Need Recommendation For A UPS

[SteveC]

Hi Everyone,

I'm thinking about getting a UPS for my main system, since it's now more reliable than my power company. The power usually goes out about once a month for a second or two, just long enough for me to lose whatever it is I'm working on. My PC is nothing special:
Duron 850
Geforce 2
2 7200RPM Hard drives
DVD & CD-RW drives
17" CRT monitor

I'll probably upgrade to a more powerful CPU and video card in the next 6-12 months. I'm just looking for something with a few minutes battery life, and Windows & Linux compatibility.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[SteveC]

I forgot to add one question:
How long do the batteries typically last?

Steve

 

[Tea]

I'll leave exact recommendatios to someone better qualified, Steve, but FWIW my feeling is that you should go for as big a unit as you can reasonably afford, because computer power consumption is going steadily up and you will have the UPS for quite a long time. There is nothing worse tyhan plugging your XP into your UPS, having the power go off, and then watchiing your UPS wilt under the pressure.

 

[SteveC]

That's pretty much what I figured. It would be nice if the power requirements weren't increasing so much. Even the new Radeon 9700 needs a separate power connector.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[time]

As a rule of thumb, you want a minimum of 300VA for a workstation (although your current config is well under this), up to about 450VA for a duallie with twin hard drives and a 19" CRT monitor.

Depending on brand and model, this should give you a run time of about 3 to 4 minutes. Halving the load, say by using a 600VA unit, can increase the run time by 3 or 4 times. It really depends on the model.

Most UPS are designed to run just long enough to effect an organized shutdown. The toy ones you see that aren't much bigger than a PC power supply obviously have weeny batteries, and if you load them up to their rating their run time is likely to be abysmal.

The best way to get a longer run time is to buy a UPS designed for such a purpose. But they tend to be kinda expensive.

You also need to consider how smart you want your UPS to be. If you have dirty power, it would be better to compromise on a smaller but more sophisticated unit (for the same money). It doesn't sound like this is your case, so any old standby system will probably do.

As for reliability, they all stink (although I think APC has a pretty good reputation). 'Gel cell' batteries should last five years, but in the horrible environment they find themselves in inside some UPS, you should not be surprised if you have to replace them every two years.

Overheating due to poor design is by far the most common problem.

 

[SteveC]

Thanks time.
I'm not too worried about how long it'll run, since I can't remember when we had a power outage that lasted more than a few seconds. It's just those short ones that are really annoying (and usually when I'm doing something important).

Steve

 

[Pradeep]

You should be able to grab a Conext (APC rebadge I believe) 900VA for less than US$150. They have a 700VA model for less. Has a serial connection and comes with cable and software for shutdown. Appears to the OS as an APC Back-Ups.

 

[Handruin]

I bought a cyber power 1250 AVR and I'm very happy with it.

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/1250avr.htm

It will shut down my machine via serial cable after 10 minutes (which is adjustable). My UPS gives me about 38 minutes run time with the monitor on. The unit has AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation) so that it doesn't have to kick over to battery every time there is a dip or surge in power, it adjusts on the fly. At the time I bought it, best buy had a $50 gift card which brought it down to $120 if I remember correctly. It is $179 right now, but you may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

The person you may want to ask about UPS's is sean at SR. I think he has a lot of experience regarding UPS's. If you don't want to ask him, do a search over there, you may find some info that wasn't eaten by the database loss.

 

[Mercutio]

My regular, crappy, nothing special PCs are hooked up to $50-on-sale-at-Circuit-City 500VA IBM OfficePro SPSes that I think are rebadged TrippLite units. They work fine. Since I only ever hook up the box itself to the UPS, I get maybe 15 minutes of life out of them for just a PC.

Just for fun I've run my CD jukebox and receiver off one. I made my neighbors listen to opera for a half-hour or so during a blackout to make up for all the 2:00AM Wu-Tang Clan-ings. It was well worth it.

 

[Clocker]

I'm happy with my Conext 900VA which is a little smaller than Handruins:
http://www.conextproducts.com/ups/product.cfm?sku=CNB900



WinXP has built in support for it (this is an APC rebadge). Nothing fancy but it works.


I got it last Christmas for:
$79 ($129-$10 instant rebate-$40 mail in rebate)

Right now it is $129.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=282177

C

 

[Handruin]

Not to stray too far off topic, but once during college, I had an exam the next morning and the power went out at 1:00AMish. I'm terrible at getting up in the morning so I powered off my pc leaving my (now older) APC on. I then plugged my alarm clocks into the APC and let it run all night. It saved my butt since the alarms woke me up for the exam in the morning.

 

[Buck]

Handruin, seeing as how it is 12:31am by you, I can see why getting up in the morning is rather difficult.

 

[Handruin]

Handruin, seeing as how it is 12:31am by you, I can see why getting up in the morning is rather difficult.

I seldom go to sleep before 12:00AM. I guess having no kids makes it easier... I have a problem with going to bed early. Since I waste most of my livable day at work, by the time I get home and eat, it's near 8:30 PM. If I were to go to sleep at say 10:00.... what a waste of a day.

 

[SteveC]

Thanks guys. Now I have a good idea of what to look for. I'll check the Sunday paper to see if anything is on sale.

Handruin, you're not the only one who can't get up in the morning. I HATE mornings, plus I'm and insomniac. I don't think I've fallen asleep before midnight since Junior High.

Steve

 

[Clocker]

Handruin, seeing as how it is 12:31am by you, I can see why getting up in the morning is rather difficult.

I seldom go to sleep before 12:00AM. I guess having no kids makes it easier... I have a problem with going to bed early. Since I waste most of my livable day at work, by the time I get home and eat, it's near 8:30 PM. If I were to go to sleep at say 10:00.... what a waste of a day.

EXACTLY!!!!

 

[Cliptin]

Steve, beware that most of the UPS companies write their model numbers based on the wattage but you need to base your decision on the volt-amps.

I personally really like Opti-Ups. In a couple days I will have a total of three here at the house. They rate the VA of the UPS the same as the wattage instead of 2/3 of the wattage like the rest.

I have hooked up to a 650es: 1 17" monitor, 1 small set of altec lansing acs90 speakers, 6 HDs, 4 video cards, 4 NICS, 4 motherboards, 1 PI, 1PIII, 1 duron, 1 celeron, 1 USB scanner, 1 inkjet printer. Ii is running at 84% load.

If nothing else, this should give you a feel for how many VA you need. Replacement batteries are nowhere near the replacement cost of the UPS. Also, I believe the closer you run the UPS toward full load; the quicker you burn out the batteries.