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Re: [Amps] ALPHAs and momentary power outages

To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] ALPHAs and momentary power outages
From: "Robert Bonner" <rbonner@qro.com>
Reply-to: rbonner@qro.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:11:19 -0500
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
OK I read all the UPS Jokes this morning and thought it was time to respond.

Now I'm not going to tell you using UPS's in ham radio is all hewy...  I
have done it many times...  Mostly for Field Day setups.

My first use of a computer UPS for FD was in 1988.

We used a new fangled 1000VA one that had just come out.  Everytime the
power surged from the generator it tripped and recycled.  We just powered
the 100Watt rig from it.

That's a 1000VA unit.

In my business I have 4 3000Va units powering my server rack.  Plus we also
have 7 -1400Va units and a host of 1250 and 600Va units.

The 3000Va units would not power a full power linear. Those are 150# units
and are good for 6 minutes at full load.

APC owns most of the UPS market in the USA..  Their normal units are 120V
and 208 for 3 phase commercial applications (using 2 of the lines).

We just removed a unit that supplied 80 amps to the server room power panel
at 240 V.  We've got 240 High leg 3 phase at our shop, 2 120's and a 240...

My guess is you could find one of those units for about $5000 used on ebay
for your ham shack.

Unless you really need time to gas your generator while living in AFRICA,
I'd stop the notion of using UPS's to power your Ham Amp.

I've had the power blink maybe 5 times while operating contests in 35
years...  None of them took me off the air.  If it did, I'd just get a beer,
because you'll be down a lot longer than a reasonable UPS could hold you up.

Now if you are building a contest station I could recommend a CUMMINS DiESEL
Gen set and UPS's but expect to spend about $50,000 for something worth
anything.

BOB DD

-----Original Message-----
From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Roger
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 11:50 AM
To: Jim Brown; amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] ALPHAs and momentary power outages

Yes, a proper sized UPS would work, but it has to be capable of supplying 
the peak AC power to the amp under load if that is when the power is 
interrupted rather than just the idle power.  That means a UPS capable of 
2500 to 3000 watts peak and would probably cost as much as the Alpha. Those 
in the neighborhood of a KW seem to run about a dollar a watt. I'd guess 
they get more expensive per watt much larger than that as I just looked at a

1200 watt unit for $1,400.




> On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:34:35 -0400, Paul Cassel wrote:
>
>>Thanks for your ideas?
>
> How about a UPS? If all we're talking about is a few seconds, one of
> the beefier 240V models would probably have held it up.

They really don't have any reserve capacity. Take one a tiny bit past it's 
limit and it'll just shut down, or at least all I've seen so far do.

73

Roger (K8RI)
>
> Jim K9YC
>
>
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