Unpredictable rural power.. online UPS?

[Greg]

I live in a rural area with residential power and occasionally experience some voltage drop/brownouts resulting in lost motion from the acorn. Some days I can run the same program for 10 hours straight with no problems other days I'm scrapping parts because they are 0.007 off and need to rehome the machine to correct the issue. I can see the overhead lights flicker and dip like they would if you turned on a compressor or large power tool. The power company came out and replaced the transformer at the pole but it did not help.

After some research it looks like a online UPS might cure my problem. I was looking at something like this

If anybody has any experience with them or suggestions or tips it would be much appreciated.

[rk9268vc]

I have had great luck using APC UPS's, so I can vouch for them. I use them on all out robot arms, PLC's, and production lines at work, and all my electronics at home.
Make sure you get one that can do a "pure sine wave" to avoid introducing additional noise. (i.e. dont be tempted by the cheaper ones)
Most also have settings to adjust how sensitive it is to voltage changes before it kicks in, make sure to set it as sensitive as possible.

It is generally a good idea to have a UPS on all your important electronics.
You can even get UPS's for 240vac 60hz split phase, but they are a little harder to find.

Good luck! :]

[mghood]

I had simular issuesin my previous house and fortunately My computer ran off of a 12dc wall wart. T solved the issue by powering the computer off of a deep cycle AGM battery. I left it on a float charger and problems vanished.

[tblough]

If this is a non-closed loop Acorn system, you'd need a UPS sized to provide power to both the computer AND drives in order to prevent position loss during a brownout or power loss.

Just keeping the computer going so it can send pulses to drives that are off is not going to solve the problem.

[martyscncgarage]

I live in a rural area with residential power and occasionally experience some voltage drop/brownouts resulting in lost motion from the acorn. Some days I can run the same program for 10 hours straight with no problems other days I'm scrapping parts because they are 0.007 off and need to rehome the machine to correct the issue. I can see the overhead lights flicker and dip like they would if you turned on a compressor or large power tool. The power company came out and replaced the transformer at the pole but it did not help.

After some research it looks like a online UPS might cure my problem. I was looking at something like this

If anybody has any experience with them or suggestions or tips it would be much appreciated.

As Tom pointed out, you need to size the UPS according to the load.
Would be nice if you would tell us what you are working with, details about your machine.
Also post a fresh report so we can take a look to see if there might be any glaring issues with the machine set up.

Is the machine itself wired properly? Were the correct gauge wires used? Is the circuit feeding the machine appropriately sized including the wire, gauge of wire used between the "wall" and the machine?

I would ask the power company to hang a data logger on your service to record power quality issues for at least a week and then share those finding with you. Do you have any other trouble within your home with the power quality?

You need to monitor the load placed on your service by the machine. That would require a current probe placed on the wiring feeding the machine. Running load is WAY different than starting load. Any time a large motor starts (Spindle motor) there is a large surge in current. You would need to size any UPS to ensure it can handle the starting load spike plus a safety margin. Or you will trip the UPS

I'm an electrician by trade and if I were called to your home these are some of the things I would be looking at.
Put the monkey on the back of the power company and ask them to consider installing a data logger on your home service to monitor power quality first.

Marty