After dealing with some pretty crappy venue power during a location
recording a while ago that drove even my Tripplite LC2400 a little nuts,
I'm up for a "double" or "pure sine" UPS. The battery backup is an
excellent and needed by-product; but I'd like to get pristine
"reconstructed" power for the critical portions of my remote gear (Grace
pres and HD24 XR).

I'd be okay with about 500-600 VA. A little web searching turned up a few
of these systems by all the regular players such as APC and TrippLite, but
there're also some names I'm not familiar with, such as SmartPower.
Leviton also has a few models, but I wonder if someone else is building
the boxes for them.

I assume at least a few folks have gone the pure sine UPS route, and am
curious what you finally selected. I've found some posts in the
rec.audio.pro archives but nothing really recent. Are you still happy with
what you got? Would you select something different in hindsight?

The obvious concerns a

1. Mechanical noise -- most units I've seen have at least two of the
little screamer 50-80 mm computer fans. Uh-oh. This might mean buying way
more capacity than I need but then retrofitting with lower velocity fans.

2. Robustness -- ideally, near garbage power in, perfect power out -- any
comments on which units seem to be able to handle the widest range of
input power problems?

3. Reliability -- be nice to get something that won't smoke after six
months -- or in the middle of a live recording! g

Thanks in advance for any advice/experiences,

Frank Stearns
Mobile Audio
--

Frank Stearns wrote:
After dealing with some pretty crappy venue power during a location
recording a while ago that drove even my Tripplite LC2400 a little nuts,
I'm up for a "double" or "pure sine" UPS. The battery backup is an
excellent and needed by-product; but I'd like to get pristine
"reconstructed" power for the critical portions of my remote gear (Grace
pres and HD24 XR).

I have an install around here with a Liebert UPS Station GXT. It weighs
a ton, but it is quiet, robust, and reliable. Very, very inefficient,
though, so if you need long running time it'll need an external battery
pack. A whole lot nicer than the cheap APC junk, but also a lot more
expensive.

If you're in a truck, though, you might consider going the ferroresonant
regulator route. No good for generator power, but excellent for dealing
with any line problems as long as the frequency is stable.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Frank Stearns wrote:
After dealing with some pretty crappy venue power during a location
recording a while ago that drove even my Tripplite LC2400 a little nuts,
I'm up for a "double" or "pure sine" UPS. The battery backup is an

I have an install around here with a Liebert UPS Station GXT. It weighs
a ton, but it is quiet, robust, and reliable. Very, very inefficient,

Hi Scott -

Thanks for the ref. Their stuff looks pretty good. One thing I'm not
finding in their specs is just how inefficient. Is it 2 to 1 input power
to output? Something less? Something more??

Also, did you go through a local rep for yours, or did you find an online
seller?

Thanks again,

Frank
Mobile Audio
--

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Frank Stearns wrote:
After dealing with some pretty crappy venue power during a location
recording a while ago that drove even my Tripplite LC2400 a little nuts,
I'm up for a "double" or "pure sine" UPS. The battery backup is an
excellent and needed by-product; but I'd like to get pristine
"reconstructed" power for the critical portions of my remote gear (Grace
pres and HD24 XR).

I have an install around here with a Liebert UPS Station GXT. It weighs
a ton, but it is quiet, robust, and reliable. Very, very inefficient,
though, so if you need long running time it'll need an external battery
pack. A whole lot nicer than the cheap APC junk, but also a lot more
expensive.

If you're in a truck, though, you might consider going the ferroresonant
regulator route. No good for generator power, but excellent for dealing
with any line problems as long as the frequency is stable.
--scott

Leibert is first class stuff. I don't think they have succumbed to
marketing
and started putting out a cheap line of gear... Yet. With UPSs and power
conditioners, you largely get what you pay for, except in the audiophile
shops
and Monster brand.
A few years ago, Best had a nice unit that was always on, downconverting
wall power to 24VDC and regenerating AC from that. Efficiency was crap,
but the power was pristine.

--Dale

Dale Farmer wrote:
Leibert is first class stuff. I don't think they have succumbed to
marketing
and started putting out a cheap line of gear... Yet. With UPSs and power
conditioners, you largely get what you pay for, except in the audiophile
shops
and Monster brand.

I have been very happy with it. However, the client that is using it is
a government agency, so even if I did know who they bought it from, I would
not be able to admit it because contractors aren't supposed to have anything
to do with procurement.

A few years ago, Best had a nice unit that was always on, downconverting
wall power to 24VDC and regenerating AC from that. Efficiency was crap,
but the power was pristine.

All of the online units (including the Leibert I recommended) are this way.
And yes, they are all inefficient. The power is as pristine as the inverter
is, and the inverters aren't always so good because good waveforms and
efficiency don't go well together. That's why with the Liebert it will take
a much larger battery capacity to get the same running time on your load as
you'd get with a cheaper unit.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I'll second (or third) the positive comments on Liebert given by
others. They might have some Data Center bells & whistles you won't
need in your work (e.g. the Liebert UPS in my office emails me each
week to say that the scheduled battery test passed), but from a quality
and power conversion standpoint they're where it sounds like you want
to be. You also might look at MGE and Invensys Powerware, they both
make small cord-connected double-conversion units. They do have some
"consumer-grade" stuff too, but it should be obvious which is which.

If you're going to retrofit the fan (which may not be necessary on a
better UPS), you should try to find one that's just quieter, but with
the same flow. I think it's a quality (or accumulated dust) issue when
a fan like that is loud. I bet a lot of the manufacturers just don't
worry about noise from their fans since the unit will probably be
sitting in a rack full of servers, network switches, etc. that have
fans of their own making noise.

Frank Stearns wrote:
After dealing with some pretty crappy venue power during a location
recording a while ago that drove even my Tripplite LC2400 a little
nuts,
I'm up for a "double" or "pure sine" UPS.