Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, SpotTheCat, Nemesis
just brew it! wrote:Short answer: Buy the biggest one that doesn't break your budget.
Are you just trying to ride out brief glitches and brownouts, or are you trying to keep your system running long enough to finish what you're working on and shut down cleanly in the event of a total power failure? Do you have any other equipment (e.g. broadband modem/router, network switch, printer, etc.) that also needs to be on the UPS? The answers to these questions will have a big effect on what kind of UPS you need.
The only way to make an accurate determination is to use a wattmeter to measure the power draw of the equipment you will be putting on the UPS, then consult the UPS specs to see what kind of run time you can expect.
bdwilcox wrote:Line interactive units do normally come with AVR, but AVR is not in the definition. The best UPS type that you can get is actually an online UPS, where it is running off the battery as its primary power source.Make sure the UPS you buy is "line interactive" i.e. has AVR (automatic voltage regulation) to smooth out any voltage dips (brown-outs).
bdwilcox wrote:If I didn't know better I would have thought you sounded like shilling for ZeroSurge.Don't put too much faith in the surge suppressing capabilities of UPSes and mainstream surge suppressors since they use MOVs. If you're serious about reducing spikes, put a ZeroSurge surge suppressor between the outlet and your UPS. It costs more, but nothing comes close to its ability to suppress spikes; plus, it comes with a lifetime warranty and is built in the USA like things used to be built. And remember, nothing stops lightning strikes. In an electrical storm, you should power your equipment down and unplug it from the wall, if possible.
bdwilcox wrote:Is CyberPower any good?BTW, APC is always a good UPS brand. Tripp-Lite is good as well. I'm sure other people can recommend some but those are the ones I've had the best luck with.
Flying Fox wrote:Is CyberPower any good?
The short answer is that I'd like to do both smooth over glitches and make a clean shut down in case of a total power failure. I'm not looking to ride out a significant length failure (as some of my friends do
Is CyberPower any good?
just brew it! wrote:If you have really dirty power (lots of spikes/sags) and a standby UPS without AVR, the UPS will switch to the inverter and back very frequently, since the inverter will kick in every time the line voltage goes out of spec. This is not good for the UPS or the battery.
bdwilcox wrote:Regulating voltage to equipment prolongs the life of that equipment. Extended brown-outs, sags, overvoltages and spikes all put stress on a computer's power circuitry and shorten its life.
Flying Fox wrote:I was actually under the impression that sagging power (brownouts?) means not enough power and the computer will just shutdown below a certain threshold for a certain time (let's say it sags below 20% nominal for more than 0.2s, long enough for the PSU to behave like you unplug the thing?).
westom wrote:The short answer is that I'd like to do both smooth over glitches and make a clean shut down in case of a total power failure. I'm not looking to ride out a significant length failure (as some of my friends do
An answer without numbers explains why some of your replies are vague, misleading, or just wrong.
westom wrote:Your UPS power is defined by a number located where power connects to that appliance. You record and sum each. For example, a high performance desktop consumes typically 200 watts. Therefore it is a 350 watt consumption. (The naive will then recommend 500 and 800 watt supplies to only do what the 350 watt supply is doing). Monitor may have a 60 watt number. Record and sum all those numbers in watts, VA, or amperes.
Now, a UPS typically is as cheap as possible. For example, its battery life expectancy is maybe 3 years. So you look at your power consumption. Then maybe double that wattage for the UPS - so that the UPS can do fast degrading and still provide sufficient power 3 or more years later.
The technically naive are told what to think rather than learn what it means. For example AVR and other functions are already made completely irrelevant by the power supply. View output of a typical 120 volt UPS when in battery backup mode. This one outputs two 200 volts square waves with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square waves. And that is perfectly ideal power to all computers because all computer power supplies are so robust. Even do those AVR and other functions - better. You don't need all they hyped 'miracle' solutions.
A UPS power output can be so dirty as to be harmful to small electric motors and power strip protectors. And because all computers are so robust – make ‘dirtiest’ UPS power irrelevant – then you don’t need all that nonsense hyped by the electrically naïve such as power conditioning and AVR.
Up top are how to answer your original question with numbers. Lower half demonstrates why so many hyped nonsense such as AVR. Nonsense comes from those told how to think from retail brochures. Who did not always demand spec numbers. Sum up power numbers. Double it (or something less) because a UPS quickly degrades. Only useful answer means numbers.
westom wrote:We don't do that here. May be he was referring to a different forum.The naive will then recommend 500 and 800 watt supplies to only do what the 350 watt supply is doing
Flying Fox wrote:Assuming the stuff in your sig is all you have to plug into a potential UPS, we should be able to do a pretty good educated estimate of your power draw. If you have a router or a couple of small things to connect just post them and we may be able to look up specs (on said devices or similar) and put in an estimate too. There is no need to get really accurate numbers anyway, because:westom wrote:We don't do that here. May be he was referring to a different forum.The naive will then recommend 500 and 800 watt supplies to only do what the 350 watt supply is doing
We were one of the first few forums to recommend real usage-based power consumption instead of just looking at labels. We also have been looking at the 12V amps for a long time while the kiddie sites keep screaming "1000W!!!11!!!one!1eleventy!11".
LoneHowler wrote:The computer is still about 350 watts. Even doubling the number of fans results in almost zero power increase. Now what are watt numbers for other devices? Read each number off its label because that number (which is higher than the actual consumption) is relevant to how much power the UPS must actually provide. Nobody can provide an honest answer without those numbers especially when some devices in your list (ie CRT) can have significant power differences depending on age, design, and other factors. Post wattage numbers. Then have an answer without speculation and future surprises.Okay... the components from the signature " ...
just brew it! wrote:3. Unless you're willing to pay top dollar for surge suppressors -- e.g. the ZeroSurge units mentioned above, which cost more than an entire consumer-grade UPS! -- surge suppressors eventually need to be replaced because the MOVs wear out.