What UPS Do I Need?

NomNom

NomNom

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So I'm thinking of getting a UPS. Thing is I'm not sure what brand one or wattage one to get. I don't need it to last long, at least 10mins should be fine. My Pc has a 850w PSU, 5 hard drives, 1 dvd-rom, 1 SSD, HD6870 graphics card and 4 case fans.

I just really want to get one for the surge protection and incase the power fails. I see that Esquire has those UPS specials, they offer a 650VA, 1000VA and 2000VA model, which one would I need?
 
1000va,ideally you'd take an active UPS as opposed to those passives if you want to be totally secure from surges,but the passives do an okay job for the price,less noisy too
 
PsyWulf said:
1000va,ideally you'd take an active UPS as opposed to those passives if you want to be totally secure from surges,but the passives do an okay job for the price,less noisy too
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Cool thanks, does it really matter what brand it is or not?
 
Better the brand,better the components,but price increase is apportionate :P
 
now a days your looking at R1000 a KVA for a decent UPS, i just checked EuroBytes price list and ur looking at R1800 inc VAT for a 2KVA UPS, and R9000 for a 10KVA interactive UPS... but for your needs i would just Look at a 1KVA as that would give your PC and Monitor about an hour battery life!
 
bekdik said:
Yes. Probably not a bad idea if you have expensive kit worth protecting from Eskom!
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what size will need for
plasma tv
av reciever
hp microserver
dstv decoder
laptop

might add a bluray/dvd as well
 
Avoid the el cheapo line interactive UPS's if you want/need power isolation with no interruptions. If cost is a concern, go for a line interactive and hope like hell nothing goes wrong.

I follow a simple rule, if the hardware being powered costs more than an Online/Double Conversion + batteries... then you need an online/double conversion UPS.
 
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BlackWasp said:
I think the term "el cheapo" would differ from one person to the next. What would you consider to be cheap?
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What I meant to say was avoid Line Interactive UPS's providing 'cheaper' uninterrupted power compared to online/double conversion (yeah I know I'm a snob). I totally agree with you that the opinion of cheep/expensive varies.
 
For those who do not know the difference:

ON-LINE = your pc is permanently running off the UPS batteries. The mains power simply recharges your batteries when available. Therefore no ripples/harmonics/whatnot make it through from the munic power to your PC.

IN-LINE = Your pc is running directly off the munic power. The UPS monitors the power quality and as soon as it drops below a certain level, the UPS kicks in to assume load. This is done within your 50Hz frequency, so the pc does not suffer from a loss of power during the near-instantaneous dip. HOWEVER, any spikes etc. aren't filtered out by the UPS immediately. Also, the constant switching isn't good for the power transistors either.

I would use IN-LINE on electrical devices and ON-LINe for electronic devices.

EDIT: The biggest UPS setup I've dealt with was 2x 300kVA 3phase UPS's. Each had a battery bank weighing 4.8 tons. Just idling, they consumed more power to keep the batteries charged than the power an average street of houses would consume.
 
rodga said:
what size will need for
plasma tv
av reciever
hp microserver
dstv decoder
laptop

might add a bluray/dvd as well
Click to expand...

You can actually calculate it, I just hope I remember correctly how... at least it should give you an idea :D

Let's say each component is as follows (just for demo purposes):
plasma tv - 100w
av reciever - 50w
hp microserver - 300w
dstv decoder - 50w
laptop - 60w

Total of 560w multiply that by 1.6 (if I remember correctly...) - gives you 896. That is the size UPS you should get to have the minimum uptime if power is lost. I would double check the calculation though before actually buying one.

Edit: this may also be worth checking out...
http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm
 
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Flidiot said:
You can actually calculate it, I just hope I remember correctly how... at least it should give you an idea :D

Let's say each component is as follows (just for demo purposes):
plasma tv - 100w
av reciever - 50w
hp microserver - 300w
dstv decoder - 50w
laptop - 60w

Total of 560w multiply that by 1.6 (if I remember correctly...) - gives you 896. That is the size UPS you should get to have the minimum uptime if power is lost. I would double check the calculation though before actually buying one.

Edit: this may also be worth checking out...
http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm
Click to expand...

thanks

can i assume that an IN-LINE ups will be fine for my needs?
 
The HP Microserver uses way less power than that! It should be (in worst case) around 50W + like 30W/hard drive.

Instead of multiplying the Wattage by 1.6, rather just lookup the maximum wattage of the UPS ;)

You can't really just multiply by 1.6, because the ratio between the Wattage/Power Consumption and VA is determined by the power factor, which is corrected by most decent PC power supplies.

I'm running an APC SmartUPS SUA 1000i (1000VA / 650W) inline UPS to power:
Gaming PC ~ peaks at 525W / 600VA, with minimum of 120W
30" IPS panel ~ 100W
HP Microserver with 4x low power 5.25" HDD's ~ 100W
ADSL modem ~ 10W
Gigabit router + WiFi AP ~ 10W

This PSU was rather expensive for an inline one, but not yet the price of an online one!
 
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Are the UPS products from Esquire not inline? Seems like you connect the power to it and you connect your Pc to the UPS.

:confused:
 
NomNom said:
Are the UPS products from Esquire not inline? Seems like you connect the power to it and you connect your Pc to the UPS.

:confused:
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They all work like that but that's not what determines if it's inline or online. That's what happens internally in the UPS and how it delivers the power to your kit.
 
Pada said:
Instead of multiplying the Wattage by 1.6, rather just lookup the maximum wattage of the UPS ;)

You can't really just multiply by 1.6, because the ratio between the Wattage/Power Consumption and VA is determined by the power factor, which is corrected by most decent PC power supplies.
Click to expand...

That sounds so much easier, haha...

Has anyone checked out the RCT UPS's? They work very well and are also quite affordable (compared to the more beefy brands).
 
I always thought inline was the way to go. Look at the link I posted earlier. I bought one of those through maidenelectronics for my wife's embroidery machine. Seems to work well and its 1200va.

I am by no means a UPS expert, but I heard from some businesses that they use the Tescom UPS' for all their installations.
 
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