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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => AC Power and Grounding => Topic started by: Scott Holtzman on August 09, 2014, 12:06:58 AM

Title: UPS's for live production
Post by: Scott Holtzman on August 09, 2014, 12:06:58 AM
Mike I think a discussion on UPS's for live production would be a great topic.  I would like to participate and I have quite a bit of practical experience.  The Juice Goose stuff is very expensive.  A UPS is a UPS, making it application specific is a gimmick.

The specs on UPS's are every bit as misleading as audio equipment, it's not just watts/$ A poor UPS can be worse than none at all.

If you would do the honors and kick it off.

Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Mike Sokol on August 09, 2014, 08:32:40 PM
Yes, I take requests. Be sure to tip your bartenders and waitresses. I'll be here all week... ;D
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Jeffery Foster on August 09, 2014, 11:05:52 PM
We use multiple Tripplite 1000LCD, specs here; http://www.tripplite.com/line-interactive-ups-system-desktop-1000va-120v-usb-port-lcd-screen~SMART1000LCD/

No negative experiences yet.  (take THAT, karma!)
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Tim Padrick on August 10, 2014, 01:08:19 AM
On little stuff we (day job) use http://www.directron.com/kin1000aprm.html

On big stuff we use https://www.toshiba.com/tic/product/1000-1000-series-1-0-6-0kva
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Mike Sokol on August 10, 2014, 09:10:03 AM
We use multiple Tripplite 1000LCD, specs here; http://www.tripplite.com/line-interactive-ups-system-desktop-1000va-120v-usb-port-lcd-screen~SMART1000LCD/

No negative experiences yet.  (take THAT, karma!)

Pretty affordable unit and I like that it does a buck/boost function to raise low voltage up by 14 volts without kicking into battery mode. http://www.amazon.com/ss/customer-reviews/B000B651DO/ref=dpx_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dpx_acr_txt&showViewpoints=1 (http://www.amazon.com/ss/customer-reviews/B000B651DO/ref=dpx_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dpx_acr_txt&showViewpoints=1)

But is it sturdy enough to live on the road? Anything with a battery inside is prone to vibration and drop failure just from the weight. If I were toting this around I would consider carrying it in a foam lined tub or putting it in a shock-mount rack. Just how are you transporting it?
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Jeffery Foster on August 10, 2014, 11:19:42 AM
But is it sturdy enough to live on the road? Anything with a battery inside is prone to vibration and drop failure just from the weight. If I were toting this around I would consider carrying it in a foam lined tub or putting it in a shock-mount rack. Just how are you transporting it?

So far so good.  They go in a foam lined road case with the power cables and seem to be living right. They are indeed very heavy.
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Mike Sokol on August 10, 2014, 02:20:47 PM
So far so good.  They go in a foam lined road case with the power cables and seem to be living right. They are indeed very heavy.

Does anyone have a quick list of digital mixing console power draw? My WAG is that most of the portable ones would be less than 1,000 watts. However, we have an SSL in the studio where I teach that draws 20 amps from the line all the time. But that's certainly not portable nor standard. We also have an X32 which can't be more than a few hundred watts draw, and we may be installing an iLive T112 soon for the theatre. Anybody using a digital console pulling more than 1,000 watts? 

As noted earlier, you'll also need a UPS on the stage box if it's a digital connection (most of them are, of course). But again, I'm pretty sure they'll be under 1,000 watts as well.

And certainly, just a few minutes of backup power is sufficient for this gig since if the lights go out and the power amps go down, 5 minutes of the console running on battery is good enough.
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Cailen Waddell on August 10, 2014, 06:52:46 PM

Does anyone have a quick list of digital mixing console power draw? My WAG is that most of the portable ones would be less than 1,000 watts. However, we have an SSL in the studio where I teach that draws 20 amps from the line all the time. But that's certainly not portable nor standard. We also have an X32 which can't be more than a few hundred watts draw, and we may be installing an iLive T112 soon for the theatre. Anybody using a digital console pulling more than 1,000 watts? 

As noted earlier, you'll also need a UPS on the stage box if it's a digital connection (most of them are, of course). But again, I'm pretty sure they'll be under 1,000 watts as well.

And certainly, just a few minutes of backup power is sufficient for this gig since if the lights go out and the power amps go down, 5 minutes of the console running on battery is good enough.

We have a 1500 va ups in our stage rack.   There is a PowerCon out bundled with or FOH snake that feeds console power.  Draw is plenty low....  I like the setup, but there are many ways to get there. 
Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Scott Holtzman on August 11, 2014, 12:26:24 AM
We use multiple Tripplite 1000LCD, specs here; http://www.tripplite.com/line-interactive-ups-system-desktop-1000va-120v-usb-port-lcd-screen~SMART1000LCD/

No negative experiences yet.  (take THAT, karma!)

Thanks Mike, I am flying out to Vegas tomorrow and am going to put together a table of weight/runtime and several other factors of the full time UPS products.

To me, even the 1/4 or 1/2 cycle switching time is not acceptable for live production.

Title: Re: UPS's for live production
Post by: Mike Sokol on August 11, 2014, 07:05:48 AM
Thanks Mike, I am flying out to Vegas tomorrow and am going to put together a table of weight/runtime and several other factors of the full time UPS products.

To me, even the 1/4 or 1/2 cycle switching time is not acceptable for live production.

For my computer server installations we always used Full-Time UPS's. Of course, they're twice as heavy and twice as expensive since their "charging" system has to be large enough to power the output at full capacity for 100% of the time. But that was always the gold standard. So just how good have what we'll call "backup" UPS's become. And are they good enough for digital consoles. It would be interesting to get a company such as Digico and Allen & Heath to comment on backup-vs full-time UPS's for their products. I do have engineering connections at both and could ask.