Buying a UPS

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TheLaggingShaman

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I'm sure this has been talked about extensively but believe it or not I'm having trouble getting to the pertinent info via search.

Simply put I'd like to get a UPS on a budget to power my PC and monitor for a few minutes when Eskom pulls their favourite party trick. This is the cheapest I've found: http://www.wootware.co.za/apc-back-ups-bx500ci.html would it be enough for a 750w powered PC and monitor? Is there better alternative?

Rather inexperienced in this subject. Appreciate any help
 
TheLaggingShaman said:
I'm sure this has been talked about extensively but believe it or not I'm having trouble getting to the pertinent info via search.

Simply put I'd like to get a UPS on a budget to power my PC and monitor for a few minutes when Eskom pulls their favourite party trick. This is the cheapest I've found: http://www.wootware.co.za/apc-back-ups-bx500ci.html would it be enough for a 750w powered PC and monitor? Is there better alternative?

Rather inexperienced in this subject. Appreciate any help
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No it wont work. Your PC is 750w and that UPS is half that power. Basically you need a 1kw UPS to run your PC.
 
Well, it has a 750w power supply but I imagine it has never drawn that much. i5 GTX 770, it probably draws around 500-600w. But that is discouraging to hear judging by the prices of the higher rated ones :( Do you know of good deals a step up?
 
TheLaggingShaman said:
I'm sure this has been talked about extensively but believe it or not I'm having trouble getting to the pertinent info via search.

Simply put I'd like to get a UPS on a budget to power my PC and monitor for a few minutes when Eskom pulls their favourite party trick. This is the cheapest I've found: http://www.wootware.co.za/apc-back-ups-bx500ci.html would it be enough for a 750w powered PC and monitor? Is there better alternative?

Rather inexperienced in this subject. Appreciate any help
Click to expand...

That's way too small.

TheLaggingShaman said:
Suppose this is the best bet for a moderate to high end PC + monitor http://www.wootware.co.za/apc-back-ups-rs-bx1100ci-black-with-avr-power-conditioning-1100va.html
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That'll work, but just note that unit doesn't have a monitoring port, so it cannot automate a shutdown. You'll have to manually shut down everything when the power goes out.
 
A 1100VA UPS will be just fine.

On my 1200VA UPS which has 2 x 12V/7AH batteries in it I run...

1) Corsair AX760i PSU (760watt)
2) 2 * Samsung 23" LED Monitors
3) 1 * Gigabit Switch
4) 1 * Adsl Router
5) 1 * Mikrotik Router

PC has a 2500k core i5 cpu and Radeon 270x series gfx card to give an idea of power draw.

UPS load is 30% browsing the internet, 50% in a game. If I'm just using the internet I get 45 minutes out of that.

EDIT: I would recommend a UPS that has AVR
(Not essential but a nice to have as it boosts your voltage if it is under or reduces if over) and monitoring software to shut down your pc, also make sure the output is modified/simulated sinewave (All but the most terrible of UPS's will give this) and not Squarewave
 
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A UPS is not designed to run your equipment for hours on end. UPS's are designed to give you the opportunity to power down your equipment gracefully without the potential damage that comes from a sudden shutdown.

If you want to power your equipment during load shedding then you should rather invest in a generator, or some deep cycle batteries and an inverter.
 
deweyzeph said:
A UPS is not designed to run your equipment for hours on end. UPS's are designed to give you the opportunity to power down your equipment gracefully without the potential damage that comes from a sudden shutdown.

If you want to power your equipment during load shedding then you should rather invest in a generator, or some deep cycle batteries and an inverter.
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That's not true anymore. UPS's are made for all applications. I know because I power my entire house with a UPS.
 
Jokes aside, I'm also keen on getting a UPS. a lot of money though. Do you buy it to be safe? or swear and go balistic when your pc blows up? hmmm
 
Sjoe, guys here have some seriously high expectations for UPS's.

A good UPS will give you about 10 minutes of battery power, depending on your setup. As someone said here earlier, it's not designed to keep you on for a long time, it's designed to give you enough time to save your work and shut down.
 
zolly said:
Sjoe, guys here have some seriously high expectations for UPS's.

A good UPS will give you about 10 minutes of battery power, depending on your setup. As someone said here earlier, it's not designed to keep you on for a long time, it's designed to give you enough time to save your work and shut down.
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This is simply not true. You get some monsters that are designed to run buildings for several hours on end, in the event of generator failure. There is also the added benefit of the UPS cleaning up potentially very dirty generator power.
 
As I said before, maybe a hundred times, I have a a 3kw 48v UPS system with 8 x 100ah batteries, providing backup power for my 1. 100 x 7w LED downlights 2. Fridge and Freezer 3. 2 x 46" LED TV's 4. 2 x DSTV Decoders 5. 6 x fluorescent lights 7. 2 x Laptops and have couple of plugs backed up.

Now let me be clear, not all are being used at the same time ( duh ). My Load that is displayed on the UPS shows maybe a kw, sometimes less. Just the necessary gadgets are connected, but we use the equipment like there is no power cut. last time we had a cut a few weeks ago ( not load shed but faulty sub station ) was a 20 hour cut. I still had 40% battery power available to me. The company who supplied me the UPS lives close to me, and since he experiences the same power cuts like me, he too told me that he lasted 25 hours ( with 30% battery power left if I remember correctly) with the same setup. He does drop his fridge and freezer temperatures to minimum power.

ups1.jpg
ups2.jpgups3.jpg

below are pics of my uncles setup , same 3kw UPS hooked up with 12 x 12v100ah to give close to 300Ah.
20150131_163030.jpg
20150131_182603.jpg
 
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The_Traveller said:
As I said before, maybe a hundred times, I have a a 3kw 48v UPS system with 8 x 100ah batteries, providing backup power for my 1. 100 x 7w LED downlights 2. Fridge and Freezer 3. 2 x 46" LED TV's 4. 2 x DSTV Decoders 5. 6 x fluorescent lights 7. 2 x Laptops and have couple of plugs backed up.

Now let me be clear, not all are being used at the same time ( duh ). My Load that is displayed on the UPS shows maybe a kw, sometimes less. Just the necessary gadgets are connected, but we use the equipment like there is no power cut. last time we had a cut a few weeks ago ( not load shed but faulty sub station ) was a 20 hour cut. I still had 40% battery power available to me.

View attachment 189585
View attachment 189587View attachment 189589
Click to expand...

What brand UPS is that? Does it charge all 8 batteries?

What is the +- total cost for a setup like this?
 
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