Plea for advice with THE rude question

[Keith Outten]

I must have been sleeping at the laser. What is this battery backup issue?

Ed,

When we shut down Hampton Roads Online in October of 2005 the majority of our Members here at SMC wanted us to keep The Creek running. I made a deal with my partners to acquire The Creek by accepting the companies debt in exchange for ownership of SMC. We had a few pieces of equipment from HRO that we were able to salvage, one of them was a battery backup that was a couple years old but in good shape. The battery backup protects our server, router. modem and hub from electrical surges and provides electricity for a period of time when we lose power.

When it was new we had about an hours time, the batteries are now down to about two minutes which takes care of short electrical flickers but not much else. Aaron and I have been looking at our options, it seems that there are low cost and high cost battery units but not much in between. In my mind the situation has reached the point of necessity, if we must use our emergency funds to cover the cost of a new unit that is what we will do.

Sorry for getting so far off-topic.
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[Dave Jones]

Another option is a replacement battery. I reccently replaced the batteries in a couple of my older small UPS supplies. These were small units, so the batteries weren't too expensive. Larger units of course have larger more expensive batteries. If they're too expensive, that may not be a reasonable option.

[Keith Outten]

Dave,

Replacing the batteries is a good option. Our existing unit is a Cyber Power 1500AVR and is a nice unit. There is a battery specialty place in our local area that can get us replacement batteries, probably at a fair price. Aaron will have to bring our server and network down to remove the existing unit and then again when we have the new batteries. My problem is that if it takes one to three days to get it done any electrical interuption will cause our server to go offline and it could be down for hours if I am at work during the day.

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[Bill Stein]

Keith,

Since you know the make and model of your UPS, the battery "store" should be able to sell you the correct battery without having to see the ones currently installed. I have replace my UPS batteries in several different units and there are only a limited number of "standard" batteries that it looks like everyone uses -- athough the number may vary (ie, does your flashlight use 2, 3, or 4 "C" or "D" batteries?). And it is a DIY job (especially for someone that is experienced with changing laser tubes ). So you would only have to take the system down one time and you would always have the UPS online while live.

Of course, Murphy may show up and the batteries turn out to not fit after you open the UPS. Not much you can do at that time except get all of the information off of the battery (model #, amps, etc.), get its measurements, type of connectors, etc. and put everyting back on line and return to the battery store. MAKE ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE HAND to make sure you can return the batteries. Most stores will not allow returns because they are concerned about people returning the bad ones instead of the recently purchased ones. But if you can talk to the owner/manager before hand, you can explain the situation and probably work something out.

Bill

[Bill Cunningham]

Dave,

Replacing the batteries is a good option. Our existing unit is a Cyber Power 1500AVR and is a nice unit. There is a battery specialty place in our local area that can get us replacement batteries, probably at a fair price. Aaron will have to bring our server and network down to remove the existing unit and then again when we have the new batteries. My problem is that if it takes one to three days to get it done any electrical interuption will cause our server to go offline and it could be down for hours if I am at work during the day.

.

Just sent a paypal donation Keith..

[Marc Myer]

I'm in the same boat: bought my new laser a few months ago, and chose to keep the steady job. I have WAY too many irons in the fire, and often say that if I had just two months away from work, I could get everything profitable.
I live in a high tourist traffic area, and the opportunities are endless. But the real task is getting proficient with the laser. The laser itself is great, but there's a lot of learning involved for each material, coating, and technique that require some trial and error. There's also software proficiency.
I should find out today about a nice 3000-piece order from a Japanese bank. That will be cool, but to get the job, I had to design several wood items from scratch and get really creative with the artwork. I love that part, but it isn't quick. And I think I speak for all of us when I say every piece we do must be perfect!
marc
35w Epilog

[Dave Fifield]

Keith, start a new thread in the admin/general areas about the back-up system age/need to get a new one etc. and ask for donations from anyone who can, and I'll bet you have the needed money in very short order. I for one will shell out a nice pile-o-cash to help.

Cheers,

[Keith Outten]

Thanks Bill for the donation and to Dave for the suggestion. I'm working on a solution.

I am still very interested in the possiblity of everyones input in an effort to put together a list of things every laser engraver must have plus the nice to have stuff. I think we would all be surprised at some of the things that would make the list and I know that the startups would really appreciate the collective knowledge.

My thoughts on engravers keeping their day job is that it is tough to bring up a new business part time. Keeping your day job is the safest way to go but it may increase your time line by a serious factor for getting your engraving business on its feet and profitable. When I got mine I was self employed and had the time to spend learning and developing techniques for most of the common engraving material types. I also had time to dedicate to marketing and promoting my new wares but it didn't help me become profitable any quicker than I might have part time in my case. My goal was to get into the commercial sign business and although I could knock them dead at meetings the end result was that I didn't have any commercial experience and was not considered as a qualified bidder for large building projects. No Resume' No Work

I did finally break into the business by landing a small job that was for a very large commercial building. The first job got me more work and in time I finally built a company resume that qualifies me to bid on large jobs. Had I been working a day job at the time it would have made things easier in the beginning. I eventually did find a day job that not only helped pay the bills it helped me market my sign work.

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[Nancy Laird]

Thanks Bill for the donation and to Dave for the suggestion. I'm working on a solution.

I am still very interested in the possiblity of everyones input in an effort to put together a list of things every laser engraver must have plus the nice to have stuff. I think we would all be surprised at some of the things that would make the list and I know that the startups would really appreciate the collective knowledge.

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Keith, I sent you a PM on Saturday or Sunday volunteering to help with this project, and haven't heard back . I'm still available to help if wanted.

I sent in a donation about a month or so ago specifically earmarked for the purchase of the battery backup. Hope this gets the ball rolling.

Nancy

[Mark Koenig]

George,
I am going to advise contrary to what everyone else has said. If you go at this endeavor part time it will most likely fail. Your "part time" sounds like it will be weekends only - again, this sounds destined to fail.

The only way you could make a go of it would be to do it full-time. But, if you don't have 12 months of expenses at your access then you are going to have a rough time of it. It still could fail but if you are generating some revenue then the 12 months of expenses could last for quite a bit longer than 12 months - make sense?

I say, fish or cut bait!

Gary

P.S. September 1st 2006 I quit my job. December 15th my wife quit her job. We are very glad we made those decisions and are positive it will work out - failure is not an option!

I totally agree with your statement about doing the business Full Time or it will Never get off the ground... The Wife has soooo many orders lined up waiting for me to get product to the market... I have the manufacturing experience and she does the sales and quality control... Jeez she's tough but has way better artistic skills...

I'm well within that 12 month grace period and have had enough with making the owners of my "Public Job" 155K a month @ 65% net profit with technology that I developed... They keep on demanding more and more for no additional compensation... Well, that ended yesterday...

Everyone is in different situations and there is a time to get "Froggy" and "Jump"...

Here I gooooooooooooooooooo............

Mark.

P.S> How would you like your fish cooked???

[Mike Null]

The question is, if you've got a $6,000 a month nut to crack can you do it?

If you can, more power to you, but that's better than anybody I know about who has only a laser to produce income.

[Keith Outten]

Keith, I sent you a PM on Saturday or Sunday volunteering to help with this project, and haven't heard back . I'm still available to help if wanted.

I sent in a donation about a month or so ago specifically earmarked for the purchase of the battery backup. Hope this gets the ball rolling.

Nancy

Nancy,

I'm still playing catch up but I am interested in your help. I will get back to you ASAP.

Thanks,
Keith

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[Pete Thomas]

Keith, the CyberPower Model PR1500 uses 4 standard 12V 7AH batteries which are available at BatteriesPlus for about $30/each.



The batteries is also hot swappable,

Specifications
Model PR1500 / PR1500SWRM2U VA rating 1500VA Watts 1000W
Input Voltage range 85V - 150V
Frequency range 47Hz - 63Hz
Output Battery output voltage Pure Sine Wave at 120Vac +/- 5%
Battery output frequency 60 Hz +/- 1%
...
Battery
Maintenance Free Lead Acid Battery 7AH x 4
User Replaceable Yes, Hot Swappable Battery Pack
Typical Recharge Time 8 Hours

You could check the battery connections, typically .187 tab connections, if you pop out the battery pack, disconnect the old and connect in the 4 new batteries.

The folks at batteries plus could also replace the batteries in the battery pack. This would require to remove the battery pack which can be performed with the unit on, (hot swappable) this means no battery backup if you lose power. I don't know how prone you are to power outages but I would assume you don't have daily outages. This way you could have Batteries Plus install the new batteries.

Hope this helps.

-pete

[Keith Outten]

Thanks a million Pete. I will contact them and order a new set of batteries today

[Chuck Burke]

George,

You have two options. Do or do not. I would suggest Do not. Take the job and work as hard as you can to make your laser business work in the time you have. Perhaps your friend would allow you to work longer days and maybe weekends so you could have your days off during the week to work your laser business....during which time you could drum up the business, or alternatively your wife could.

Then when you got home, you could have some fun working with the laser.

This comes from first hand experience. I had moved away from home for two years. I sold a profitable business and had a no compete clause with it. Things did not work out and we ( my wife and I ) came home. We could not run our old business because of the no compete clause. I figured I could start my laser business in not time at all...because I have a tremendous network of friends and associates..... I have been home for two years now. Last year I did a little over $20,0000 in the engraving business.....it can be tough to get started..... my two cents before taxes is take the job.

Regardless of your decision, I am sure I speak for everyone in wishing you the best of luck in your endeavor.

Chuck Burke
American Pacific Awards
Maui, Hawaii