UPS / Industrial Power Conditioner

[JustClean]

Hi all,
Over the years my carwash has driven me up the wall on some days with weird things happening...
At the moment my two IBA entry systems "eat" washes.
Customers pay and nothing is happening - sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row (cash or C/C).
Then it is all good for a week or two and then it happens again.
I was almost ready to kick out my old entry systems.
At different times the alarm system also comes on although there is nobody around.
Then sometimes I get error messages from the IBA....

Now I am thinking about brown-outs/spikes!??
Have you had experiences with these? What have you done?
Can you hook up the whole carwash to an Industrial Power Conditioner / UPS or only some machines?
Any ideas really appreciated. Thanks.

 

[robert roman]

All man-made things eventually become obsolete.

This may be due to planned or built-in, technical, stylistic and/or functional obsolescence.

For example, in-bay replacement cycle is eight to ten years whereas PC’s and peripherals like pay terminals might last five to seven years.

Once something exceeds its useful expected life, the cost to maintain it usually increases going forward.

Overworked equipment also results in increase labor cost and downtime (less sales volume). This cost may be considerable.

“Over the years…..almost ready to kick out my old entry systems....” intermittent problems all suggest useful life may be exceeded.

Hopefully, you’ve set aside money to keep pace with the industry and technology.

 

[mac]

Try calling your power company provider and ask for a power monitor to be placed at the wash. Most will do this for free. Tell them you suspect weird things with the power.

 

[MEP001]

You could certainly put a power conditioning UPS inline on the entry units without running the entire wash through it, in fact I doubt something that can handle an entire wash would be affordable. Just keep in mind that most general UPS systems only switch on in the event of a power loss and won't help in a power dip or very short blink.

 

[Rudy]

Twenty years ago, I had to replace (2) ACW controllers due to a nearby lightning strike. It wasn't cheap. I immediately went out and bought 2 APS UPS's at my local office supply store, and hard wired them to the supply voltage in the ACW cabinets (along with the new controllers).

Not ONE issue since. Yes, it's a little bit of a hassle to replace the sealed lead acid batteries every 3 years or so....but that's a small price to pay for surge/brownout damage to an expensive piece of equipment.

Since that time, I did the same thing to the PLC's that run my automatic washes....and also my RNS changer, and ShurVend vendor.

Cheap insurance.

 

[2Biz]

Keep in mind all UPS’s aren’t the same. To run some sensitive electronics, you need a pure sine wave UPS…A few years ago I was having issues with my changer controller tripping its breaker, so I put a standard UPS on it… The validator went Haywire when I pulled the plug and went on battery backup. After calling tech support, they told me I needed the pure sine wave model….About 6 times more expensive! But it works great! No issues since…

 

[JustClean]

Thanks for all the UPS ideas. I got a professional company in to monitor the power the next week and then we'll know.