VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Chuck Davis

The title is a little vague because I'm not sure which unit is malfunctioning.

Every now and then I will have a power loss/complete restart in the studio.

It's as if the power is shut down for a fraction of a second, causing the Mac to reboot and all the audio gear to "wink out" for a second.

The AC chain is and APC CS-500 UPS with virtually everything on the battery side with a Monster Power Pro-2500 conditioner.

That means that the Mac Pro, 4 x 15" flat screens, Mackie mixer, CD player, distribution amp, DAT machine, Avalon Pre, Zephyr, Gentner phone patch and Digi 002R are all on that leg.

Am I overloading the UPS?
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject:

How old is your UPS? I have one that I've used for several years and after a while, the battery began to lose some of its capability. Eventually, it no longer had enough oomph to power my CPU and all the other peripherals. It still works and powers two monitors, a cable modem, a router, a printer and a scanner, but I had to move the computer to a different UPS.

Simple test. Disconnect one unit or the other from the chain and see if the problem reoccurs.
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 1:56 pm Post subject:

Hey Lee.

It's a newer battery. It's been replaced within the last year.
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

You sure you don't have an issue with the mains going to the UPS? A dip in voltage beyond some threshold will cause the UPS to switch over. That's the desired operation, but if you have a failing UPS or a battery that isn't *really* any good anymore, you can certainly have that happen.

Is the UPS physically warm? A bit warm is okay; rather warm is not okay.

What's the total draw of all the devices connected to the battery side, and have you added a device lately?
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Foog · Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 9:18 pm Post subject:

I have an older home with temperamental wiring and power supply issues, and had similar problems with the PC in the living room. I found when I stripped down the load on the UPS and plugged the PC and only the PC into it, it behaved less erratically. Dunno if that would help in your situation, but it might be worth a shot. I should point out, however, that this bandaid is not so great for longer term outages since my monitor and internet (both the modem and router) are no longer running through the unit, but the "mini" outages stopped being a problem.

heyguido · Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 11:23 pm Post subject:

I'm a big proponent of power conditioners. I swear by Furman.

But that UPS you're using is tiny by realistic standards.

Whatever your issue, (and you have an issue), you need a bigger UPS.
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:21 am Post subject:

What do you think a more realistic size would be?

I was poking around on line and found a larger 1080VA unit from APC. (BN1080G). That would be roughly twice the size of the CS500 I've using now.
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todd ellis · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:49 am Post subject:

I don't think you need all that stuff on the ups to begin with. I'd leave the Mac, pre and ISDN box and unplug everything else and see what happens. The real point of the ups is to give you enough time shut things down safely in the event of a sudden power outage. With less on the box, you have more battery time. Consider a power conditioner ... I like Furman too ... To protect your gear from spikes, but the ups on!y for stuff that might be damaged by a sudden shut down.
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Bish · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 6:38 am Post subject:

I'm heading for the same problem. I'm running everything via an APS XS 1500 (critical UPS protected, non-critical via the non-UPS surge protection). I have no issues with loading. The batteries went bad and I replaced them ... now, only a year or so later, the thing is alarming a couple of times a day because it has no capacity. Time for a new UPS.

The thing sat there for five years with no problem, and now, the new batteries have pegged-out after a year. I have no faith in aftermarket batteries now. My first thought was that you may have the same issue. I'm not going to bother with after-market batteries any more (ebay prices were tempting, but a false economy). Looking at batteries from the original supplier, you're better off just finding a good price on a replacement unit rather than messing about.
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 7:06 am Post subject:

That's what I'm thinking too Bish. It's hung pretty well with the current load until just lately. This particular unit is about 7 years old, so it's most likely passed it's service limit.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 7:56 am Post subject:

And keep in mind, even if your battery is starting to go, it will still work with a lesser load. So you can buy a new unit, plug all the most important stuff into it, and keep the rest of your equipment plugged into the old unit. There's no rule (that I know of) that says you can't have more than one UPS.
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Bruce · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:18 am Post subject:

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:48 am Post subject:

What can a brown-out do for you? cool

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georgethetech · Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:00 am Post subject:

I've used a Furman AR-1215 for 15 years now. I gave up on un-reliable UPS devices, and can't afford the truly professional, true-sine, online units. I've never lost any data due to power failure, it just seems modern OS's are too smart for that these days, and Twistedwave auto-recovers very effectively in the event of an emergency water landing.
That said, if I lived in an area where power loss was commonplace, I'm sure I'd have a different tune. Bill Ratner has 20 deep cycle marine batteries that can run his studio for days (and it has during a 5 day power outage a few years back!).
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