battery backup nightlight question

All,
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods. And, of course, I certainly don't want the backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.
Any suggestions for a cheap and easy way to provide 190 lumens for four or five hours during a power failure.
Thanks!
Northe

"Northe Osbrink" wrote in message

All,
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.

Just wondering, where do you get this?
And, of course, I certainly don't want the

backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.

Is this UPS not on for long periods of time? Pull the wires on the beeper and you have solved you problem.

Any suggestions for a cheap and easy way to provide 190 lumens for four or five hours during a power failure.
Thanks!
Northe

Northe Osbrink wrote:

All,
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods. And, of course, I certainly don't want the backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.
Any suggestions for a cheap and easy way to provide 190 lumens for four or five hours during a power failure.
Thanks!
Northe

Perhaps an LED light and a small battery pack? The LED's don't draw much power,so a decent sized battery would last a good while. I'd guess that there are some sort of LED lights w/backup out there..I just dunno where.

Cheap well to keep an emergency light charged might cost a $ a month. There are flashlights that plug in that go on with the power out. Or just get your bird used to it by turning off lights now. It is dark outside where they live in nature.

Jim Baber's reply
Northe Osbrink wrote:

I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.

This may be true, but I am sure the occasional use for a period of 10-14 hours is what they referred to as continuous operation. and I would suggest using a 13 - 20 Watt CFL bulb in a lamp that connected to the UPS with a timer or light sensitive switch that is only on at night. A 20 Watt CFL bulb is not a significant load on UPS of more than 600 VA capacity, and would stay lit for more than 10 hours. PLUS, it would be automatic, whether you were aware the power went off or not,

And, of course, I certainly don't want the backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.

The better ones like APC's Back Ups can be programmed to NOT sound that alarm, if you want, or just cut the alarm wires

Any suggestions for a cheap and easy way to provide 190 lumens for four or five hours during a power failure.
Thanks!
Northe

"Jim Baber" wrote in message

Jim Baber's reply
Northe Osbrink wrote:
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.
This may be true, but I am sure the occasional use for a period of 10-14 hours is what they referred to as continuous operation. and I would suggest using a 13 - 20 Watt CFL bulb in a lamp that connected to the UPS with a timer or light sensitive switch that is only on at night. A 20 Watt CFL bulb is not a significant load on UPS of more than 600 VA capacity, and would stay lit for more than 10 hours. PLUS, it would be automatic, whether you were aware the power went off or not,
And, of course, I certainly don't want the backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.
The better ones like APC's Back Ups can be programmed to NOT sound that alarm, if you want, or just cut the alarm wires
Any suggestions for a cheap and easy way to provide 190 lumens for four or five hours during a power failure.
Thanks!
Northe

Best solution for dear birdie is a UPS running a night light. Continuous operation at such a small current drain is no problem.

Jim Baber wrote:

Northe Osbrink wrote:
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.
This may be true, but I am sure the occasional use for a period of 10-14 hours is what they referred to as continuous operation. and I would suggest using a 13 - 20 Watt CFL bulb in a lamp that connected to the UPS with a timer or light sensitive switch that is only on at night. A 20 Watt CFL bulb is not a significant load on UPS of more than 600 VA capacity, and would stay lit for more than 10 hours. PLUS, it would be automatic, whether you were aware the power went off or not,

CFL lights use about 1/4 the wattage of comparable incandescents so if the bird is happy with a 25-watt incandescent then it a 6 or 7 watt CFL should do. Perhaps even as little as 5W would work.
Perhaps one of those car jump-starter packs with a good internal AC charge controller and a 12V CFL light in the 5W range would work better (or at least cheaper) than a UPS and AC light. I've seen fluorescent car trouble lights for sale fairly affordably.
Anthony

Just to add to the many good suggestions that have been made. The length of time the light can operate is related to the "power consumption" of the light and the size (= capacity) of the battery. Most UPS's that I have measured draw a standing current (no load) that means that will not operate much more than 6 hours with their built-in battery. However, if you have access to one that runs on 12v, then it is a fairly simply operation to disconnect the internal battery, and bring out an extension cable to connect a small car battery. This will give it a full night of running (and more) with an 8 watt compact flouro bulb. The grid-fail is built in, and all you need to do is disconnect the beeper, (or even sticking a piece of tape over the hole in the beeper is usually quite effective).
You could use a small inverter (should be cheaper) instead of the UPS, but you would either need to configure a relay to turn it on, or you would just leave it on at night all the time.
The very simplest system might be - 12v 50amp-hr car battery trickle charged, A 21watt car tail-lamp bulb running on it. Or alternatively the 8 watt 12v "trouble lamp" (these are about NZ$10 here - equivalent to about $US 7 - so cheap enough - though I wouldn't vouch for their longevity!) There would be some fairly simple ways to make the light come on either if the grid failed, or if your grid light failed (eg bulb burned out).
You might even be able to find some sort of light with "built in" batteries, that is designed to come on with power failure, and just add some extra batteries externally.
I hope you sort out something from all the various replies.
Eric
On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:56:33 -0800, Anthony Matonak wrote:

Jim Baber wrote: Northe Osbrink wrote:
I've got a pet cockatiel that requires a nightlight. Currently we're using a 25-watt (190 lumen) incandescent lamp, which seems to be about right. During one power failure here, the poor bird got excited (night fright), which causes it to thrash around and potentially injure itself.
We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.
This may be true, but I am sure the occasional use for a period of 10-14 hours is what they referred to as continuous operation. and I would suggest using a 13 - 20 Watt CFL bulb in a lamp that connected to the UPS with a timer or light sensitive switch that is only on at night. A 20 Watt CFL bulb is not a significant load on UPS of more than 600 VA capacity, and would stay lit for more than 10 hours. PLUS, it would be automatic, whether you were aware the power went off or not,
CFL lights use about 1/4 the wattage of comparable incandescents so if the bird is happy with a 25-watt incandescent then it a 6 or 7 watt CFL should do. Perhaps even as little as 5W would work.
Perhaps one of those car jump-starter packs with a good internal AC charge controller and a 12V CFL light in the 5W range would work better (or at least cheaper) than a UPS and AC light. I've seen fluorescent car trouble lights for sale fairly affordably.
Anthony

In phoneme@025379386.for.email.address (Eric Sears) writes:

We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that

that's 90 minutes with the lamp (lightbulb) assembly that comes with it.
Taking a look at a typical one in my apartment building hallway:
it's got _two_ incandescent lamps hooked up. While I can't read their wattage (and can barely make out the nameplate on the setup), they seem to be about fifty watters.
-So.... if you get something like that and unscrew one of the lamps, you'll get 180 or so minutes (actually longer because reducing load by half gives you about 2.2 or so times the life...). Replace it with a 25 watt incandescent and you're up to five plus hours. Use a ten watt compact fluorescent and you're doing great.
-- _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

SQLit wrote:

We'd like to set up an uninterruptable light of about the same brightness that would run for, say, up to four or five hours (just in case). I notice that most emergency lights are rated for 90 minutes of operation during a power failure. I've also seen comments here that the UPS units designed for computers may not be suitable for continuous operation for long periods.
Just wondering, where do you get this?

I thought I'd seen it on this newsgroup. But I may be misinterpreting -- it could be that the problem exists when you put a substantial load on the UPS and try to compensate with a larger external battery.

Is this UPS not on for long periods of time? Pull the wires on the beeper and you have solved you problem.

It looks as if the UPS with the beweper disconnected may be just the ticket.

Thanks! Northe

m Ransley wrote:

Cheap well to keep an emergency light charged might cost a $ a month. There are flashlights that plug in that go on with the power out. Or just get your bird used to it by turning off lights now. It is dark outside where they live in nature.

True, a bird normally sleeps in the dark in the wild -- however they get to choose where they pearch for the night, too, rather than being confined in a cage. I don't worry about my other bird (peach-faced lovebird), but cockatiels are subject to panicing. In any case, I've looked at some of the flashlight/nightlight/power failure lights, and most of them don't seem to provide sufficient illumination.
Thanks for your thoughts. Northe

phatty mo wrote:

Perhaps an LED light and a small battery pack? The LED's don't draw much power,so a decent sized battery would last a good while. I'd guess that there are some sort of LED lights w/backup out there..I just dunno where.

Actually, I have seen some LED lamps that might work. I'll have to investigate. One possible downside to either LEDs or CFLs operating at 60 Hz AC, though, is that some experts say that birds see such lights as a strobe effect -- I try to avoid having fluorescent lighting as the sole lighting for the birds (although I do use a full-spectrum light during the day to try to give the birds some UV content).
Thank you. Northe

Jim Baber wrote:

This may be true, but I am sure the occasional use for a period of 10-14 hours is what they referred to as continuous operation. and I would suggest using a 13 - 20 Watt CFL bulb in a lamp that connected to the UPS with a timer or light sensitive switch that is only on at night. A 20 Watt CFL bulb is not a significant load on UPS of more than 600 VA capacity, and would stay lit for more than 10 hours. PLUS, it would be automatic, whether you were aware the power went off or not,
And, of course, I certainly don't want the backup power source to start beeping (as the one on my computer does) when power goes down.
The better ones like APC's Back Ups can be programmed to NOT sound that alarm, if you want, or just cut the alarm wires

Check! I probably won't go with a CFL because of the flicker, but it appears that a computer-type UPS may be the ticket!
Thank you! Northe

Anthony Matonak wrote:

Perhaps one of those car jump-starter packs with a good internal AC charge controller and a 12V CFL light in the 5W range would work better (or at least cheaper) than a UPS and AC light. I've seen fluorescent car trouble lights for sale fairly affordably.
Anthony

I actually have two of the rechargeable battery packs -- one small one and a larger one designed for jump starting -- and they work great during power failures to run lights and radios. Both, though, come with plain old wall-wart trickle chargers. I've never seen one that has a built-in charge controller. If there were one, though, I would definitely consider using one, along with a 12 VDC LED array.
Thank you! Northe

Eric Sears wrote:

Just to add to the many good suggestions that have been made. The length of time the light can operate is related to the "power consumption" of the light and the size (= capacity) of the battery. Most UPS's that I have measured draw a standing current (no load) that means that will not operate much more than 6 hours with their built-in battery. However, if you have access to one that runs on 12v, then it is a fairly simply operation to disconnect the internal battery, and bring out an extension cable to connect a small car battery. This will give it a full night of running (and more) with an 8 watt compact flouro bulb. The grid-fail is built in, and all you need to do is disconnect the beeper, (or even sticking a piece of tape over the hole in the beeper is usually quite effective).
You could use a small inverter (should be cheaper) instead of the UPS, but you would either need to configure a relay to turn it on, or you would just leave it on at night all the time.
The very simplest system might be - 12v 50amp-hr car battery trickle charged, A 21watt car tail-lamp bulb running on it. Or alternatively the 8 watt 12v "trouble lamp" (these are about NZ$10 here - equivalent to about $US 7 - so cheap enough - though I wouldn't vouch for their longevity!) There would be some fairly simple ways to make the light come on either if the grid failed, or if your grid light failed (eg bulb burned out).
You might even be able to find some sort of light with "built in" batteries, that is designed to come on with power failure, and just add some extra batteries externally.
I hope you sort out something from all the various replies.

Good ideas from all who replied. This is a great group!
Northe