Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

dave briar said:
So it got me thinking, what do I really need? Certainly basic surge protection but past that do I really need something that will keep the mixer running for six minutes while in all likelihood the rest of the system is down as well? Probably not. What I think I really need (disclosure: I'm just a hobbyist) is just enough standby power to get me through a momentary (1-5 second?) outage -- OK maybe 60 seconds to reconnect the kicked-out plug? Bottom line? Could/would there be a market for a lighter less capable unit to meet such a need?
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What we need is a battery compartment built into the digital mixer that can run the unit for 1-5 minutes off of the battery if the power is interrupted. Putting this inside the mixer means the battery can operate at the DC voltages that the power supply is putting out anyway. If designed as a part of the system, the cost should be minimal. They could charge a boatload for the batteries to make their profits.

Having to use a UPS for a FOH rig is a pain, as the only piece of gear I need at FOH is the mixer in its own road case. If I want a UPS there, that's a separate component that I now have to drag out there. Not fun. No, it won't fit in the road case either.
 
Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

So an update: Just yesterday I took possession of a Furman "surge-protected glorified power strip" (4.9 lbs) that I used to replace the CyberPower OR500LCDRM1U 1U UPS (18 lbs) in my SKB rack. My "new" thinking is that the five restaurant/bar venues I do 90+% of my gigs at all have good power and for others I'll just carry along my TrippLite "brick format" UPS (similar to the Eaton mentioned above) separately. I know that many here move so much gear that a few extra pounds in a (rolling roadcase?) rack is inconsequential but it makes a big difference in my little tupperware rack (X32 Rack in a 6u SKB shallow case). Not that the 48 pounds with the CyberPower 1U mounted was that heavy (it did warrant carrying with the two handles, however) but it's a one hander with just the Furman now. If I were to run under a gennie very often I think I would seriously consider springing for a real dual-inverter online true-sine-wave UPS but I'll risk going without for now.

All this said, I (and maybe others as well?) still feel there's a market niche for a very light-weight "just give me 30 seconds of switched standby power" 1U unit. </soapbox>.

Thanks to all that offered their input above.

..dave
 
Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

dave briar said:
All this said, I (and maybe others as well?) still feel there's a market niche for a very light-weight "just give me 30 seconds of switched standby power" 1U unit. </soapbox>.
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Just replace the battery that the UPS came with something smaller. All the weight is in the battery.

Or you can make your own UPS :)

http://www.dansdata.com/diyups.htm

Better still - if a small UPS was integrated into equipment like the X32 - would eliminate the inverter and simplify the power section as well.
 
Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

Dave Korman said:
Security companies must have a similar problem keeping track of alarm system batteries that also need regular replacement. I'd have thought that there was some commercial software available for tracking this sort of scheduled maintenance requirement.
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My alarm system has battery monitoring/notification built in and it tells the CO when the battery needs to be replaced in addition to lighting up an indicator on my local panel.
 
Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

Eric Eskam said:
Just replace the battery that the UPS came with something smaller. All the weight is in the battery.



hello

I have 1U online UPS - weighing about 22,5lbs - that is rated 280W for 6 minutes or so - I looked inside to see how much I could save in weight - battery is NOT the biggest thing, without battery it is still close 18lbs. The all iron output transformer is biggest weight. So I am thinking to build my own inside old Furman PL-PLUS-E . I extended it using frame of old Furman graphic eq between the front plate and the rest. So there are two "compartments" in it. Front has the original voltage meter and work lights and input main filter plus two small 6V batteries connected in series. The back compartment will have AC-DC to feed batteries and DC-AC to feed outputs. It has ten outputs. I connect 8 directly after input filter and only 2 after battery. Possibly I add one 12V connector for my router - no need to waste energy to use the routers own 240V PSU

This will be neatly about same rack depth as my X32R and be only about 10lbs or less total - so estimated gains are 13lbs less weight, work lights on front, AC-distribution on the back.

The construction is exactly like in http://www.dansdata.com/diyups.htm exept that the components are smaller and flat enough to fit inside 1U . Main limitation will be, that it is restricted to my own use only, since it has self-made AC parts - but I am not renting anything out anymore, so it is not a big deal.
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Re: Did I purchase the wrong UPS?

For what it's worth, I just tested my Expression Si 2 with a CyberPower CP600LCD and the 4ms transfer time is plenty fast to hold up the board with no glitches or reboots. I tried one of their smaller bricks as well but there's no way to tell if it's been activated unless you stare at the indicator light long enough to see it blinking. Nobody's going to hear the beeping. The LCD model indicates incoming voltage and shows when the battery is invoked along with what it's outputting.
 
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