UPS for an HPS light ? Urgent

Eliehabib

Eliehabib

Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone ,

I need some help setting up my lumatek 600w ballast and bulb , taking in consideration that we get power outages 1 to 2 times per day for about 1 minute max (third world stuff) .

Hps bulbs take time to warm up and cool down , so the best solution i could think of was some sort of UPS back up battery .

I thought of installing a delay timer for when the power goes out and comes back on for about 15-20mins before the hps turns back on , with a couple cfl’s connected to my 900w-1500va ups , but still is risky for the hps ballast and bulb , because we sometimes get 2 to 3 outages one right after the other (always for a minute) .

I would like to know if anyone has ever tried connecting an hps ballast to a UPS . Does it have enough power to keep the hps on when the power goes out ? Even if the ups wattage is greater than the ballast .

Would be much appreciated if anyone would be able to help on the subject .
 
Lordhooha

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
Eliehabib said:
Hey Everyone ,

I need some help setting up my lumatek 600w ballast and bulb , taking in consideration that we get power outages 1 to 2 times per day for about 1 minute max (third world stuff) .

Hps bulbs take time to warm up and cool down , so the best solution i could think of was some sort of UPS back up battery .

I thought of installing a delay timer for when the power goes out and comes back on for about 15-20mins before the hps turns back on , with a couple cfl’s connected to my 900w-1500va ups , but still is risky for the hps ballast and bulb , because we sometimes get 2 to 3 outages one right after the other (always for a minute) .

I would like to know if anyone has ever tried connecting an hps ballast to a UPS . Does it have enough power to keep the hps on when the power goes out ? Even if the ups wattage is greater than the ballast .

Would be much appreciated if anyone would be able to help on the subject .
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I use cyber power ups. They’ll tell how long they last at a particular wattage. A 1500va should last for a 600 watt about 10 mins. At 300 ish watts those units generally will power computer gear for 21 mins or so if the power outages are only a min at a time your gear should never even know there was an issue.
 
Eliehabib

Eliehabib

Well-Known Member
Lordhooha said:
I use cyber power ups. They’ll tell how long they last at a particular wattage. A 1500va should last for a 600 watt about 10 mins. At 300 ish watts those units generally will power computer gear for 21 mins or so if the power outages are only a min at a time your gear should never even know there was an issue.
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But some people told me about the instant power being weak to be able to power the ballast . Is this true ? They told me a UPS is too weak for an HPS ballast and bulb . Have you tried connecting your hps to a ups ?
 
Lordhooha

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
Eliehabib said:
But some people told me about the instant power being weak to be able to power the ballast . Is this true ? They told me a UPS is too weak for an HPS ballast and bulb . Have you tried connecting your hps to a ups ?
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Have you ever checked the load on the UPS? I’ve never had an issue but I use bigger UPS’s. The light should be fine it’s a 900w. I install servers and higher amp loads on 1500va ups’s and they do just fine. They last about 8-10 mins for me that’s good enough time to shut them down properly. Either way with everything plugged in hit the info button to display the load level.
 
Eliehabib

Eliehabib

Well-Known Member
Lordhooha said:
Have you ever checked the load on the UPS? I’ve never had an issue but I use bigger UPS’s. The light should be fine it’s a 900w. I install servers and higher amp loads on 1500va ups’s and they do just fine. They last about 8-10 mins for me that’s good enough time to shut them down properly. Either way with everything plugged in hit the info button to display the load level.
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Alright then , thanks for your help . The ups that i have is “INVO” , thats the brand . Im considering a better one though , around 2000Va and pure sine wave , because the one that i have isnt pure . I imagine a pure sine wave would be much better for the ballast on the long term wouldnt it ?
 
Eliehabib

Eliehabib

Well-Known Member
Lordhooha said:
Have you ever checked the load on the UPS?
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How do i do that ? Im sorry for being a total noob in electrical stuff .

I had my 1500Va invo ups supporting one of my mars hydro 300w panels . It was good in the beginning , but then the leds started flickering with time whenever the power went out and the ups turned on . Some led chips stopped working too (around 2-3)
 
Lordhooha

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
Eliehabib said:
How do i do that ? Im sorry for being a total noob in electrical stuff .

I had my 1500Va invo ups supporting one of my mars hydro 300w panels . It was good in the beginning , but then the leds started flickering with time whenever the power went out and the ups turned on . Some led chips stopped working too (around 2-3)
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On all the new ups theres a led screen you can cycle through showing voltage the correction amount the load on the ups and everything. If not you need a USB cable a computer and the software from apc or cyberpower or whoever made it.
 
E

elgaucho

New Member
My friend tried a similar setup using a 3000VA top of the line APC server UPS. The problem was when the power came back on, sometimes there would be a surge from the ballast and it would trip the UPS in to overload which would need a manual reset.

Another issue he saw was when the power was out for a while and the UPS ran out of juice, it wouldn't turn itself back on with the lights (it should in theory - but sometimes didn't) when the power came back.

The best option is to install a small 5W floodlight to the UPS on the same timer your main lights are on. If there's an outage then this will be the backup light and the plants won't notice that the main lights are off so no shock to them and risk of hermies.
 
T

TheHarvester

Active Member
elgaucho said:
My friend tried a similar setup using a 3000VA top of the line APC server UPS. The problem was when the power came back on, sometimes there would be a surge from the ballast and it would trip the UPS in to overload which would need a manual reset.

Another issue he saw was when the power was out for a while and the UPS ran out of juice, it wouldn't turn itself back on with the lights (it should in theory - but sometimes didn't) when the power came back.

The best option is to install a small 5W floodlight to the UPS on the same timer your main lights are on. If there's an outage then this will be the backup light and the plants won't notice that the main lights are off so no shock to them and risk of hermies.
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The lights out isn't a big deal. The off and on restart of the HPS is no good for it.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If the UPS is powerful enough it will work. Be sure to plug the timer in after the UPS lol.
 
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