HP-3000 Systems Discussion wrote:
> We have recently had one of our HP PowerTrust units disabled
> and, given the difficulty our support organization is ahving
> coming up with a repair or a replacement, I am considering
> replacing it and its mate as well.
> Both units have been in service here since 1999. The
> batteries on the serviceable unit were replaced 2-3 years
> ago.  Those on the disabled unit were replaced just a couple
> of months ago and were destroyed by the unit failure.
> 
> What rack mount UPS units in the 3KVA range do people here
> recommend?  I see a couple of after market HP R3000 XRs for
> offer on e-bay and these are in the appropriate price range
> of ~$1000.00 CAD.  Which manufacturer's equipment should I consider?
> 
> Regards,

FWIW I go with APC units in all my data centers. They've been highly
reliable, their management capabilities are superb, they have
serial-connect, USB-connect, and network-connected shutdown agents available
for a wide variety of Oses (not MPE though), and their support has been
superb. I've used nearly every model they support, from small 200-1400watt
units at home to a pool of redundant/parallel 120kw Silcon UPSes in one of
the data centers I manage.

Keep in mind that nothing but the old/obsolete Powertrust units will "speak"
via a serial interface so that a 3000 can do the auto-shutdown stuff built
into MPE/iX, though IIRC donna did get create some scripts that could
poll/interrogate the APC UPSes from the 3000 as a workaround.

You may have also discovered the hard way (as we did) that PowerTrust units
REALLY don't like to receive power from other (upstream) UPSes. We fried ~4
5.5kv PowerTrusts before the HP service reps figured that out (harmonic
distortion on the power line). I haven't had this problem with any of our
APC units - though all manufacturers recommend against powering one UPS from
the power output of another UPS.

HTH,
 Chris Bartram
 (no, don't get any referral fees from APC ;-) )

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