UPS (power backup) for A1

Bambu Lab A Series General Discussions
1

I live in Central Florida and power outage here was really rare, maybe a fast blink every 4 to 6 months. But, we started to experience more and more often.

For the first time a fast blink happened in middle of a print. The A1 asked me if I wanted to continue printing, I said yes, the printing went horrible.

Having a powerful UPS for the computers and network devices, I want to install a new UPS for the Bambu printer in another room. I read a lot about the A1 power consumption, and came to the conclusion that during bed warming up it may reach about 300W, during normal printing it may still around 70~90W. It means a medium range UPS for 600~800W (1100VA) can sustain the printer working for 30~60 minutes.

If energy doesn’t come back after 10 minutes of outage, it will take much longer to return, so, enough time to stop printing power off, restart later.

My next purchase, the X1C, has the same power consumption +10%, so an UPS 800W will be okay. I have an eye over the GoldenMate (no relationship with them) that uses LiFeP04 batteries, less than $200.

Comments?

2

It doesn’t work this way. You need to know how many watt hours, not VA the UPS has to determine the run time.

3

Those UPS, the 600/800W is in fact 600/800Wh. I think all UPS states VA as the power in one hour with FP=1, it drops to 600~800Wh for FP less than 1. It depends on ambient temperature, if battery is 100% charged, etc.

4

You need a portable power station, not UPS designed for computer.

5

I like in Central Florida also…
I have 6 printers hooked up to 3 UPS 650’s (2 printers each).
Only once over the last 3 years has the power stayed off longer than the battery lasted…and the print came out fine.
Now, it’s rare I have them all going at the same time, it might be 2-3.
From my understanding, once the printer is running…it doesn’t draw that much power.
I’m sure someone will tell me I’m wrong…who knows, maybe I’m right :laughing:

1: Sovol Zero & A1 Mini w/AMS Lite
2: SV06 & SV06 Ace
3: SV06 Plus & Ender 3 Pro

6

:thinking:

7

VA = VoltAmps
W = Watt
Watt is a statement that is only true if the load is purely resistive.
VA includes inductive and capacitive parts of a load and provides the real value.
This becomes painfully obvious once you try to run a motor on a UPS…

I installed UPS systems and I can you that it is no problem to get a 1000VA UPS that barely allows your PC with a 800W PSU to shut down before it fails.
But you can also get a 1000VA UPS that is able to keep that same computer running for several hours to only initialise the shutdown once the battery runs too low.
Most decent UPS systems not only provide the W and VA numbers but also the available Wh - Watt hours.
750W computer, two UPS systems to choose from, which one is better?
The first is 2000W unit rated for 300Wh, the other a 1000W unit rated for 500Wh.
The 1000W UPS can provide power for almost twice as long as the 2000W model - go figure, all a matter of battery size…

8

I have one for the computer also, I’m lucky if it lasts 5 min.
But, it’s setup to put the computer asleep for hours…not shutdown.

9

Think about a car battery, it may say 12V 250A, that is the VA, it is capable to supply instant 250A (motor start) on 12V, so that battery is 3000VA.

Now, how long that battery can sustain 250A with 12V ? Maybe 20 attempts to start the engine when there is no fuel. Each attempt could be 10 seconds, so the battery can produce 3000VA for 200 seconds.

Converting to Watts/hour, it will be 3000*200/3600 = 166Wh. Numbers are fake, but pretty close. If you leave car’s high beams on for long time (2 to 3 hours), they will drain the battery.

So, Wh is a conversion of how much power can be drain from that battery during a full hour in order to flat drain it. So, a large battery inside an 1100VA UPS can produce higher Wh (longer power) than a small battery with the same 1100VA peak power. For UPS, looking only for the VA is no good, need to pay attention for the Wh value.

So, if the UPS says 350Wh and your computer drain around 300Wh, it means the UPS probably would feed the computer for around one hour. This is why I am looking for LiFePo4 batteries UPS, they pack more juice per volume, rapid charge and longer life.

Some people running critical computers or other devices, use a gas generator to supply power during longer outages, the UPS should be enough to keep everything running for minutes until the generator kicks in.

Lion7718, yes, Central Florida with its own carnival of thunderstorms and thousands of very powerful atmospheric discharges all around us, require strong surge protectors. UPS in general offer some protection in all outputs.

10

Hi, i know this isnt relavant to the topic but i want to make a general discussion( or thread) so how do i do it?

11

u forgot to write most important part. what ups you are using…

12

It was posted.