Just 2 things here:

1. Is "Googable" a word? If it is, I like it.
2. Yeah, doctors and lawyers make the WORST customers (in my experience).

@brianlittlejohn said:

@dafyre said:

@brianlittlejohn said:

I am religious, and these bill boards bug the hell out of me. They are threatening and accomplish absolutely no purpose.

I am a Christian. I can definitely imagine they bug folks who are athiests or non-Christians as well. But for me, they are reminders of what my purpose is on this earth. (Aside from exorcising computers).

That's great it's reminding you of your purpose, but should that be done by threatening (real or perceived) the people you are trying to reach.

If your family was in a burning building, and you were the only one aware of the fire, what methods of warning them would you consider "too extreme"? Whether or not you agree with these people's views, understand the urgency, whether perceived or real.

@KendallHershey said:
Fluke and Fluke Networks are actually two separate operating companies (most people don't know that)

That's cause all their products are yellow. How are we supposed to differentiate 2 distinct companies when they have the same color throughout?

@Dashrender said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@dafyre said:

@Dashrender Personally, I prefer the phrase "Prepare to meet your maker" ... but that's just picking nits.

But I live like I expect to meet my maker today. It keeps life... interesting.

But keeps you from investing too

Exactly. If you're only living for today, how will you take care of tomorrow.

Though I'm sure that's not entirely what you meant.

Being prepared to die today is not the same as "let's drink and be merry, for tomorrow may never come". It's living life in such a way as to be ready for tomorrow, but not taking for granted that it will happen for yourself, and being ready for what comes if today is your last. That includes your own spirituality and also taking care of your family for the future.

@mdecamp said:

@coliver said:

@mdecamp said:

@gjacobse said:

Using a UPS is a short term option. In some cases services need to be maintained longer -

Are there best practices for deploying a UPS with a generator?

When designing with a backup solution, compatibility between a UPS and Generator is usually one of the biggest issues. It can be complex and confusing.

If the generator isn't sized large enough, it may not be able to hold voltage and frequency within input tolerances when the UPS comes online. The UPS will view the generator as an unstable power source and never come off of battery. The UPS will have a set input voltage and frequency window; if you go outside the window the UPS will go on battery. You can get into a vicious cycle of going on and off of battery until your UPS crashes and your IT load are dropped.

Several reasons why the generator would be an issue:
• The generator is like a car engine. As it maintains RPMs, it maintains frequency. When the UPS transfers from battery to generator power, the engine may slow down a bit. You can compare this to driving a stick shift while stopped at a red light headed uphill. When you dump the clutch, if you aren't giving it enough gas (or if you are driving a pinto) the RPMs are going to drop down.
• Just like in the automotive world, the bigger the engine (generator here) the more it can handle the dumping of the clutch as the UPS comes off of battery. Bigger (aside from your budget number) is better
• Natural Gas is usually the least combustible fuel out there, and generators that run off of NG are slow to respond and may need to be sized larger than propane counterparts. Diesel is best, but usually predominant in the world of 50kW and larger, but it may present a lot more budget and maintenance issues if you don't have a maintenance program or run them weekly, etc.
• When looking at smaller generators (30kW and below) look at the governor. Electronic governors are quick to respond, mechanical governors are not and may add headaches.
The features of the UPS can also impact you configuration. Most single phase UPS products (20kVA and below) will come back online all at once. Larger three phase UPS products will have "current walk-in" and will slowly transition from battery anywhere from 5-60 seconds. As for sizing solutions with generators under 30kVA for single phase UPS applications, I usually lean on the err of caution being a manufacturer. We recommend the same if you are responsible as the decision maker.
• Generator should be sized 2 times the total load (UPS, A/C, an everything else) for NG and mechanical governor
• 1.5 times the load will work if you have a new generator, Propane or Diesel and an electronic governor.
• Any mix from the above puts you somewhere in the middle of 1.5 to 2 times.

This was an amazing explanation and answered a few of my questions. Thank you.

Full disclosure is that I stole this post from @windso

What about adding a conditioner to the mix? Is there an advantage? I would think that smoothing out the peaks/troughs would make the UPS much happier. Am I looking at it correctly, or is there another piece that makes this unnecessary?

@s.hackleman said:

@art_of_shred said:

@Dashrender said:

@art_of_shred said:

@brianlittlejohn said:

@dafyre said:

@brianlittlejohn said:

I am religious, and these bill boards bug the hell out of me. They are threatening and accomplish absolutely no purpose.

I am a Christian. I can definitely imagine they bug folks who are athiests or non-Christians as well. But for me, they are reminders of what my purpose is on this earth. (Aside from exorcising computers).

That's great it's reminding you of your purpose, but should that be done by threatening (real or perceived) the people you are trying to reach.

If your family was in a burning building, and you were the only one aware of the fire, what methods of warning them would you consider "too extreme"? Whether or not you agree with these people's views, understand the urgency, whether perceived or real.

Who hold on... you're comparing our lives to a burning building? That seems extreme!

Unless you think you're making it out of here alive, this life will consume you and you will die. If you (as the people who are bringing you these "threatening" messages) believe in such things as heaven and hell, well, not going to hell might be like getting saved from a fire.

So, if my family is in a burning building, I should get a billboard on the interstate and tell them about it? These billboards are a waste of time and an eye sore. I can't imagine anyone reading that and changing anything about themselves.

I think the idea is that every single life is precious. If your message reaches one single person, what is the value of that? If life is priceless, that's a lot of value.

@JColeKen said:

@JaredBusch Around $3,500-$4,000, not including the automatic transfer switch.

For 11kW?? Wow. I would have expected a bit more for that.

@scottalanmiller said:

@art_of_shred said:

I think the idea is that every single life is precious. If your message reaches one single person, what is the value of that? If life is priceless, that's a lot of value.

If it reaches one, minus how many it turns away. Just like we said in the other thread about Portal, ads can have negative consequences. You have to weigh the good and the bad, not ignore the bad and only look at the positive portions.

Please don't take what I say as my personal endorsement of what they are doing. I am a born-again Christian, and abhor street-preachers. I get what they're doing, but I disagree with their premise. Like an obnoxious sign, how many are being turned away? I believe effective communication comes through relationships, not people waving and yelling. I would love nothing more than to see everyone I care about experience what I have, but I can't forcefully convince anyone of anything. That's just not how it works. Also, everyone has their own choices to make and lives to live. I think I have more to offer by respecting that than I do waving it around and shoving it down others' throats.

@dafyre said:

@windso said:

1. Add all your IT load wattages together. Done

Wattage of the Power Supplies, right?

2. For 120V loads, take your server currents and multiply them all by 120V. If you have three phases, the process is the same: take all the currents, add together, multiply by 120V. Done!

What do you mean by server currents?

Current is amps. My question about the wattage is do you go by the labeled wattage of the power supply, or do you need to calculate the actual operating load?

@Carnival-Boy said:

Can you get decent cheese in America? I'm not being rude, I just don't know. I've never see any American cheese for sale over here, but I don't know if that's because it doesn't travel, it's crap, or there are big import tariffs.

I know from watching Man v Food that Americans seem to put melted cheese on EVERYTHING.

We certainly don't put it on everything, but come to think of it, there are a large number of dishes with cheese melted on top, or it's at least a popular option. Why wouldn't you? Cheese is awesome.

@coliver said:

@JColeKen said:

@art_of_shred Actual operating load is the most practical.

How would you measure this in an environment without power monitoring? Or is it basically a guess at that point?

An ammeter works great if you have one and want real numbers.

Why don't any of these grilled cheese sandwiches have bacon on them? Seriously... or at least ham!

@scottalanmiller said:

@art_of_shred said:

@coliver said:

@JColeKen said:

@art_of_shred Actual operating load is the most practical.

How would you measure this in an environment without power monitoring? Or is it basically a guess at that point?

An ammeter works great if you have one and want real numbers.

Even in the afternoon or do you have to switch to a PMmeter?

Once again sporting your prowess in all things electrical. I defer to your expertise...

We have both softener and reverse osmosis. What questions do you have?

Where is @scottalanmiller ? I would expect him to be up-voting and plastering crap all over this one. In fact, my brow raises as I ponder the possibility that @ryanblahnik could be a SAM-alias... but I know this must not be true. If it were, he would have already up-voted the OP! No shame...

I've done a few CL transactions. Getting to the transaction part is the hardest. There are so many goofballs on CL... tire-kickers and time-wasters. And, because I don't live in the city, I always have to meet people somewhere 45 minutes from me so that it's 5 minutes for them. Seems "city folk" can't drive more than 10 minutes for anything.

@scottalanmiller said:

@art_of_shred said:

On the Windows/other OS debate: I work with random SMB's almost daily, and in my own personal experience, I come across a very small percentage that are not 80-100% Windows-based.

Products like Unitrends, Synology, ReadyNAS, FreePBX, Elastix, etc. bring in Linux where shops still think that they are Windows shops even when much of their core workloads are on Linux servers.

Using a Unitrends appliance in an all-Windows environment hardly equals "much of their core workloads" on Linux.

@Jason said:

@coliver said:

Wow... maybe it is because I'm from an even more remote area than @art_of_shred but I've driven 2 hours to pick up something I've purchased on CL before.

I've done an hour or 2 but only if it's a really good deal and something I really want.

I'm not saying I won't drive. I'm annoyed at how many other people who use CL refuse to drive more than 5-10 minutes.

@Jason said:

@scottalanmiller said:

My question would be... how does someone from the outside get access to internal IT staff at your company?

Easy, Users can foward calls and emails. Which is really bad because Technicians are suppose to be first point of contact anyway, but they go around it because they think we will do something about this.

Is it ever any different?

@Mfd201 and @iroal Welcome to the community! It's always great to see new members getting involved in the action, especially those from overseas.