List folks,

We have a MAT 251 with a Kiel autocarbonate device and have also installed
an Exide Powerware Plus 12 12 KVA 8 KW (http://www.exide.com).  This unit
with a full battery pack will carry the 251 and Kiel for just about 2
hours.  Since our building has emergency generators, this only comes into
play when hurricanes hit and the generators run out of fuel after 1 day,
but it gives you enough time to chainsaw a tree out of the driveway and get
into the lab.

The nice thing about this unit is that it is field upgradable to 15 kva or
18 kva for a few kilobucks if you install additional mass specs.  The
original cost was about $13K, it has a small footprint (32" x 31") and a
wide variety of communication options including calling you at home if
there is a poweroutage or the UPS goes to bypass for some reason.  The
batteries last about 200 deep cycles or about 5-7 years, which ever comes
first.

Most important, it protects the mass spec and peripherals from any type of
surges and spikes, it has significantly reduced our down time.  Before we
had installed the UPS, we had a significant number of electrical failures,
this has been greatly reduced with the UPS in place but not eliminated
entirely.

Bill

-------------------------------------
William J. Showers
Dept of Marine Earth & Atm. Sciences,
North Carolina State Univ.

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