On Sat, 17 Jun 2017 20:22:55 -0400
"Jim Wilkins" wrote:

snip
The APC would be a good answer if it wasted less idle current and was
more tolerant of AC from portable generators. It has a button on the
back to reduce sensitivity to bad power but that isn't enough.

I had one either like or very similar to this that was used in a system
I serviced:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEST-MICRO-F...-/291181299549

A lot of the operating parameters could be changed/set by using the
RS232 connection and a terminal program. As you have noted they are
real energy pigs just idling. That whole system got scraped and I had
this unit setting underneath my workbench for backup, playing around. I
gave up on it when the batteries degraded to the point of it being
useless. I'm not sure but it may be possible to set the operating
parameters for input to work with a generator.

It probably should have disappeared with me when I left, nobody else
really understood it... The batteries aren't cheap though and you sure
don't want to leave it plugged in if you don't like high electric
bills

It was awesome to see it working though. Just cut power and watch
everything keep running without so much as a hiccup. It had internal
memory and kept alarms and faults until they got written over. The RS232
port was hooked to a dial up modem. I could call the site up,
interrogate it for faults, alarms, settings... and see where the sites
backup generator (big propane Gererac) had been exercising. Or some
other wacky thing must have happened at say 2:00 am causing the system
to fail and generate user complaints. Very nice.

There was enough equipment cooking at that site that it didn't need
heat. Always nice inside, even on the coldest of winter days.
Summer time was a different story. It took a 3 ton a/c unit to keep it
cool enough so over-temp alarms weren't generated.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email