Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)

[ArcheKlaine]

Hello guys,

I recently made a transition from laptop to desktop, hurray! My room is a lot quieter and the PC is now much faster... but there is one thing I never gave importance of until I had (sudden) power cut in my area... BATTERY.

I work in software industry and having to lose all my work because of power cut would probably devastate the heck out of me.

So, can anyone recommend a "cheap" Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)?

It doesnt need to be very massive. Just enough time for me to close/save everything... a plus would be indicator if Im running on battery or not.

I found some on Amazon but Im not familiar with brands and unsure with their reliability so it would be far better if you can recommend the one that you use.

Thanks!

Arche

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hello guys,

I recently made a transition from laptop to desktop, hurray! My room is a lot quieter and the PC is now much faster... but there is one thing I never gave importance of until I had (sudden) power cut in my area... BATTERY.

I work in software industry and having to lose all my work because of power cut would probably devastate the heck out of me.

So, can anyone recommend a "cheap" Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)?

It doesnt need to be very massive. Just enough time for me to close/save everything... a plus would be indicator if Im running on battery or not.

I found some on Amazon but Im not familiar with brands and unsure with their reliability so it would be far better if you can recommend the one that you use.

Thanks!

Arche

APC are a very good brand, but you need to match it to the power output of the PC....

What are your specs?

 

[Gavras]

We use these for some kit.

UPS, New Batteries - UPS Trader

Supplier of Refurbished UPS, New Batteries and UPS associated hardware. 12 Month RTB warranty and new batteries as standard.

secure.ups-trader.co.uk

 

[ubuysa]

You get what you pay for with a UPS, just like anything else. Also just like anything else, you often find the same physical UPS with a different badge, I guess there are a few manufacturers who sell to several different companies who market them as their own. As mentioned, APC are very good (and I suspect they supply the units for several other companies too).

The thing to bear in mind is that there are several UPS technologies. The two most commonly found in home desktop systems are the Standby type and the Line Interactive type.

The Standby type uses a switch to switch over to battery power when the mains fails. These switches are incredibly fast of course, but there are a few milliseconds when no power is reaching your devices. These are the cheapest models typically.

The Line Interactive type has no switch at all, the battery (and inverter) supply the power to the devices all the time and the charging part of the UPS just keeps the battery fully charged. There is no break in power supply at all with these types, when the power fails the battery just stops being charged.

My UPS is a line interactive type because IMO they are safer for your rig since there is no power outage at all.

How long the UPS will keep your rig running depends entirely on the size of the battery in it. Bigger batteries means a longer run time, but they also mean bigger size, more weight, and a higher cost. You can expect any UPS battery to last about 3 years, most UPS models allow the battery to be easily changed (on mine it's four screws to open the case and then two terminals on the battery). Bigger batteries cost more to replace of course but they probably last longer too.

The more expensive UPS models have a USB connection to your PC and this is VERY useful. You can monitor the UPS and battery state, it will also log power outages and any other issues with the UPS. By far the most useful feature of a USB connected UPS is that you can configure it to auto shutdown the PC once the power has been off for a specified time.

There are online tools that will let you calculate the size of UPS that you need. I'm using a 1.5kVA UPS to power my PC, the monitor, my external backup drive, and my wireless router (that way a power outage will not affect anything critical that happened to be in progress at the time). This UPS has powered all that kit for at least 1 hour on tests, which is plenty long enough for me. I have it set so that the PC is auto shutdown once the power has been out for 30 minutes unless I intervene to cancel it.

I would suggest you look for a line interactive UPS with a USB connection to your PC (the necessary software is generally available via download). Size-wise it depends on what you want to power and for how long, but something between 800VA and the 1.5kVA that I have should be fine I'd have thought.

 

[ArcheKlaine]

Thanks. quite insightful. Do you use a batch to auto shut it down or is it a feature in a UPS?

My PC only has 550W with two 1080p monitors so its not as power full. I will only put the PC and 1 monitor in the UPS so I can shut it down when my 2nd monitor suddenly dies. lol

I only have small budget for it since it happens very rare so I probably dont need a large one. I guess I only need a simplest ones to start off. I can always upgrade it once I more about this.

Is there anything I should look out/ avoid?

Thanks for the help!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks. quite insightful. Do you use a batch to auto shut it down or is it a feature in a UPS?

It’s usually all provided in a little program you install to integrate with the UPS, it’s all automated through that.

My PC only has 550W with two 1080p monitors so its not as power full. I will only put the PC and 1 monitor in the UPS so I can shut it down when my 2nd monitor suddenly dies. lol

That makes it much easier then!

I only have small budget for it since it happens very rare so I probably dont need a large one. I guess I only need a simplest ones to start off. I can always upgrade it once I more about this.

You’d need one that could support 550w, otherwise of the PC is at load at the time the UPS kicks in and the UPS doesn’t have the wattage support, you’ll find the PC would just cut out anyway.

Give me a sec and I’ll look at some options

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks. quite insightful. Do you use a batch to auto shut it down or is it a feature in a UPS?

As mentioned already, it's a feature of the UPS control software. It simply sends a shutdown command to the PC.

My PC only has 550W with two 1080p monitors so its not as power full. I will only put the PC and 1 monitor in the UPS.

My first UPS (which I replaced about 18 months ago) was an 800VA model and that held the PC and monitor up for a good 30 minutes. There was no USB connection on that one though so you had to be there to do a manual shutdown if the power failed.

 

[ArcheKlaine]

Thanks for the tip. Do you have a model to recommend? I would probably buy on the next payday and see how it goes. I dont mind a manual shutdown so long as it tells me when then there is no power (not important).

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks for the tip. Do you have a model to recommend? I would probably buy on the next payday and see how it goes. I dont mind a manual shutdown so long as it tells me when then there is no power (not important).

I'm on the Greek island of Crete so any models I might recommend are probably not available in the UK.

APC are the brand leader I think and I suspect that many badges UPSs are actually built by APC.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the tip. Do you have a model to recommend? I would probably buy on the next payday and see how it goes. I dont mind a manual shutdown so long as it tells me when then there is no power (not important).

This looks about the cheapest I can find for the power requirements, it's a tiny fraction under at 520W:

APC BE850G2-UK Back-UPS Desktop Uninterruptible Power Supply | Comms Express

APC BE850G2 Back-UPS Desktop Uninterruptible Power Supply (520W/850VA) - Available at Comms Express, Networking Reseller - Free Next Day Delivery

www.comms-express.com

 

[ubuysa]

This looks about the cheapest I can find for the power requirements, it's a tiny fraction under at 520W:

APC BE850G2-UK Back-UPS Desktop Uninterruptible Power Supply | Comms Express

APC BE850G2 Back-UPS Desktop Uninterruptible Power Supply (520W/850VA) - Available at Comms Express, Networking Reseller - Free Next Day Delivery

www.comms-express.com

That looks OK for what you want. As far as I can tell its a Standby type, which is OK and expected for the price.

My only concern would be the stepped approximated sinewave output. Some powers supplies might not get on too well with that, a pure sinrwave output would be better. (but more expensive).

On balance I think it will do what you need.