APC Silcon 60kW - What do all the abbreviations mean? e.g. Vbp1, %Wout...

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

I have a APC Silcon DP360E - 60kW 400V UPS in the DC and get the stats as data.txt via FTP. Now I would like to analyze the data, especially the efficiency and loss of the UPS. What do all the abbreviations mean? I made up a list, please correct me where I am wrong and explain it better:

Vmin - Voltage minimum (whats this, input, output, battery status?)
Vmax - Voltage maximum
Vbp - Bias Voltage? Whats that?
lin - L is a Live wire, so one value for each Live wire. Is it kW or % or what?
Vout - Voltage out
lout - Live wire out
%Wout -
kVA out - Apparent power out
Vbat - The actual Voltage of the batteries
lbat -

Besides the last two entries every value is there 3 times (e.g. Vmin1, Vmin2, Vmin3) for the three Live wires. When do I have to add the values and when do I have to calculate the average? As you can see I am not a electrician 🙂

Help would be nice, thanks!

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

You are great! Thank you very much!

Thanks to your answer I now have more questions... 🙂

On the display of the UPS is says "Load: 32%". Just this single value. But in the data.txt the 3 values for %Wout are always about 21 or 22 each. Why is that?

Iin and Iout are only integer values. Is that enough as a measurement or is it possible to get more precise values (with comma)?

For Ibat there are only the values 0.0 and 1.0. What does that mean? Does 0.0 mean that the batteries where not charged in the last 10 minutes and 1.0 means that they got charged a little bit?

[BillP]

hi

i dont know much about 3 phase UPSs specifically but i do know the management card.


Vmin - this is the minimum input line voltage that the UPS saw within the logging interval (defaults to 10 minutes in most applications) - you might see a value for 1, 2, 3 for each phase
Vmax - this is the maximum input line voltage that the UPS saw within the logging interval (defaults to 10 minutes in most applications) - you might see a value for 1, 2, 3 for each phase
Vbp - these values will be your bypass mode voltages.
lin - the first letter is the letter "i" is a universal indicator for Current. This is your input current on each phase.
Vout - Voltage out for each phase
lout - This is actually an "i" so this is current out for each phase if you see a Iout1, 2 and 3.
*%Wout* - percentage of wattage out. this is based on the unit's rated capacity.
kVA out - Apparent power out - yes, thousands of volt amps. so if it says 1.4, thats 1400 volt amps out.
Vbat - The actual Voltage of the batteries
lbat - battery current. again, the letter is an 'i'.


as far as i know, none of these values need calculation unless you want to switch the % values out based on the unit's rated capacity and calculate and actual wattage value.

[BillP]

well, let me tell you what I can based on my limited experience with these units.

On the display of the UPS is says "Load: 32%". Just this single value. But in the data.txt the 3 values for %Wout are always about 21 or 22 each. Why is that?

i believe that the front display is just telling you the load across all of the phases and then you'll see in the data log the values for each phase load. do you see anywhere in the web under the UPS tab the 32%?

Iin and Iout are only integer values. Is that enough as a measurement or is it possible to get more precise values (with comma)?

you're best bet will be to check a few SNMP OIDs for the values. they won't populate in the data log. So either the web UI or SNMP might provide decimal. I can help you with OIDs if you can use SNMP.

For Ibat there are only the values 0.0 and 1.0. What does that mean? Does 0.0 mean that the batteries where not charged in the last 10 minutes and 1.0 means that they got charged a little bit?

on units like this, this relates to the battery current. if the UPS is not running on battery, then the batteries are not outputting current, only the UPS inverter is. you should only see values populated here when the batteries are in use providing the output power and you are having a power event. this is not the battery charge.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks again, you are a great help!

However, I am a bit puzzled regarding the different numbers. I want to know how many kW go in and how many kW go out (and whats the loss).
Here are the average numbers in my example:

Vmin = 3 * ~402V
Vmax = 3 * ~404V
Vbp = 3 * ~403V
Iin = 3 * ~26A
Vout = 3 * ~398V
Iout = 3 * ~25A
%Wout = 3 * 22%
kVAout = 3 * ~6kVA
Vbat = ~435V
Ibat = +0.0 or +1.0

I guess one way would be to look at the %Wout values. All three phases are at about 22% (of 60kW?), which would mean 13 kW * 3 = 37 kW. Or is it just 13 kW altogether?

A second value that could be the answer is kVAout. Its 3 * ~6kVA, so about 18kW?

On the display of the UPS I see a "Load: 32%". If that means 32% of 60 kW that would be 19,2kW.

Another way for the input would be to use the average between Vmin1,2,3 and Vmax1,2,3 * Iin * 3 Phases = 32 kW
Output: Average of Vout1,2,3 * Average Iout * 3 Phases = 30 kW

In my opinion the values of the last calculation look good. 32kW go in and 30kW go out, there is a loss of about 2 kW. But whats the right calculation? Why are the others wrong and give completely different values?

Message was edited by: bugmenot20080812

[BillP]

hi,

i asked someone more familiar with the UPS and here is what he said:

I guess one way would be to look at the %Wout values. All three phases are at about 22% (of 60kW?), which would mean 13 kW * 3 = 37 kW. Or is it just 13 kW altogether?

The %Wout is the kW per phase - the total load% is the sum of all three phases: 22 L1 + 22 L2 +22 L3, in this case

A second value that could be the answer is kVAout. Its 3 * ~6kVA, so about 18kW?

Given the kVAout is ~6kVA, the total kVAout is ~18. Assuming the load is completely linear, the kVA = kW = ~18

On the display of the UPS I see a "Load: 32%". If that means 32% of 60 kW that would be 19,2kW.

The total load% as shown by the display is the calculated load% based on measured current supplied to the load only from the highest measured phase. For example, if L1=23%, L2=21%, and L3= 22%, the display will show "Load 23%".

Another way for the input would be to use the average between Vmin1,2,3 and Vmax1,2,3 * Iin * 3 Phases = 32 kW
Output: Average of Vout1,2,3 * Average Iout * 3 Phases = 30 kW
In my opinion the values of the last calculation look good. 32kW go in and 30kW go out, there is a loss of about 2 kW. But whats the right calculation? Why are the others wrong and give completely different values?

A more accurate way to determine the average total power consumption would be to calculate the kW per phase:

kW = (Vin x Iin x Power Factor x 1.73) / 1000, where power factor is 1 for linear loads

The value for the above equation can be x3 to give the total power used. The Vmin/max and Imin/max can be substituted, however, this will show a range of operation, not the average.

hope that helps