UPS / Backup Battery Power Supply

[Nelson Goforth]

While doing on set copying it seems that a UPS system would be a very good idea. If on genny power, someone could pull a plug - if on house power someone could trip a breaker. That would be bad in the middle of a copy.

So: Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). Any recommendations?

First question for me is "How do I determine the size of the supply?" I'm powering a Red Drive, two backup hard drives and my computer. Admittedly the laptop is on it's own battery backup, but I'd feel safer if everything were protected. I could not find data about the power usage for the HDs I was using, but looking around it seems that 12 watts per drive would be a conservative figure. My MacBook Pro uses I think 75 watts. (I'm a little surprised, in this energy-conscious world, that this information isn't on spec sheets). Anyway, assuming I wanted to be able to complete a one hour backup in the event of dire emergency, what size UPS would I need to do that (if it's even possible)?

Second question is "is there ANY disruption if external power is lost?" I'm assuming any disruption could lead to corrupted data; and I'm reading that are "standby" and "continuous" UPS units. I'd assume that the continuous variety is what we would want, but I'd like to know if any data wranglers out there have experience that they could share.

Thank you,
Nelson

[Matthew Riggieri]

Nelson

Thats is what i have been doing for ears now with the P2 workflow and now red. It has saved my ass at least 3 times, and make me feel a little safer. Generally I just have one of the small office one, i think like a 350 or something. You don't need to much runtime, because I don't leave the laptop on the battery side of the UPS. Just the drives. I use g-raids for the primary and secondary drives, so they are on the battery. My third drive backup I use is a little buss powered drive and since the red drives are also bus powered, then they run off the laptop.

I wouldn't worry about getting the laptop on the battery backup, just non-bus powered drives.

Matt Riggieri
Digital Cav

[Jim McKinney]

I'd feel naked without my UPS.

[Greg Huson]

www.refurbups.com

[Nelson Goforth]

Generally I just have one of the small office one, i think like a 350 or something. You don't need to much runtime, because I don't leave the laptop on the battery side of the UPS. Just the drives.

Thanks for the helpful post. I realize that - except in dire emergency - I would not need more than a few minutes of standby power. But I wanted to plan for "dire".

If the power went down - say the genny died - I'd want to be able to complete backing up the current drive no matter how long it took to restore the AC. I'm assuming very bad things would happen if the drives ran out of power in mid-transfer.

So that's why I'm trying to get a feel for actual measurements. No luck yet and I'm just not used to dealing with DC figures. Hopefully someone with some more information will come along.

Thanks,
Nelson

[Michael Lindsay]

get 2 ..

1 for dire..
2 also buy the lightest you can (these thigs are f...ing heavy)

[Brent J. Craig]

Downloading footage without a UPS is irresponsible in my opinion. Besides saving you from dead gennies and kick-outs, they also condition the power and protect against surges and brown-outs when lights or appliances are turned on. I find that UPS-connected computers experience many less mysterious errors than those on line power.

Most office supply places sell small UPS's (500 VA) in the $80 range. These will power a laptop and several drives for quite a while. Slightly more expensive UPSs come with monitoring software and will tell you what percentage is left of their power.

I think you misunderstand the purpose of UPSs when you say you want enough runtime to download an entire drive. The point of a UPS is to allow you to keep going long enough to re-plug or shut things down safely. Relying on only UPS power to copy an important drive is another recipe for disaster.

When the power goes off and your UPS starts beeping, take the first 5 to 10 minutes to scream at the electrics (nicely) and look for a source of power. If power is not forthcoming, CANCEL your file management activities and shut 'er down!!!

[Nelson Goforth]

I think you misunderstand the purpose of UPSs when you say you want enough runtime to download an entire drive. The point of a UPS is to allow you to keep going long enough to re-plug or shut things down safely. Relying on only UPS power to copy an important drive is another recipe for disaster.

I understand the purpose of a UPS, but figured it would be a good idea, if at all possible, to complete a copy. I don't know the ramifications of shutting down the copy (I assume none - I'd just trash the incomplete copy) but that would also mean that, if the power were down for very long, the full mags would back up and eat into the production. Again, I'm wondering about dire circumstances, but I've definitely known of gennys to run out of diesel or otherwise shut down in the middle of nowhere, so it can happen.

Thanks,
Nelson

[Conrad Hunziker]

I have setup a few dozen shows with downloading stations. The setup usually goes something like this:

- minimum 500 VA UPS system with power re-conditioning. 750+ recommended.
- all drives plugged into battery side of UPS (usually these are 5 drive raid systems, so they require a bit more power)
- laptops plugged into non-battery side (still power conditioned)
- if on location and production can swing it, a small portable honda generator and extra tank of gas. (Then the electrics can shut down their genny and your still running)

When the battery starts beeping, you have 5 minutes. If you dont have some sort of resolution happening, shut the transfer down. Yes, technically you do have longer, but its not worth the risk of having a drive power down unexpectedly - and 5 minutes on set always means 10.

Completing a copy is very important, but not nearly as important as protecting the data you have. Say you try to complete a copy but it takes a bit longer than expected. Then you risk not only the data on that mag, but also all the data that you have copied previously. It simply is not worth the risk.

Most batteries have a slow beep for power loss and a longer beep for battery low. You could wait until battery low, I suppose, but why risk it? Just shut it down and get reliable power.

[Dane Brehm]

There are also UPS's with USB ports for the USB powered Iphone Slate productions are using now on Music Video's.

[Nelson Goforth]

- minimum 500 VA UPS system with power re-conditioning. 750+ recommended.
- all drives plugged into battery side of UPS (usually these are 5 drive raid systems, so they require a bit more power)
- laptops plugged into non-battery side (still power conditioned)
- if on location and production can swing it, a small portable honda generator and extra tank of gas. (Then the electrics can shut down their genny and your still running)

Conrad - thanks for the useful information.

Are you using a 'continuous' UPS, or the more common 'standby' type? I would think that the standby type could - in the moment it takes to come on line - foul the data, but thought I'd ask.

The small putt-putt does sound like a good idea... it wouldn't take a big one and wouldn't have to be crystal controlled.

Regards,
Nelson