Breaker Tripped Indicator

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megloff11x

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I have a bunch of scientists who follow the Dad in "A Christmas Story" approach to plugging in instruments in their lab - more power strips on power strip = more outlets.

The predicted result is they are finally tripping breakers.

We can undo their mess and give them additional service, but they are concerned that they might be brewing something important and still trip a breaker and end up with a spoiled experiment.

They want an alarm now.

The only thing I can think of is one of those recharging emergency flashlights that turns on when the outlet power goes off so you can find it in the dark.

Does anyone make something more sophisticated?

MAtt
 
Suggest the scientists go to any computer hardware supply and purchase as many UPS as is appropriate for their needs.

Use the UPS on only the most "valued project(s)".

The UPS will have an alarm that will indicate AC source interruption while maintaining the supply to the "sensitive project" for a period of time.
 
Not sure how much power they need, but a small desktop UPS unit might be the answer! Most of the small desktop UPS units have an alarm that will sound when power supplying it is interrupted. This way the experiment could continue while giving them a short amount of time to correct the problem or to shut down the experiment in an orderly fashion.
For those who do not know what a UPS is, UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. It is a small battery powered inverter unit that works similar to a power strip. However, when power supplying the UPS gets interrupted, the items that are being fed by the UPS continue to operate by way of the battery powered inverter. These units, depending on how much is plugged into them, will continue to run for, say, from a couple of minutes to as much as an hour or so. It all depends on the size of the battery and how much power is being used.
 
The UPS approach is great and they do have them on some devices, but they have outlets and instruments all over their lab, which means they would need multiple UPS devices. This would involve spending money, and these folks are "frugal."

Further, some of their devices use more than the standard 350VA and 500VA available at the local retailers.

But I will pass the advice on.

Matt
 
If the loss of power for even a few seconds is enough to destroy the experiment, then a UPS is probably your best bet. A backup generator supplying a separate panel for the vital loads is a far better solution, but is also far more expensive.

But if all they need is to be alerted that a breaker has tripped, and if they can get power back by shifting loads or switching extension cords without the delay causing an experiment to fail, then there are simple and cheap solutions. A small box with a "power available" relay and a battery powered alarm bell is all you need. I suspect that Radio shack might sell such things, or perhaps a google search might find you some options.
 
Well, it's either waste all the $$ and time they put into the experiment . . . or prevent the loss with a suitably sized UPS.

Oh, that's right! These are PHD's who can't contemplate costs. Sorry 'bout that.

RC
 
megloff11x said:
The UPS approach is great and they do have them on some devices, but they have outlets and instruments all over their lab, which means they would need multiple UPS devices. This would involve spending money, and these folks are "frugal."
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Tell them to write the UPSes into their grant proposals. As long as they're spending someone else's money, I doubt they'll complain. :)
 
Ragin Cajun said:
Well, it's either waste all the $$ and time they put into the experiment . . . or prevent the loss with a suitably sized UPS.

Oh, that's right! These are PHD's who can't contemplate costs. Sorry 'bout that.

RC
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I wasn't going to go there either, but common sense brain cells to get overwritten when you get that degree...

Matt
 
They need an alarm to tell them that everything they are in the process of working on has shut down????? All the bells whistles alarms wouldn`t be enough for them.P.H.D. Pretty Huge Dummy.
 
OK. Try selling them this. Get a 120 V alarm klaxton, and small UPS (say 350 VA), and as many single pole NC relays as there are "circuits of concern" in the scientist's lab.

Connect a coil to each circuit of concern, so, when powered, each circuit holds one relay open.

Power the one klaxton from the UPS output with all the relay contacts in parallel (think parallel single pole switches).

Put the whole thing in a nice custom enclosure and include the cost of the relay connections to the branch circuits.

Give them a price for that and then tell them how many UPS they can purchase and the local CompUSA, Best Buy, Microcenter, etc.

A quick look at Microcenter Online yeilded a 1,000 VA (615 Watt) Belkin for $140 (not incl. S&H)
 
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Send them to SAMS club.We run 4 of the 1100 va ones and they cost just over $100.Well worth what they cost to protect electronics.Even a split second can destroy some electronics.If its important to them then this is cheap.I added 2 marine batteries to mine so i can run for about 6 hours.
 
Googling Power Loss Alarm turns up $39 and up freezer and medical alarms, even ones that call you on the phone but those are pricey!
 
sparkie001 said:
Googling Power Loss Alarm turns up $39 and up freezer and medical alarms, even ones that call you on the phone but those are pricey!
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I just wired up some of them thar freezer alarms for the University of Washington's medical freezers, where they run experiments.

It sounds as though they want something to sound alarm before it trips a breaker. In other words when the circuit reaches peak capacity. What they're asking for will cost far more than the UPS setups that others here have recommended. But you could always get some E-mon D-mons with an alarm outputs and remote monitoring capablities if they've got some money to burn. However, I still like the UPS idea.
 
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