OT: Does anyone use a UPS for their computer/electronic gear? If so which one.

[flu]

I managed to crash one of RAID backup drive because the power went out unexpectedly while the disk was backing up some video files. Fortunately, I was able to rebuild the crashed drive, but it got me thinking about getting a UPS.

Anyone using one? I think i need to get one with a pure sine wave, since because of computer’s power supply.

There’s a huge price difference between APC and CyberPower for comparable features. Any opinions?

[spdrun]

Input waveform doesn’t matter as much as you think. Most modern PSUs rectify the waveform before chopping it up at a much higher frequency than 50/60 hz, to power a high-frequency transformer.

[flu]

[quote=spdrun]Input waveform doesn’t matter as much as you think. Most modern PSUs rectify the waveform before chopping it up at a much higher frequency than 50/60 hz, to power a high-frequency transformer.[/quote]

Well, some power supplies on some computers don’t work with a stepped up sine wave. Amazon, unfortunately has a no return policy on the UPS because they don’t want to deal with the potential haz-mat issue of returning a battery.
I already bought one from amazon, and was defective and couldn’t even turn on. They just refunded me the amount and told me to dispose of the unit.

[spdrun]

???

Sine wave should work fine. Do you mean square wave?

If you worry about returns, party like it’s 1999 and buy from a brick’n’mortar store.

[flu]

[quote=spdrun]???

Sine wave should work fine. Do you mean square wave?

If you worry about returns, party like it’s 1999 and buy from a brick’n’mortar store.[/quote]

There are 3 types of UPS.
1. Pure sine wave
2. Square wave.
3. Simulated sine wave (also called step up sine wave). Basically, it looks like a stair case function going up and down.

Think of #3 at taking a analog sine wave signal and running it through an AtoD converter, where the AD converter has lots of steps..

[no_such_reality]

Aren’t you over thinking this?

How often do you think it’ll happen in the next ten years?

[Anonymous]

I use a laptop.

[Myriad]

Don’t think the brand matters that much – they are pretty much a commodity product. But sounds like you need software that can shutdown your computer if you’re gone.
Generally a UPS is good for something that requires a shutdown process. If your power is bad, then something like a power conditioner could be good for a TV too.

[Doofrat]

In all the cases I’ve seen, UPS is used for one of three things:

1) Provide power for the few seconds between an outage from street power and the backup generator kicking in
2) provide power for a few minutes at most so that the UPS can tell your system to shutdown
3) On instruments that are sensitive to power being removed, allow enough time for a human to properly shut down the equipment.

The amount of time that the battery can power your equipment will probably be less than advertised from the start and will degrade to somewhere near zero over a period of time and unless you periodically test the time, you won’t know.

One option that someone mentioned is using a laptop which is a great idea. If you can get away from using a RAID set, and switch to synching up two USB drives, then a laptop will provide power for the whole setup for several hours and you won’t have this huge, heavy, battery in your place. Also, you’ll have a somewhat accurate indicator of how long the battery will last.

Sorry that I didn’t answer the original question 😉 but I’m just trying to understand the need for full RAID (hopefully this is an enterprise or above consumer class RAID system, and not consumer class crap like Iomega)

[gzz]

APC ones I had lasted about 5 years, with reduced performance toward the end.

–I think i need to get one with a pure sine wave, since because of computer’s power supply. —

The cheaper APC models work fine with all normal computers.

[Author]

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