Thanks to all who responded. The responses are below for those who want the
details, but nobody who responded has had a problem or would recommend
against the brand they are using. We were aware of Best and APC, but not
of Liebert, Deltec, General Power Corporation, or Exide. We wil probably
buy from APC because the University has just negotiated a very good deal to
purchase a large number APC UPSs as part of the campus internet upgrades.
Bruker's official recommendation, by the way, is Liebert.
Thanks Again!
Jeff
The Responses:
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I've heard good things about Liebert, Best, etc. (Best: 800 356-5794)
(Liebert: 800 877-9222) However, we use Exide electronics' 36kVA one which
a couple of different electrical contractors swore by; and it's been
flawless for 1.7yrs. (800) 554-3448. There's really nothing to touch or
mess with; just forget about it.
There's a difference between true double-conversion UPS's and what they
call the ferroresonant technology (which is not double-conversion and is
more energy-efficient). Best's "Ferrrup" (upto 18kVA) is the latter, I
believe, whereas Liebert & Exide don't offer that option. There's a price
jump/increase above 18kVA's for all the manufacturers for some reason.
Hope that helps.
I haven't heard of anyone having any bad experiences with any of these, and
I think an 18kVa in any brand should serve your purposes just fine. The
3.5kVA requirement is assuming full cw operation on 3 or 4 RF power amps,
and in fact you don't need anything close to that for pulsed NMR.
****************************************************************************
I used to have a Ferrups 4.3 - 18 KVA UPS by Best Power Technology on my
AMX-400. For five years, I had never experienced single problem with the UPS,
including the battery, and the AMX-400 never experience problem cause by the
power line problem. Now the whole NMR Lab is protected by a PowerPlus UPS.
The
NMR lab has four Bruker's spectrometers, three SGI and SUN work stations, and
several PCs. The unit is under maintenance contract. At this time, this UPS
needs new backup batteries and cooling fans. But the spectrometers have
been up
and running since we moved into this new Lab 18 months ago.
****************************************************************************
We have several Deltec Powerworks RS (tel # 1-800-335-8321 for our NMRs and
Mass Spec for a few years now. Doesn't seem to be any problems
attributable to them and we've survived a few outages with no problems. Our
needs aren't too severe - essentially they serve as power conditioners and
to get the equipment over the occasional dip/brownout/short-term outage.
Software is available, but no experience with it. Setup is straightforward
as long as you specified the plugs correctly (and have Deltec install them
before shipping) you'd want both 110V service as well as the 208V
plug(s),and it would be a good idea to have a wall plug rather than direct
wiring it to the wall.
Liebert also makes nice UPS's, you might also check into their offerings.
At the time, they were a bit more pricey, and they seem to have better
customer support. tel# 614-888-0246
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We have been using a Ferrups FE 5.3 KVA series UPS from Best Power for over
a year now to backup our 400 MHz JEOL NMR. The UPS comes with a nifty
front panel keypad with a fluorescent dot matrix display which can show a
lot of information (voltage, power, and current in/out, lots of other info)
and it keeps a log of the last 20 outages. It can be interfaced to a
variety of workstations via a serial port cable. The software comes on a
CD-ROM, which compiles on various UNIX and Novell servers.
We compiled the package on our Linux server (not the NMR console itself as
we are confident of our backup generator set--just need the UPS for the
switchover). Never had a chance to use the remote shutdown feature because
of our backup generator system, but I know it works when tested.
Setup is rather easy (actually I did it myself), the manual is clear and
informative. Their service person told me that the batteries last 2.5 to 3
years when kept under 25 Celsius.
Best Power can be contacted at:
P.0. Box 280 - Necedah, Wisconsin 54646 USA
Sales Toll Free 1-800-356-5794
http://www.bestpower.com
Hope this helps,
****************************************************************************
I just wanted to let you know that we have three Bruker systems that are on
Liebert UPS units. They do a good job of filtering out spikes, maintaining
the systems through brownouts and keeping them going after a power outage.
With a full outage, they will keep the systems up for over 20 minutes. If
you do get the Liebert units, I would recommend after the first year's
warranty, that you should get a service contract from Liebert. On the
oldest system we purshased a 5 year contract for $2500. The other two are
on brand new systems so it will be about .
****************************************************************************
We have a Bruker AM-360 and an AMX-500. These were previously on two
separate UPS systems since the AM required three phase 208 and the AMX
requires single phase 208. A couple of years ago, the three phase UPS on
the AM fried. At that time, since the 5 KVA UPS on our AMX was only being
used at 35% capacity, we decided to rewire the AM console for single phase
208 and put both consoles on the same UPS. This has worked quite well.
With both consoles powered up, the 5 KVA UPS is operating at 65% capacity.
The UPS we are using is the General Power Corporation U5000-3. We have had
this unit for 7 years and it has been very reliable. Because of the
numerous power outages here in the lightning strike capital of the US, we
added a battery cabinet side car to provide 60 minutes of backup at full
load. This gives us about 90 minutes a the 65% load which is usually
adequate time for FP&L to get the power back up. The GPC unit is quite
compact and easy to set up and change the batteries (although this must be
done very carefully to avoid getting fried.) I can not comment on the
automatic shut down and start up software since we do not use this feature
on these older spectrometers I do not have experience with other UPS
systems (except for small ones for PCs) but we have been very happy with
this unit.
****************************************************************************
We put an ups on our drx-400 last summer because even a 5 cycle "brown out"
would shut down the console. We went with the liebert system after asking
Bruker. A true on line ups with power filtering is hard to resist. You
could see if your state has a contract with them to lower the price (it
worked in iowa). We paid $5350 for a 4.5kv UPStation S. It seems to run at
about 40%, so I'll probably try to run either another console or another
computer from it.
****************************************************************************
From: Bruker
If the Tripp Lite system is enough for your needs, you could save some
money and buy that. We recommend the Liebert system because it is a true On
Line system and includes load modules for both 208 and 120 Volts to operate
the console and computer systems. It includes an on site warranty and shut
down communications and software to allow the SGI computer to shut down if
the power outage is long enough to drain the batteries in the UPS.
We also have a lot of experience using Liebert systems, but some
customers have used systems from other manufacturers without problems.
****************************************************************************
The question of whether to use one large UPS or two smaller ones usually
comes down to money. When you get above a certain point, UPS's become more
expensive. We usually use a 4.5 KVA unit for most AVANCE units. A 3.5 KVA
unit might be enough for some instruments, but that leaves no room for
future expansion and the price difference is small between the 3.5 and 4.5
KVA units. If you will be powering two systems, you would need about 8 to 9
KVA. These units usually get expensive, so it might be cheaper to use two
smaller units.
****************************************************************************
I have a Bruker Avance DRX-400 console which I have had for a year and a
half. Both the console and the SGI computer are protected by an APC Matrix
UPS-5000. With two batteries, we have 30-40 minutes backup time. There
have been two or three scheduled but unannounced power outages that were
longer than this. Also, if I remember correctly, the powerchute software
does a "load test" once a month. I think this completely discharges the
batteries. The batteries seem to be ok. The software generates a log that
is five or so pages long PER WEEK. The unit sits quietly in the corner, I
have never had to even think about it. I have also protected our 270 MHz
JEOL spectrometer with APC SmartUPS 2200's. I have never had any problem
with any APC product. The UPS's have made a big difference in the
maintenance required.
****************************************************************************
Approximately 2 years back we purchased three Liebert UPS units (two 18
KVa and one 6 KVA) for NMR and MS labs. The 18 KvA were around $20K each
and the 6 KVA was approximately $9K. We also purchased RS-232 kits and
computer interface/shutdown software kits to interface with up to 12 UNIX
servers. We have all our UNIX machines on the UPS as well as NMR and MS
spectrometers. The Lieberts are easy to setup and monitor numerous
electrical parameters, e.g. when you have a power outage, how long, % load
used, voltage output, etc. Obviously the larger the Liebert UPS the more
battery backup you get( 13 minutes at full load and 40 minutes at 1/2
load), which is most of the additional cost. So even if you do not use the
UPS to its capacity, you will still have the advantage of longer power
supply in the case of an electrical outage. We have both 220V and 120V
single phase output. We have had no real problems with our Lieberts and
would recommend the units.
****************************************************************************
WE installed a BEST 18KVA unit with 10 min backup late last year.
INstallation was simple and not costly unless you need major modification
to hte existing wiring and conduits. I haven't had time to start the
communication to the computers for shutdown. But, it is available via
RS232. I understand Leibert Units are also very good.
Jeffrey H. Walton
Assistant Research Physicist
One Shields Ave.
UCD NMR Facility
University of California
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-7794 (office)
(530) 754-9064 (lab)
(530) 752-3516 (FAX)
jhwalton@ucdavis.edu
NMR Facility URL http://www.nmr.ucdavis.edu
NOTE NEW AREA CODE