UPS for 24 volts DC PXI chassis

[ausind]

We have had our PXI1031DC crash (windows XP) and corrupt the MAX database with severe consequence in restoration when the 24volts DC was lost. Is there a suitable 24 volts DC uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that is available for use in this DC configuration?

[Jim_S]

Hello,

I did a search on google about 24V UPS power backups and I found that some companies do make them. I can't guarantee that these are the best there are but its a start.

[ausind]

Thanks Jim,

There are a few of this basic type of battery back-up, but I was chasing one that also provided a "shut-down" signal that would power down the PC gracefully when power loss was present. That type of DC UPS does not appear to be common - unless I am just missing something obvious.

[RavensFan · Accepted solution]

Phoenix Contact has 24 VDC UPS's.  They have alarm contacts to give warnings when it goes on battery backup.  You could use a digital input in your system to read the status of the alarm contacts and use that to shut down your program and system.

[ausind]

that sounds good - and I have found a VI that would shut down the PC etc.  What about starting up the PC again when power returns?  that sounds a bit more difficult?

[RavensFan]

Good question.

What OS is your PXI running?  Will it be Windows or a real-time OS?

A lot of Windows PC's can be set to restart automatically on the return of power.  But I don't know if the PXI can do that.  I know it has a hard on/off switch.

One possibility would be to sue some external relay logic that would turn off and turn on power to the PXI system based on the alarm contacts, and appropriate delays so that it doesn't kill power to the PXI too quickly giving it enough time to shut itself down.