Mobile- rough usage -Upside down -etc- even frozen

[Anonymous user]

Hello I've got one of the little ones and I'm an event video guy traveling around from venue to venue recording video to DVD burners.
I was always terrified that I'd lose ac power in the middle of a recording which would cause the DVD burn to fail completely and I'd lose the job and any revenue etc etc.
Once I plugged all my gear to the 8 outlets at first I was really quite relieved that even in the event of a power failure, I'd still be able to shut down the burners properly so as no to lose the video. Testing the system determined that the power supply was indeed uninterrupted. I only use a hundred watts or so.
Several times lately I've had trouble getting the thing started. Push the button to get the green light on and nothing. Then finally after several minutes of resetting and pushing the start button, the green light comes on and so far stays on.
I always have to tear down and set up again somewhere else of course the little APC ups.
Are these meant to say put under a desk and not be moved about?
Any advice will be most welcome as my stress level has shot up again worrying about the mains going AND NOW the ups cutting out as well

[Anonymous user]

thanks again
the button on the side of the unit I thought it said reset
I'll pick up another one so I can have a bit or redundancy
Thanks again

[BillP]

can you please let us know which APC UPS you have? the model and serial number will be on the back or bottom of the UPS.

also, please be a little more specific on what sounds you hear from the UPS and what you see for LEDs on the UPS at any point.

thanks!

[Anonymous user]

Thank you for the very fast reply
My unit is APC 350 Back-UPS ES 8 and was bought 6 months ago at Futureshop (I believe this model is discontinued)
The green led light stays off while I'm pushing the start button and the reset button trying to get the unit to come to life. It probably beeps too.
The main question is whether or not these units can be moved about what with the lead acid battery and all

Could it be that since the upc stays in the van between gigs that the battery discharges a bit and it just takes a few minutes or so when plugged into the mains again for the unit to wake up and start doing its thing?


Message was edited by: halfpipe for typos

Message was edited by: halfpipe a new thought

[BillP]

ok, so it must be a BE350R. the UPS isnt really meant to be moved i guess but i dont really see an issue with it as long as the battery stays connected the entire time. the battery is basically like a car battery so it acts the same way. when its really cold, sometimes its harder to start the car. i am not 100% sure that is the issue here but it may be..

what do you mean by the "reset" button? do you mean the overload circut breaker?

[Anonymous user]

I'm wondering if my BE350R UPS will deliver relatively clean power to my video gear if it is powered by a small 800 watt gas noninverter type generator?

[BillP]

a BE350R can run on generator power as long as the voltage and frequency are in range of what the UPS accepts. there is also a sensitivity setting on the UPS that can be lowered (via software) if the default setting causes the UPS to switch back and forth from battery due to voltage, THD, electrical noise, etc from the generator. there is a high, medium, and low setting on the UPS and the default is high.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

The battery will survive freezing temp. so long as it has a charge, but a discharged battery will freeze and be ruined,
you might want to bring the unit inside for storage and plug it in, instead of just leaving it in the equipment vehicle.
Also, when you bring the unit inside to use it or for storage make sure it has a chance to get to room temp. before plugging it in or connecting anything to it.

The storage temp. range has a greater range, than the operational temp. range.

It's not the battery as much as the internal electrical & electronic components that require "warming" from freezing temp. to operational temp. because of condensation issues you could get a short circuit & fry something by putting it into use immediately after bringing it in from a freezing temp.

best practices for transport is use shipping packaging (the box it came in or something similar) and try to have it standing in the upright normal position.

cheers