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Author Topic: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?  (Read 2939 times)

hugowolf

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Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« on: December 11, 2012, 04:33:17 pm »

I had the power go out briefly three times within an hour last week due to a power substation fire. I wasn't printing at the time, but the thought of a large print on fine art paper going down near the end of the print is an expensive proposition

Can anyone recommend a UPS system that would keep a computer, two 22 inch monitors, and a 44 inch printer going for say 20 minutes or more. I have heard that in the last few years, computers have become more picky on the quality of the sine wave, and some less expensive UPS systems won't work for them.

Brian A
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howardm

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2012, 04:50:39 pm »

you have to work the VA/wattage load numbers before you can really say which exact unit.

The APC 'Smart-UPS' series has always been a great workhorse and is above the usual consumer garbage.
You really do not need to support the monitors in the event of an outage; just the computer, any networking device
(if you're going ethernet) and the printer.  Also, compute how long the printer takes to print out the most likely size.

I use a 1400VA unit for my setup but you'll probably need more and they get heavy and fairly expensive.

JeffKohn

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2012, 05:06:38 pm »

I have dedicated a cheap APC UPS to my ipf8300 (it's in another room from the computer, which has its own UPS). I'm not so worried about extended power outtages, as they almost never happen here and I'm not going to be kicking off print jobs in the middle of a storm. I'm more concerned with the power glitches and short outtages lasting a minute or two, as those are more likely. The UPS is also nice so that even when not printing a short glitch/outtage won't have the effect of powering off the printer and preventing any automatic maintenance/cleanings. So I didn't see the need for one of the big, expensive UPS's. 

I also have the print driver on the computer set to send the entire job to the printers hard drive before beginning to print, so that eliminates the problem of an in-progress print job getting fouled up by loss of network connection.
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Jeff Kohn
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acktdi

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2012, 05:32:03 pm »

I'm using a Cyberpower CP685AVR UPS just for my IPF8400.  I'll probably buy a second one for my computer, which is in a different room.  I've used the Cyberpowers for years, they cost less than an equivalent APC unit.

The AVR model does auto voltage regulation to protect from brownouts or overvoltage, if you go with APC, look for that feature.

JohnHeerema

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2012, 06:04:07 pm »

I use an APC Smart-UPS 2200 for my 44" printer, file server, and computer workstation. Since I live in an area that the power company seems to think of as a shedable load, I get power outages, power surges, and the like all the time. The UPS provides something close to a sine wave, and also protects against supply under-voltage.

The batteries are good for about three years, after which they are about $400 to replace (there is a pair of them, each of which is about the size of a small car battery).

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Ken Doo

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2012, 06:07:25 pm »

I use separate Cyberpower units on my two workstations, and a separate APC UPS for each of my 44" printers.  I'm not so concerned about printing during a complete power outage, but rather "brown outs" which seem to be much more common albeit often not very noticeable---and those cause more damage to appliances/electronics, imo.  UPS units provide protection.

hugowolf

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2012, 09:06:12 pm »

Thanks guys, lots of useful suggestions.

Jeff: Epson not Canon, so not hard drive.

Howard: I need at least one monitor, so that I can do a controlled shut down of any other apps I might be running at the time. I can shut down one of the two monitors once I have moved or closed things to one screen. I had forgotten about the router/modem, but I can't imagine that it would use much power.

Anyone good any info on sine wave cleaness issues?

Brian A
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howardm

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2012, 07:20:25 am »

Brian,

Any decent UPS will come with or have available software & cable to tell the computer to initiate a clean shutdown w/o you having to do anything because you can rest assured that the power outage will not happen when you are nearby or awake.

The 'cheaper' UPS's do a staircase step approx of a sine and that is what you want to avoid.  The better ones such as APC SmartUPS (again, those are the ones I have experience with and are the industry benchmark) produce a true sine wave.

The secret is to put only what you need on the UPS and size it correctly so you do not over/under purchase capacity.

The Epson 9900 shows that it consumes 80W (running) and 16W standby, and printing time is max 40 minutes w/ average being 24 min
(40" x 60" prints from 15:26 to 40:05    Normal is 24:20)

So add in anything additional for the computer, monitor etc and assume a total load of 300W (probably waaay high assumption)
and the webpage

http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=165&tab=models

power calculator shows that the good 'ol SmartUPS 1500 should last you almost an hour which should cover your worst case print for an MSRP of $589

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT1500&total_watts=300



kaelaria

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2012, 10:29:19 am »

You don't need anything special.  I have been using the APC brand units on almost everything in this house since we moved in, over 7 years.  Still on original batts, they trip several times a week, power here sucks.  Walmart has small ones for under $50 that are perfect for everything but your main system.  I have one on my z3100, one for my router and modem, one for my home theater tv, and for my computer I got a bigger APC unit from Sams Club.  The bedroom TV also has a smaller one and there's a couple more for stuff around the house.  I also used the same units at my last corporate job 6 years ago where I had over 30 deployed. 
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Tage Bjorklund

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Re: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for 44 inch printer?
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2012, 11:12:00 am »

If I was to buy an uninterruptible power supply with battery backup I would choose one that has sinewave output. Practically all power supplies in computers, printers, etc have power factor controlled input stages, which means that the ac mains voltage after rectification in a diode bridge is processed by a boost converter which delivers a 400V dc voltage to the transformer stage (which processes this high dc voltage into usable 3.3V, 5V, 12V, etc.). The advantage of using this boost converter is that it can be controlled so that the ac current drawn from the mains is a clean sinewave (has a high power factor), which creates less power loss in the ac distribution (the grid).
This power factor preregulator is designed to operate with a normal sinewave voltage, such as delivered by the mains outlet. If you feed it with a quasi-square wave voltage it sometimes does not behave as intended, especially with cheaper UPS designs where the amplitude of the quasi-square wave ac voltage can vary with battery voltage. The result can be that the PFC preregulator can have trouble regulating the intermediate 400V dc voltage, which can cause irregular operation of the entire power supply in the computer/printer. This is especially likely to happen when the UPS battery is fully charged.
A cheaper UPS with quasi square wave output voltage switches between say +160V and -160V dc output voltage, with a dead time in between. During the dead time, the output voltage is zero. More elaborate designs will regulate the peak voltage accurately, while cheaper designs will put out a voltage that follows the battery voltage, and to keep the ac voltage somewhat constant the dead time is then regulated.
All these square wave output designs have a common issue which is that when the dead time ends and the voltage rises, this voltage rise happens very fast and it will cause large current spikes in the input filter of the computer power supply. These current spikes can cause abnormal electromagnetic noise inside the power supply, and can usually be heard. The stress on the computer power supply components will be higher, which can affect reliability and lifetime.
If the un-interruptible power supply delivers a clean sine-wave output voltage, these high current transients do no appear, and the sine-wave voltage is accurately controlled. It is more pure than the ac mains voltage.
Even if most computer power supplies can operate with the cheaper quasi-square wave UPS designs, there are definitely some equipment that is not functioning well and need sine-wave input voltage.
I would be especially careful with UPS designs that delivers 230V quasi-square wave.

Tage

Thanks guys, lots of useful suggestions.

Jeff: Epson not Canon, so not hard drive.

Howard: I need at least one monitor, so that I can do a controlled shut down of any other apps I might be running at the time. I can shut down one of the two monitors once I have moved or closed things to one screen. I had forgotten about the router/modem, but I can't imagine that it would use much power.

Anyone good any info on sine wave cleaness issues?

Brian A
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