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Topic: Another Tripp Lite UPS Bites The Dust

Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 08-29-2017 07:01 PM

quote: Brian Mendelssohn
1. We use to turn it off at the end of each night to power down the system. The power button stopped working (the shut down cycle failed... which makes no sense to me). So we not just keep it on 24/7, and just shut down out projector on its own. What is the standard practice for this. I'm worried about the economics, but more worried about the safety of the equipment.

The safest thing for the equipment (which is what really makes the most sense economically) is to leave the UPS on 24/7. That is what it is designed to do. Do your shutdowns as Steve mentioned.

quote: Brian Mendelssohn
2. During our most recent power failure (we have about one per month), the Tripplite battery worked for about 15 min, which is normal... but even though the power was back on, it wouldn't switch back to city power. After several restarts, we ended up bypassing the UPS system completely. 3 days later, I tried it out again... and everything seems fine. I'm hesitant to do this because I don't want my projector to fail. My first Tripplite completely failed after 1.5 years.... and I'm 1.5 years into this one, so I've been bite which makes me more hesitant.

The reason it stayed in UPS mode was because even though the city power was back, it was NOT stable in either voltage, frequency or both. You did a very bad thing forcing it out of UPS...you could have severely damaged your equipment. Don't ever do that again..it could cost you a lot. If the UPS stays in back up mode with city power, it means the power is bad. (With city power on, most UPS will correct the problems without draining the battery in the process ("line interactive") so it is always safer to let the UPS do its job..if, on its own, it does shut down then there is a bigger problem..) Since the unit worked OK later, the problem was with the incoming power, not your UPS.

quote: Brian Mendelssohn

3. Everyone talks about switching out the batteries and using a local supplier. This is beyond my knowledge, so I need some help. Is there an online link to the particular batteries I need... and maybe I can just buy them from an online battery supplier. Also, is this straight forward to change?

I would contact Steve Guttag or Mark G. and I am pretty sure one of them could provide you with the batteries and assistance in changing them... [Wink]

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Bob Ezra
Film Handler

Posts: 75
From: Carbondale, CO, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-29-2017 11:12 PM

what about this?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007FHDI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-30-2017 04:28 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
By FAR, the biggest failure we see are just the batteries.

In almost ALL Trip lites if the DC Battery voltage falls below 29 volts then the UPS is dead in the water. It will not even turn on. This is true of both Power On Line and the double conversion units. So if your UPS is dead just measure the DC voltage at the plug in battery terminals behind the front cover. If it's 29 volts or less then replace the batteries and it will come back to life. Out of 370 Tripp Lites 334 on projectors and another 40ish on TMS systems, I have only lost two units!! Pretty remarkable record if you ask me and it's why I have stuck with this brand. I hear many horror stories from broadcast tech friends about APC supplies failing all the time.

Mark

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-30-2017 07:47 PM

Brian and others: This is the battery I use in the Tripp Lites. This supplier is on the west coast which is convenient for me, and I have bought pallet quantities from them in the past. You can probably find them much closet to you though.

Power Sonic PS-1270 F1

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 08-30-2017 08:03 PM

In my previous life as an IT admin, I had a large number of both APC and Tripp Lite UPS's deployed. Typical battery life was about 3 years at best. Once the battery crosses the threshold to "dubious", UPS operation becomes flakey. I always kept a close eye on them and replaced batteries at the first sign of a battery quality alert. I considered it routine preventive maintenance.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-31-2017 07:01 AM

Mark, Tripplite use "F2" terminals (.250", rather than the F1, .187" you listed).

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-31-2017 02:42 PM

I know, the battery distributer told me they would work fine, and he was right. Some have been in just over two years now. I got a heckin deal on a pallet load of them last year to boot at $5.50 a battery plus shipping by freight. That was fun to unload! So far, no problems as the terminals are rated almost exactly the same and a slight pinch of the existing push on terminals and they also lock right in place. Anyway, he was correct.

Mark

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Brian Mendelssohn
Film Handler

Posts: 17
From: Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Registered: Oct 2015

posted 09-01-2017 12:48 AM

Thanks for all the replies. For city power... which style UPS do people consider better.... the double conversion or the line interactive?

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 09-01-2017 04:11 AM

The more reliable kind of UPS is most definitely the double conversion style UPS. As they feed the whole load through the whole UPS at any time, so you know they will hold once the lights go out.

Still, as far as economics go, a line interactive UPS is obviously more power efficient and usually also a whole bunch cheaper.

So, it depends on what kind of load you're securing. If it's a hospital or big datacenter, then for me, the answer is easy. But in case of cinema equipment, where most equipment isn't hooked up to a UPS and a power-outage will bring down the show anyway, a line interactive UPS should be sufficient. But make sure you test those things regularly.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-01-2017 06:13 AM

So why doesn't he supply the F2 terminals? Where we source our batteries, you can have it either way. Can you push a .250" terminal on a .187? Yes. Is it correct? No! Use the right terminal.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-01-2017 01:54 PM

Oh, I could have for about $5 more a battery. They had ~20,000 Powersonics with the F1 terminals to move and at heck of a price on a pallet load. Anyway, he assured me it would work and it did. The difference in size is only 1/16" and .01 thickness.

Mark

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 09-01-2017 05:44 PM

I've had a whole-house surge protector on my breaker box since 2004 and it's still showing green. Before it was installed, I would lose smoke detectors each time we had a power outage when the power came back on. Since then, that hasn't happened.

We still have surge protectors on valuable equipment, but I think it was money well-spent, as it's just one extra level of protection.

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