[AusNOG] Who makes good UPS gear besides APC?

Beeson, Ayden ABeeson at csu.edu.au
Fri Mar 20 18:54:26 EST 2015


Google is using custom built open compute style hardware built to run on direct dc low voltage, using onboard batteries to each server directly rather than centralised ups storage and conversion.

So yep it's definitely being done but it's harder to achieve right now if you can't source that sort of hardware easily.

http://www.cnet.com/news/google-uncloaks-once-secret-server-10209580/

As for fuel cells, a few years ago I saw a product (i'm vague on details now sorry) that was basically a biomass fuel cell, about the size of a large fridge (or bigger, I think they had a few products of varying sizes) some of the bigger companies were looking at using, it sounded amazing but the lack of talk about it now makes it seem like it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Cheers,
Ayden
(Sent from a mobile device, some grammatical errors or typos may have occurred)

On 20 Mar 2015, at 7:46 am, Chris Gibbs <chris.t.gibbs at gmail.com<mailto:chris.t.gibbs at gmail.com>> wrote:

Is anyone considering fuel cells a suitable replacement for UPS?

I would think that refuelling them would be relatively easy.

I would also imagine, if they are being considered that data centre operators would not let them in the building, let along power stuff.

In that case, they maybe more suited to private run smaller server rooms ?


On the same point regarding alternative power sources; considering DC power is more efficient (i.e. no loss wasted on conversion), why aren't more people going down the route of DC powered servers and storage ? A couple of rectifiers and some deep cycle batteries would be overkill for most small requirements. I think the open compute project is trying to go down that road.



On 19 March 2015 at 22:17, Beeson, Ayden <ABeeson at csu.edu.au<mailto:ABeeson at csu.edu.au>> wrote:
+1, they aren't without their faults but I've had very good experiences with Eaton gear.

My home ups tells me the battery is stuffed every couple of months, but it's fine in reality and the runtime etc has been great on all that I have seen.

We had one take a lightning strike almost directly and it still managed to limp along for a bit while we sourced a replacement, even though the online switching to battery was completely fried. The gear on the other side was fine though so it did its job :)

Cheers,
Ayden
(Sent from a mobile device, some grammatical errors or typos may have occurred)

> On 19 Mar 2015, at 10:05 pm, Brad Peczka <brad at bradpeczka.com<mailto:brad at bradpeczka.com>> wrote:
>
> I commented in the September thread, and I'll say it again here: if you want a decent UPS, check out Eaton.
>
> I have a number of Powerware-branded 9305-series units that are pushing 15 years old, which are slated for replacement this year due to parts becoming scarce (especially for paralleled pairs). Most of them have been well treated, in climate controlled rooms with regular maintenance from Eaton, but even the ones that haven't received as much love have trucked along without a hitch. Their successor units, being the 9390-series units, are just as solid and I'm fully expecting them to last as long as the 9305s.
>
> In terms of units that meet your sizing requirements, you're probably looking more down towards the 9130-series end of the product family. I have about 30 of these (and a similar number of their predecessor units, the 9120-series) spread across the remote parts of WA and they've been flawless - even in places with rubbish power. The Eaton Pulsars (which used to be the MGE Pulsars) don't seem to be too bad, but I haven't had enough of them to comment as to their lifespan. Eaton also do a nice little 1RU Maintenance Bypass Switch, which is quite nifty in the event you need turn the unit off for a battery replacement but keep the load powered.
>
> About the only 'con' I can point out is that the Eaton network management cards aren't as pretty or well featured as the APC ones, but if you've got a good enough SNMP monitoring tool (or just want it to email you on loss/restoration) then it's largely a moot point.
>
> Regards,
> -Brad.
>
> ________________________________________
> From: AusNOG [ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net<mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net>] On Behalf Of Tim Sheahan [sheahant at mytelecom.com.au<mailto:sheahant at mytelecom.com.au>]
> Sent: Thursday, 19 March 2015 6:16 PM
> To: ausnog at lists.ausnog.net<mailto:ausnog at lists.ausnog.net>
> Subject: [AusNOG] Who makes good UPS gear besides APC?
>
> Good evening folks,
>
> I'm looking for some insight as to who's making good UPS gear besides
> APC these days. I've checked the Sepember thread and still have some
> questions.
>
> We've been buying APC for a long time and had an extremely disappointing
> run.
>
> Two rackmount UPSes, dead before their time. All the desktop units we
> bought, dead.
>
> All of them failed to power-off, even when AC was available.
>
> This makes us want to look further afield, and the question in mind is -
> what else is good - who's had good experiences with longevity?
>
> I've heard it said a UPS is not forever, and that's fine, however -
> should we really have to put up with high rates of all-out failure
> rather than degraded battery performance?
>
> I'm looking for units in the 1.3kw to 2kw class, rack mount and desktop.
>
>  - Tim
>
>
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