UPS replacement question

[john f]

I have an older APC 1500 Smart battery backup which I have my rack plugged into. Recently it started shutting down the rack for no reason ..no power outages isn the rest of the house, and it stopped when I plugged the rack directly into the wall, so pretty sure it's the APC unit.  Bayyery reads 100% and the self test showed good.

 I have no idea whats wrong with it and frankly it's probably too old to mess with, so here is my question: I recently had a stand by generator installed which kicks in after the power is out for 10 seconds. Can I replace the 1500 smart UPS with a UPS  with less power and without all of the bells and whistles as I only need it to catch that 10 seconds between power out and the genny coming on.  Any thoughts or recommendations greatly appreciated...john

 

[Bmwbball88]

Yup that would work.  I don’t necessarily care about monitoring it so wattbox isn’t on my must have lost for a ups.   Apc or tripplite is what I use.  But if you only need 10 sec to a min..  pretty much any decent size system would work. 

[ekohn00]

On 9/13/2021 at 3:25 PM, john f said:

I have an older APC 1500 Smart battery backup which I have my rack plugged into. Recently it started shutting down the rack for no reason ..no power outages isn the rest of the house, and it stopped when I plugged the rack directly into the wall, so pretty sure it's the APC unit.  Bayyery reads 100% and the self test showed good.

 I have no idea whats wrong with it and frankly it's probably too old to mess with, so here is my question: I recently had a stand by generator installed which kicks in after the power is out for 10 seconds. Can I replace the 1500 smart UPS with a UPS  with less power and without all of the bells and whistles as I only need it to catch that 10 seconds between power out and the genny coming on.  Any thoughts or recommendations greatly appreciated...john

 

APC support is awesome, worth asking a question.

Normally with an old UPS you could just get a new battery and save $$$....but being it's just shutting down, I'd check with APC first.

 

PS....And probably the first thing to check....

A UPS may have problems being on a circuit that goes to a generator. It's possible since the generator is new, the UPS is being "triggered". You may need a UPS that has a generator line mode.

 

[john f]

7 hours ago, Bmwbball88 said:

Yup that would work.  I don’t necessarily care about monitoring it so wattbox isn’t on my must have lost for a ups.   Apc or tripplite is what I use.  But if you only need 10 sec to a min..  pretty much any decent size system would work. 

Thanks. So Im thinking maybe 1k watts and a stand up tower battery vs the 1500 rack mount I have now?  The price  seems to be higher for a  rack mounted battery and anything north of 1k watts.

[john f]

27 minutes ago, ekohn00 said:

APC support is awesome, worth asking a question.

Normally with an old UPS you could just get a new battery and save $$$....but being it's just shutting down, I'd check with APC first.

 

PS....And probably the first thing to check....

A UPS may have problems being on a circuit that goes to a generator. It's possible since the generator is new, the UPS is being "triggered". You may need a UPS that has a generator line mode.

 

Thanks. I did call APC  and like everywhere else service seems to be spotty during the covid era and had to go to chat..took 1 hr..not ideal. It also seemed like he may have been juggling multiple chats as it sometimes took 10 minutes to answer me.   Guy I had was pretty mediocre , imo, and said to send a debug file but didn't really tell me how to do it. I finally told him I would try to figure it out myself and ended the chat. Based on my experience I probably wont end up with an APC unit.

The shutting down preceded the installation of the genny so thats not the cause.

[ekohn00]

4 minutes ago, john f said:

Thanks. I did call APC  and like everywhere else service seems to be spotty during the covid era and had to go to chat..took 1 hr..not ideal. It also seemed like he may have been juggling multiple chats as it sometimes took 10 minutes to answer me.   Guy I had was pretty mediocre , imo, and said to send a debug file but didn't really tell me how to do it. I finally told him I would try to figure it out myself and ended the chat. Based on my experience I probably wont end up with an APC unit.

The shutting down preceded the installation of the genny so thats not the cause.

I'm with you......   I buy a shinny new UPS too.

[prabeau]

I have had a Generator for last 10 years and using Tripp Lite and Cyber Power. Added the last one to off load the Tripp Lite in order to support whole rack.

Needed more outlets. Both prove to be trouble free, Cyber Power was cheaper at the time of purchase.

[john f]

1 hour ago, prabeau said:

I have had a Generator for last 10 years and using Tripp Lite and Cyber Power. Added the last one to off load the Tripp Lite in order to support whole rack.

Needed more outlets. Both prove to be trouble free, Cyber Power was cheaper at the time of purchase.

How many watts did you need just to keep the rack running until the generator kicks in?...mine goes over in 10 seconds so not looking for overkill. 

[prabeau]

Mine has a delay of 15 seconds. The limiting factor was the number of battery backup outlets. The Cyber Power is 300w rated. Have router and AP and switch. Tripp Lite is 1500W and handles HC800, service provider fibre optic modem and TV box and other small draw equipment.