It is so important to make sure that your UPS and generator (where installed) are ready to work when they are called on in anger. Many people do carry out simulated tests. We came across this page from the Information Services team at Nottingham University. Even though their UPS (not supplied by Riello) and generator passed the simulated power failure, they uncovered some issues that they intend to work on.

One thing we have recently launched is a new range of hire services for load banks and generators. Load bank hire is proving particularly effective for customers who want to test their UPS off-load during preventative maintenance.

DEFRA has recently published a new report covering ‘Hazardous Waste Regulations - List of waste regulations 2005″.

Sites producing hazardous waste in England and Wales from 16 July 2005 must inform the Regulator - The Environment Agency. Exclusions include offices, shops, farms, schools/colleges, prisons, residential, and nursing homes, hospitals, dental, veterinary and other medical, practices, premises used by charities and places used for the purpose of collecting waste electrical and electronic equipment do not need to notify if they produce less than 200kg of hazardous waste.

The batteries we use in our UPS and standby power systems are classified as hazardous waste. This means that any site that cannot be excluded must notify the Regulator. It is an offence to remove waste from a site that has not been notified to the Regulator both for the site, and the removal company.

Riello Galatrek has an environmental management system certified to ISO 14001. As part of the approach to environmental management the company is a registered Waste Carrier (NOW/269999/CB ), Waste Management Company - storage of waste (NAP653) and Mobile Service Operator (NCC322). The last registration – Mobile Service Operator - allows Riello Galatrek to take hazardous waste up to 200kg from customer sites. Above 200kg the customer site itself must be notified to the Regulator.

To notify the Regulator the following information is needed:
1. The number of employees (within a range)
2. Your Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC 2003) - UPS are SIC 51.86.
3. Companies House registration number (if you are Ltd or Plc)
4. A valid e-mail address

Contact details are:
Telephone 08708 502858
Website The Environment Agency
Website forms to register your site as a waste producer.

Alternatively you can ask your Waste Management contractor - for example Riello Galatrek - to notify on your behalf but you are held responsible for the accuracy of the information provided and the registering company is responsible for your annual site license. The fees for notifying range from £18 for electronic forms, £23 for telephoned information and £28 for written forms.

Due to the annual license and accuracy of information issues, Riello Galatrek has taken the view that sites producing over 200kg of waste per annum must be responsible for notifying the Regulator directly.

The Ninth Grove Fuel Cell Symposium takes place between 4-6 October 2005 at the QEII Centre, London. siGEN appear to be specialists whose mission is to lead the field in the design and implementation of commercial Fuel Cell power solutions. There newsletter covers a range of applications and case studies for alternative energies. Fuel cells are still too expensive an option to use in Uninterruptible Power Supplies which continue to rely on Sealed Lead Acid technologies.

There are situations where UPS have failed earth loop impedance testing. There are good reasons for this and we have prepared a Technical Questions Answered Page on the subject.

We just came across a new hand held battery tester called ‘The Interrogator Battery Analyzer”. It is the first ever handheld battery analysis system that determines the level of sulfation - the most common failure mechanism in lead acid batteries and can also determine the level of dry out in electrolyte starved systems. Fully non invasive The Interrogator looks like an interesting piece of kit that we will be testing shortly for use by Riello Galatrek engineers.

We picked up these snippets from Channel Show Website the other day. “In the thick of storm season, lightning can strike small firms twice: in productivity and on the bottom line, a new study warns. Last year the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TOSRO) recorded 300,000 lightning strikes across the UK. The Met Office recorded 5,271 lightning strikes between 11 and 15 July. Its detection system has been known to pick up 130,000 lightning discharges in a single day.”

Riello Galatrek is a LinkUP certified UPS supplier and has delivered a number of standard and bespoke systems, including Relocatable Equipment Buildings (REBs) for applications on Network Rail infrastructure. The lastest rail industry showcase- Infrarail 2005 takes place at the G-MEX CENTRE, MANCHESTER 14-16 SEPTEMBER 2005. Our main systems for rail applications are the Dialog Plus - used principally on telecoms systems and Master Dialog - used principally for N+1 configurations on critical points signalling applications.