Dear AMMRL,
A very late follow-up to my May 2022 email about a replacement UPS for our
BMPC and 800 MHz console:
Summary:
About a year ago, we successfully replaced the original GE LP 8-11 UPS (and
extended battery cabinet) with an Eaton 9PX10SP UPS and four Extended Battery
Modules. The BMPC monitors the Eaton UPS status and correctly goes into alarm
if there is a utility power failure. The four Extended Battery Modules give
roughly the same runtime as the original UPS and battery cabinet.
My thanks to Bruker for helpful information on the X6 connector and the behaviour
of the BMPC software.
Disclaimer:
While everything has worked well for us so far, we had to take this non-standard
approach due to unique constraints in our facility. If you need to replace
your UPS, I recommend contacting your magnet vendor for their solution! What
follows should not be considered professional advice in any shape or form,
just a sharing of my experiences.
BMPC Monitoring of the UPS:
The BMPC monitors the UPS via 9-pin cable from connector X6 (in the back of
the BMPC) to a set of “relay contacts” on the UPS. Details of connector
X6 are in the Bruker BMPC/2 manual (Z31823). On the GE UPS, the relay contacts
are on a 9-pin port on the UPS’s “middle option slot”, while on the
Eaton UPS the relay contacts are on 9-pin port integrated into the main
UPS unit. The pinout of the GE and Eaton 9-pin ports are similar but not
identical. The BMPC only monitors the relay contacts on pins 3-8, and the
table below compares the two UPSs:
UPS Pin GE Function Eaton function Comment
(closed when true) (closed when true)
3 General Alarm Not low battery Not equivalent
4 On commercial AC Not on battery Equivalent
5 Common Common Equivalent
6 On bypass On bypass Equivalent
7 Battery low Low battery Equivalent
8 UPS present* Load protected Functionally equivalent
*Not an actual relay. The GE card has two commons: pin 5 and pin 8; simply
connecting the serial cable to the port on the GE closes the "relay".
(Aside: Our GE UPS had an additional set of relay contacts in the left slot.
These were not used by the BMPC and have a different pinout. If you are looking
at the GE UPS manual, please note it only describes the relay contacts in the
left slot.)
Modifying the BMPC X6 Connector for the Eaton UPS:
We did not modify pins 4-8. However, when the GE is operating normally pin 3
is open, while when the Eaton is operating normally pin 3 closed. The Eaton
UPS does not appear to have a "General Alarm" function, so we decided to
remove the pin 3 wire from the X6 connector and cover it off with electrical
tape so it's permanently "open".
About the 9-pin connector:
The GE relay card has a male 9-pin connector, the Eaton UPS has a female connector.
The cable supplied with the Eaton UPS did not work for us – I suspect it is a
‘crossed’ cable. Instead, we used the existing BMPC cable with an adapter.
Best regards,
Sameer
--
Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid, Ph.D. | Manager
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre | University of Guelph
519-824-4120 Ext. 58914 | s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca
http://nmr.uoguelph.ca/
> From: Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca<mailto:s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca>
> Date: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 15:50
> To: ammrl_at_ammrl.org<mailto:ammrl_at_ammrl.org> ammrl_at_ammrl.org<mailto:ammrl_at_ammrl.org>
> Subject: UPS systems: Lifetime and replacement options
Dear Spinlanders,
I’m writing to please ask your opinions and experiences regarding older UPS systems.
We have multiple GE UPS systems (LP 6-11, LP 8-11) approaching 15 years of
age. We test the batteries annually and replace them every five years, but
this time around we are considering fully replacing the UPSs. Have people
found UPSs to be reliable for 20+ years, or should we replace them now?
One added complication is our 800 MHz system and BMPC, which is served by an
LP 8-11 UPS. GE has stopped producing UPSs, and we would prefer a replacement
that can replicate the serial cable connection to the BMPC. Bruker has suggested
a replacement made by Salicru. I’m not familiar with that company and I
believe they are new to the North American market. Does anyone have
recommendations on Salicru, or happen to know of a BMPC-compatible alter
native or workaround?
I’d be grateful for any experiences you’re willing to share, and will produce
the usual anonymized summary for AMMRL.
Best regards,
Sameer
--
Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid, Ph.D. | Manager
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre | University of Guelph
519-824-4120 Ext. 58914 | s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca
http://nmr.uoguelph.ca/
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Received on Mon Oct 23 2023 - 14:30:42 MST