This week, we have had lots of discussions with people needing a UPS in combination with a generator.
Many large companies used to buy very large UPS systems to survive power outages. However, with the high costs and limtations of these room UPSes many are now looking for a more affordable way.
Now the thinking is have a UPS that offers just enough runtime, until the generator can be activated.
If you are thinking of this design, remember generators provide "dirty power" so be sure to have:
- surge suppression on your panel feeding your UPS
- consider UPS units which use the Double Conversion ups technology, insuring clean power.
Other nice tidbits for our experience wtith generators for Hurricane Wilma:
- keep surge strips & extension cables handy... to reconfigure loads or reroute UPSes as needed.
- buy a led strip light for your server room... every watt is precious during generator runs
- keep several small desktop upses around... as replacements or casual offline use
- triage your loads as "important" and bare bones "essential" and make sure PDUs and UPSes contain only those loads.
- install an blue colored outlet that is connected to generator system, but not to the UPS for things like box fans and charging station.
