GreenlightUPS on mobile phones

Its not a iPhone app, but we did reconfigure our website to meet the needs of our mobile customers.

The mobile site offers you a contact mobile browsing experience with the following features

• Address, Phone #, Store and Blog links
• A quick message link .. which sends a message to our phones 24hrs a day
• A link to our "Go" page.. which allows you to look up specs to any of our products based on the SKU

Coming soon... All Weather Battery Backup Units

It was bound to happen, a customer asked and we went to work creating another Frankenstein UPS unit.  This time the TougherUPS was born from Greenlight LABS

The TougherUPS takes a regular SmartUPS 750va system, breaks it down and turns it into an all weather, all dancing UPS unit.  A large fiberglass Nema 3R, 4X, 12 enclosure holds everything.  It includes a clear window to display the status and a nice vented grate to allow for air flow.

While its still in the prototype stage. it looks very promising.   Target price is $500.  If you are interested in the outdoor ups system, send us an email of encouragement

Symmetra PX Output Designs

Its weird, sometimes I get two customers asking almost the same thing within days of each other.  I wonder if you all are just ganging up on me.

Though I try very hard to be accurate and consistent, sometimes the 2nd guy gets the better answer.   And by the time I write this out, an even better answer comes out.

This week its "how do i can use the 3phase power from the PX to power my servers"

The first guy got my electrical answer....  Install a subpanel and distribute the circuits like you would in your house.  The second guy got the APC InfrastruXure answer.  .... Buy lots of PDUs and power whips and keep everything free flowing in the racks.

Both the blue-collar union electrician design works as well as the hippy techie super scalable design.  But there are some important design considerations worthy of a GreenlightUPS Onesheet.

Download it here.  

What's the Frequency Kenneth? .. since Bob doesnt know what he is talking about.

Back in 2010, I made some snarky statement about Frequency in UPSes and exercise machines.  And more importantly I made a FALSE statement.  I said this nonsense:

Unfortunately, UPSes input and output whatever frequency you give them.  To change frequency you need a Genset or something god-awfully expensive.

It turns out, this is true for most APC and Tripplite models.  But Liebert Online units can deliver both 50 and 60hz regardless of the input frequency.

The Liebert GXT2 series available in 6000va, 3000va and 2000va.

So now our overseas friends can take that low frequency power and pump it up to 60 mind-blowing hertz... Like DJ Mono's.. the Frequency

 

Another Frankenstein..... ThePowerTower3000

I am always surprised that so many businesses refuse to tweek or modify their products or services to meet the needs of the customer.  

Just this month I got requests for a) frequency converter in Jamaica, b) emergency power station for a lab, c) equipment protector for photolab exporter, and d) a UPS to power the brains of a CNC machine.

Nearly always, I come with something.  Sometimes its too much money, other times I figure a work around using their parts.... but still other times I create something crazy.

This time its the Power Tower 3000.

While it sounds like some bad 80s sci-fi gadget its actually a pretty cool device.   What the customer wanted was a) a UPS to power some lighting circuits, b) would work off a generator, and c)offer alot of runtime.

Thats what this baby can do.  It starts with a Matrix UPS which is a tranformer-centric UPS which can output 4 wire 120/240 power.   It then has a 48VDC bus so sets of four car sized batteries can be added to create lots of runtime.   Finally it has a din rail type subpanel which allows for separate lighting circuits to be hardwired into it.

We built something similar last time... but this looks like an affordable solution for my customer.  Whether he pulls the Buy switch and brings this creation to life is still unknown.   Stay tuned.

Bill Me Later - 18 month interest free!!

Bill Me Later is a Paypal service offered to individuals and businesses which allows you to buy from selected merchants at a very favorable interest rate.  In the world of tight budgets, getting some flexibility with your purchases is a welcome relief.

We recently had a customer complete a 5000$ deal with them and he was very satisfied.

If you are interested, please carefully review the terms.   Then we'll be glad to bundle your purchase on our website for the Bill Me Later option.

Remember, Bill Me Later is service from a third party and any questions or concerns should direct to them.

New New New New Units...

Exciting NEWs... These  NEW offerings from GreenlightUPS are for NEW sealed boxed units from our  NEW  site.    Lots of  NEWs (oh the puns)

Visit this site for some new Genuine APC RBC battery packs

Visit our our main site for new APC UPS units

FrankensteinUPS

FrankensteinUPS... That's what a friend called my custom APC Battery BackUP units.

But while they are a creation of mad-UPS technician, they are not to be feared.  These customized and modified UPS units were designed to meet a specific market need, underserved by the traditional UPS models.

So here a guide to some of our "creations"

UPS for Copiers  = 310r  (LINK)
3000va to handle startup, but smaller batteries to save money

UPS for those stuck on the BackUPS RS Units = 402rt  (LINK)

Same wattage as those goofy units, but with a Pure Sine output, at about the same price!

5kva Online UPS with a transformer in a 5U rack format = 593g4k  (LINK)

I must be crazy, but APC wont let you buy this combination as a set.  They steer you to something which is a lot more money.  But we have it.  

Rack Tower 3kva System that wont break the bank = 302t  (LINK)

Want flexibility in the mounting.... too bad says APC.  We say nonsense... here is a 3kva unit that can be a 2U or thin client tower... around $500.

A combination Cabinet and Fan System = rk42a7F  (LINK)

Again weird that APC doesnt pair these two options... an awesome rack cabinet with an amazing fan system.

Handy Solutions... now in kit form

I have been known to spend hours working on UPS solutions for customers.  Sometimes the fix is easy and I suggest a few parts that make all the difference.  When the same problem and solution keeps coming up... I now bundle the parts up and refer the customer to our website to order.

Two more Solutions Kits have been added.

Kit 4 solves the problem of the desire to add your own large batteries to an UPS safely.  This kit includes the connector, cable, terminals and fusing to make this easy and safe.

Kit 5 solves the growing problem of converting from 120volt to 208volt without using a transformer.  As I mentioned several times, all your equipment runs fine at high voltage.  The only problem is changing your cord structure.  This kit provides the high voltage PDU and power cords.  Plus since many people are going from 120v 30amp to 250v 30a, I have included a L630 receptacle to match the UPS.  In many cases you can use that same 30amp circuit to run the high voltage on.

1500va, 2200va, and 3000va .... LIES, LIES, LIES

As we have discussed before, 1500va is 1500 volt-amps.
Volt amps are an absolute real technical value... however in the UPS world volt amps is a nominal or descriptive term.

As an example... APC's 1500va unit is actually a 1440va unit and APC's 2200va is a 1920va unit 
Why the mis-naming?

2 Reasons:

• Marketing - bigger numbers sound better
• Technical - with modifications you can achieve the full VA rating.

I'll pass on the Marketing reason for now and focus on the technical

Look at the following picture from the back of an APC SUA2200.  It shows the Max Output for 2200 and 3000 va UPS based on the Input Plug

As you can see, if you buy a SUA2200 with its standard 520P 20A plug, it will only provide 1920va worth of power.   If you put a 30amp plug on the unit, it will give you the full 2200va rating.  If you put a 15amp plug, you get a 1440va unit.

All of this is because a 20amp electrical circuit cant really give you 20amps. National electrical codes and guidelines suggest a maximum 80% rating for a circuit.   That means your 1500 (15a) is a 1440va and your 3000 (30a) is only a 2880va.  

So thats one of the reasons why you will see our 2200va units including the SUA2200 (200b) get a L530P plug.  Its not that we are smarter than APC, but just a bit more honest.