How do you prevent laser printer from killing UPS?

[eljaye925]

I can't move the printer to a separate circuit. Will a line conditioner help? Or are there UPS that are designed to work with laser printers?

Just looking for solutions...

Thanks,

L.J.

 

[Fraggable]

A line conditioner probably won't do much for you, the printer is just plain going to draw a ton of power when it needs it, or it won't work right.

I'd say you're stuck unless you can somehow run another circuit.

 

[Aluvus]

Laser printers have huge inrush currents. I'm not aware of any consumer UPS that can safely handle that.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

How do you prevent laser printer from killing UPS?

Unplug it. Laser printers should never be put into a UPS due to the massive, sudden power draw they cause - not even on a non-batteried port on the same unit.

Run an extension cord from a wall plug.

Originally posted by: Aluvus
Laser printers have huge inrush currents. I'm not aware of any consumer UPS that can safely handle that.

Even on heavy-duty units designed for racked servers, we don't do that. If we absolutely need to print something during a power outage, we'll either fire up the old dot-matrix or the battery-powered inkjet.

- M4H

 

[eljaye925]

Thanks for the replies...plan b i guess...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

How do you prevent laser printer from killing UPS?

Unplug it. Laser printers should never be put into a UPS due to the massive, sudden power draw they cause - not even on a non-batteried port on the same unit.

- M4H

Why not one of the plugs not backed up by the battery? Wouldn't that be the same as plugging the printer into a surge protector? I'd think that so long as it doesn't exceed the 15-20A limit of the outlet or circuit, it should be fine.

 

[eljaye925]

After re-reading the replies I thought I should clarify my question.

The laser printer is not plugged into the UPS, but is on the same electrical circuit as the computer w/ the UPS . It seems every available circuit has a computer on it.

The problem is that the printer will still trip the UPS and eventually ruin the battery or kill the UPS.

Is there anyway around this other than having another circuit run from the breaker box?

 

[WoodButcher]

Move the printer to an area near the panel box, New breaker with an outlet on the wall next to the panel, network the printer from there.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: eljaye925
After re-reading the replies I thought I should clarify my question.

The laser printer is not plugged into the UPS, but is on the same electrical circuit as the computer w/ the UPS . It seems every available circuit has a computer on it.

The problem is that the printer will still trip the UPS and eventually ruin the battery or kill the UPS.

Is there anyway around this other than having another circuit run from the breaker box?

In that case maybe you could get a second sacrificial UPS and plug the printer into it. Sure it'll bang-up the sacrificial UPS pretty bad, but the UPS should help keep your printer from trashing the circuit and everything else on it.

This could at least prevent the issues to your current UPS which presumably is more expensive but on the same circuit. Although honestly if your printer is destroying the VA on your circuit then that is really telling you something...circuit must be near capacity.

Just a thought, good be a dumb one, but just a thought.

 

[Ichinisan]

I recall something about most laser printers having problems with "conditioned" power or power coming from a UPS. Something about the printer's inner workings relying on a sine waveform in the electrical frequency versus a square waveform that comes from conditioned power.

[edit]
It's true. Many laser printers can even damage themselves when running on "conditioned" power with a square waveform.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
In that case maybe you could get a second sacrificial UPS and plug the printer into it. Sure it'll bang-up the sacrificial UPS pretty bad, but the UPS should help keep your printer from trashing the circuit and everything else on it.

This could at least prevent the issues to your current UPS which presumably is more expensive but on the same circuit. Although honestly if your printer is destroying the VA on your circuit then that is really telling you something...circuit must be near capacity.

Just a thought, good be a dumb one, but just a thought.

Plugging the printer into a UPS won't prevent it from drawing too much power from the circuit. UPSes protect against too little current coming in, not too much current draw.
And a good UPS might just shut itself down when it detects the insane overload caused by the printer.

Want a UPS for a laser printer? (Not for the OP's question, just an FYI.)
Here you go 3KVA - 15KVA.

 

[Ichinisan]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Idontcare
In that case maybe you could get a second sacrificial UPS and plug the printer into it. Sure it'll bang-up the sacrificial UPS pretty bad, but the UPS should help keep your printer from trashing the circuit and everything else on it.

This could at least prevent the issues to your current UPS which presumably is more expensive but on the same circuit. Although honestly if your printer is destroying the VA on your circuit then that is really telling you something...circuit must be near capacity.

Just a thought, good be a dumb one, but just a thought.

Plugging the printer into a UPS won't prevent it from drawing too much power from the circuit. UPSes protect against too little current coming in, not too much current draw.
And a good UPS might just shut itself down when it detects the insane overload caused by the printer.

Want a UPS for a laser printer? (Not for the OP's question, just an FYI.)
Here you go 3KVA - 15KVA.

"[HARMONIC DISTORION][PURE SINEWAVE WITH LESS THAN 3% THD AT 100% LINEAR LOAD]"
Good to know.