Anyone have opinion / experience with APC UTS

[drozwood90]

https://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=371

Kind of looks like an Auto Transfer Switch, but with special circuits that can be run from a large APC Battery...seems to also have built-in ATS features (generators start).

Thoughts? Opinions? Anyone actually use one?

--Dan

 

[pete_c]

I put something in like that in the 90's for Ford. It was basically for one office with IBM very old controllers/Printers. I then purchased a large UPS - maybe 4-5 foot high and maybe 4 foot square. It was connected to a similiar APC transfer switch in addition to a kerosene generator. In the middle 90's had a chance to utilize it in Atlanta, GA at the Ford Taurus plant. Big storms had hit Atlanta and knocked most of the power out. Ford was at the start of the Taurus build. The storm knocked out power. The UPS kicked in, the generator started. Think it was around 11:00 PM that night. I left around midnight. I was woken up around 4 AM - when the generator ran out of fuel.

I took one home with me last year (smaller one) from the office when I upgraded the large UPS. The one I took home handled 4 floors (Network, VOIP etc closets). It took 3 neighbors and I and a pickup truck to get it to my home. It was very difficult to move it to the basement. After a while sitting there in the basement I decided that the footprint was to large, dismantled it and trashed it.