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UPS Smells Odd

M

Met-AL

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Apr 9, 2002
Messages
7,890
My Tripp Lite UPS that I purchased approximately 1.5yrs ago is emitting that "electronic" smell. It seems to be working properly, but the smell is definitely there and it didn't used to be.

Yesterday I touched my case and had a static discharge. My PC went dead, at first I thought I fried it with the static discharge, but in the end, it was my UPS that tripped. So, I turned it back on and all seems ok, except this smell.

Here is a link to the UPS from where I bought it: http://www.provantage.com/tripp-lite-omni650lcd~7TRPL1KA.htm

Do I have any cause for concerns or should I just keep running it and the smell will go away?
 
You could have blown a cap, that smell is normally burning electrolyte. If its smelling like its on its way out then get a new one, its not worth the risk.
 
Call Tripp-lite and get it replaced. It is still under warranty.
 
Thanks guys.

I am on hold with Tripp Lite as I type this.
 
Wow, Tripp Lite kicks ass.

It turns out I was probably overloading it. I explained all the stuff I had plugged into it.

My PSU pulls 300 watts, plus my monitors and other stuff. This unit is rated for a max of 350 watts.

So, we talk and she says they will do a one time courtesy replacement on cases where the unit was overloaded, but she suggested that I take advantage of a warranty upgrade to a unit that would be more capable of handling the load, at my cost for the difference.

So, the UPS that I needed would cost like $478, so I would need to pay the difference and they were giving me $132 credit on my old one even though I paid only $95 or so. I said I can't afford that right now with just after Christmas.

We talk some more, she said well when you get your replacement 650VA UPS, just plug the tower into and nothing else, your monitors can go on the surge only side. I said that will be fine since the main purpose for me having a UPS is just to "clean" up the power.

She then said if you don't need the UPS then how about a line conditioner instead and she explained what they do vs a UPS. So, they are sending me a 600 watt line conditioner and I have to send back my 650 and I have to pay the $3 difference in price.

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2010

Thank you Tripp Lite, you just got a customer for life.
 
Tripp-Lite is typically very good about warranty, upgrades, and customer service.
 
The power must never flicker where you are. Without a UPS my machines would probably be killed dead a few times a month. UPS lets me shut them down cleanly. I have one UPS with AVR and it has never needed it. If over-voltage happened very often the power company would be catching a lot of crap for killing everyone's devices, they typically have a lot of built-in protection for that kind of stuff. Now maybe you live out in some 3rd-world city, I don't know.

A true line conditioner that cleans the power is typically a full online UPS and they are very expensive. What this means is that even when it's getting power from the mains it's not feeding that directly to your equipment, instead it's like you're always running with the UPS tripped. These typically provide a clean power signal from within the UPS to your equipment and just charge the batteries from the main power lines. I often see these in the music business where you want super-clean power to all the equipment.

This "line conditioner" is just a regular surge protector with AVR. I think a UPS would be more useful. ;)
 
Clockz said:
This "line conditioner" is just a regular surge protector with AVR. I think a UPS would be more useful. ;)
Click to expand...

..but also cost an extra ~$400.

The power here never "flickers" and when it goes off, it goes off for hours at a time. Usually once a year.

My concerns are for mainly when the A/C compressor kicks on. Other then that, it's just some insurance and since it only cost me an additional $3 and also had twice the capacity of my old UPS, I went for it.
 
I doubt the AVR will become active from the A/C kicking on but post back and let us know because I'm curious (never seen it here).
 
Clockz said:
I doubt the AVR will become active from the A/C kicking on but post back and let us know because I'm curious (never seen it here).
Click to expand...


I sure will, but it will be a while since it is it was only a high 15F today.
 
Now the story turns embarrassing.

I get home last night and whip out a run of the mill outlet strip and plug everything in. The UPS is at work here in the office in my closet.

I game it up with my buddies and do some other stuff and goto bed. I get up this morning and that smell is back. I sniff around and determine it is coming from the side vent in my case.

So I get to work, grab my UPS and plug in a 300watt load and turn it on, it's fine. I ran it for a good 10 minutes, no smell. Ran it through it's self test, it passed.

So, I called Tripp Lite and told them what was up, and I apologized for wasting their time. They said no problem and that they were glad I called back and said they will keep my info and don't hesitate to call if something changes.

Arrrgggg. I think what was going on is that vent was exhausting into the lower intake vents of the UPS and the convection from the warm air of the UPS was making it flow out the top vents and when I stuck my nose there, I got a good woof of it.
 
Clockz said:
The power must never flicker where you are. Without a UPS my machines would probably be killed dead a few times a month. UPS lets me shut them down cleanly. I have one UPS with AVR and it has never needed it. If over-voltage happened very often the power company would be catching a lot of crap for killing everyone's devices, they typically have a lot of built-in protection for that kind of stuff. Now maybe you live out in some 3rd-world city, I don't know.

A true line conditioner that cleans the power is typically a full online UPS and they are very expensive. What this means is that even when it's getting power from the mains it's not feeding that directly to your equipment, instead it's like you're always running with the UPS tripped. These typically provide a clean power signal from within the UPS to your equipment and just charge the batteries from the main power lines. I often see these in the music business where you want super-clean power to all the equipment.

This "line conditioner" is just a regular surge protector with AVR. I think a UPS would be more useful. ;)
Click to expand...

A true line conditioner does not typically need to be an online UPS, indeed a typical true line conditioner consists of an AVR,isolation transformer, noise filtering, and surge supression. Some "line conditioners" forgo the AVR (or isolation transformer) and are typically what I would assume you have seen that you don't count as a line conditioner.
 
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