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Need help choosing a UPS (plus general UPS tips)
nstgc:
Firstly this is NOT for my external HDD enclosure, but for my computer. However the mentioning of a UPS in that thread did make me think of what it. I don't have an oscilloscope to check my power, but from experience, I do believe that the power in my house is pretty bad (lots of dead and/or whiny PSUs and other electronics). Instead of just getting a line conditioner I figured I may as well get a full UPS. Looking around it also seems as if it would be a good idea to get one that emulates a sine wave (as opposed to one that produces stepped waves). The only one that I could find in my price range that did this was the CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD. From what I've seen in reviews it does a nice job of emulating a sine-wave and unlike the APC SmartUPSs won't break the bank (those things run between $300 and $500). I don't need a UPS that will power my computer for longer than it takes to shut down the power. I want to make sure, however that if I'm in the middle of something that maxes out my system, it will not overload (or whatever) the UPS and that I will have a few minutes to shut everything off. Also it would be nice if I'm not by my computer to have time to go from whever I am to my compute and then turn it of (so add another 2 minutes).
Questions:
[*] Is there any need for an AVR since the one I choose seems to have one built in (in addition to a battery backup)?
[*] Can anyone suggest anything better?
[*] Does anyone know the voltage deviation for the CyberPower pure-sine UPSs? For APC's its something like +/- 3V from where they pulse the voltage at high frequencies then run it through a capacitor.
[*] HOw much harder are these emulated sine-waves on electronics?
[*] Anything else that could help me?
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=58081&vpn=CP1350PFCLCD&manufacture=CyberPower
krumm:
The emulated sine-waves should not cause any problems. The psu in the computer turns it into a flat line anyway. I just know the basic ac-dc conversions but it goes through some diodes to make the sine-wave into a bouncy wave with capacitors to level it out. The important part is that it is consistent which the UPS does. Someone else might know more but, I think the important part is to get one with the power to handle the load your giving it, and last a satisfactory amount of time.
I like APC but, its just brand loyalty I don't know if there is better I've just never had a problem with one.
kitamesume:
some UPS manages emulated sine-waves through force smoothing stepped-sine or pulsed-DC, just like how PSUs manage a steady voltage output.
im using a powercom UPS, they were sold as refurbished for quite cheap so dad bought a few dozens of them, it's a stepped-sine and i'm not sure about their quality but it does it's job on backing up the power for a few minutes and it seems like it can hold about 400watts without making itself overheat.
Edit: oh and it's not made for compact-florescent bulbs, i blew a flourecent bulb after a few hours when tried to power them during a power-outage, tho i think its the stepped-sine that caused the bulb to blew it's circuitry.
nstgc:
I've been reading that the steped sine waves can interfere with active PFC. Also, I don't want to put more strain on my components then I have to. While I'm [edit]not[/edit] worried about a steped wave damaging my computer, I am worried that it may damage my monitor, speakers, or external HDD enclosure (I'm not getting rid of the thing damn it!).
datora:
.
I've used APC a lot over the last 25 years, probably 30 or maybe even 35 units, quite a number of different models. They've never failed me. Batteries do wear out and need replacement, so that's a normal maintenance cost to plan for. More on that below: make sure what you buy has a user-replaceable battery.
I don't go for the crazy feature-rich models. Just good basic.
Currently I have three of these:
- APC BE750G 750 VA 450 Watts
and three of the similar model, but in 550 VoltAmp. I would like to have something more like these:
- APC BX1300G 1300 VA 780 Watts
However, that's getting pretty expensive for my budget, and really has more capacity and more features than I need.
I didn't buy mine at newegg; shipping charges for something this heavy can get pretty steep, so if you can find them locally it's usually cheaper after taxes & gas money. I waited for mine to go on sale at local office supply stores, which usually happens about three or four times per year. In August it will almost certainly happen again for the Fall/Back-to-School season, but probably at least once before then. Picked up my 750 VA units for $59.99 each and my 550 VA units for $39.99 each at Staples; Office Depot and Best Buy were running very similar sales at approximately the same times. SuperLucky for me: in a state without sales tax, even, so maybe four or five dollars in gas money for all of them.
The batteries in them can be replaced, which I really like about most APC products. Others (CyberPower) often manufacture such that when the battery goes ... which it will about every 3-5 years if nothing else goes wrong ... the entire unit needs to be tossed. Uhm, recycled. Please recycle these: they are large chunks of toxic materials, much like car batteries.
In the past, I search out farm supply warehouses where they have large stocks of equipment for rural/remote ,,,well, farmsteads. There are batteries available for various uses (trucks/tractors, electric fences, etc.) and you can often find replacements cheap, like $20 or $25. In some cases you can even upgrade, so your 750 VA model might suddenly become an 850VA or 900 VA model if you can find a compatible battery. It's been ten years since I last did that, so I don't know the possibilities and exact market value these days.
Anyway. The 750 model will run a fairly robust computer + monitor for 3-5 minutes on full load. Plenty of time to walk through the house and shut it down gracefully. It's rare that a system is running balls-out at full load, so 10-12 or even 15 minutes is more likely. Usually when I walk out of the room, I turn my monitors off, so even better. "Fairly robust" in this case is an AMD Deneb x4 core 965 CPU @ 3.8 GHz, a 630 watt PSU, Zotac nvidea 460 GPU @ 850 MHz, a 750 WD Caviar Black system drive and 3x Samsung F4 Spinpoint 2 GB drives. The main router for my home network also runs off this UPS: Linksys E-3000. Two monitors, one an older HP 19" 3:4 LCD and a newer Dell 22" widescreen. The HP 19" is on battery backup since it's the "main" screen with all the Windows control icons, task bar, etc. The Dell is on surge protection only, so it goes out with the power while the battery allows me to view the HP monitor long enough shut down.
I use the 550 models on older, low power systems. For example, I run an old Dell GX 260 w/ a 1.8 GHz CPU and 180 watt PSU as my torrenting box. The monitor .. an ancient 17" ViewSonic CRT ... is off about 95% of the time, it's running an old 20 GB hard drive as it's system drive, and I have a USB external case w/ a 750 GB WD Caviar Black loaded with torrents. That system ran nearly 20 minutes before I shut it down gracefully in the last blackout. Meaning, I was outside the house, realized the power was out, walked to the room with this system and powered on the monitor to complete a shutdown nearly 20 min after power went out. Notice the USB external drive also on this UPS, as is an 8-port ASUS green switch.
When I recharge my cell phone or my Droid, I also temporarily plug into the surge protection. My speakers also are surge protection only. No need to waste battery on those.
The 750 model has battery & surge protection for CAT 5e 10/100 data cable. So, I run a gigabit ethernet internally in my house w/ CAT6e cables, but that final direct connection between my router and my ISP gets necked down to 100 Mbit/sec ... which vastly exceeds my connection to the outside world, so no loss. I'll get pretty excited when APC makes a filtered & protected gigabit pass-through on their equipment ... it'll make the routing of my wires a lot easier.
The 550 units don't handle ethernet, but they do handle phone lines ... and so one of them protects the phone line-in to my fax/printer and a different one protects the phone line-in to the landline in a different room.
Both these models ... and most APC models ... have a USB (PC) to ethernet (UPS) cable that allows your Windows system to shut itself down through power management settings. In the past I've used this feature under linux, too. There is no need to install/use any software with APC: Windows has it natively and linux has many freeware packages available that are well-tested and compatible.
One advantage of having so many units is that I move them between systems every few months and try to distribute the total load on them so it's as low as possible. This extends their life expectancy; I usually get five years out of each unit and have gone longer. Also, when one goes out, I have enough surplus capacity to shop around for a replacement for a few weeks or a month and some and buy at a decent price instead of getting gouged for an emergency must-replace-it-NOW situation.
I also have surge protectors plugged directly into my house current. I run most other electronics off these, such as printers. My APC units are plugged into these surge protectors so that they will survive if there is somehow a direct lightening strike.
Neweg doesn't have my model currently, although I bought them through newegg. Waited for specials and grabbed them for $39.99 each, free shipping. The ones I have are about identical to these in specification, but with some minor differences:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842111080
Mine are metal case, black, have coax protection, phoneline protection, and ethernet cable protection. They look more like this model, but with 12 foot cord & 8 outlets, and far more Joules of protection:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120528
When I shop for surge protectors, I look for about 4000 or better Joules protection and extremely fast clamping speeds, like 1-5 nanoseconds ... if they bother to list it. These Tripp-lites with 3840 Joules were a nice compromise for the price; I'd be fairly happy with anything over 3200 Joules protection ... but, lower than that you could get leak-through if there's a direct lightening strike right on or nearby your building.
The line-conditioning capacitors and other components kind of have to be there if you're "wasting" money on a real surge protector. Otherwise, you might as well just get a power strip with a circuit breaker and take your chances for $8 or $10.
[ EDIT: to fix a couple typos. ]
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