UPS for Power regeneration and circuit protection?

dpowell

I'm considering using a UPS to provide power regeneration and circuit protection for all circuits in my home theater. I acquired a Compaq R3000 UPS as part of another purchase on craigslist and it has the following power-related features:

On-line efficiency 96%
Voltage wave shape Sine wave; less than 3% distortion with linear load
Surge suppression High energy 6500A peak
Noise filtering MOVs and line filter

My current plan is to run a dedicated 30amp circuit to the UPS and run some of the power amps directly off the back of the UPS. I also plan to run a cable from the 30amp output on the back of the UPS into a sub-panel from which I will run all circuits for the subwoofers, electronics and projector. This would mean all equipment would be getting clean power, excellent surge protection and battery backup.

I was curious how this would compare to other power conditioning units out there made specifically for audio?

cristo

Sounds good for surge suppression, filtering and blackouts.
If you specifically wanted a low distortion sine wave generated ac voltage however,
it will only do that while it's running off the battery.

dpowell

Interesting. I thought that higher-end UPS's with AC regeneration capability rengerenated the AC sine wave 100% of the time.

EDIT: Found a Compaq brochure on this UPS and it does the following:

The Compaq UPS utilizes a line-interactive plus topology which features sine wave output
and superior input/output voltage regulation. The Compaq UPS can correct input voltage variations as low as -35% of nominal voltage without transferring to the battery.

It also states that it does Sine wave regeneration to 3%THD. There's no mention of 'on battery only' for this feature.

quadzilla

Yes, higher-end UPSs usually do full regeneration all the time. Some even run full-time off the battery to lower cut-over latency and just keep the battery in a perpetual charge cycle. My APCs are the same way, and if I'm not mistaken, the Compaq is a re-badged APC. My concern is that even with a 3000, you may run into some current limiting issues if you're running big power amps and/or multiple power amps. What I'm looking at is a mains isolation transformer.

cristo

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm only familiar with regular UPSs like APC.
Here's a link to a white page on the model:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/servers/proliantstorage/power-protection/r3000xr-whitepaper.pdf

and some excerpts from it:

The Compaq R3000 XR utilizes a new industry leading technology via digital signal processor
(DSP) controls that continually conditions and regulates power without using the batteries. In
addition, by using DSP controls instead of a transformer to regulate the battery, the Compaq
UPS R3000 XR achieves a small (2U) and lightweight (82 lb/37 kg) design


Innovative UPS R3000 XR Technology
The Compaq UPS R3000 XR incorporates the newest innovation in UPS technology by using a
digital signal processor (DSP) to control three solid state electronic power stages instead of a
transformer to regulate and condition power to protected loads. Today’s low-cost, DSP
controllers, combined with reliable solid state electronics, provide a higher performance, costeffective
solution for the UPS design.
The DSP controls voltage through three electronic stages of the UPS as compared to using a
series of relays for mechanical tap switching with a transformer.
The first stage includes a front end filter and surge protection with an electronic boost circuit
controlled by the DSP. The filter and surge section condition the power by removing damaging
spikes and surges. The electronic boost circuit provides dynamic voltage regulation by boosting
the voltage when the input voltage sags. The electronic voltage boost controlled by the DSP
enables a well regulated output without having to use battery power. This results in improved
voltage regulation for the load and increased battery life.
The second Inverter (balancing) stage functions as a balancing circuit during normal operation, a
DC to AC Inverter during battery operation, and also provides energy for the battery charger.
The third stage of conditioning functions as an electronic buck that is controlled by the DSP and
regulates the output voltage down when the input voltage is higher than required. This innovative
technology improves the performance over traditional line-interactive UPS designs while
reducing the cost, weight, and size of traditional double-conversion online UPS designs. A DSP
enables complete digital control of the UPS resulting in increased power conditioning, lower
system cost, and enhanced user interface interactivity. As illustrated in Figure 6, the DSP
controller manages all aspects of the UPS including the following:
· Sensing input voltage levels
· Setting and controlling buck and boost voltage regulation based on input voltage
· Controlling the inverter and battery charger
· Providing one button voltage configuration control from the front panel
· Interfacing with the power management software through the standard single port card, Six
Port Card or SNMP / Serial Port Card
· Switching to electronic bypass

Face

I have a Belken Pure A/V 1500VA Hybrid UPS in my HT rig. Other than small chip amps, anything else felt as it lost dynamics. Now I use a fancy power strip for my amps and all my front end gear/electronics are plugged into the UPS.

If I were to do it over, I'd look into Eaton's line of UPS's: http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Backup-Power-UPS/Default.asp
They were recommended to me by Dick Grey of RGPC. Your components would be running off battery power at all times, unlike most UPS's that switch over to battery power in case of an outage.

dpowell

Quadzilla, Keep me posted on what you discover. This is a 3000VA UPS. If I add up all the max watts of all my amplification power (running at full max = 3710 watts), I would technically need 5008.5 VA. However, it is not realistic that the amps would be pulling even close to that. I doubt they would ever get to 1/2 of that 5000VA. Add in a Blu Ray player, DVR, Wii and Projector and I think I'd still be well within range. A rack full of servers would probably come much closer to maxing it out.

dpowell

cristo wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm only familiar with regular UPSs like APC.
Here's a link to a white page on the model:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/servers/proliantstorage/power-protection/r3000xr-whitepaper.pdf

Thanks. Mine is actually the predecessor to the XR. It's more than likely an APC branded UPS.

dpowell

Face wrote: »

I have a Belken Pure A/V 1500VA Hybrid UPS in my HT rig. Other than small chip amps, anything else felt as it lost dynamics. Now I use a fancy power strip for my amps and all my front end gear/electronics are plugged into the UPS.

If I were to do it over, I'd look into Eaton's line of UPS's: http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Backup-Power-UPS/Default.asp
They were recommended to me by Dick Grey of RGPC. Your components would be running off battery power at all times, unlike most UPS's that switch over to battery power in case of an outage.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't intended to use a UPS at all but it came basically free with an equipment enclosure I bought and then the ideas started flowing .....It will give me something interesting to try; amps on or off the UPS. I had even planned to have all 3 subwoofer amps connected as well so I'll play around with it. I've heard good things about Eaton.

With this UPS, I can configure it to basically run on battery all the time because the incoming voltage tolerances can be set to such a small range that the power company could never stay within them.