Credit Card Machines & UPS (power source)

[LisaW]

Does anyone have a cc machine that normally plugs into the wall that they take to shows and plug into a UPS for a battery back up? I'm just wondering what UPS I would need. Most show they don't run very long. I'm hoping the run time they show is based on a huge computer running non-stop and what I'm doing won't take that much energy.

Thanks,

LisaW

[RobinInOR]

It's a possibility. You'd have to look at the specs to see how long it would last. It's all about watts

UPSs are usually rated in watts and runtime. And the cc machine will have specs for voltage and current, if not watts. Voltage * Current = Watts.

If you compare all of that, that will be how long the UPS will last.

That's kind of basic, but that's where I'd start, by looking at the specs.

Here's an example.

We've got a tiny UPS that is rated for a draw of 200W for 10 minutes. That's 33 watt hours before it would have to be recharged. I looked online at credit card machines and saw a spec that they draw 31 watts during printing. So that would mean if you were continuously printing the UPS would last for 1 hour. Of course you won't be printing all the time, but still, it looks like it would only last a couple of hours, since the UPS needs some of that power for itself. You'd need a pretty big UPS to last a day.

I'm looking into getting a deep cycle battery and and inverter, mounted on a wheeled base, for the next holiday season. That's another option you could research.

[Vicky_CO]

I'm looking into getting a deep cycle battery and and inverter, mounted on a wheeled base, for the next holiday season. That's another option you could research.

I have something similar set up using a deep cycle battery and I can go all day if it a normal day it doesn't handle one of my shows well but that show starts at 7:00 am and goes till after 10:00 pm. Shows that last a couple of days I just take the battery home and charge it at night.

[coconut]

I'm not familiar with the deep cycle battery but that sounds better than using a UPS. A UPS is not designed to be used as a frequently recharged power source and if the battery drains to dead, it may be dead for good. I lost two batteries in UPS's that were drained to dead after Hurricane Charley when I could not get back home to turn them off (both had very small loads on them-one a very small fishtank and the other had a DirecTV box on it). These batteries had to be replaced and at that time the battery store told me this happens often. Good luck and I would like to hear more about this credit card machine, although I am not doing shows yet.

[Vicky_CO]

Deep Cycle batteries are used in boats, motorcycles, and lawn mowers. It take a little adapting but it gives you the ability of running your electric stuff when electricity is not available.

[coconut]

Deep Cycle batteries are used in boats, motorcycles, and lawn mowers. It take a little adapting but it gives you the ability of running your electric stuff when electricity is not available.

Thanks for that info. I will definitely look into that for the future.

[LisaW]

Actually if I only turn the UPS and cc machine on while I'm actually using them say 10 - 20 transactions in a day, I think it should work. Can't see how I could possibly adapt one of those deep cell batteries. I know the UPS thing works. I'll keep checking.

Thanks,

LisaW