UPS Power Supply and Surge Protection for printers?

[Goatshaver]

Hey everyone, I was wondering who uses a UPS/surge protection on their printers, cutters, etc.. And if so what are you using for protection on these expensive items?

We had a bad storm roll through last week and I was typing on my keyboard and got a shock through it from the lightning. Thankfully it didn't seem to affect any other items I had plugged in. It did fry both garage door opener boards for the remotes. But made me think about getting a UPS that would at least allow me to stop what I'm doing and shut down the machine before I lost total power and help protect against any surges that might happen.

 

[balstestrat]

If you want one get one but make sure it can handle the load and that it's "online" one.
Looking at $1-2k to start if you gonna put a printer behind it.

 

[SightLine]

Dual Eaton 9130, both with 3 EBM (extended battery modules). One is just for the printer, cutter, and RIP system. Nice if you are 10 feet into a 20 foot print on expensive 48" 3M 680 and it can finish the print... It can keep the printer and RIP going for about 45 minutes. The other keeps the network and server going.

Find a good commercial or industrial one used and you can often get them pretty cheap. Replacing the batteries gets expensive though. I replaced the batteries on both about 4 years ago and went with aftermarket SLA batteries and rebuilding the modules myself cost about $800...
You dont necessarily need super long runtime if you are just looking for protection and maybe 5 minutes to shut things down. Also if you are running a latex machine those of course use 240v and a LOT more power.

 

[The Sign Goddess]

I've had good luck with these APC UPS's. I run an 850 for my server and computer and a 1500 for our Roland VG2-640. The 850 will run the computer and server for hours. The 1500 will keep the printer going for about 15 minutes while it's printing.

 

[Goatshaver]

If you want one get one but make sure it can handle the load and that it's "online" one.
Looking at $1-2k to start if you gonna put a printer behind it.

I was just looking for something that will last for about 5-10mins so it gives me time to stop prints and shut them down. I'm just a small guy here in a basement.

I've had good luck with these APC UPS's. I run an 850 for my server and computer and a 1500 for our Roland VG2-640. The 850 will run the computer and server for hours. The 1500 will keep the printer going for about 15 minutes while it's printing.

That's more of what I'm thinking of.

 

[balstestrat]

I was just looking for something that will last for about 5-10mins so it gives me time to stop prints and shut them down. I'm just a small guy here in a basement.

It doesn't matter.... you have over 1kw load just on the mimaki. You need something bigger.

And not getting online UPS is just stupid in my opinion. You go all the way to get UPS and then proceed to not get a real one.

 

[Goatshaver]

It doesn't matter.... you have over 1kw load just on the mimaki. You need something bigger.

And not getting online UPS is just stupid in my opinion. You go all the way to get UPS and then proceed to not get a real one.

Ok. Guess I have to do some research on this a bit more. Any companies you recommend looking at?
I see SightLine mentioned Eaton and I'm guessing APC make some more industrial UPS systems.

 

[Saturn]

I realize it would be ideal to have more expensive built-in protection, but for my 80600 I just use two of the cheap ~$200 APC 1500VA units—one on each plug. They're not going to last more than 5 seconds if the heater is heating up from cold, but if you're in the room printing and the power clicks off, I can vouch for them being enough to let you get over and go through the process of killing the job and properly shutting down the printer. Someone will argue with this, but better than nothing. I do get flickers in my shop occasionally too, and they give me a little piece of mind even if there's years between actual "real" power outages.

 

[balstestrat]

I realize it would be ideal to have more expensive built-in protection, but for my 80600 I just use two of the cheap ~$200 APC 1500VA units—one on each plug. They're not going to last more than 5 seconds if the heater is heating up from cold, but if you're in the room printing and the power clicks off, I can vouch for them being enough to let you get over and go through the process of killing the job and properly shutting down the printer. Someone will argue with this, but better than nothing. I do get flickers in my shop occasionally too, and they give me a little piece of mind even if there's years between actual "real" power outages.

Those cheap UPS will literally make their own "flicker" when it switches from grid to battery. Even if it lasts for 1ms it will still happen.

 

[netsol]

yes to a REALLY EFFECTIVE SURGE PROTECTOR
THE KIND THAT RICOH GIVES YOU WITH THEIR COLOR COPIERS, UNDER WARRANTY

90% of surge protectors are garbage (a metal box with a $0.40 metal oxide varistor and a fuse)

99% of UPS's are garbage for the purposes of running a printer

if i put an oscilloscope on the output and start to print the nice, clean sine wave turns to garbage (you will hear the printer make squealing noises like you are torturing a cat with a
blow torch and a pair of pliers.

even as an ebay item you would probably spend $750-$1000 for a UPS that wouldn't do more damage to your printer than what it needs protection from

 

[netsol]

buy one of these on ebay (best money you will ever spend!)