UPS for Garage Door Opener

[skeetva_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 7/30/2007

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I have a 1/2 hp garage door opener that I want to put an ups on. This is my main entrance into the house and I want to be able to get in if the power goes out. What would be the recommended unit for this application?

[skeetva_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 7/30/2007

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I have a 1/2 hp garage door opener that I want to put an ups on. This is my main entrance into the house and I want to be able to get in if the power goes out. What would be the recommended unit for this application?

[Grenade_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 7/30/2007

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Since this would be powering a garage door opener, you would want to use a UPS that produces a pure sine wave while operating on battery. Motors tend to run into issues when they are being fed power from a step approximated sine wave. The Smart-UPS product line produces the pure sine wave. If you provide power requirements of the garage door opener, perhaps we could provide a specific size UPS. However, one thing to note is the UPS will provide power as soon as utility power is lost, so the UPS may exhaust all of it's battery power before you return home to open the door. The opener will probably draw very little to no power while not in use during the outage. Another thing to keep in mind is the inrush current that can be associated with a device like this. It's important to size the UPS to accomodate for the inrush current so it doesn't overload the UPS causing it to drop the load (cut power to the garage door opener).

[dirtfoot_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 7/31/2007

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Also keep in mind that UPSs are designed to be used within specific environmental parameters. There are limitations to min/max temperature and humidity that a UPS can be expected to operate in. The specifics of the requirements may vary by UPS model.

[KVAr_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 8/1/2007

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1400-1500VA Smart-UPS, at minimum. You might even have to go with 2200VA depending on the inrush demand of your opener. It might not give you a very good return of investment considering a Smart UPS is quite expensive in these sizes.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Ken on APC forums on 8/22/2007

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Two thoughts. One, you are getting close to justifying a backup generator which can have other good uses running refrigerators and freezers. Two, a $20 locking cable release, installed through the door, will allow you to disconnect the garage door slide from the drive mechanism and open the door the way our grandfathers used to.