OT: UPS selection

[Dave Labrecque]

Had a tree come down and take out our power line. Neutral got cut, hot wire stayed intact, weird brown out. Looks like the UPS for my DAW self-sacrificed (while our new boiler in the basement and garage door openers are all toast). Anyway, need a new UPS.

The UPS figure-outer at the APC site says I need a 1500 VA UPS ($400 - $1000, although this is probably list price). My dead one is only 500 VA and has been working for years. I figured 650 watts max consumption on my 82% efficient 530 watt power supply. 650 is the number I entered into their UPS calculator.

Is this right? How would you figure the proper UPS, if you were me?

[CurtZHP]

The prices they're quoting have got to be list. They're kinda high.

Try this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/back-ups-xs-1500-va-tower-ups/9307831.p?id=1218081367518&skuId=9307831&st=catego ryid$abcat0515043&cp=1&lp=3

We have a couple of these at the radio station (backing up production studios), and two more at a TV station I work for (backing up STL's and a remote control system).

No complaints. The display even tells you how many minutes of battery power you have if the power goes out.

[DominicPerry]

Had a tree come down and take out our power line. Neutral got cut, hot wire stayed intact, weird brown out. Looks like the UPS for my DAW self-sacrificed (while our new boiler in the basement and garage door openers are all toast). Anyway, need a new UPS.

The UPS figure-outer at the APC site says I need a 1500 VA UPS ($400 - $1000, although this is probably list price). My dead one is only 500 VA and has been working for years. I figured 650 watts max consumption on my 82% efficient 530 watt power supply. 650 is the number I entered into their UPS calculator.

Is this right? How would you figure the proper UPS, if you were me?

Sorry to hear about the boiler destruction. Expensive. Not so sympathetic with the garage door openers
If it's an Enermax Modu82 - which is 82% efficient - then the figures quoted for the 525 watt PSU are

100 - 240 V AC, 7.5 - 3.5 A

which means 100 x 7.5 = 750 watts (or 240 x 3.5 = 840 watts).
It's only 82% efficient at certain points in its range. But the chances are, you're never running the thing flat out anyway.
You could buy one of those power-measuring plugs - they're about £10 in the UK - and see what wattage you use when you have everything flat out on your computer. If it's only 300 or 400 watts, you might save yourself $100 or more buying a lower rated UPS, rather than going all out for safety and buying an 800 watt one. Of course, if you then add a new UAD card in or build a bigger computer, you might need a new bigger UPS if you've cut it really fine with this one.
And you need to add your screen power - or are you happy to lose the screen in the event of a power outage, and not be able to save and shut down in a controlled fashion?


Dominic

[Sean McCoy]

Last time I needed to replace a couple of ancient UPS's I went with a pair of these:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...3ORDER-_-Deals

I run my PC and all its externals off of one, and my Mac and all its externals of the other. Going on two years and dozens of power blinks, they've both worked perfectly and still show full battery power.

[Dave Labrecque]

So... if I decided I don't need a UPS, and I just want surge protection... what's the deal? Seems to be a lot of confusion (including mine) out there. Is this a scam industry or what? What should I be looking for? Really not interested in spending money on snake oil. Thank you, kind sirs.

[PhaseShifter]

I think you're asking for trouble by not running computer on a UPS, unless it's a laptop, since it's already got battery backup.

For surge suppression, I personally don't trust any other brand other than SurgeX. The SurgeX SA-15 is the bare minimum I would recommend for anyone interested in proper surge suppression.

Take a few minutes and lookup the difference between "shunt mode" and "series mode" surge suppression.

[Brent Evans]

So... if I decided I don't need a UPS, and I just want surge protection... what's the deal? Seems to be a lot of confusion (including mine) out there. Is this a scam industry or what? What should I be looking for? Really not interested in spending money on snake oil. Thank you, kind sirs.

Surge-X. Most other products are MOV based (metal-oxide varistor) and the component in them that provides the surge protection is actually a consumable... so one big hit or a series of small ones will fry the protection, but the product still passes power. That's no good IMHO.

While Surge-X products are expensive, they claim 100% effectiveness, and their technology doesn't rely on consumable components.

[Dave Labrecque]

Surge-X. Most other products are MOV based (metal-oxide varistor) and the component in them that provides the surge protection is actually a consumable... so one big hit or a series of small ones will fry the protection, but the product still passes power. That's no good IMHO.

While Surge-X products are expensive, they claim 100% effectiveness, and their technology doesn't rely on consumable components.

Did some reading on the Surge-X site. They say that like MOV suppressors, even a UPS will 'contaminate' the ground wire interconnect between different bits of gear in your house during a surge event, potentially causing damage to them.

[Carl G.]

Did some reading on the Surge-X site. They say that like MOV suppressors, even a UPS will 'contaminate' the ground wire interconnect between different bits of gear in your house during a surge event, potentially causing damage to them.

This may solve the confusion:
"The Truth of the Matter - A Surge Protection Tutorial"
http://www.mcgsurge.com/TOTM/TOTM.pdf

A good surge protector is found here:
http://www.mcgsurge.com/

These have worked wonders for me in the past.

Over years - I lost track of them... your thread started back up the interest...
They're 'on my list'.