Is a UPS in luggage ok?
 

Any issues with taking a small UPS(Uninteruptable Power Suppy) to BKK for a week vacation?

Background: We brought a portable DVD player with us to the SIN DO in 2004. Can't swear to it but we believe we "cooked" it when we tried to charge the battery in SIN using the 220v 50Hz -->110v 60Hz converter we bought at the luggage store. This year not wanting to take any chances with the new DVD player, or the digital still camera or the digital movie camera or the laptop.... I had an idea.

Why not take the $50.00 UPS I have on my PC to BKK with us. Its' whole purpose in life is to deal with flakey input voltages right? I propose it should handle the output of the converter just fine. When we need to charge up the batteries on our expensive digital toys we unplug the UPS from the "wall" and we should be getting a perfect 110v 60Hz sine wave output. During the day the UPS can be charging up while we are out and about enjoying BKK.

Any holes in this plan? Is NW going to be OK with it in our luggage? Thanx in advance for you thoughts....

[If it's a lead-acid battery, I could see them having some issue. Think about it.

Check the power adaptors for all the electronics you're taking. If it says it can take 100-240v, then all you need is a plug adaptor (not a transformer).

Except for the really heavy duty UPS' inside a data center, I've yet to see one "off the shelf" that could take an input of 220v and throw out 110v.

As for taking it on the plane... expect your luggage to be throughly inspected because of it and the airline might restrict it from being transported.

It is an interesting plan. Before you go through with it, I think you should double-check that all of your equipment really requires a converter and not an adapter, because most modern devices can take either 110/120 or 220/240 as input without any problems. I did fry a battery charger by plugging it into 220 because I thought it could accept that voltage. I read that it was 110 only after the fact. :o

As far as putting a UPS in luggage, I believe it is a DOT requirement that you unplug the battery for shipment. If you notice, all new UPSs come charged and the battery comes unplugged. I have shipped UPSs for work by both ground and air, and they certainly get shipped by air delivery companies, but always with the battery unplugged. From a safety standpoint I don't think there's any issue with it. You'll have to double-check with NWA if they have any sort of a regulation that would prohibit you from packing it in your luggage.

BTW, aren't you concerned about the extra weight?

As long as a UPS battery is compliant with IATA/ICAO special provision A67, it is classified as non-dangerous even though it may be a lead-acid cell.

My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of modern UPS cells are compliant (i.e. non-spillable even in case of a cracked/ruptured case). If in doubt, it should be simple enough to discover from the manufacturer.

The key is to make sure the battery is disconnected to the UPS during transport.

I'm not sure if many standard/consumer UPSs will meet this usage.

Most UPS's respone to input voltage problems by simply going to battery. So in the case of my personal UPS (APC BackUPS Pro 420 IIRC), any voltage lower than 106.0 or higher than 127.0 will cause the system to switch to battery. There may be a similar function if the frequency is off of 60 Hz by much. So if you plug it in to 220V 50 Hz it will react by using the battery. It won't charge the battery or convert the 220V line voltage. Most portable UPSs won't have enough battery capacity to run a computer or DVD player for more than 15-60 minutes depending on capacity and load; your power:weight ratio would be better bringing spare laptop/DVD/camera batteries.

There are some expensive high-end UPSs that will convert anomalous line voltages (within reason) to standard power. They essentially do an AC - DC conversion on whatever AC voltage is present, run it through a voltage regulator, and then run the inverter to generate 120V 60 Hz. (Technically not a true sine wave in most UPSs; true-sine inverters are somewhat complicated, quite expensive, and unnecessary for the vast majority of uses.) I suppose if you have one of those and if 220 V is within the range it can handle, you would be able to do this. But I'd be very certain before I'd haul a heavy UPS on a transpacific trip.

As stated by other posters, check the specs on your power bricks for your devices. It is highly probable that your laptop and camera chargers will have "global power" tolerances. The brick for the Dell I'm typing this on can handle
100-240V AC 50/60 Hz input. All I need to use it overseas is a $0.10 adapter that makes the plug fit the wall; no electronics, just wires in the adapter. (usually costs much more than $0.10 in USA.) I don't know anything about portable DVD players but imagine they have power bricks similar to those on laptops.

A lot of the cheap little travel adapters you buy in stores are only designed for shavers and crude electric (not electronic) devices. They put out rough square-wave AC. You might have actually damaged your former unit that way.

My understanding is the same, mainly because manufacturers want to be able to ship the UPSs via standard methods without hazmat restrictions. As long as the battery is non-spillable (sealed, no ports for water), it should be OK. Read the label on the battery. It may even say "FAA approved" on it.

If you carry such a thing for whatever reasoin, you might get a copy of the actual regulations regarding batteries and carry it to show to the airline/screener if they give you a problem. http://ash.faa.gov/docs/HAZMATByPassenger.pdf is a good start; it covers non-spillable batteries for wheelchairs and gives the disconnect requirement.

I think there may be a little mis-understanding. What I'm proposing is to use the 220v source to just charge up the UPS. Once charged unplug it from the 220v. Next plug in my DVD player, camera... to the UPS(which is now running in "battery mode") to charge their batteries up from the clean 110v 60Hz output of the UPS.

Ya the weight is a little concern(~30# I'm guessing) but with four of us going we get eight bags so I think we are OK...

--
I haven't bent over far enough yet to actually look at the UPS to see if it has a "switch" to allow 110v or 220v input. Worse case I would use my travel converter from last year to bring the 220v down to the 110v "square wave" and hope the UPS can handle the 10Hz difference in frequency.

I'll send Northwest an email and post what the reply is here...


...and thanx for the feedback/comments folks. --dlouise

I would say you would be much better off getting a decent quality transformer and saving yourself the hassle.

By the sounds of it, you blew up your DVD player using a low-quality voltage converter. Generally, voltage converters are neither rated for continuous usage nor for electronics. Anything that you buy at a luggage store will be designed to let you use a shaver or a hairdryer.

Spend a bit more (but still rather less than $100) and you can get a continuous/electronics rated transformer with 300W output, which will weigh in the 5lb range.

I would imagine you'd come out ahead on excess baggage fees alone.

In general, there are no 110v UPS devices on the market that will accept 220v, even for charging the internal battery. UPS models are all either [In 110v/Out 110v] or [In 220v/Out 220v] -- they are not meant to be used as a travel accessory.

Bringing a UPS overseas to use the line-conditioning feature seems like overkill, and a big weight hassle. Why not buy one of those Belkin surge protector strips? Your intent is to mostly recharge portable electronics, so over-voltage and surge conditions are the biggest worries. If there's under-voltage or current sag, it doesn't matter because those devices just trickle charge. Besides after your trip, you can always use another surge-protected strip around the house.

As BKK is 220v and my stuff prefers 110v I don't think a surge supressor will work. :)

NWA sez it's just fine...
 

Sent NWA this question:
"Any issues with taking a small UPS(Uninteruptable Power Suppy, like you'd use for a home personal computer) to BKK from DTW? I'm planning on placing it in my checked luggage. Thanx in advance. --dlouise37"


..and the reply:

"Thank you for contacting NWA Online. There should be no problem checking
your ups.

Passengers should NOT pack medications, car keys, tickets, passports and
other legal documentation, valuable items such as jewelry, irreplaceable
items or cameras in checked luggage. For a complete listing of items
excluded from liability, please refer to the full text of the Northwest
Airlines Contract of Carriage, which can be viewed at any Northwest
airport counter or ticket office or it may be obtained online or by
writing to:

Northwest Airlines, Inc.
Customer Care
P.O. Box 1908
Minot, ND 58702"

You aren't gonna find a switch like that :).

This will fry the UPS unit and/or blow a fuse/automatic circuit braker in the UPS and/or set the travel converter on fire.