UPS requirement ~ no not 'Mr Brown'

Hi All

We had a long power outage last night (1am to 10.30am). The area does seem somewhat prone, even with "switching" the supply company have never apparently put in place sufficient robustness in the system, this is incidently SE England!!! We have had something, though nothing as bad as this last one, like 10 outages in the past 2 to 3 years.

So as the power went down whilst my system was running (again) I think it is about time I got a UPS, so I am looking for recommendations.

I have no wish to spend a fortune & do not want too large a "house building block" sized box on the floor but as I see it I need something to support albeit for a modest number of minutes (say 30 minutes???) the main PC & monitor & router and maybe the printer so that I can finish the jobs in hand before shutting down manually.

Also, I understand many such UPS systems can be left unattended & have software to shut the system down - I would welcome any user experience & feedback as the best value choice by make and model and as such any comments etc about the software aspects.

TIA

Don't know much about them other than that you want a pass-thru setup (vs a switching setup).

I keep forgetting the official term, sorry


.

i have an APC battery backup for my computer. i think its got a 30 minute battery life? so relatively short becuase i think you can get over an hour now?

its not bad. all recepticals are battery backup but then only half are a true surge protector. i forget what the warranty on it was but most of them now have an "up to $X,000 warranty"

i know the one i have hooked up to my TV and electronics there is like a $50K or $75K warranty although my insurance would cover it too lol

Get an APC.

The amount of time they last is directly related to how much power your system draws. If you're running the computer, monitor, printer, router, etc. it could draw quite a bit of power.

http://www.apc.com …BR1300LCD&total​_watts=200

If you figure on 300W power draw, then something like that will last around 30 minutes. It really depends on how much power your system uses.

I live in rural southeast Arizona where power outages occur quite regularly -- two this month so far, one about 15 mins., and one over 4 hours.

I depend upon my system for income. Down time is not an option I care to tolerate. I therefore have an APS RS-1500 backup with an auxilliary RS/XS battery pack. I get about 4-5 hours of run time.

The APS systems come with software that allows a controlled shutdown. I keep mine set for 5 minutes before battery failure. What this means is that 5 minutes before my battery would fail, the system will undergo a forced shutdown where a memory image and settings are saved to the hard drive. Once power has been restored, turning on the PC will bring it up to exactly where it was before shutdown.

And yes, the APS software gives me plenty of warning before the forced shutdown, so I may shut it down manually if I wish.

Thanks all for the insight, I was also asking over at a systems forum I use and 'they' remarked that APC are a good brand.

I have used the APC 'configurator' and based on the current system and (all being well) intended updating the APC Model 800I gives the best value for money. Though there is a lower capacity model SC620I which cost about £10 more and would still give a reasonable runtime (forgetting about the printer ) but I need to read up some more as the differences/benefits of the specs, such as the 620I has 'battery failure notification'.

Incidently, I note APC offer an installation service! Is there something arcane about UPS units that make them difficult to use for the unitiated

On the whole for my needs about £120 +VAT should get me a best value for the spec unit like the 800I model.

OdiN1701 wrote in post #4929461
The amount of time they last is directly related to how much power your system draws. If you're running the computer, monitor, printer, router, etc. it could draw quite a bit of power.

Most people, APC included, recommend NOT connecting a printer to a battery power supply. In theory you need enough time to save your work, close your open apps and shut down.

henryp wrote in post #4957869
Most people, APC included, recommend NOT connecting a printer to a battery power supply. In theory you need enough time to save your work, close your open apps and shut down.

On top of that; if the power goes out; you have no need for a router..

In the outlets that ARE UPS'ed, you ONLY want monitor and CPU.

Get a cheap UPS and hook it up to the cheapest car battery you can find.

No joke. I do it. I have a "15 minutes at 450 VA" UPS that lasts about an hour and a half with the two car batteries it's sitting on.

I have just the monitor and computer on the UPS. Printer, speakers, etc, are on mains.