Since so many people have responded privately with questions, I thought I would
share some additional information with everyone.
How much capacity do I need in my UPS?
You need to know how much power will be drawn when the unit kickc in and the
length of time you want the mains voltage to be available to the equipment. APC
provides a calculator to help you figure this out
[http://www.apc.com/template/size/apc/].
What else should I look for in UPS features?
The only other thing that's nice is the "unattended server shutdown" feature.
This is a piece of software on your computer that connects to the UPS over a
serial port, and detects when the UPS has gone active. It then gracefully shuts
down the computer. Some UPSs and their software can handle multiple computers.
This is great if you are away from the shack when the power fails.
What companies sell these things?
APC www.apc.com
Tripplite
How much should I pay for a UPS?
As much as you want. You can buy low-power units at Wallmart or Costco or BJ's
for under $100. I bought a used commercial unit APC Smart UPS 2200 RM3U on ebay
[www.ebay.com] for $600. This unit is a 2200VA rack-mount system. You can pay a
lot more for more power. There are all kinds of deals on ebay. Enter "APC UPS"
in the search engine. The only thing you need to watch out for is whether the
batteries are dead. All you can do on ebay is ask specifically and trust the
seller. On the other hand, there is a strong secondary market for good
batteries. This is because some safety regulations actually require scheduled
battery replacement - whether the batteries are good or bad.
That's about all I know!
73,
Jim Idelson K1IR
email k1ir@designet.com
web http://www.designet.com/k1ir
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
FROM: Jim Idelson <k1ir@designet.com>
TO: CQ-Contest Post <cq-contest@contesting.com>
DATE: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 15:11:03 -0500
RE: An ounce of prevention...
While not everything was perfect for us during last weekends ARRL DX SSB
Contest, one thing went extremely well. Here's the story...
We were a casual M/2 operation. On Sunday morning, I was operating 10m and W1VE
was on the 15m station. We were running like crazy. Suddenly, there was a power
glitch in the house. The Acom amps turned off. All the digital clocks in the
house were blinking. The refrigerator went through its self-test sequence.
Except for having to restart the Acom amps, the entire contest station -
radios, computers, accessories - stayed on-the-air . We didn't miss a beat.
Why? A few months ago, after some disastrous brushes with lightning, one of the
protective measures I took was to buy a used 2kVA UPS on eBay. The unit powers
EVERY 110vac device in my office/shack. The UPS sustained the power to
everything through the glitch - eliminating what would have been, at a minimum,
a costly 30+ minute recovery process to get all the computers, logs and radios
back on-the-air. And, it could have been a lot worse than that! ["Excuse me,
ZF2MM, we had a little power failure up here. May I please have my frequency
back?" I don't think so.]
Needless to say, I highly recommend a UPS for the well-prepared contester's
shack!
73,
Jim Idelson K1IR
email k1ir@designet.com
web http://www.designet.com/k1ir
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