Why Alpha® FXM HP UPS?
The Alpha® FXM HP UPS is next level. Its intuitive and feature rich interface makes using the product a joy. Sure, you could say I might be biased, but I always try to look at products from a purely technical and utilitarian perspective. When I step out of my Alpha shoes and look at the product with almost 20 years’ experience in the Traffic UPS market perspective, I see a product that is way beyond anything else available.
When I received my first demo unit over four years ago, the first thing that caught my eye was the big bright touchscreen display. My first thought was, “How does it perform in sunlight?" The displays readability in sunlight will make the experience either tough or easy for the technician on the street who needs to work with that piece of equipment. It was clearly time for a field test. I brought the unit outside, powered it up, pointed the display directly at the sun, and was stunned to be able to clearly read everything on the display without providing any shading to it. I said to myself, “okay, we may have something here!”
I could go into all the technical specs of its wide input operating voltage range, fast transfer time, high output smart charger, robust electronics, circuit operation, etc., but I think I will save that for another day perhaps. Those things are of course important, but today, I want to focus on the user experience because that is typically what I receive feedback on, and ultimately is the lasting impression, which then becomes the “Why.”
As I was writing this, I just had a phone call with one of our customers in the Midwest. They’ve installed over 100 of the Alpha® FXM HP 1100 units. He was excited to comment on how they just had an ice storm recently and the systems kept 11 intersections running that had lost power, and another that ran for over 9 hours during a different outage. He said
"THE UPS HAS ALSO ELIMINATED TROUBLE CALLS TO INTERSECTIONS DUE TO FLAKY POWER AND KEPT THINGS RUNNING WITHOUT HAVING TO DRAG OUT GENERATORS WHEN THE UTILITY COMPANY WAS DOING MAINTENANCE"
He was thrilled how well the systems were performing and he said that they love the notifications they are getting back from the UPS, and how easy it is to use the system. These items are just some of their “Why.”
Customers tell me they like the ability to be able to fully program the UPS from the touchscreen, no computer needed. They also like being able to change the dashboard layout to show the information they care about most. The dashboard is the main display area of the LCD and shows configuration, status, mode, statistics, and input/output values. There are four pages to the dashboard and the user can configure each of the fields to their liking.
A common to-do item during installation is to configure the UPS for the particular model of battery being used. This is easily done through the LCD with the wizard, and doing so will improve battery charging and estimated runtime remain reporting so you can see approximately how much runtime you would have if the UPS were to go to inverter mode due to an outage.
Of all the feature requests that I’ve received over the years, by far the most common has been for configuration cloning. The Alpha® FXM HP is the only traffic UPS model I’m aware of that has this. This feature is definitely a fan favorite. First step is to get the UPS configured the way you want it; battery, dashboard, dry contact relays, and whatever else you’d like. Next is to simply export the configuration file. Then import that file locally or remotely from the comfort of your desk to another UPS via Ethernet or USB flash drive and ‘voila’ it will now operate the same as the original. This feature is a gamechanger.
I like data points. It helps me to better understand the world around me and assist a customer with identifying what is happening with their utility power or UPS. The Alpha® FXM HP has many logs which paints a clearer picture. There are Events, Alerts, Battery, Power Outage, Datalogs, and Performance logs. Most of these logs hold thousands of data points so my curiosity is usually satisfied. The Datalog gives the user the ability to decide what items are recorded and when. The user can even write an equation to make the decision on when to record. The information captured is amazing, let me know if you’d like a demo sometime and I’ll show you. For the user who would like the information typically captured in a Datalog but had not set it up yet, well, we’ve got your back there too. The Performance logs start capturing information as soon as the UPS is powered up so you can historically see what’s been happening. All the logs are exportable and provide a wealth of information.
If you’ve ever seen any of my videos or been a part of any of my webinars you would have noticed that I use a lot of images to convey and teach because they help us to learn. One of my favorite features of the Alpha® FXM HP is Power Flow. With this tool, you can visually “see” all the different components in the system with their status and input/output values. It is truly the best way to see your complete system in action.
The deepest dive on our system is the Custom Data feature. This feature allows you to write formulas in Boolean logic to monitor variables and then make decisions on when to record data, control dry contact relays, and more. The power and creativity is up to you.
Though the feature set of the Alpha® FXM HP is indeed vast. You can just install the system, test, and walk away confident that you are set to go, or dig into it and make some configuration changes to your liking, it’s all up to you. The “why” goes deeper than the product itself. It’s also our Preferred Traffic Distributors who are local to you and ready to help, our 24/7 Tech Support line, our Regional Managers, and I back you up with a lot of training and helpful materials.
When you use it, configure it, and dig in a little, I think you will quickly see “Why Alpha® FXM HP.”
Make it a great day!
Mike Olsen
Senior Technical Sales Representative
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