“Looking for something to act as a temporary power source for an oxygen concentrator that runs approximately 480 watts per hour. Only need it to power for about 30 minutes to give patient time to get to the portable oxygen. Will this work for this purpose?”
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No. it can't do it. Small UPS systems will go 5, 10, 15 minutes max at 450 watts load. Also, please specify more info. The real answer is rather technical for a small space but I'll give a try Electronics don't draw "watts per hour" as shown so the units in the question are sort of a typo of wrong units. Does it draw 480 watts when it's on? then that is Watts and nothing to do with time. Watts are a steady state unit. there is no time. However, we can include time data and then we have new units such as Watt-hours which is not the same. If it draws 480watts steady when on ... then the total energy or watt-hours depends how much of the time does it run during the hour. We call that duty cycle. If its' on half the time then its' 480W at 50% Dc (duty cycle) is like 240Watts for the hour or 240Watt-hour If however, you changed the units accidentally in your question and you really meant 480 Watt-hours then that's totally different and the math is different. Assuming it draws 480 "watts" steady when running. No, the APC 1500VA UPS can't do that. not that long, with a large 480 watt load. The APC 1500VA UPS can do 900Watts max, but only for 3 minutes. They printed 1500VA or Amp-hour because the number looks bigger. but it's really 900Watts max in normal power units. Higher grade units rated at 1000VA at 1000Watts are more powerful than this one. Runtime from APC 900Watts for 3minutes 450 watts for 11 minutes 200 watts for 30 minutes So if you device takes 450Watts and remains off most of the time then it could do a while, but realistically, NO, it can't do it. The UPS will run itself down anyway in just over an hour even with no load due to internal losses. If your device pulls 450Watts ( that's a lot) then it will be dead even faster in about 10 minutes. You need a much larger UPS, A smaller or more efficient O2 generator or a gas generator with a real AC sine wave output. or connect an AC inverter to a much larger battery or 12V from a vehicle that you can leave idling for the hour. If it's medical equipment and it has a motor in it, it's not going to run well on a stepped, modified.. sort-of sine wave on a device like this. This particular UPS only has a sine wave output when the power company is on. when it goes to battery it's not a real sine wave. As per the APC site it calls it a "Wave type: Stepped approximation to a sinewave" Not a sine wave. AC motors do not like square wave or sort of rough sine waves with peaks on it. Motors run slower and hotter unless it's a correctly shape, smooth sine wave. You need a REAL AC sine wave and they do make those on higher end UPS devices, but this one isn't at that level. Most UPS devices don't really advertise it correctly either so that's misleading. many of these say Sine wave output, which is only half true. It's only a sine wave when it's NOT on battery power. then when you need it, it's not a sine wave, and they don't make that spec easy to find. If it says stepped approximately or PWD (pulse width modified) then it's not really a sine wave. A UPS is not the right solution for a medical device with a motor in it. You need a much more powerful solution with a true AC 60Hz sine wave. You can get a real true, sine wave UPS but that's costs 2-3x more than this one, look up 5SC1500 + sine. That will be closer to the right product and that has a REAL, true AC sine wave when on battery power so it would run the O2 smoothly for a while, but that's still not really big enough. Big industrial UPS can come in any size, 2Kw, 300,000 Watt etc but it's better in this case to simply get a larger deep cycle battery and connect that to an AC inverter. That would be far stronger. Folks that install Solar power for homes can tell you all about that and get you setup perfectly with the right hardware. No, it's not solar, but those folks know all about deep cycle batteries and AC inverters and can install it safely and get the right hardware to run it for 1 hour, 2, or whatever you want. A computer size UPS is not the right device for what you need. For example get a 1000Watt true sine wave inverter that runs on 12V or 24V DC. Connect that through a fuse for protection (around 100A or 50A depending on the load and how many batteries). You will need more details but that's the basics. Talk to residential solar inverter installation folks. they can set you up with a 12V charger, battery, inverter, AC outlet, protection fuses or breakers and a way to switch it over to backup power. They have hardware to do what you need and can run it for an hour, 2 hours or even a week if needed. They could even power the whole house if you want but that's a bigger project.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Thank you for your interest in our products. As a general policy, APC by Schneider Electric does not recommend the use of any of its products in life support applications where failure or malfunction of the APC product can be reasonably expected to cause failure of the life support device or to significantly affect its safety or effectiveness. APC does not recommend the use of any of its products in direct patient care. Please reach us out via chat or phone as well if you need further assistance.
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