Surge Protectors

[vegaslady]

I have ordered my Millie after SO much research.  Can't wait for it to arrive.   I want to keep her safe and am in the Midwest now - where we get those big storms.  I'm guess all of you have surge protection on your machines.   Would love to get some ideas of brands, models, costs.  Thank you!

Edited August 4, 2017 by vegaslady
So there is no confusing Surger with Serger

[RunningThreads]

We have the Tripp Lite SU1000XLA as recommended by APQS a few years ago.It is a little pricey but works excellent.  If I understand correctly it constantly filters the power and gives pure sine wave output.  I have unplugged the unit while the Millie was running and the machine didn't skip a beat, we couldn't do that with the cheap UPS we had before.

It looks like they are still available but make sure you are sitting down when you see the price.  On the other hand you don't want the power going out while you are merrily quilting along and tear a quilt because you can't stop as fast as the machine does.

Maybe call the factory and see if this is still the current model they recommend.

Nigel

[Mary Beth]

I am in Kansas City where tornados and thunderstorms are an everyday thing in the spring. I just bought the best surge protector I could find. I still unplug when there are storms or I am going out of town, just because I don't want to take any chances. 

[Cagey]

VL;

Living in Florida the lightening capital of the US, I might suggest protecting your entire house and then protect our machine.  I did this a number of years ago.  While almost nothing will protect your home from a direct lighting strike; there is just too much power for a protector to absorb, you can protect your home and your electrical devices from surges caused by lightening hitting a power line down range from your home or other surge sources.  

I found SYCOM to have the best surge protectors.  At the time, SYCOM was the fastest to react (nanosecond) and absorbed the largest surge load  This is the model I installed on my home;  http://sycomsurge.com/~sycomsur/images/products/SYC-T2 Series.pdf .  You should install one on your main circuit breaker panel (if you have more than one panel you need one for each), one on your outside breaker panel for your air-conditioning unit, one for you pool pump or any other large motor you might have on a dedicated circuit.  You or your hubby can do the install if your into this type of project.  SYCOM tech support will answer any and all questions you may have.  While you are protecting your new Millie, is your AC unit or refrigerator protected?  I for one would not enjoy quilting on my George while waiting for a new outside AC unit during the Florida summer.  So consider whole house protection.  While your power company may sell a "meter treater" for whole house protection, I believe you will find that it does not react as quickly or absorb as much surge as the SYCOM, and you will also be stuck paying around $15 per month as long as it is installed on your electrical meter.  

They also sell "point of use" surge protectors.  I have them on my computers and my George.  I am not sure if they meet the sine wave protection recommended by APQS, but I have not had an issue with them.  I like the fact they have a lifetime warranty, and you can find the batteries at most electrical stores or online.  Here are two models they sell (these are only surge protectors and not double conversion protectors);

http://sycomsurge.com/~sycomsur/images/products/SYC-625BB.pdf.pdf

http://sycomsurge.com/products/SYC_825BB-69-18.html

I hope this helps you decide on how to best protect your Millie and possibly your home.  Take care, and best of luck with your new baby.

Cagey

 

 

 

[gkazee]

I have an Uninterrupted Power Source for my Millie. It protects from power surges and in case of power outages will run your machine long enough to shut down safely. The size recommended by APQS was a little over $300 from Amazon. 

[vegaslady]

Thank you ALL for the information.  I have a few weeks  before Millie is delivered and doing my homework to make sure she is protected.  Despite my call name. I only just moved back to IL where we have severe storms and tornadoes so know to protect AND INSURE my equipment.  Have been in two of IL's worst tornadoes.....Oak Lawn back in 1968 and in Plainfield (EF5) back in '90? I think the year was.   Horrible loss of life and damage.  You can never be too safe or too careful for sure.  I knew the cost would be up there, but worth it to save Millie!

Thank you for all the input!

[vegaslady]

I did take Nigel's recommendation and askedAPQS.   I received an email that read ...."Hi, Roxanne,  Any standard power strip with surge protection will work just fine."  (I had told them I was purchasing and wanted to get their recommendation on the best surge protector for Millie.)   

 

Bottom line...won't take a chance and will buy a very, very good one!  And insure it as well!

 

[Cagey]

This is from APQS.  I cannot attach the actual .pdf file, so here is my best rendition cutting and pasting the images.  Edited to include images from pdf file.

Cagey

 

 

 ELECTRICITY AND YOUR APQS MACHINE 

With more and more electronics being used in quilting machines, electricity supply is more important than ever! If the incoming power fluctuates, the circuit board will starve certain functions in order to keep the boards powered, and the motor can be affected as well. 

The printout below shows the incoming power here at the APQS factory. Notice how much the power dips towards the end of the printout – we are on the same power grid as Pella Windows, and at the time the power dipped in this printout, Pella had a large motor blow up. You can see how much we were affected by this, and it wasn’t even in our building!

 Even different types of power supplies can vary the incoming voltage to your home – solar, hydroelectric, wind – these types of power vary greatly, and the circuitry on your machine will suffer the consequences. 

The next printout is from a customer of ours in Colorado. He was having problems with his needle positioner acting up at times. He asked for this printout of the power supply to his home over a 4 day period, and was greatly surprised at the varying voltages and amperages that was powering his home.

Purchasing a battery back-up or UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for your APQS machine is a great ”insurance policy”. APQS has done extensive testing on battery back-ups and found one type that is capable of running both the motor and supplying the needed power for the circuit boards as well. 

Most battery back-ups or UPS’s output is a square wave. This wave type will not keep both the electric motor and the circuit boards running in a voltage drop situation. It will keep the circuit boards powered, so it is fine for other electronic equipment.

The UPS systems that are recommended for our machines are able to output a pure sine wave, which is capable of keeping the electric motor running and keep the circuit board powered at the same time.

With these UPS devices, you are able to even unplug the cord from the wall outlet, and run the machine for a period of time – which can be very handy during power outages!! 

Technical information from the UPS devices we tested is on the next page. There are several companies on the web that sell these specific devices, and prices vary from site to site. The models listed on the next page show a variety of options; however, one is NOT pure sine wave so it is not recommended. The others are Dual Conversion backup systems, which are slightly different than the standard ‘Standby UPS’ battery backup systems. 

Dual Conversion On-Line UPS is the same as the standby UPS, except that the primary power path is the inverter battery instead of the wall outlet. The incoming power from the wall outlet is stored in the battery, and the battery supplies the power to the machine – this keeps the incoming power consistent, without having the delay that is caused by normal battery backup systems when they ‘kick in’ to supply power. The Dual Conversion On-Line UPS provides nearly ideal electrical output performance.

Be aware that UPS units can look very similar so it can be easy to select the wrong one. Look for a unit that is a PURE SINE WAVE output. For added advantages, choose one that is DUAL CONVERSION.

The CyperPower CP1500AVRLCD unit above left does NOT have a pure sine wave output and would not be a good choice. Lower priced units typically are not pure sine wave units. Read the product descriptions carefully before buying.

 

End APQS pure sine wave pdf.

 

I spoke with SYCOM, and they told me that they do not have any Dual Conversion / Double Conversion units that would meet the price points above.  Theirs would be more in the $1000 range.  They did review all three items above, and suggested the Tripp Lite as  having the best power factor.  That is to say that how much power does the unit use to provide electricity to the quilting machine.  The Tripp Lite is 0.8, the Minuteman is 0.7, and the CyberPower is 0.6.  To clarify what I just wrote, the Trip Lite uses about 20% of the power to provide the pure sine wave coming into the unit.  The Minuteman would use 30% of the power to produce the same sine wave, and the CyberPower would use approximately 40% of the incoming power to produce the pure sine wave output.  Their units run in the 0.9+ power factor range, which increases the cost.

They did go on that by using the device you would hypothetically extend the life of anything plugged into the device by 50%.  This is because unlike with most surge protectors with battery backup, there is a lag time for a surge or lag to be experienced before the unit switches to battery power.  With a pure sine wave generator, the item plugged into the device is somewhat always being run off the battery.  The unit is constantly soothing out the highs and lows of the electricity coming out of the wall plug, and providing a very pure power source to the output plug and the quilting machine/anything plugged into the unit. The battery backup run time is to allow you time to shut the item plugged in, without damaging the device.  

 

[RunningThreads]

Thanks Cagey

That is an updated version of what I have in my manual.  Looks like there are a couple of units recommended.

 

Nigel

[vegaslady]

Thank you SO much!  I actually wondered if the sales department really, truly knew what somebody in tech or production knows!  LOL    Actually I was looking at both Tripp Lites and Cyberenergy models yesterday and always expected a higher cost!  I just posted the email so you could see.  I have told people already that everyone on this Forum knows so much about these machines.........and why not, they experience it and probably every little problem that occurs and, through each other, passes on the great info to everyone else.

And, to Nigel, I would assume that as new and better products come out there will be updates - even months to a year later!

Thanks again!

[RunningThreads]

Exactly that is why I suggested you call my info is at least six years old.  I guess I should have said call service.  Enjoy your new machine.

 

Nigel

[vegaslady]

Did my homework with special thanks to all of you for your great comments.  Everything I need is now here or being anxiously awaited for (LOL - Millie).  Now the finishing up of her space!  So much to do and so little time!  Happy quilting to all!

[Cagey]

Here is a link to the different types of UPS systems (line interactive verses double conversion);  http://www.qpsolutions.net/2015/06/line-interactive-vs-double-conversion-ups-which-ones-best/  It explains the two systems better than I did.

Cagey

[vegaslady]

Cagey,

 

Thank you very much.  This is an absolutely GREAT explanation to all of us who don't understand much about electricity!  Shortly after I built my home, a developer down the road came and began digging along our street.  Despite lines being marked for them they hit a main line and sent a surge SO big back into several homes, mine included - less than a year old, that it burned EVERY outlet, light, appliance...........everything that was plugged in and black smears out of unused outlets.   Over 20,000 in damage.  Fire department, new paint all smeared with soot...no A/C (blown out)....all appliances...blown out.   On top of that, NO ONE, not the developer / digger (who claimed the county's marks were sprayed incorrectly), the developer who hired the digger, the electric company,........no one wanted to take any blame for the incident.   I had over $20,000 in damages - nor to mention days in 90 plus degree heat with no a/c, no stove or oven or microwave, a house that smelled like smoke for a month.  I learned a LOT about electricity at that time.  Even the most expensive of these surge protectors wouldn't have save us from what happened.  We didn't get a jolt, we got many thousands of amps blown backwards.   The sorry part was that it took over a year to collect and, of course, we had to immediately bear the cost while waiting....and they preferred to negotiate into desperation for us homeowners.

Accidents and these spikes in power are actually common, especially in places that see storms with lightening that occur with some frequency.  Everyone needs to protect everything they own BEFORE the incident.  That's why I was looking 3 weeks out.

I have saved this article.  From most of the research I've seen, most units do have shelf life (several years is when I see people saying their units from varying manufacturers begin to show problems).  New items are being developed every year so plan to keep abreast of new technology!

Thanks again!

 

 

[ElsetDesai]

Hi...in the event that it's not connected, nothing will occur. Simply unplug it, the same number of don't run it while it's raging. Yet, a smart thought on the off chance that you do. I would prefer to spend the additional cash on a genuine UPS with flood insurance, so my custom smoke writing computer programs isn't lost when the force plunges or drops. Or then again I need to restart my flame broil when the force drops. It doesn't take a lot of juice to keep it running once touched off.

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