Generator / UPS / Line Conditioner

[rjundi]

Hello,

I have a back up generator that I have never used thus far thankfully. It is a $900 one mainly to power well pump, oil fired boiler, fridge and some lights. I have 240V hook up to my house.

I am looking to replace a UPS that I use for my computer equipment (router, cable modem, cable box/DVR).

I notice the upper end models APC (pro-series) have something called a "line conditioner". Does a "line conditioner" help "clean up" up the electricity delivered by a generator that fluctuates a bit as load comes and goes?

I would love to use from computer equipment during a power outage as I work 100% from home.

 

[Quest]

line conditioning is good if your generator is incapable or your generator is fluctuating with it's voltage due to load variations (e.g. if the power feeding the UPS sags, it will "ramp up" to 120VAC; if it goes too high, it would "trim" it down to 120VAC, etc.)

Given the fact that (a) most computers, routers, etc. are on switching power supply, and (b) unless you are using some kind of invertor-based generator, most generators of traditional form are of pure sine wave and for that matter, it shouldn't matter too much.

I'd be more worried about surge instead.

Q.

 

[eljefino]

If your electronics are labelled 100-240 volts, 50-60 Hz, they'll run on anything the surgey generator can give out.

I'd pull a manual for those fancy UPSes. Maybe they have a setting/default mode where when the power comes back, they wait a minute before reengaging. This will help your generator warm up with less of a load and save your equipment from the surges of your fridge motor restarting.

If you're using manual switching control at the fusebox, shut off the media room (and other big loads-- well pump etc) then kick them on one at a time.

 

[tinmanSC]

Generally a line conditioner is a good idea if you are running off of generator power. The power from generators can be absolutely filthy or it can be "reasonable" (it's rarely "good"). It depends on the generator, most are so-so, mine is a Craftsman 5600Watt and it's ok, but not "good" (details later). Also, those fancy UPS have features like a time delay for switching off of battery power, and they normally switch to battery power a little faster. This helps when a sump pump kicks on, and voltage drops for a second. This happens to me while running my computer. I have one of those "fancy" ups, and when the pump starts, the UPS kick to battery instantly, giving the generator a little break while working on the surge of the pump and fridge.

When running power from the generator through my UPS, the error light was flashing on my UPS (APC UPS) indicating that it wasn't getting clean power, and was cleaning it up. My computer ran fine. When running my computer from the generator directly (as a experiment) my power supply would make strange noises. It made a buzzing if I would put the CPU under load (dragging more power). I assume this was the power supply complaining about dirty power? Needless to say I didn't run it like this very long.

 

[bigmike]

I've used tons of the Cyber Power UPS units. I always buy the AVR units. They have a range that they ignore the variance, but if it is out of the range, the battery kicks in to correct the voltage.

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems.html

 

[Al]

I have run many times on my 40 year old Generator. Never had a problem (no UPS). Not saying that my present setup is fine though