ups for 3b1

[Vernon C. Hoxie]

In article <3005 at umbc3.UMBC.EDU>, motteler at umbc3.UMBC.EDU (Howard E. Motteler) writes:
> 
> Does anyone know how the 3b1 power supply holds up when fed the square
> wave output typical of most UPS's?  I know this causes a problem for
> some switching power supplies.

I picked up a an UPS from a local second source outlet a couple of
years ago.  At that time I was working at Bell Labs so I looked up the
power systems guru's.  I was told by one of them that indeed the 3b1
power would work fine with a square wave input.

Since then, I have been working at my computer when the lights went out
but system chugged right along.  No smoke.

Only once since installing the cheapo square wave UPS have I found that
the computer has rebooted.  Apparently the outage was longer than usual
and the battery had run down.

When I asked the people at Telebit about connecting the Trailblazer to a
square wave UPS, I got a resounding no, no, NO.

Now for my question.  Does anyone have any suggestions about the care
and maintenance of the battery?  Should it be cycled periodically? 
What is a convenient way to test its status?

The battery is a sealed unit and as I recall, it was manufactured by a
company in Castro Valley, Calif.  I would have to dig it out from under
the desk for any more info.

vern

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Vernon C. Hoxie		       {ncar,nbires,boulder,isis}!scicom!zebra!vern
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