Telescan Service Bulletin - Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Telescan® does not manufacture or install UPS Systems. Telescan® recommends the use of a licensed electrician for all power/voltage-related matters. Failure to provide proper voltage backup to your Spectrum®, VMail®, or Axon systems with a UPS will invalidate your Telescan ® warranty!

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is an auxiliary power source that provides electrical power in the event that commercial power is lost or interrupted. A UPS is comprised of a bank of wet cell or gel-cell batteries and a Static Inverter that typically converts 12 or 48VDC power to 117VAC 60 Hz power, enabling a system to run for a period of time until commercial power is restored. The length of time that backup power is available is a function of the UPS battery capacity and the number of devices drawing power from it.

In order to size your UPS, simply add up the Wattage or Volt Ampere (VA) ratings for each of the units you wish to protect. The total required for your system is additive. However, if a unit is rated in Watts you need to divide that number by .707 or multiply it by 1.414 in order to convert from Watts to VA. PCs and Monitors are typically rated in Watts.

If more devices are connected to the UPS, the Kilovolt-Amperes (KVA) or VA capacity will need to be increased. Avoid connecting non-essential devices to the UPS, as they will shorten the time that auxiliary power will be available in the event that commercial power is lost. Telescan® recommends that your UPS be sized utilizing a 20% de-rating factor which allows for inrush current (when some devices are first turned on) and some nominal growth for your system. If your sizing calculations exactly fit a particular model UPS it is prudent to order the next higher capacity.

Telescan also recommends the use of Power Line Conditioners to absorb transient line voltage irregularities and “spikes”. They are small units that generally plug into electrical outlets. They are much like power strips and are designed to protect electrical equipment from transient “spikes” and over-voltage conditions. The best of these contain both “Transorbs” that are extremely fast acting but low power dissipating and MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) which are slower acting but which can dissipate very large amounts of power for very short durations.

When possible it is recommended that dual power outlets be no further than five (5) feet away from any device or Attendant Web Console PC. Additional extension cords and power strips may be needed depending upon the arrangement of the equipment in relation to the available outlets.

Lightning Protection:
If your Answering Service or Call Center takes a direct hit, there is so much energy released that widespread damage will inevitably occur. If the lightning strikes nearby, you may suffer some serious damage but may still have a fighting chance for your system to survive if you have taken some simple precautions. Answering Services and Call Centers are particularly vulnerable since they are directly connected to two of the largest antennas; The Public Switched Telephone Network and the Power Grid. Some things that will help you to eliminate or at least minimize damage to your system include:
Grounding – Ideally, your office building should have a single earth ground. Most buildings do not, so the next best thing is to make sure that the Spectrum and Prism system components are all tied together at a single point to a good earth ground via the shortest possible path.
UPS – A good UPS provides some isolation from the Power Grid. The UPS does this by having isolated circuitry; one side is used for charging a battery and the other side provides current to your system after the battery voltage has been converted from DC to 117VAC by a Static Inverter.
Multi-outlet Strips – The cheap ones provide no protection at all and should be avoided. The second tier provides some “surge” protection by the use of MOVs (Metal Oxide Varistors) that dissipate a lot of energy but they do not react fast enough to be really helpful by themselves. The more expensive ones utilize Transorbs as well as MOVs. The former are very fast acting but cannot dissipate much energy and the MOVs compensate for this shortcoming. The combination of both types of semiconductors helps quite a bit.
Polyphasers – Of all the things that you can do, probably the single most effective is to protect all your incoming telephone lines with some lightning protection devices referred to as “Polyphasers¹” and manufactured by Polyphaser Corporation or their competitors. Telephone companies usually provide some sort of minimal protection in the form of a carbon block-type of lightning arrestor, but they do not provide the extremely fast response of a Polyphaser that was originally developed to protect commercial transmitting antennas (AM/FM Broadcast and TV). One version of them has proven very useful for protecting TAS and Call Center sites. Their line of “Series In-Line” devices are designed to protect T1, data, current loops, control lines, telephone trunks and high-speed data lines. They provide extremely fast response time (2 nanoseconds turn-on) and huge current carrying capacity (in the order of 40,000 Amperes.)

Dimensions: The physical dimensions of your UPS will vary depending upon your system's requirements and the manufacturer's specifications.

(¹Manufactured by Polyphaser Corporation, P.O. Box 900, Minden, NJ 89423. Tel 800-325-7170. Information provided is merely meant to be informative and is not intended to be a recommendation or endorsement of any product/s or company/ies.)

For more information, contact Telescan at 800-770-7662 or visit www.telescan.net.