Printer on UPS?

[MrB]

My partner today said that he had always been taught (he takes a lot of
classes) that you should never put a printer on a UPS. I see nothing wrong
with putting it on a surge protect outlet on the UPS. It doesn't make sense
to waste battery on a printer. So is "never" a good practice or surge
protector outlet ok?

Thanks

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> "MrB"

My partner today said that he had always been taught (he takes a lot of
classes) that you should never put a printer on a UPS. I see nothing wrong
with putting it on a surge protect outlet on the UPS. It doesn't make sense
to waste battery on a printer. So is "never" a good practice or surge
protector outlet ok?

The issue, as I understand it, is that laser printers tend to draw a
significant amount of power and it can cause damage to UPS batteries.

 

[Mike Walsh]

It is OK to plug a printer into a UPS outlet that uses only the surge protector The usual advice is to not plug a printer into a UPS outlet that will draw power from the battery. Inkjet printers use little power and can be connected to a UPS. Laser printers use much more power. Don't plug them into a UPS unless you are sure the batteries can supply enough power.

 

[kony]

My partner today said that he had always been taught (he takes a lot of
classes) that you should never put a printer on a UPS. I see nothing wrong
with putting it on a surge protect outlet on the UPS. It doesn't make sense
to waste battery on a printer. So is "never" a good practice or surge
protector outlet ok?

Thanks

"Printer" has nothing to do with anything really...

Some printers use more power than others - a LOT more.
Injets for example, only a few dozen mA from AC and even
less when idle. Lasers on the other hand use several amps
when preheating the fuser lamp, but less during the rest of
the printing process and more comparable to inkjets when
idle- except business class lasers which could have more
mainboard and processing ability and thus use more power all
the time, but still a lot more for preheating than any other
time.

Thus, the UPS has to be able to sustain the combined
amperage of all connected components, which many consumer
type of (low capacity) UPS cannot do with any larger draw
components like laser printers... though modern lasers can
also idle and use very little power, but the moment someone
tried to wake up a laser to print something while a
small-sized UPS was powering it, the UPS would shut down
from it's overcurrent protection circuit (assuming a
properly made, name-brand UPS.. if it's a junk generic of
questionable construction then there may be corner-cutting
which effects the threshold for overcurrent shutdown in a
negative way).

It's not a good idea to do other things on a borderline
capacity UPS either- Like turn on a large CRT monitor which
will create a large surge at power on and degaussing. If
one needs to power "all" their computer related components
during an outtage they'll need a very large, expensive UPS.

 

[MrB]

Thanks to all who replied.

"Printer" has nothing to do with anything really...

Some printers use more power than others - a LOT more.
Injets for example, only a few dozen mA from AC and even
less when idle. Lasers on the other hand use several amps
when preheating the fuser lamp, but less during the rest of
the printing process and more comparable to inkjets when
idle- except business class lasers which could have more
mainboard and processing ability and thus use more power all
the time, but still a lot more for preheating than any other
time.

Thus, the UPS has to be able to sustain the combined
amperage of all connected components, which many consumer
type of (low capacity) UPS cannot do with any larger draw
components like laser printers... though modern lasers can
also idle and use very little power, but the moment someone
tried to wake up a laser to print something while a
small-sized UPS was powering it, the UPS would shut down
from it's overcurrent protection circuit (assuming a
properly made, name-brand UPS.. if it's a junk generic of
questionable construction then there may be corner-cutting
which effects the threshold for overcurrent shutdown in a
negative way).

It's not a good idea to do other things on a borderline
capacity UPS either- Like turn on a large CRT monitor which
will create a large surge at power on and degaussing. If
one needs to power "all" their computer related components
during an outtage they'll need a very large, expensive UPS.