Electronic question - running mains air pump of battery

-Exodus- · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:02

OK so basically, I have an aquarium air pump and it runs off the mains, but it uses so little power I was wondering could it run off a battery?

Using one of those plug in electricity cost monitors I can see it is using 6W, 240V and 0.026A

If you could, what sort of batteries would it need and how long do you reckon they'd last? (running 24/7)

Makhaira · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:03

What voltage does the actual pump need? I'm presuming there's a step down transformer to a much lower voltage in there?

-Exodus- · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:14

I honestly have no idea, it says 230V on the box and the pump, my knowledge doesn't go much further than Power = Voltage x Current

Energize · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:17

Could run for a couple of weeks off a leisure battery.

doofer · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:19

If it uses so little power then why bother? Doesn't make much sense to me doing what you're thinking of doing, I bet batteries will actually cost more and also be much more unreliable, I don't see what you hope to achieve by trying to get battery power?

RJC · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:19

The pump motor would be wound for 240v volt A/C mains, putting a battery on the pump would do nothing, but you should be able to use a inverter.

cammy5477 · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:21

RJC said:
The pump motor would be wound for 240v volt A/C mains, putting a battery on the pump would do nothing.

it would if you put an inverter on the battery first.

totally pointless though just plug it in the wall like a normal human being

RJC · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:22

cammy5477 said:
it would if you put an inverter on the battery first.

totally pointless though just plug it in the wall like a normal human being

I Did a ninja edit

Morbius · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:24

Suppose you had a car battery. One for my car will keep going for 44Ah (Amp hours) at 12V. This works out to be 44*12 = 528Wh (Watt hours). Now, your 6W heater would therefore last for 528/6 = 88 hours = 3 days 16 hours.

What you'd need to do would be to hook up a 20:1 step-up transformer to your battery to transform the 12V it is rated at to the 240V necessary to power the pump. An inverter would do the job nicely.

-Exodus- · 22 Nov 2012 at 22:29

Ok, thanks everyone. I know it sounds totally pointless but it's just for a random unrelated project.