[rescue] another flameware

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Tuesday, June 26, 2001 at 00:59:04 (-0400), Brian Hechinger wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [rescue] another flameware
>
> it won't get hooked up here, but once i move i will get it going.  i've got
> a HUGE Best FerrUPS.  10KVA, 11 minutes runtime full load.  i can't WAIT to
> get that thing hummin.

My current line of UPS' is:

	APC SmartUPS 600	(running my diskless ss1+ and NCD 19c)
	APC SmartUPS 1000	(running the DEChub 900, at 45% load)
	APC SmartUPS 700	(running comms cabinet fans)
	Best ME1.4K		(running everything else at 78% load,
				including a 5-disk RAID, 4-disk RAID,
				EXB-210 tape library, well loaded
				IBM-PC-325 server, an SS2, an SS1,
				external disks for the SS2, 486 PC,
				Pentium-120 PC, Pentium-233 server,
				PPro-200 server, async terminal, 15"
				monitor, cabinet fan, etc.)

Guess which one lasts longest.  ;-)

I've got a line on an Alpha 7KVA unit that I really really want to get
ahold of and put into service (it supposedly needs a new battery or two,
and is otherwise sitting idle!).

We have had two ~4hr outages already this year, I believe both due to a
construction site down the street, and we're not even into high
thunderstorm season yet.

The problem with multiple UPS units is that shutting things down cleanly
and starting them all back up in the right order is not such an easy
task.  The first time we had a long-lasting power outage the
configuration wasn't anywhere near optimum and I lost my hub long before
I got a chance to shut down cleanly.  Even this most recent time after
careful planning I lost the hub again before I got the last couple of
machines shut down.

In case you haven't guessed yet, it's the Best unit that lasted longest.
I found it sitting in a little computer store in a tiny town in Northern
Ontario last winter (we were at a friend's cottage and he needed
ethernet patch cords! ;-).  It had a little sticker saying "$5.00, needs
battery".  Obviously I bought it on the spot (after saying "I'll take it
if I can pick it up", and I just barely did so).  I finally found the
battery spec., realised it would take pretty much any similar large
battery, found a "made in china" unit down the street for ~$200, plopped
it in, and have been a very happy customer ever since.  At 78% load it
says it'll hold things up for 28 minutes, and unlike the APC it doesn't
lie (at 72% it held for over 30 minutes and was still about five minutes
from shutdown when I gave it a rest!).  The wimpy APC 1000 says it'll
hold at 45% for 30 minutes too, but it didn't even make it to 20 minutes
last time, and that's with only one-year-old APC-brand replacement
batteries in it!

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098      VE3TCP      <gwoods at acm.org>     <woods at robohack.ca>
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