[BC] UPS Hell

[Clay Freinwald]

Entercom here in Seattle has a UPS Transfer switch around every one of their
UPS's ...Including those at the transmitter sites.    Generally we used the
simple models made by Pulluzzi.   Newer ones are from Eaton and a few are
APC.

We have a saying -  ' We don't know how many times the UPS has saved our
bacon....But we DO know how many times it has fried it'

I too have made these using an 8 x 8 plastic box (From Lowes).   I had a
bunch of 120 V relays.   Purchased some short extension cords, bright yellow
with molded plugs....Chopped them up to use as input and output devices.
Mounted a couple LED's on the outside to tell you the mode of the relay.

For installations at transmitter sites, suggest you use a multiple pole
relay with a set of contacts for the remote control.   Nice to know
(remotely) that your UPS has croaked.

You really don't want these things inside of UPS's ....I like the ability to
pull a UPS and put it on the bench without having to dump power to the
device that it supplies.

While I am on the subject - Can we please stop calling back up power
supplies UPS's?   

Clay Freinwald
Seattle