# Would a Computer UPS act to smooth out voltage for roasting?



## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Evening all

Have been reading with interest the threads re voltages / times of day etc and having only had my Gene Cafe 101 240v for about a month so probably too early to modify (and too late to change for a 230v version).

I was about to bin out (recycle properly) an APC UPS cs650 where the battery is due replacement but had managed to be replaced whilst waiting, with new shiny UPS's.

Brain then started whirring, but not enough to give me the answer, hence this post. With the Battery back up element inoperable, unless battery changed ,would the unit "smooth out" and thus stabilise the voltage peaks / troughs and if replace battery would this in effect supply a stable 240v thus removing a variable?

Am thinking on this line as kit to hand and don't mind a tinker whilst temptation to mod the gene builds and apologies in advance if my terminolgy offends any engineers.

Thanks in advance, John


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

I am pretty sure BB if that is where you bought it from do not mind you doing the two step mod as long as you follow the instructions, without it affecting warranty. You can certainly switch the element as a starter but I have no idea as to the rest of your post


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Thanks and yes I did purchase it from BB and will bear that in mind.

Whilst not rushing to go spend further on the Gene straight away, when thought about the additional job that UPS's do as well as Battery backup, did wonder if the solution was already to hand.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

This thought had crossed my mind also, being a gene owner.

Be interested to hear other gene owners thoughts, Davecuk may be able to offer more thoughts on it.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

There are 2 main types of UPS (from my days of running datacentre environments). On line and off line....on line always draw from the batteries via an inverter and off line switch to batteries when the mains power fails. They also get very expensive at the capacities required to run a Gene Cafe, even more so if it's an on line UPS. In short you'd be better off buying a CBR-1200 and it would probably be cheaper. To make matters worse all of the UPS supplies I ever saw had either output at line level for switching UPS (or voltage conditioned to 230V, or for on line UPSs, it's usually (always) 230V. At 230V a 240V Gene is going to struggle to roast well.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Hi Dave

Thanks for the above had a feeling it would boil down to either battery capacity or voltage might be too low for a 240v Gene ( would it provide a stable "conditioned" 230v for a 230v gene though, hmmm may just keep for a tinker later...)

I came up through a desktop / server build environment before changing careers 8 years ago and UPS's were things lurking at the bottom of racks that we occasionally had to change batteries in and to be honest that's where my interest in them pretty much stopped (8 way servers and blade servers now that's another story)

Was worth an ask and grateful for the knowledge imparted

John


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