Why is this UPS so cheap?

M

MotherSea

Experienced
I've been looking into getting a voltage regulator like this: Furman AR-1215 | Sweetwater.com

Then I ran across this: Tripp Lite SmartPro .5kVA Line Interactive UPS, SNMPWEBCARD option, 1U Rack/Tower, USB, Serial, EPO, 120V (SMART500RT1U)


It looks like the Tripp Lite does just about everything the Furman does PLUS battery backup. The Furman may have a slightly wider range of acceptable input voltages, but the Tripp Lite seems like it will be more than adequate in this aspect.

But it's less than half the price. Am I missing something?
 
Well I've had a lot of UPS's at work over the years (for on-air systems) and the only thing I can say about them is that 99.99% of the time they do nothing but sit there and the .01% of the time that you really need them the batteries are bad. :cry And another thing that is irritating is that most of them have alarms that will go off when the power is funky or when the battery is failing and that beeping is irritating. It basically won't stop until you replace the batteries and if you don't have one on hand you get to choose between going unprotected until you get it or listen to the beeping.

And the of course the batteries are never cheap (I'm also talking about systems that can power an entire TV station, but still) and if they stop making this specific battery pack then it's basically useless. To me it looks like they're doing the good old printer pricing method....get you to buy the printer for a nice price, but they get you with replacement cartridges for the next 10 years, but in this case it's battery packs and they look like they're proprietary.

Tripp Lite 1U UPS Replacement Battery Cartridge for select Tripp Lite SmartPro UPS (RBC62-1U)

But the big thing for me is that the AxeFX's all use very robust multivoltage power supplies and I bet that it will run on anything from 90-250VAC from 45-68Hz or so without blinking. I just don't think that it's necessary.

That's the negative side of it all. The positive would of course be that if you are doing something that is critical and you can't be interrupted from that .001% of time that you would lose power than it may be worth it to you.
 
I think the UPS is for computer systems (mentioning of SNMP/web card/etc.). Not that it wouldn't work.

Also, you wouldn't be lugging that thing around at shows?
 
I've been using one of these for about 6 months without issues. The SNMP card and other computer stuff is optional

Yes, I know I'll eventually need to replace the battery. I probably should get a spare before I need it.
Yes, it's a bit heavy. I know that the power supply in the Axe is quite robust and doesn't benefit from added regulation.

The only reason I go thru the hassle is that I once experienced a direct lightning strike that blasted a solid copper rod to bits
and I'd prefer a cheaper piece of gear take that hit for the Axe if it comes again.

Also, it's nice to have clean power for devices that are less well designed than the Axe.

Also, IIRC the Furman AR1215, while more expensive also has components ( MOVs (?) ) that need to
be replaced ( bench tech job) after it takes a power hit or else the power protection drops to nil just
like the $14.95 ones from Wally World.
 
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Computer UPS don't give pure sinusoidal output. Because of that they are cheaper.

Switching power suppliers (like the Axe-Fx one) are OK with that. Analog gear will sound worse.
 
I know that voltage regulators are kind of over the top for use with just the Axe... but what about your typical SS power amp? Would they gain to benefit from always being run at 120v? Or should I just stick with my Furman power conditioner?
 
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