
For ecotech the fuse thing was an oversight. I remember when they did not have a fuse in the cords. I think they realized it was a safety issue and added in the fuse at a later date and everyone that had pervious versions got new power supply cord with a fuse.
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I do believe you are right, I remember a "recall" but not of the whole battery that costs too much they'll instead just send you a new plug. I don't think I ever got mine though, which is sad. Not sure if ecotech ever changed their design or figured simply adding a plug with a fuse was a cheaper solution.


Meshmez said:
These don't require a special charger?
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Depends what you mean by "special", you'll want a 12.8V trickle charger instead of a 12V one that you typically see for car batteries or the one that comes with an Ecotech or similar battery since they use lead-acid batteries.
 
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