> Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 14:41:41 -0400
> From: Chris Harney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> Does anyone know of a battery-powered unit that would run a couple of
> Hovabator incubators (containing gecko eggs, among others) for 12 to 16
> hours? I thought I saw such an item recently and it was called a "Power
> Pak", with a price around $200.
The device you want is called a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).
They are usually sold to use with computer equipment, and have gotten
fairly cheap and plentiful in the past 5 or 10 years. You should be
able to get a good deal if you shop around a bit, since the wattage
you need to support is quite low - the elements in your incubators
are on only a fraction of the time. Most UPSs these days come with
stuff you don't need, like a serial port and software to let the computer
know when the batteries are about to run out. An older or discontinued
model should be cheap and adequate.
To decide whether you need one, you might want to experiment to see how
fast and how far the temperature drops in a running incubator once the
power is cut. Most people run incubators not that far above room temp,
and cooling the eggs to room temp may not be damaging. On the other hand,
if a power cut in the winter runs your room temp down to outdoors temps,
a small UPS may not be enough for a long outage in cold weather.
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