Re: UPS as backup power

[Joe Reiter <jreiter at bigfoot_com>]

>
> Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 11:44:04 -0500
> From: "Giancarlo"
> Subject: UPS as backup power
>
> Hello all,
>
>
> OK so I finally did some real testing to see if the theory still
> works and boy was I surprised! I remembered I had an old UPS in my
> garage which my brother in law gave me a few months ago. It's a
> couple of years old (probably 3-4) and has been sitting dead in my
> garage for around 4 months now.
>
> Charge Time: 60min
> Computer ran for: 3.5 minutes
> Canister filter ran for: 195 minutes



So it actually worked for you?  I didn't have the same luck a few months 
back when I tried the same thing with a few of my UPSes.  I have a large 
1250VA APC Back-UPS unit that I was going to hook up to my small 
nano-reef tank.  Unfortunately, none of my water pumps nor the CF light 
ballast would accept the power supplied by the UPS when it was on 
battery.  The lights would flicker and the ballast would crackle, and 
the pumps would clatter and make unhappy noises.  I'm assuming this is 
because of the pseudo-squarewave output of this particular UPS not being 
compatible with things like flourescent ballasts and magnetic pumps.

Perhaps the UPS you used has a more sinewave-like output?  I seriously 
like the idea of having backup power on my aquarium equipment 
(especially the reef!), but none of my UPSes would work.  They are all 
easily large enough to handle the load, but they are all APC Back-UPS 
units which probably all have the same squarewave output.
-joe