How Do You Protect A UPS?
The answer is redundancy. To that end, Falcon Electric on Wednesday unveiled its FN Series of parallel N+1 redundant UPSes. As Irwindale, Calif.-based Falcon's first entry in the realm of larger UPS systems, the FN units can be connected in parallel to build scalable solutions from 3kVA up to 24kVA. The stand-alone units do not require cabinets for the power and battery modules.
The FN Series models can be set up with true N+1 redundancy by configuring them in parallel along with one extra UPS. For example, four 6kVA units connected in parallel would yield 18kVA of backup power with N+1 redundancy. Configurations up to 24kVA can be had if N+1 redundancy is not required.
The paralleled UPSes communicate through a high-speed serial bus, and if one UPS fails it's taken offline and isolated from the other units. Once notified of the failure through the LCD display and an audible alarm, solution providers simply swap out the dead unit. The UPS batteries in each unit are hot-swappable and can be changed quickly, without having to shut down the UPS.
The FN Series UPSes offer true regenerative technology to protect against blackouts, brownouts, surges and transients. A regenerative UPS provides greater protection for connected equipment by converting the incoming AC voltage to a regulated DC voltage, and then converting the DC voltage into a new AC voltage that's continuous, clean and tightly regulated. The FS Series UPSes are controlled by advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) microprocessors.
Falcon's bundled UPSilon computer shutdown and management software supports all versions of Windows. An optional SNMP/HTTP agent board installed inside the UPS provides a TCP-IP addressable 10/100 Ethernet port.
The FN Series UPSes start at $3,889 and are backed by a two-year warranty.
MARC SPIWAK is a technical editor for the CRN Test Center.