Dispatches from this weird economy PART1 - Freight Delays

As many of you know, we love shipping everything on pallets via truck freight.  Rarely does the product arrived damaged if we pack it right.  Freight offers good value based on it transit times and price for anyone with a commercial address.

However, some things are changing....

Since freight companies laid off hundreds of local drivers when the recession hit, they dont have the drivers to handle pickup and deliveries.   Just recently, a shipment waited 3 days in a LA terminal waiting for a truck to make the delivery.   Our freight company's local drivers are starting earlier and ending later.  Many of the big guys are hiring or pushing their local drivers to do crazy overtime.   Bottomline, is even small increases in freight are causing delays throughout the system.

So while freight is still good value, please understand that delivery dates aren't guaranteed.  Timely shipments need either to be Airport Freighted or FedEx'd.

Preview of Summer Newsletter

Later this week, our new quarterly newsletter will go out to our customers.

Inside you will get specials on the APC 3000va 5U unit ($50 off),  Accumetrics 700va Hvy Duty UPS ($50 off) and accessory specials like the  $1 rail kit off (with purchase of UPS) and the free Management Card for any APC online UPS.
Also you will learn about our new warranty and replacement covers
SignUp here for the newsletter and feel free to take advantages of the offers.

Best Technical Posts

Here are some of the posts that I refer customers the most often

• Why you must use a 30amp plug on a 3000va unit
• How to use a UPS for one or two entire circuits in an office
• Why UPSes really arent surge suppressors
• Understanding the types of high voltage systems

Finally Replacement Bezels for your UPS

GreenlightUPS is excited to launch it line of replacement APC battery bezel covers for the classic SmartUPS 3U and 5U units.

For years there has been a crazy shortage of battery covers for the SU3000RM3U units.  Even in our store, we offered coverless units for up to $50 off.   Not anymore....  we partnered with a metal shop to build us metal alternatives for these impossible to get covers.

Our metal plates are like the APC plastic ones with textured beige or black color matched paint, finished edges and grooved lock.  Instead of those cheap tabs that hold the unit in place, we used a magnet.   They look great and are priced competitively.

Learn more about the MBC 3U and MBC 5U plates....

New SmartCards coming to GreenlightUPS

As you all know, i really hate the built in communication features of the UPSes.  To me they just dont work right.

Thankfully, the first generation of SMTP cards from APC (AP9617, AP9619) have been upgraded.  Now the 2nd generation cards are out  (AP9630 and AP9631) and are much easier to program and use.

So GreenlightUPS will now start offering the 2nd gen. cards from APC, along with the older ones.   Check out our expanded Accessory category in our store to find the new 2nd Gen qsc30 card and cards for Tripplite and Powerware.

Random APC Part of the month

Even though APC is best known for its UPS units, they also sell some crazy stuff.  So in a first in a series, we review some of those APC parts you might not ever need...

This month its the APC ProtectNET standalone RS232 Surge Suppressor.... PS9-DCE

This sort of worthless item provides surge suppression for a RS232 port.   So if you are trying to hyper terminal into your UPS through a serial port cable, you should buy this for maximum protection.

It may come as a disappointment, that GreenlightUPS does NOT sell this item,  sorry....

A bountiful ONLINE harvest

For whatever reason we have acquired alot of APC SmartUPS Online units recently.  Sadly no 10kva units, but we have SURT7500XLTs, 5000s, 3000s, tons of XL battery packs and tons of transformers.

So effective immediately, all APC Online series units will include rack rails (a $30 value) and on UPS units, a AP9619 smartcard ($175) if they are requested.  Store and eBay listings will reflect this change later in the summer

D means Disco PART 1

A curious thing occurred a few years ago with APC's Smart Online UPS series.  They added a letter to the part number and virtually kept every major spec the same.  For years, I made no distinction in my part #


The SURT5000XLT (593g3) and the SURTD5000XLT  are incredibly similar.   Two obvious things changed.  The first is the newer "D" model replaced the serial port with a RJ45 type communication jack.  Apparently, this has changed all sorts of comm protocols  (which causes my eyes to glaze over).  The second thing is that the unit is no longer a rack/tower combination.   APC now makes the rack version a different part # (SURTD5000RMXLT3U) and $150 more.

However, 2 specs have changed.  The first is Online Thermal Dissipation, which has increased from 1040 BTU/hr to 1150.  (To be honest, I really dont what that exactly is).   The second is the runtime.    Though they both use the RBC44, one has a half load runtime of 15mins and the newer18mins.


So does that mean the new unit is more efficient and uses nano-piezelloic power to increase runtime  OR did APC change the specs for the RBC44? It sounds like something we can test.... anyone want to bet on the nano-piezelloic power?


Since more people are asking for the D version, I guess I am going to make another part #.   Look for the 593g4 to indicate the SURTD5000XLT.

Quick review of load lights

I often recommend people to keep their UPS's loaded no more than 50%.  However, a quick check of the left hand side LED bank can be confusing in determining your load.

Instead of being logical and making each light 20%, APC has a special formula.  This tends to distort their actual load.

So a quick review...
1 bar is 17-32%
2 bars is 33-50%
3 bars is 51-66%
4 bars is 67-84%
5 bars is 85-100%
All flashing is overloaded

Inventory that Ebbs and Flows

Because of you, GreenlightUPS is having a record year.

This good news does have some drawbacks though.  One is the frantic attempt to balance what you want with what is available to us.  This has caused us to rebalance some of our prices to reflect these strange demand trends.

One example is the 3000va 120volt XL units.
We cant keep enough of our 313B units (SU3000RMXL3U) in stock.  The result is that the price has risen from 449 last year to 569 now.   While the 5U version, 315 (SU3000RMNET) has fallen from $499 to $439.

Both units have the same battery and power capacity, yet because of preferences the prices differ by $130.  I personally like the 315's better because they use fewer higher capacity batteries, which is more desirable in UPS units.

So the bottomline, if you are looking for a particular UPS model #, you might want to call me or search around to find the best value for your dollar.