Welcome to 
    CareBase

  Complete systems power protection
   via isolation transformer line conditioners, PWM
   dc to ac inverters, UPS, outdoor UPS, precision
   automatic voltage regulators (AVR/EVR), automatic
   transfer switches (ATS) to enable redundant power
   for mission-critical systems, and surge arresters,

Sprite photo courtesy Univ. of Alaska - Fairbanks.  
Click on the photo to see how large this sprite was. 
You can also see the fading remnants of two others.

Welcome to a shelter where we can help you protect your mission-critical systems from lightning, power surges and sags (overvoltage/undervoltage), electrical line noise, electric utility power outages, wild voltage fluctuations, oh, and *smiling* ... *electrigeists and sprites, too. These sprites are very real, very large, and may look different than you thought. 

CareBase provides these sheltering environments in the form of ac power line conditioners, automatic voltage regulators, outdoor AVR, wide temperature range outdoor UPS, ac input-dc output pole-mountable outdoor UPS, OEM design uninterruptible power supplies - including modular wide temperature uninterruptible power systems, dc to ac inverters, true on-line double conversion regenerative battery backup UPS systems, ac surge arresters (SPD or TVSS), dc surge filters, and automatic transfer switches for dual utility feeds, dual inverters, generators or redundant UPS.

Power quality systems are especially important where the application equipment may need to be equipped to survive and continue to operate normally through otherwise damaging power surges/transients, low/high - under/over voltages, outages (and even sprite-related lightning -- which touches on the potential impacts from our sun, 'Sol' -- of a magnitude one might rather not think about, and the reason several governments have launched sprite observation satellites recently). These power protection systems also will help prevent negative effects on circuitry from otherwise deleterious line noise, grid switches, power outage induced transients, and other electrical events.

These "electrically sheltered environments" significantly help preserve your company and/or personal resources by creating a safer and more controlled electrical climate ~ where your systems will stay in working condition longer. Thus, you experience beneficially extended usage of costly assets, and more simply... not having to absorb the time and expense of changing out failed system components or light bulbs after every major surge. Or, riding through electrical storms without disruption to your operations.

These power protection systems come in the shape of:

TSi Power manufactured ac low-impedance power line conditioners, hospital/medical grade UL 60601-1 isolation transformers, outdoor wide temperature range IP44/NEMA-3R UPS, ferroresonant constant voltage regulating isolation transformers, PWM IGBT driven high precision ac electronic voltage regulators, tap-switching and automatic voltage regulators, overvoltage protection systems, dc to ac inverters, and ac automatic transfer switches (ATS).
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Falcon Electric manufactured double conversion UPS. These are regenerative ac-dc-ac uninterruptible power systems (also called 'true on-line UPS") designed to get you through even the most difficult power situations requiring battery backup. The SG Series Plus UPS re-creates frequency as well as voltage, so they are suitable for mission-critical applications utilizing back-up motor generators.

M-Ti manufactured ac and dc surge arresters, commercial/industrial hardwired surge arresters, now known as "SPDs" or "surge protective devices," whole house meter base arresters, plug-in surge protectors, phase loss protection systems, and dc telephone, modem protectors, satellite/cable TV and data line filters, and signal line protectors. 

(All of the above products' specifications may be accessed via the menu buttons on the upper left side navigation bar of any of the CareBase web pages. If you are a manufacturer and can't find exactly what you need, please call, as all three manufacturers also provide custom (bespoke) solutions for relatively small quantities).

All these are engineered to work in a coordinated effort to help support mission-critical systems such as those of the following, and more:

	Control systems: Honeywell, Siemens and Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley
	Electronics: Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, Intel
	Imaging and analyzers: Beckman-Coulter, Netzsch, GE and Hitachi
	Computers, and internet, blade or other servers: IBM, Dell, HP
	TDM, broadband, routers: Cisco-Linksys, Netgear and Motorola
	Defense and aerospace systems: Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman, Lockheed-Martin
	Medical and mobile-med systems: General Electric, Siemens, Medtech
	Surveillance CCTV/receiving systems: L-3 Communications, Vicon, Extreme CCTV,
	Telecommunications: Siemens, Nortel, and Toshiba,
	Precision machining-automation: Okuma America, Mitsubishi Electric Automation

Electrical purification and "smoke"

For those who may not know what "electrical purification" is... it's like being an "electron therapist" for "over-excited electrons" that have organized themselves into dangerous transient waves, or bursts of electrical energy, that can destroy or damage sensitive electronic equipment and wiring. (This is due to the associated microscopic heating effect and resultant phase change on the molecular level of critical circuit pathways. The result of this phase change is known more colloquially as... "smoke" ... *smiling*). Ultimately, our goal is to modify the electrons' behavior back into that of model electrical citizens, and thus help all of our electronics and electro-mechanical systems run more smoothly, with few, if any, electrical failures.

Properly applied "therapy" can be as simple as:

Installing an ac low-impedance isolation transformer power line conditioner (as in magnetically therapeutic and soothing isolation from rampant running amuck electrons) to enhance control and computer system logic accuracy by the use of magnetics to smooth electron flow, and re-establish a neutral-ground bond on the output of the conditioner.

Installing a precision ac automatic voltage regulator (as in boosting or lowering incoming electron flow to keep input voltage levels and the sine wave within safe operating tolerances). And there is now a new PWM IGBT based electronic voltage regulator technology available for those requiring high precision voltage regulation to nominal +/- 2.5% (for reference: electric utilities do their best to keep your voltage levels to within +/-5%).

Installing UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) (for reprogramming them back into contented electrons) that will work with mission-critical systems, and backup motor-generators, to protect 911 rooms, hospitals, data centers, cellular base stations and telecommunication systems. Also, UPS with built-in isolation transformers and  constant electronic voltage regulation (magnetically therapeutic and soothing isolation from rampant running amuck electrons) provide for a totally stable ground logic reference, due to their neutral-ground bond on the output. In the UPS realm, the EVR section delivers ideal power characteristics and makes for rarely having to exercise (wear out) the batteries except for hard outages.

A new extremely cost-effective automatic transfer switch (ATS) technology  that enables using two or more UPS (or dc to ac inverters) together in a redundant fashion, so if one UPS' batteries fail, or failure occurs from some other cause, the switch transfers to the other UPS or power source fast enough, through its solid state relays, that virtually all computer loads or telecommunications systems do not even notice. Many large facilities with access to two utility grids, or two distinct and reliable power sources, are now replacing their UPS' with power conditioners and ATS. (Creating an emergency entrance for a backup electron team in case one group goes on strike for more voltage).

Inverting dc power from battery banks to ac sine wave power via dc to ac inverters. (The reverse of straightening out the electron flow... a dc to ac inverter takes a bunch of straight arrow electrons and gets a sinuous dance going).

Installing a powerful surge arrester to divert potential harmful transient surges to "ground" (electron crowd control with strait-jackets), and thereby protecting your home or business. Ideally installed behind or very close to the electric meter, and intercepting the surge at the closest possible point to the ground rod, which is almost always located directly below the meter. By eliminating the extra impedance of long lead wire lengths, you can divert up to 3,000 volts more of lightning induced energy away than conventional hardwire arresters with the lead wires left long. For second-stage protection, (highly recommended for coordinated surge protection) there are all of the above, and also plug-in surge protectors.  

Installing dc protectors for telecommunication, modem, cable/satellite and signaling protection. These handle the other pathways into your systems that transients often travel by (letting the lost little electrons phone home).

"Electron therapy" has now become especially important, as Intel, AMD, Samsung and other computer chip circuit pathways have shrunk to a microscopically small 65 nanometers wide. That's about 1/500th the thickness of a human hair. The new process technologies allow the chips to use less than 2 volts, and 6 watts. The amount of excess electrical energy in a surge that it will take to burn out one of these microscopic pathways is now significantly less than even 3 years ago. Properly coordinated high quality power voltage regulation and surge protection is now needed more than ever.

Our mission
The CareBase mission is to help you take care of your data base and electronic systems by providing a base of care of the highest quality and most affordable electrical power protection equipment available (based on true cost of ownership vs. apparent initial low cost), to best protect the electronic investments of homeowners/renters and businesses alike. It is also to help companies form proper "network power quality solution strategies" to the ever increasing problems associated with surges, transients and other kinds of electrical problems affecting their customers. 

Company profile
CareBase is a small company, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, in Glenwood Springs, surrounded by three mountain ranges, through which flow the Colorado and the Roaring Fork Rivers. It's also home to the Glenwood Caverns and Iron Mountain Tramway, the world's largest hot springs pool (3 million gallons per day), and home of the "Teddy Bear" (Hint: remember President Teddy Roosevelt?).

CareBase has been involved with electric power quality systems since 1988. Michael Gibson was one of the founding directors, and the third president, of the non-profit Colorado Electric Service Network. We have enjoyed representing M-Ti (Meter-Treater, Inc.) since our inception. They're a terrific group of innovative people with solid engineering expertise. We also are happy to represent TSi Power Corporation, now owned by the original founder of Powervar, Inc., and a former Oneac engineer, Mr. Peter Nystrom. It is a pleasure to be working with them.

We also are now representing Falcon Electric UPS. In the prior 10+ years we were a factory representative of Toshiba International UPS, the Falcon UPS engine was one of the very few competitors felt to be able to match the Toshiba design, and earned many an engineer's respect. Since we've been working with them, we've now had our own experience where it has succeeded where another high quality manufacturer's units simply didn't. The Falcon UPS is indeed an extremely well engineered system, and we're very happy to have them aboard.

What we do best is help people find the correct solutions to their power quality problems. Our 18 years of experience with power quality gives us an overview and historical perspective that is absolutely necessary to have, to deal with the myriad of electrical problems facing us today. The United States power grid's power quality levels are reported to be degenerating at a rate of over 1% annually. The culprit? The continuing explosion of hundreds of millions of small electronic devices, with cheap high harmonic producing power supplies, that are back-feeding enormous amounts of electrical pollution back into the electrical system. It has been estimated that over 50% of the United States electric load is now from microelectronics. CareBase is here to help educate people and make available simple and cost-effective solutions to the worsening problem of deleterious electrical energy on the grid.

Client list
Our clients, both direct and indirect, have included companies such as:
IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Siemens Communications Systems, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Motorola, Mitsubishi Telecommunications, ROLM (since acquired by Siemens), StorageTek, Xcel Energy/New Century Energies/Public Service Co. of Colorado, Southwestern Public Service Co. in Texas (since merged with Xcel), Florida Power, Snohomish County PUD, Idaho Power, the US Coast Guard, US Marines, US Navy, US Air Force, the FBI, US Department of Defense,Montana Power, Orcas Power, San Miguel Power Assoc., Grand Valley Power, United Power, Holy Cross Electric, Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, Raytheon Polar Services, Babcock and Wilcox, University of Colorado, (NIST) National Institute of Standards & Technologies (formerly U.S. National Bureau of Standards), Honeywell, Exabyte, Access Graphics, Virginia Tech, City of Los Angeles 911 Center, Summit County 911 Center, Charles Schwab and Co, Merrill-Lynch, Boulder County, City of Longmont, City of Fort Collins, Town of Estes Park, Colorado Springs Utilities, Bank1One, ReMax Realtors, and more.

Please call or e-mail us
There is an enormous amount of information and expertise we can share with you. In order to assist you best, it helps to know exactly what you are trying to protect. It will make it easier if you can prepare yourself with that information, e.g. kinds of equipment or electrical service, voltage - e.g. 120V or 230V, and amperage or wattage, usually found on the nameplates located on the rear or sides of almost all electrical/electronic equipment. Then, please either call us or send an e-mail. If we can help you, we will.

We look forward to helping you protect your systems from aberrant electrigeists! *smiling*

*Electrigeist(s) is a new power quality word coined by Michael Gibson to describe the invisible yet often capricious effects that aberrant electrical phenomena can have on our electronic systems.