6 Jun
2009
6 Jun
'09
1:45 p.m.
On 6 Jun 2009 at 15:59, Patrick Finnegan wrote:
1) Newer models seem to have a charging circuit
that's smart enough
not to overcharge nearly-dead batteries to the point at which they
expand and blow their seals. Cleaning batteries that have done this
out of a UPS runs somewhere from "difficult" to "a complete mess".
And, I've had to clean this up several times out of UPSes I've
received; the only good thing is that it usually makes the UPS much
less expensive to acquire. :)
I think the LM317(mumble-mumble-high-voltage-suffix) is limited to
about 1.5A output current anyway. And the batteries I'm using are
basically garden-tractor batteries, not gel-cells, which seem to have
a rather short (3-4 years) in UPS. I replace the batteries (in their
own box) in mine about every 6 years--and I check the electrolyte
level every 6 monts.
2) Higher-efficiency inverters mean more runtime out
of the same
batteries, and usually at the same time, a lighter UPS. Considering
how often I seem to move stuff around, lighter is definately a plus.
No argument there, except that many cheap inverters deliver only an
approximation to a sinewave output.
3) Better monitoring. I really like the amount of
information that I
can get out of SNMP on a modern UPS's network card.
This one has some sort of RS-232 output, but I haven't the faintest
what it indicates, other than "your power just failed". I've got the
software for it somewhere, but have never run it.
... and can be more useful for hacking up to do different
things (like mashing three of them into being a
3-phase inverter,
which is somewhere on my project list, to power stuff like my IBM
3420, and Liebert System/3).
They also make great sources of big power transformers for linear
power supplies. Some have multiple high-voltage windings, so they
can also serve as isolation transformers.
--Chuck