UPS time...

[TheRift]

... or maybe not.

Looking through UPS on online stores. What a blerrie mission.

Does anyone have feedback on the Powercom UPS range? I was looking at a pair of Powercom Black Knight Pro Line-Interactive UPS rated for 1000VA which I can pick up for R800 a piece, but someone reckons that's marketing hype and the rating don't match no damn realworld experience.

Who has a Powercom and how has it stacked up for you?

What UPS do people run here and what sort of shutdown time do you get or even how much power time?

Who has an APC or MGE that can give some feedback on what they are like? These are premium priced though.

Recommendations welcome on units under R1.5K that don't charge for 24 hours to provide 5 minutes power running a large box (power meter shows around 160W usage on my PC).

 

[Gnome]

If the unit is rated at 1000VA then it is 1000VA, although that is only the rating of the transformer, the actual constant amount of power it can put out is probably more in the range of 600W.

In comparison to these inverter solutions your less likely to have trouble with the UPS, they actually manufactured to certain constraints (such as a minimum switchover time) whereas with the inverters anything goes.

Also I'd be more suspicious of a inverter than a UPS made by Powercom being underrated.

 

[HavocXphere]

APC is the "big" brand name afaik.

Also check whether you can get replacement batteries for the one you pick.

 

[TheRift]

Well I'm not looking at the inverters.

So no harm in me heading for the Powercom brand then? APC would be sweet, but budget is limiting. I suppose the APC would have more efficient parts in them though.

And, yes, I'll enquire about the Powercom batteries as well.

Another note, given an output of 600W and consumption of around 200W, what sort of backup time would that give? Seen indications of 30 minutes on under 200W load. Maybe I should just get one big enough to power down on as opposed to trying to have something to do for 20-30 minutes of a 2 hour power out.

 

[TheRift]

Hmmm.... perhaps an answer to living through 2 hours of downtime is this:

http://www.fit-pc.com/new/product-tour.html

 

[TheRift]

... and yes, I know about Eskom stopping the load shedding from 5th May, but honestly, will that actually hold right through winter?

 

[quik]

If I can give you any advice, it would be to get the APC. There's just no contest. They are the only choice for UPS, miles ahead of anyone else. I've worked with the other lesser known brands in the past, which gave me more headaches than anything else.

If you want to spend less than R2k, you're fairly limited with regards to options:

APC Back-ups CS BK350ei - 350va / 210w
APC Back-ups CS BK500ei - 500va / 300w
APC Back-ups CS BK650 - 650va / 300w
APC Back-ups RS BR500i - 500va / 300w
APC Back-ups RS BR650Ci - 650va / 390w
APC Back-ups RS BR1100Ci - 1100va / 650w
APC Smart-UPS SC SC420i - 420va / 260w
APC Smart-UPS SC SC450RMi1U - 450va / 280w
APC Smart-UPS SC SC620i - 620va / 390w

if you go to their website, you'll see there is a runtime chart that will tell you exactly how long the UPS will last under various loads, like this example

 

[quik]

If you want some proper uptime, We just put in a new UPS at one of our clients running 2 servers and some networking equipment:

APC Smart-UPS XL SUA750XLi (750va / 600w) + APC SUA24XLBP extended run battery
This gives them about 2 hours 30 min runtime for about R4800.00

Swap the SUA24XLBP with a UXBP24 extended run battery (additional R4k) and the time goes up to about 9 hours.

In your case with only 160W, the times would be about 5 hours 45 min and 18 hours respectively for the two options

 

[TheRift]

Yeah, would kill for a BR1100Ci and extra battery backup pack. Around R5K for the setup. Let me see what the dealer prices are and think about it.

In the meantime, I'm gonna opt for a tiny one enough to do line conditioning and offer enough time for a clean shutdown.

Thanks for advice, folks! Much appreciated.

 

[TheRift]

If you want some proper uptime, We just put in a new UPS at one of our clients running 2 servers and some networking equipment:

APC Smart-UPS XL SUA750XLi (750va / 600w) + APC SUA24XLBP extended run battery
This gives them about 2 hours 30 min runtime for about R4800.00

Swap the SUA24XLBP with a UXBP24 extended run battery (additional R4k) and the time goes up to about 9 hours.

In your case with only 160W, the times would be about 5 hours 45 min and 18 hours respectively for the two options

Ooh, didn't see this reply until finishing my own. Blerrie hell, man, that some nice uptimes. Will enquire on Monday.

 

[bekdik]

I've installed an SUA750XLi myself as well as SUA750XLi + extended battery at a client.

I've found that APC are pretty conservative in their ratings and that I'm getting a longer run time than I expected.

Another plus is their Powershute software which makes it easy to change UPS settings as well as monitoring the voltage Eskom supplies.

Yes APC is more expensive, but IMHO it's well worth it. Certainly most corporates seem to use APC.

Using a cheap UPS is like a sky diver using a cheap ,chute.

 

[quik]

We also have clients with the smart card installed in a SURT3000XLI with extended run battery... Would probably keep you running for 3/4 days

The smart card is an awesome piece of hardware, allows you to do just about anything with your UPS, can even shut down PC's on the network.

Like I said, there is simply nothing like APC out there.

 

[bekdik]

The smart card is an awesome piece of hardware, allows you to do just about anything with your UPS, can even shut down PC's on the network.

You can also do that without the smart card. Powershute allows one to run a batch file when the UPS runs out of battery. If the command file has shutdown commands in it, the other machines will also switch off - this assumes a Windows setup, I'm not sure on the Linux way of achieving the same result.

 

[quik]

I'm sure you can, but the smart card makes it alot easier to do, and provides you with vastly more options.

 

[Claymore]

I have a 600VA Powercom, and I got 5-10 minutes off it with PC, 19" CRT, and router. I have an LCD now, but haven't had the chance to see how long it would go.

 

[CodeMaster]

I will swear by APC. I have a 650VA APC UPS, and it works great. Comes with a USB cable and good software. I was actually looking at a MGE model, coz they look nice, but they were out of stock.

With the APC, I get 17 mins uptime, with an idle load of 140-150 watts. C2D with a 22" LCD.

Also, the battery can be replaced by simply opening the battery compartment.

 

[supersunbird]

My powercom 400 VA lasta about 2 to 3 minutes but its there for shutting the homeserver box when the load goes. The powercom has the best software of the normal non premuim APC brands...

 

[TheRift]

Ugh... I just dumped a few grand on some garage tools and spare auto parts today. I guess UPS must wait another month. But I'm thinking APC is it for the main stuff and I'll get that 1000VA Powercom to run some accessories. Definitely thinking a dual battery setup will be good, just need to stop buying blerrie spares and stuff.