How to connect large format printer on UPS?

[astraios]

I am thinking to connect my Z3100 on UPS. I went trough APC manuals and find out that it is advised to connect printer in Surge Only Outlet which doesn’t provide power during a power outage.

I have also contacted APC and they advised the following:

»Well, yes, this Surge Protection Only outlet is made for printers, scanners, etc, because when this devices are turning on(especially the laser printers), the power consumption is high and put the UPS into overload.
My advise is to ask HP about the maximum power consumption for this printer (This is acording to HP user manual 200W and UPC is stated to 300W).

The another problem can be with the output signal type of the UPS in battery operation, because this UPS on battery uses a Stepped Approximated Sine wave, so please ask HP about their printer is working together with this signal type or not as well (I am not technician so I didn’t understand this quire right).

I would like to know if anyone has some experience in plugging in large format printer to Battery Back Up Outlets in UPS or if you have any other suggestion how to provide power during a short power outages.

[Paul Eby]

I am thinking to connect my Z3100 on UPS. I went trough APC manuals and find out that it is advised to connect printer in Surge Only Outlet which doesn’t provide power during a power outage.

I have also contacted APC and they advised the following:

»Well, yes, this Surge Protection Only outlet is made for printers, scanners, etc, because when this devices are turning on(especially the laser printers), the power consumption is high and put the UPS into overload.
My advise is to ask HP about the maximum power consumption for this printer (This is acording to HP user manual 200W and UPC is stated to 300W).

The another problem can be with the output signal type of the UPS in battery operation, because this UPS on battery uses a Stepped Approximated Sine wave, so please ask HP about their printer is working together with this signal type or not as well (I am not technician so I didn’t understand this quire right).

I would like to know if anyone has some experience in plugging in large format printer to Battery Back Up Outlets in UPS or if you have any other suggestion how to provide power during a short power outages.

We had an Epson 7600 plugged into the back up side of a 350W UPS pack. Ran for 3+ years at which time the battery needed replacing. Twice in that time the power went out while in the middle of a large print output. Never missed a beat.

[John.Murray]

The APC warnings are rightly justified when connecting to any device the exhibits sudden periods of high current draw - such as the fuser roller of a laserprinter suddenly heating up, or a large ac driven motor starting up.  All components of the Z3100 are behind a switching power supply, very similar to any computer supply.  

All my equipment including a Z3100, B9180 are connected via UPS with the sole exception of a Color Laserjet.

[jmvdigital]

My 24" Z3100 has been connected to an APC UPS for two years now with never a problem. However, I'm not sure how things would work during a power outage while printing. If the computer is still spooling and sending data to the printer, and your computer, router/network hardware, and printer aren't all on UPS, you'll still lose the print if the printer loses it's data connection. I mainly use a UPS because we get a lot of lightening and power fluctuations in this area, and the UPS helps to isolate the printer from all that. In other words, I use it for damage protection, not printing without power.

[sergio]

Maybe the reason is that some electronic equipment need true sine wave from inverters to avoid damage and many UPS systems use Modified Sine Wave ones.

[bill t.]

I had an instance where the AC power fluctuated rapidly on and off about 3 times in a row, then went down for about 10 minutes.  My 7800 kept printing flawlessly throughout.

It turns out the power drain for these big printers is not that high, only about as much as a medium desktop + monitor.  I was using an APC XS-900 unit for both computer and printer.  Nice unit, but it has an internal fan that sometimes can be annoying though it doesn't seem to run all the time.  I assume the internal power supplies in our printers are the same switching types as in our computers, if stepped waveforms work for one they should work for the other.

If you really want to know, pull AC plug during a nozzle check or test print.

[astraios]

It is good to know that this solution will work. I was starting to worry that I will need by something “out of series” to suit my needs (AGAIN ). I think it is a good idea to “pull AC plug during a nozzle check« just to see how it will behave in practice. But I was more worried not to fry UPS in case of overload (someone told me that this was a case when he connected laserjet). Anyway I’ve got also an answer from HP:

“The fact the UPS uses a filtered square wave and not a true sine wave should not be a problem. Almost all modern DesignJet printers use a switching power supply, which use filtered square waves to produce the various output voltages.«

Better to ask twice and buy one