Recommend me a UPS

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robdutchmonkey

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Hey guys

I've never bought one before but I'm thinking of getting one now. Already had one problem with power taking out my old PSU. So I have a budget of R1k (under R1k isn't a bad thing, but I want it to be decent quality).

I just need time to shut down my pc, or something that comes with software to auto shut down once the UPS starts using the battery.

The specs of my pc are in my sig. It must handle my pc and my 2494HS LCD.
Possibly my other pc as well which is basically an office pc. It only draws maybe 350W on full load but I do have a 650W psu in it.

So far I've been looking at these:

http://www.matrixonlineshop.co.za/products/zixaa-1200va-ups

http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/221401/Proline+Smart+2KVA+Line+Interactive+UPS/

Are they overkill?
Just right?
Too little and/or rubbish?

Edit: Looks like I'll be getting a used 1000VA UPS that the battery only lasts for about 12 seconds for the 2nd pc which shuts down fast so looks like I'll only need one for my pc and monitor
 
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If you really want to protect your machine look at a pure sine wave unit, this basically means the power runs to the battery and then from the battery to your machine. This gets rid of spikes, drops, fluctuations in frequency and so forth. WAY better protection.
 
1000VA (~600W) would be the one that you should be looking for. Like a 750VA (500W) unit would probably work too, but you'll struggle to get hold of one and not really pay much less than what the 1000VA ones are going for I suppose.

I really can't recommend a 1200VA unit that costs under R1000 !

The APC SmartUPS SUA1000i (1000VA) that I have costs like R2900 (incl VAT) if you buy it from Drive Control.
I'm currently running my gaming PC (2x GTX460 + i7 940 @ 3.8GHz) from it, which can draw up to 510W (540VA), 30" screen which can draw up to 100W depending on the brightness, and a all my routers + modems + micro server which adds another 50W. So I've managed to stress it up to 80% so far.

It is really the best UPS that I've had so far.

You can look at the APC Back-ups RS BR1100Ci, which is a 1100VA (660W) UPS that is going for R1600, compared to the APC SmartUPS which goes for R3k.
There are other UPS' that people are also satisfied with, like the PowerCom Black Knight Pro 1.5kVA, but I'm really not sure on how good that unit really is. It also has AVR like the APC units.
It is critical that you ensure that the UPS is rated for 230V @ 50Hz and that it AVR is set for that, and not like 220V.
 
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Look, I bought a cheap crappy quality 600va UPS for R400 and it runs my pc (22"LCD screen, quad core 2.4, ATI 4870, 550w power supply) for about 15 minutes on full load playing a game...
 
R400 for a 600VA PSU is extremely cheap. I mean, the 7.2AH 12V battery alone costs R100 - see http://www.mantech.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?Item=70M0121

On 1 fully charged 7.2AH battery, you should be able to run a PC that draws 250W for ~15minutes I suppose.
I've never had much more than 5 minutes with my AMD 2400+, GF2GTS & 17" CRT from my Proline 650VA which had 1x 7.2AH battery.

One of the reasons why the APC unit is so expensive is due to its batteries costing ~R600 each, and it has 2 of them (18AH 12V): http://www.mantech.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?Item=70M0123
I'm not 100% sure if those are the exact same ones that is in the APC SmartUPS unit, but it looks exactly like it: http://www.apcmedia.com/resource/images/500/Application/SUA_Battery.jpg

It's rather easy to increase the time that the UPS can run your PC for, because you simply add a battery pack to increase your AH (Amp Hours) rating.
Just be very careful with cheap units, because they are often underspec'd, like not even the cables aren't designed to handle load, and they generate square waves instead of sine waves.
 
Do NOT get an APC device if you are spending less than R5k. They are horrendous. We had two of them fail within the first week at our firm. They failed so badly that the outer plastic layer had melted and deformed. We contacted them about it, they were very apologetic and promised to immediately send replacements to us. After several months of not having received anything I contacted them again and apparently they could not find our address, and could not be bothered to pick up the phone. We gave them the same details again and after another year nothing. APC won't be seeing us again in the less than R5k category.

I would recommend getting a PCM® Black Knight Pro 1500va Line-Interactive, RS232 Port, Cable, UPSMon Software, 1xRJ11 & RJ45, Surge Protector, 4x Outputs. Or the 1000va if you really can't afford R1200.
 
Wyzak, it sounded to me like you overloaded the unit, or that you had a very bad batch, which can happen to any brand.
Could you perhaps tell us exactly which APC model it was that you had problems with?
 
Pada said:
One of the reasons why the APC unit is so expensive is due to its batteries costing ~R600 each, and it has 2 of them (18AH 12V)
Click to expand...

Dude, you are getting raped :D You can get replacements for about R230 ex vat.

Never used the 12V 18A ones though, just the 12V 7.2A which we purchased probably about 800-1000 of, Panasonic brand and cheap as chips.

You need to contact the bigger specialist battery suppliers for prices
 
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Pada said:
Wyzak, it sounded to me like you overloaded the unit, or that you had a very bad batch, which can happen to any brand.
Could you perhaps tell us exactly which APC model it was that you had problems with?
Click to expand...

I don't have any more of them in my office, got rid off them ASAP. Even if you overload the unit it should then just safely power down, it is not acceptable for any electronic device to function in such a way. That also does not excuse the pathetic after sales service that we received from APC. Not just once, but repeatedly.
 
Wyzak said:
Do NOT get an APC device if you are spending less than R5k. They are horrendous.

I would recommend getting a PCM® Black Knight Pro 1500va Line-Interactive, RS232 Port, Cable, UPSMon Software, 1xRJ11 & RJ45, Surge Protector, 4x Outputs. Or the 1000va if you really can't afford R1200.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with APC, we had 100's of them in the field.

As far as I'm aware the Black Knight range has some sort of voltage issue in SA as they weren't designed for this market but I speak under correction. Pretty sure someone posted about them here before.
 
Thanks Ponder.

I've also heard that those PowerCom units aren't exactly meant for the SA power grid (not 230V @ 50Hz that is), but you'll have to find that out at the supplier, because they don't specify those values on any of the local websites. The PowerCom unit does have the 230V @ 50Hz option on their website though.
 
I've been using Powercom UPS for as long as I can remember, and I've never had one fail on me like the APC ones did. I've only ever stopped using a Powercom UPS when its batteries had depleted after several years. Let the OP decide :)
 
Ok I've narrowed my search down to the following lot. I know that some are out of my budget, but I suppose I can save an extra month, but only if it's worth it. So honest opinions, which of the following are the best? List in order from best to worst. If any are horrible, leave them completely off lol

1) http://www.matrixonlineshop.co.za/pr...xaa-1200va-ups

2) http://www.takealot.com/electronics/proline-1000va-line-interactive-ups-with-rs-232,4018979

3) http://www.takealot.com/electronics/proline-2000va-line-interactive-ups-with-rs-232,4018980

4) http://www.takealot.com/electronics...nt-1000ap-line-interactive-ups-1000va,3300060

5) http://www.takealot.com/electronics...nt-2000ap-line-interactive-ups-2000va,3300062
 
I really can't recommend the Proline Units.
I have the 650VA one, which can't switch over from AC to battery mode. My dad has the 2000VA Proline unit, and it is way under designed, so it uses like the same cables than my 650VA one internally, so you shouldn't pull more than 1000VA from it!

For your needs I suppose the 1000VA PowerCom Black Knight Pro would do.
 
ponder said:
Dude, you are getting raped :D You can get replacements for about R230 ex vat.

Never used the 12V 18A ones though, just the 12V 7.2A which we purchased probably about 800-1000 of, Panasonic brand and cheap as chips.

You need to contact the bigger specialist battery suppliers for prices
Click to expand...

I had to replace the battery pack in an APC 1500VA (RBC#7), and the cheapest I could find was around R1800. Where do you get them cheaper than that?
 
RoganDawes said:
I had to replace the battery pack in an APC 1500VA (RBC#7), and the cheapest I could find was around R1800. Where do you get them cheaper than that?
Click to expand...

Tell me what you need and I'll act as a go between and score :D
 
robdutchmonkey said:
Ok I've narrowed my search down to the following lot. I know that some are out of my budget, but I suppose I can save an extra month, but only if it's worth it. So honest opinions, which of the following are the best? List in order from best to worst. If any are horrible, leave them completely off lol

1) http://www.matrixonlineshop.co.za/pr...xaa-1200va-ups

2) http://www.takealot.com/electronics/proline-1000va-line-interactive-ups-with-rs-232,4018979

3) http://www.takealot.com/electronics/proline-2000va-line-interactive-ups-with-rs-232,4018980

4) http://www.takealot.com/electronics...nt-1000ap-line-interactive-ups-1000va,3300060

5) http://www.takealot.com/electronics...nt-2000ap-line-interactive-ups-2000va,3300062
Click to expand...

Kuk, kuk, kuk...
 
Wow then what's the point huh? :rolleyes: might as well just say a R1000 budget for a UPS is a "kuk" budget as well seeing that I can't find anything else that would be suitable even between R1k and R2k

So seeing as everything there is kuk to you what would you recommend? Nice advice btw :)
 
Sorry for high-jacking this thread, but do you guys perhaps know where to get an APC Smart-UPS RT 8000VA 230V unit for a decent price? I think we're currently going to get one from Drive Control Corporation.

Its quite funny that you can get the password for their pricelist on their website.

Update:
My recommendations are the APC Back-UPS BR1100CI for ~R1600 (if you have a friend with access to Drive Control, you could get it for like R1.4k),
or the PowerCom Black Knight Pro 1000VA for ~R900.

Both of these UPS' construct an approximation of a sine wave. I think the APC Smart-UPS units create a much better approximation of a sine wave, but I have no concrete evidence about this unfortunately.
The PowerCom website states "Simulated sine wave", where as the brochure of the APC Back-UPS BR1100CI states "Stepped Approximation to Sine Wave".
And then of course the APC Smart-UPS SUA1000i webpage states just "Sine wave"
 
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