Friday, January 25, 2008

Get True Uninterruptable Power with Tripp Lite

Most uninterruptable power supplies would be better termed shutdown power supplies. They protect your computers and other sensitive electronic equipment from disatrously abrupt shutdown during breif power outages, but they typically will only sustain operation for a few minutes while power is restored, either by the public utility or on-site generators. Then, when their meager batteries run low, they signal your computer to shut down normally. This is all very worthwhile, but it won't allow you to run internet servers reliably, or even continue your dungeon-crawling if online gaming is more your style.

What you need is a Tripp Lite APS2012 2000W UPS, or if you're serious about converting to off-grid power, perhaps it's 48-volt cousin, the 2400W APS 2448. These units take the admonition "batteries not included" to new heights, but that's a good thing. You can outfit these with deep cycle marine batteries (the kind electric trolling motors use) or, if you're installing the unit indoors, large SLA batteries designed for electric wheelchairs and scooters. Connect as many as you think you'll need in parallel to add up to the desired Ah rating. (1 Ah = 1 Amp current x 1 hour)

Note that one user commented that he was "only" getting 18 months to two years battery life with this unit, which he felt might be due to overcharging since the unit continuously supplies a float charge to the batteries. It seems that it would be easier to cycle the entire unit off (i.e., on battery power) periodically by adding a simple lamp timer to the circuit, than to modify the unit internally as he suggested. If you add a cord to the hard-wired junction box the unit comes with, be sure you get the "hot" and "return" lines right. Most equipment will work if these are reversed, but it negates the effectiveness of the ground line. You can check all this with an inexpensive circuit analyzer. You will also want a power usage meter to ensure that you are operating within specifications. (Since published power requirements are necessarily conservative, you might find that you can support more equipment than you thought.)

Now that you're thinking along the lines of serious batteries, chargers, and invertors, you might want to take the next step, and recharge using solar panels and an appropriate charge controller. That discussion will have to wait, though, while I delve a litle deeper into Amazon's new Home Improvement Section.

Before you settle on this solution, though, you shold be aware that complete standby power systems are much cheaper than they were a few years ago. Once an item available only for mission-critical commercial installations, they have become commonplace in new home construction. The increased volume has brought the per-unit cost down to a few thousand dollars, so you might just want to put your whole house on standby power.

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