Test Equipment Anonymous

AVGresponding wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2026 11:44 am My free-standing worktop height one uses less than 100W with the compressor motor running. Be careful if you plan to run one on a UPS; the motors don't like modified sine or square waves, they cause too many I²R losses and consequently overheat.
I'm guessing 1kW is a momentary inrush? Most UPS's/inverters can handle 2-3x rating for a few milliseconds without a problem.

I've always shied away from modified sine wave converters for that reason. I imagine they could feed TE with a modern SMPS, but there's no way I'm going to try it!

100W while idling is pretty normal; you've got a 3KVA transformer to keep energised, and if it's a consumer/low end commercial grade unit it'll be running on quite a low DC voltage so it has a lot of work to do in the primary.

My 3kW UPSs are both rack mounted pure sine inverters, 48V battery. Clearly they are intended to be used for server backups where high power is needed for a short time.

I have ~600Wh of AGM cells, which I leave disconnected and test/charge once every 3 months. Over 3 years there has been a slow decline in capacity, but they will be useful for another three years or so.

When is Hinkley Point C coming on line? When will Putin choose to expand his empire again? Answers >/dev/null.