Pumps and your UPS
 

Is anyone using a pump on their UPS?

Obviously if you've got a UPS, you need the pump to work when the power's out, but I've been seeing all sorts of warnings against plugging a laser printer or scanner into one. What type of bad news should I expect if I put my pump on the UPS?

If I'm not wrong, plugging the laser printer on the UPS would suck up the battery very quickly, laser printers being high electrical consumers. Dunno about scanners...:shrug:

As for the pump, I don't really see any reason why not plug it to the UPS, considering we are talking about (mostly used) small wattage aquarium or pond pumps. I'm talking about small, 10 - 30 watts pumps, and they would not shorten the time of the battery drain for much (IMHO). If we are talking about high wattage pumps, one could plug it in, but take approx. 300 W psu for computer, plus (dunno how much, approx 50 W) for a monitor and add a pump = battery drained very quickly...

If I had a UPS, I would most certainly plug my pump to it too, cos' I wouldn't want to my comp stay on while pump is off, and no circulation and cooling...

Just my 2c...

my pump is connected to my PSU, and my Computer is connected to my UPS.

Does that count?

I don't know if this would have any adverce affects on your pump, but my UPS (a cheapie I picked up at a sale) puts out a stepped wave forum, instead of a true sine wave. Again, I don't know if this would affect your pump, but I do know that my monitor does not like it at all (it makes squealing noises until I turn it off)!

Exactly!:p

given that a UPS will only keep the computer running long enough for someone to shut it down, I wouldn't wire the pump to it: the timeframe is too small.

Damn, now I have to re think my PSU design!

Heh, this one is 1200VA, which can give me (claimed) like an hour of uptime. That's a lot of time running w/o a pump.

I think I'll put the pump on it and see what the software reports about the load. I always thought there was some issue with inductive loads on these things, which a pump definately is.

I guess the real question is if it outputs a true sinewave. If not, it'll probably shorten the pump life by a lot.

Well, my pump hates my UPS with a passion. Then again, it is a Little Giant, and my UPS is only rated for 500W... in any case, the one time I tried connecting the pump to the UPS and taking out the power the pump sounded very upset, so I don't keep it like this anymore.

I have a "Car Battery" type UPS rated for a max of 750W :D
(litteraly, it looks like a car battery when I open up the case)

I have my main system, pump, and monitor plugged into it and it works fine.

As a matter of fact I have (3) UPS devices; one for main system, one for server, and one for DSLs and Router. One day the power went out for who knows how long and when I came back, the only devices that survived without loosing power was my main machine; the POWER monster! :)

BTW All of the UPS i have I got for FREE!!!! :D I love the perks of my job...........sometimes.

someday a modding guru will end up using relays, batteries, & a 120VAC generator to solve the problem, if it hasn't happened already :shrug: .

I've been running a 21" monitor, comp~550w/PSU, 150w pump, and my cube fridge all on a 1400va APC brand UPS for over a year. Not one problem. I get about 30 min on backup. Setup so that windows monitors it and shuts down after 10min if I loose power. Windows XP even had the driver so I didn't have to load their crappy utility.

Granted the UPS I have retails for ~$650. But when you get it second hand for nothing, replace one stuck relay ($5), and have a like new UPS.

I don't know if it would be such a good idea with a cheapo UPS.

Hope that helps.:)