Computer Room UPS for Boat Mains Power - Crazy Idea?

[Harleyford_S37]

We were clearing out some old servers at the office and as a result have a spare UPS that we need to get rid of.

My slightly crazy idea for the boat was as follows:

Put the UPS in the engine room, I have plenty of space where a generator would be located.

Plug the UPS into one of the 13 amp sockets in the engine room so that when I have shore power at my marina berth the UPS is being trickle charged.

When I want 240v mains when overnighting away from shore power to heat the hot water via the immersion heater for 15 minutes I simply plug the immersion heater into the UPS output socket.

My immersion seems to get water up to shower comfortable temperatures in no time and is 1400watts. I need to check this current draw wont trip the UPS but it has been running a load of servers and telephone kit for up to an hour in its designed role.

Even if I could only do this twice off one mains charge it would be a lot better than having to run the boat engines for 20-30 minutes to get some hot water and it removes the problem of draining the boats batteries if I went down the inverter route.

All my other onboard electrical needs are 12V so this seems like a cheap solution to a minor niggle.

Has anyone else ever tried something similar?

The only downside I can see is carrying the extra weight around.

 

[photodog]

our UPS was managed by our servers... would you not need a Computer connected to it????

 

[Wiggo]

ISTR the puter link was to allow the UPS to shut the PCs down in an orderly manner if it was going to run out of juice. You could run the mains permanently through the UPS, just remember to turn it off when you don't need it, otherwise it would always kick in when you unplug shorepower. Can't see why it wouldn't work, apart from the current it can supply.

 

[MapisM]

I have plenty of space where a generator would be located.

That would suggest a more straightforward alternative...
Though of course it could be hard to find a better deal for a genny, compared to what the UPS is going to cost you!
Anyway yes, I think your idea should work. The 1,4 kW sounds reasonable.
Also the weight downside is just theorical, you'd probably have more weight with a proper genny.
I'd be more concerned about the suitability of the UPS for a marine environment, also because a short circuit or something is the last thing I'd want in my e/r.

 

[oceanfroggie]

Depends on the ups specs. 1400W is a big ask and a huge load compared to even a very large server, or even a rack of blades. A UPS big enough to handle 1400W for 20-30mins is going to be very large and weigh a lot. Most small UPS are only 300-800W. It's going to be as heavy as a geni and as large.

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

We were clearing out some old servers at the office and as a result have a spare UPS that we need to get rid of.

My slightly crazy idea for the boat was as follows:

Put the UPS in the engine room, I have plenty of space where a generator would be located.

Plug the UPS into one of the 13 amp sockets in the engine room so that when I have shore power at my marina berth the UPS is being trickle charged.

When I want 240v mains when overnighting away from shore power to heat the hot water via the immersion heater for 15 minutes I simply plug the immersion heater into the UPS output socket.

My immersion seems to get water up to shower comfortable temperatures in no time and is 1400watts. I need to check this current draw wont trip the UPS but it has been running a load of servers and telephone kit for up to an hour in its designed role.

Even if I could only do this twice off one mains charge it would be a lot better than having to run the boat engines for 20-30 minutes to get some hot water and it removes the problem of draining the boats batteries if I went down the inverter route.

All my other onboard electrical needs are 12V so this seems like a cheap solution to a minor niggle.

Has anyone else ever tried something similar?

The only downside I can see is carrying the extra weight around.

Any makers name and model numbers? Also how old are the batteries? If it was running a couple of servers and a telephone system then it might well be 2/3Kva so you should be okay, provided the batteries are not at the end of their life.

Mal

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

weight, weight, weight!

UPS's are darned heavy.... for a full powered rack in our data centre, the UPS would need a forklift.....

On the upside, I suspect that its power output won't be a problem.... modern switching and server technology draws one heck of a lot of power..

If you do decide to use it, then the above poster who implied that you might need software could be correct..... but generally the software is used to run a controlled shutdown of the server, rather than manage the UPS.... a common vendor is Parashute