[SML] Motors on UPSs

[Michael Sauder]

I just wanted to clarify that I'm not looking to run on battery for
extended periods of time. We worry about two scenarios:

- Brownouts. The ride is about 4 minutes long. We'd like to be able to
handle small brownouts without halting the ride. Either finishing the
current show, unloading, and then wait out the brownout, or in the case of
a severe brownout, have enough power to move to the unloading position
(which is, of course, near the maximum height) without involving the
generator. If my research today is right, an automatic tap transformer may
address this issue, and allows us to operate continuously even during
extended low-grade brownouts.

- Dips or sags, in which the voltage drops to a seriously low voltage, but
only for a short time (say, 1-5 seconds). This is the more serious concern,
because it will stop the motors in the middle of a ride and requires a
drive amp reset. Bad for the equipment, bad for the customer experience,
especially if it's a frequent occurrence. Tentative research says that an
automatic tap transformer will not address this issue, and this is where
the big money will go.

The wildcard is that we don't know how much of a problem any of this really
will be. The recommendation I just made to the producers is to install an
automatic tap transformer to start (we need a step-down transformer anyway,
this is just a fancier version), a quality power monitoring solution so we
can gather data and tie into the show controller (Medialon Manager), and
designate infrastructure space where we can put in a $$$ power conditioning
system in the future, if needed.

Thanks again to everyone for their help, it has been extremely helpful.

Michael S.
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