[BC] Maitec UPS

[Chris Gebhardt]

Warren Mead wrote:
> I have been offered a secondhand (1996) Maitec Linx 3000 UPS.  It would be
> used to keep the power up to the on air studio and air chain until we
> (manually) start the honda generator.
> 
> I wonder if anyone is knows of this brand and model.  At 3 kva it's not
> super powerful but would do the job.  It's main advantage is run time.  It
> takes eight 12volt lead acid batteries, with an external box for another 8
> batteries.  The batteries (3 a/hr)  are not supplied.
> 
> I have some worries about it's age, the fact it has come from a marine
> application, and the asking price of $500 Australian, which seems a bit
> excessive.
> 
> So what do you think ... a good investment for a small station, or a
> nightmare waiting to happen?

3kva is not going to be able to power more than you would stick on a 
single circuit.  If you have very low power-consumption in your studio, 
and you don't mind it all being fed from the same circuit, then maybe 
that works for you.  And remember that the more heavily loaded the UPS 
is, the shorter the run-time will be.

Then when it comes to price... I would have a tough time paying much 
past scrap value for a 13 year old UPS that may have corrosion issues 
and be difficult to get parts for.  Even if it were in perfect shape, 
AU$500 seems steep.

What I would consider is something that we did.   Our datacenter (think 
"air studio and transmitter") runs on UPS and generator on ATS.  Our 
office runs on a separate utility service with no generator.  On Sunday 
I took the circuits that run the office computers and limited overhead 
lights and ran them to a sub-panel.  I have a 10kva UPS on the panel 
where those circuits used to live, and the sub-panel now fed from the 
UPS.   Now if the power goes out, we've got about 45min of runtime on 
battery.   That's more than enough to get us through the occasional 5-10 
minute burps that our office feed routinely takes in spring time.

Hopefully that will all be obsolete in a couple weeks.  ONCOR (our 
utility) came out and stuck a recording meter on our feed after months 
of complaining.  The finally see what we saw: bad power.  Yesterday they 
planted a new pole and will drop us new 208 service because the old 
service equipment that we've been on cannot be relied on anymore.  So 
that's kinda cool.

Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
chris at virtbiz.com | (972) 485-4125