Uninteruptible power supplies

[Ray]

One of my Belkin UPSs has just died on me, I'm looking at an APC one as a replacement, has anyone had any experience of this model ? which seems more than capable of meeting my needs.

[Rik]

Personally, I'd use an inline model, Ray, eg:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NEW-APC-Smart-UPS-620VA-230V/dp/B00079VLM0/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1301667534&sr=1-2

[JB]

That looks like a newer version of the one I use for my router, switch, VOIP base etc etc...

I wonder how much this pulls from the mains when it is just ticking over with the batteries fully charged? Mine seems quite hungry and I will get a power meter on it one day. I am looking for something a bit more economical to run.

Maybe this new model is better?

[Rik]

I've got two, JB, and they don't seem very current-heavy in standby once fully charged.

[armadillo]

One of my Belkin UPSs has just died on me, I'm looking at an APC one as a replacement, has anyone had any experience of this model ? which seems more than capable of meeting my needs.

That backup UPS is next to useless. With a modern PC, it will give backup for a power failure that lasts about 2 minutes. I agree with Rik. I use an APC Smart-UPS 1500

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1500va-apc-smart-ups-1500i-usb-and-serial-port-230v-including-powercute-software

That now costs £384

To select the APC UPS that gives your system the time you choose it to be protected for, visit the APC website
http://www.apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=13

Click on "selectors" then UPS, then PC, then enter your configuration and required uptime and it will tell you the UPSs that meet your needs.

The Smart UPS 1500 that I use will power my system for about 45 minutes. I get fairly frequent power cuts where I live, though most last only a few seconds. The APC unit has performed flawlessly.

[JB]

they don't seem very current-heavy in standby once fully charged.

Ah, OK Rik, thanks. I have one of those power meters that Lidl or Aldi were selling a while ago. I seem to remember my small UPS was pulling about 80W from the mains which seemed a lot to me but I'll need to check again.

I have a server running upstairs for MythTV and other things which pulls about 90W without a UPS, 24 hours a day. I'm going to get an ITX mobo and case and see if I can rebuild that to be more power efficient. I reckon I can get it down to 20W or so which is much better.

For Ray's info, that APC is definitely an older version of mine. I inherited mine from my son as a throw out. Must be on it's 3rd battery now but still going strong. It's a good make Ray but are you certain it has enough capacity to run the things you want? Mine is fine as it's just for low voltage, low current devices like routers, VOIP adapters and DECT phone base.

Edit: Just seen the post from armadillo about capacity 

[armadillo]

6jb, when you say it seems hungry, do you mean with no equipment connected to it? Clearly, when equipment is connected, it must supply at least the load of the equipment, which, for a PC and monitor, is several hundred watts, plus the small amount of power needed to trickle charge the battery.

Power consumption with the UPS will be very slightly higher than without it because of that small trickle charge. But it can never be less than the consumption of the connected devices.

[Rik]

In my usual overkill manner, I have a 620VA for the USB drives and monitor, a 1500VA for the computer, and a 300-odd VA for the router. The second desktop has a 620VA, my Sky+ box has a 500VA and I've got a spare 650VA just in case.

[JB]

6jb, when you say it seems hungry, do you mean with no equipment connected to it?

Hi 'dillo'. I'm not too good at explaining so I'll give it another go. The UPS I use, which is like an earlier version of the one Rik suggested, only powers an ADSL router, an 8 port switch and Siemens VOIP DECT base station. I'm guessing that the total power required for the three devices is about 40W. When I last checked the UPS it was drawing about 80W from the mains and as far as I could tell the battery was fully charged at the time.

I think I need to get the power meter out again and check the consumption of each of the devices and then the UPS with them plugged in, so that I can give some reliable ratios rather than just giving an impression.

Cheers.

[armadillo]

Good grief, Rik! Do you wear ear protectors?

The longest power cut I have had with the PC on was 30 minutes and my single 1500 Smart UPS kept my computer, monitor and drives on for the whole of that time with power to spare.

As you know, the nice thing about the software is that you can check how much juice it has left and you can shut down whenever you want to, though it will shut down automatically if it gets worried all by itself.

[Rik]

Good grief, Rik! Do you wear ear protectors?

Pardon.

I don't hear the UPS for the fans in everything else.

[Glenn]

Just sign the autographs and they will go away happy.

[armadillo]

Ah, I see what you mean, JB. I suppose the APS could conceivably be consuming 40W for itself, though that does seem a bit higher than I would expect. The test you suggest would give you a better idea. Remember though that the power consumed by a router does depend a lot on what it is doing. Its consumption will increase a lot when it is downloading.

I must check my APC manual and see if it indicates its own power consumption.

[Technical Ben]

In my usual overkill manner, I have a 620VA for the USB drives and monitor, a 1500VA for the computer, and a 300-odd VA for the router. The second desktop has a 620VA, my Sky+ box has a 500VA and I've got a spare 650VA just in case.

So we know who to call to watch the footy if the power goes out!

[edit]
Plus, would a "backup to prevent data loss" only need a quick boot into hibernate mode? That should mean you only need a couple of mins juice in an emergency. Not ideal, but cheaper. 

[armadillo]

LOL, Rik.

One of my (three) case fans has just started getting a bit noisy. Fortunately, just a case fan and not the CPU fan. I hate changing those.

[Technical Ben]

Get a nice modifiable heatsink, or fanless heatsink Dillo.
Then you can just unscrew the fan, and not have to replace the entire sink and mess with paste.

[Rik]

Just sign the autographs and they will go away happy.

[Rik]

So we know who to call to watch the footy if the power goes out!

Oh, I don't have one on the TV, Ben, but protecting the Sky box can be very useful as we tend to get the odd switching spike.

[armadillo]

Get a nice modifiable heatsink, or fanless heatsink Dillo.
Then you can just unscrew the fan, and not have to replace the entire sink and mess with paste.

That is a good idea. The last time I looked, I could not find one that fitted and ended up messing with paste. I do have two spare Intel original units though. It's a Pentium 4, Prescott Hyperthreading 3GHz. The trouble is, they usually only make fancy sinks/fans for the first year or two that a CPU is produced. The chance of getting one for a 7 year old CPU is close to zero, I would think. So I shall just have to play with paste if the CPU fan fails. As I say, the present dicky fan is just a case fan.

Any suggested links for Pentium Socket A compatible modifiable heatsinks for the future?

[armadillo]

I must check my APC manual and see if it indicates its own power consumption.

The manual doesn't but the website does.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMT1500I

There is a graph for energy efficiency. It shows how the efficiency increases rapidly with load. A very lightly loaded UPS is very inefficient. Below 10% loading, the efficiency drops very rapidly. So if you have only a 40W load on a 620VA UPS, you might well be around 60% efficiency and hence have the UPS consuming nearly as much power as the load itself.

But above 10% loading, the UPS is more than 90% efficient

By the time it gets to 50% load, it is 98% efficient. My UPS is running at 30% load, at which it is about 95% efficient.

[Rik]