UPS Ideas ?

vermilye wrote:
If you expect to feed a separate UPS from your inverter when running without hookups, try it first. Many UPS will not switch back to a poor quality power source (such as a MSW inverter) or non inverter generator. I had one at home that refused to switch back to my 15,000 watt stand by generator. With the generator running, the UPS ran on its battery until it died.

SOME, not ALL UPS units are finicky about the incoming 120V.

UPS units must "time" and "synchronize" the waveform before cutting between battery backup and utility. Some but not all can be very sensitive to the 120V input frequency and waveform.

Tends to be OLDER UPS units which may have this issue, I have some 15 yr old APC units which sync fine with a generator, have one 8 yr old APC which does not. Also have a couple of Tripplite 1300VA units, 5 yr old and a 1 yr old) which do not mind being on a generator.

Ironically, the Triplites also have a frequency readout on the display and shows my utility frequency often varies from 59.6-60.2 hz..

To the OP, just buy a ready made UPS, much easier with less hassle than trying to reinvent the wheel..

Most of my UPS units tend to get about 5 yrs on a set of batteries and tend to be pretty reliable.

I would highly recommend Tripplite AVR series (YES, it IS MSW, but IT WILL work fine for computers and related computer equipment along with TV's Sat equipment and such). Tripplite does make PSW UPS units, they are considerably more expensive though

Like this..



$130 HERE

I would however recommend avoiding the Rack Mount version, seems that in the rackmount version they have a fan that runs 24/7/365 which tends to lead to a failure point of the UPS.. Seen a lot of complaints on that feature..

The tower version I have shown above does have a fan, but it ONLY runs when the UPS switches to battery (IE no utility) so the fan issue should not be a real problem down the road.