Backup Power for Electric Bed

[Anonymous user]

Hello,
I am disabled and use an electric bed designed for home use. It comes with a backup battery pack that holds 3 9volt batteries in case the power goes out when the head of the bed is sitting up and needs to be lowered.

As I live in Florida with hurricanes and intermittent power outages. I want a battery backup with more power and duration than the 9volt.

I am not sure which backup unit to get, the Back-UPS or Smart-UPS. I don't like the Smart-UPS as when the power goes out, a fan within the unit goes on and drains the power out of the battery. I can not reach the power button on the UPS when this happens and I would quickly lose all the charge.

Then there is the issue of the Wave Form type. Will "Stepped approximation to a sinewave" work for me? Remember, this bed was designed to work off of three 9volt batteries, so I'm hoping the stepped sinewave will work for me and I will not need a true Sine Wave.

What do you think?

[Anonymous user]

Hello,
I am disabled and use an electric bed designed for home use. It comes with a backup battery pack that holds 3 9volt batteries in case the power goes out when the head of the bed is sitting up and needs to be lowered.

As I live in Florida with hurricanes and intermittent power outages. I want a battery backup with more power and duration than the 9volt.

I am not sure which backup unit to get, the Back-UPS or Smart-UPS. I don't like the Smart-UPS as when the power goes out, a fan within the unit goes on and drains the power out of the battery. I can not reach the power button on the UPS when this happens and I would quickly lose all the charge.

Then there is the issue of the Wave Form type. Will "Stepped approximation to a sinewave" work for me? Remember, this bed was designed to work off of three 9volt batteries, so I'm hoping the stepped sinewave will work for me and I will not need a true Sine Wave.

What do you think?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Walter - how have you resolved your issue?
I am in the same situation and would like to buy a Smart-Ups for my Mom's electric hospital bed in case of power outages.
Any advice is appreciated : )
- FLA

[Erasmus_apc · Accepted solution]

walterdbn wrote:
Hello,
I am disabled and use an electric bed designed for home use. It comes with a backup battery pack that holds 3 9volt batteries in case the power goes out when the head of the bed is sitting up and needs to be lowered.

As I live in Florida with hurricanes and intermittent power outages. I want a battery backup with more power and duration than the 9volt.

I am not sure which backup unit to get, the Back-UPS or Smart-UPS. I don't like the Smart-UPS as when the power goes out, a fan within the unit goes on and drains the power out of the battery. I can not reach the power button on the UPS when this happens and I would quickly lose all the charge.

Then there is the issue of the Wave Form type. Will "Stepped approximation to a sinewave" work for me? Remember, this bed was designed to work off of three 9volt batteries, so I'm hoping the stepped sinewave will work for me and I will not need a true Sine Wave.

What do you think?

Walter,

I assume this bed uses a motor of some kind to raise/lower itself? What kind of plug does the bed use to get power from a wall outlet?

Assuming the bed does use a motor load and uses a normal three prong outlet, I think your best option would be a Smart-UPS unit. If you are referring to the fan inside the Smart-UPS unit itself, this does not detract from the battery backup time of the UPS. Some Back-UPS units also have fans. Cooling fans are necessary for large VA-sized units due to the amount of power that passes through them, and depending on the model design, to cool a larger battery. When comparing two equal VA-sized Smart-UPS and Back-UPS, the Smart-UPS will almost always have a little more runtime at a given wattage rating.

In reference to the sine wave form, I recommend a Smart-UPS unit because Smart-UPS units are known to work better with motor-based loads or loads that have higher inrush current characteristics. A pure sine-wave output is also not going to trip sensitive loads, like a stepped approximated wave sometimes can. Keep in mind that without the exact power specifications and knowledge of the bed you are using it's harder to make a recommendation, but I believe a Smart-UPS unit will guarantee the best performance.

If in doubt...you could have a friend/family member go to a store that allows full monetary returns, and buy a Back-UPS unit, test it, then return it if you have a problem with it after a day or two of using the bed, and testing the adjustments.

[Anonymous user]

Hi Erasmus,
Thank you for your thorough response and all the information.

Yes, the bed does have a small motor and it has a standard 3 prong plug. I got the following info off the side of the motor case to try to determine how much power it draws:
24 Volts DC
Max 3.6 Amps

Can the above be used to figure this out?

Basically, I need something that will power this motor for about 30 seconds at a time, two or three times a day and hopefully for a few days - in case a bad hurricane comes through. You mentioned that the fan in the larger units will not draw down the battery backup time. But over a few hours or a day or more, won't it draw down power then?

Walter

[Erasmus_apc · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the delay!

The fan on the unit draws a minimal amount of power, and is not enough to be an additional factor beyond our existing runtime calculations.

However, regardless of the presence of a fan on the UPS or not, our UPS' are not meant to be used in the same function as a generator, i.e. for multiple days of power supply. Based on the specs you have given, you would need a prohibitively large/expensive UPS to be able to get multiple days of power in an emergency situation. Our units would be great if you just had a lot of 30 second interruptions in power during the course of a day, and then continued with normal wall power the remainder of the day, but if you require the UPS to be on battery for days then I would have to suggest a generator instead.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hello, you ever get anything for your electric bed?? 

Thanks Kevin 

[Anonymous user]

I have run into a similar situation. I chose a UPS Back. Wrong choice after two or three power outages my UPS is now toast. I don't even know if there are replacement batteries available.

After contacting the manufacturer of my adjustable frame bed to confirm the V/Amp/Watt usage, I have decided to upgrade to a UPS Smart. It's overkill yet it will work better because I don't have to get to the UPS ASAP to turn it off during a power outage. It gives me about 40 minutes run time.