Connecting ballast to UPS (Uninterupted Power supply)

[JayBee]

Anyone ever done this or know if it will be a problem?

Where I live there are two issues with the electricity- it can be a little eratic and also certain times of the year it is not uncommon for power to go out for just a minute to two.

So I was thinking about plugging the UPS into the wall and then the timer into UPS and ballast into timer. I will be running one 600watt hps with lumatek digital ballast.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

JB

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I have seen aero sys use them,they were not that expensive . But they were for lighting sys using transformers. I do not know how clean the sine waves have to be for an electronic ballast. I would use a relay that would transfer the load. Suerte JK

 

[British_Hempire]

It will work fine, a ballast is no more sensitive than the PSU of a server which is what UPSes are designed to work with. 600W is what a lot of older Compaq and Dell server PSUs were, so again, no issue. A UPS is just a big battery and the AC from the UPS should be cleaner than that out of your mains socket. Best way is to try it out the same way I used to test server UPS setups - pull the plug out of the wall and see if the UPS keeps everything running or not.

 

[n0dn4rb]

It will work fine, a ballast is no more sensitive than the PSU of a server which is what UPSes are designed to work with. 600W is what a lot of older Compaq and Dell server PSUs were, so again, no issue. A UPS is just a big battery and the AC from the UPS should be cleaner than that out of your mains socket. Best way is to try it out the same way I used to test server UPS setups - pull the plug out of the wall and see if the UPS keeps everything running or not.

couldn't have stated it truer myself....UPS are great for area's that are subject to brown outs which sounds like what you are subject to JB....If the power out doesn't last but for a few minutes these will work fine....if the power outtage lasts longer than 15min then I would recommend a generator.....

 

[British_Hempire]

You need to find out the capacity of the UPS you are gonna be using. The best way to find out how long it will keep your light running is to try it out, the batteries in the UPS degrade over time so get the UPS fully charged then fire up the light, then pull out the mains cable and time how lo the light lasts before it runs out of juice. Server's power usage varies depending on what it's doing at the time, sometimes a UPS can keep them going for an hour, other times more like 15 minutes.

 

[JayBee]

Great, great, great! I was worried someone was gonna tell me I was about to blow up the block! I bought one that has 800-1000watt capacity (that is what is says on box!)- After I test it out will let you all know how long it can support the 600w light and booster fan, or, I may put booster fan (that cools the light) into its own UPS.

One more question, if i attach light to timer to ups will i be ok or do i need to still use contractor relay?

You guys rock! Thanks for all the great help!

JB

 

[British_Hempire]

You still need the contactor.

 

[JayBee]

Thanks BH. So would I have UPS go into contactor or contactor into UPS? Or does it not matter? I am not exactly sure what a contactor even is or how it works...

JB

 

[Rural_GrowOp]

The timer is basically a contact. It will be ok to plug the timer into the UPS and the balast into the timer. A contactor works by a supply voltage connects to one side of a pair of open contacts. The load side is where the balast would connect and they are opposite the voltage. These two are held open by normally open contacts. Like this _/_ (its a rough sketch but I think it works. A "control voltage" is connected to a coil and when the control voltage is present it energizes the coil and the coil pulls he contacts together completing the circuit. Hope that helps.

 

[JayBee]

I understand the first sentence... maybe if i smoke more it will make more sense...

 

[Rural_GrowOp]

With out trying to confuse you more think of it as a switch. There is power connected to one side and the light on the other side. The normally open contact is the switch itself. When you flip the switch on it closes the contact thus completing the circuit and supplying the light with voltage and turning it on. Thats pretty much what a relay does only the switch is a coil.

 

[JayBee]

Totally almost burned the place down yesterday. Dont use cheap UPS made in third world to connect to your HID folks!

 

[frankie-smiles]

WHAT!! Detail's please, been looking into these before. What happened man?

 

[JayBee]

THe power cord (UPS to wall) got so hot i couldnt touch it. If i had not checked it before going to sleep who knows what would have happened. This was second UPS, first one just stopped working after couple hours. Both were crappy local made, both rated for over 800 watts. I will need to try and find one made in usa or japan... For now light is plugging direct into wall though with no timer while i wait for contractor relay and new timer to come from UK...

 

[JayBee]

So... Still wondering if anyone has done this? I have been doing some more research and I am not sure it is possible or advisable to use a ups meant for a computer with a HID light. On the other hand there are UPS that are meant for lights and other heavy duty appliances, but they are crazy expensive. Check out www.apc.com if you are interested in what is available.

JB