Automatic Transfer Switch - reasonable cost alternative for faster switching?

[gamb00ler]

I have the standard ATS switch on the solar installation.  My network gear and computers don't like the switchover time when the grid fails.

Now I have a couple of very basic UPS's to prevent reboots/crashes of those pieces when the grid fails.  I only need UPS power for less than a second or two.

 

As I'm always interested in improvement, I'm wondering if there are ATS switches that are fast enough to prevent the reboots without requiring UPS protection for computers and network gear.

[JBChiangRai]

You could try a changeover contactor.

 

 

[Crossy]

We actually moved away from a contactor-based ATS.

 

The issue is that if the control gear fails ALL the contactors open (fail safe) leaving you with no power from any source. This is not good if I'm in Cairo at the time.

 

We moved to a "slow" motor-drive transfer switch which with no drive power just stays wherever it was beforehand. It also has an isolation key switch and a handle to manually select the source. Madam can handle this (with instruction) in the event of a total power failure.

 

 

We just rely on simple UPSs to keep the technology on should the beast actually have to switch over.