UPS and whole house generator.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

I have a whole house generator that switches automatically to supply generator voltage during blackouts.

I have two APC UPS's. Both will keep switching back and forth between battery and AC input when this happens. PowerChute shows that it is because of "electrical noise". During a prolonged blackout, one depleted the battery fairly quickly (need a new battery I think) whereas the other, after a few minutes, went onto just battery supply even with the sensitivity set to "Low".

Would installing a "line conditioner/voltage regulator" and plugging the UPS's into that help?

voidstar_apc · ‎2021-06-28

I wouldn't expect a line conditioner/voltage regulator to help much if the UPSes are transferring due to electrical noise. You could try reducing the load and seeing if that gets a cleaner output on the generator.

See Answer In Context

Segfault_apc · ‎2021-06-28

I have much cheaper 6.5 kW generator which has to be started manually, so I'd expect it's output to be even "dirtier". However, switching to "low" helped, but I had to adjust the frequency of generator to 60 Hz by hand - it wasn't close enough.

voidstar_apc · ‎2021-06-28

I wouldn't expect a line conditioner/voltage regulator to help much if the UPSes are transferring due to electrical noise. You could try reducing the load and seeing if that gets a cleaner output on the generator.