Battery backup: problem with my APC?
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From: Ian D on 15 Oct 2009 14:35 "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:7jp3olF36omctU1(a)mid.individual.net... > Ian D wrote >> kenk <kenk(a)nowhere.com> wrote > >>> I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a >>> split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5 >>> lights lit, the computer died. > >>> Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par >>> even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you >>> chosen? > >> I would be looking at your PC's power supply. There is a very >> brief delay between the loss of power, and the UPS switchover >> to battery power. > > Not with continuous UPSs, there is no delay at all with those. > > Essentially the PC is running off the UPS output all the time and > the only thing that changes with the mains failure is that the UPS > isnt being charged anymore and runs off the battery instead. > That's correct, and those units are the ones with true sine wave output, and are relatively expensive. I was assuming that the OP was using a regular, run of the mill APC UPS. >> The PC power supply should hold during >> this period. Before I had a UPS, a split-second power outage >> would cause clocks to lose their time, etc., sometimes, even >> my monitor would blink, but the computer would hold without >> a glitch. If you want to test your UPS, pull the power cord with >> a load on the UPS. > >
From: bbbl67 on 15 Oct 2009 16:07 On Oct 15, 12:41 am, Mike Ruskai <BUTthann...(a)DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM> wrote: > You probably bought cheap, undersized units, which is why you've come to your > erroneous conclusion. Is not being able to hold a charge after only one year considered junky enough? I bought a power supply appropriate for a home environment, if I could afford to build a computer room with an AC/UPS with alarm monitoring system in it, I would've done so, but not within my budget, nor most people's budgets. Yousuf Khan
From: Rod Speed on 15 Oct 2009 16:51 Ian D wrote > Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa(a)gmail.com> wrote >> Ian D wrote >>> kenk <kenk(a)nowhere.com> wrote >>>> I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a >>>> split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows >>>> all 5 lights lit, the computer died. >>>> Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be >>>> sub-par even though the test lights say it is OK? What have >>>> others of you chosen? >>> I would be looking at your PC's power supply. There is a very >>> brief delay between the loss of power, and the UPS switchover >>> to battery power. >> Not with continuous UPSs, there is no delay at all with those. >> Essentially the PC is running off the UPS output all the time and >> the only thing that changes with the mains failure is that the UPS >> isnt being charged anymore and runs off the battery instead. > That's correct, and those units are the ones with true sine wave output, Nope, the type of output is an entirely separate issue. > and are relatively expensive. Not anymore with continuous or online UPSs. > I was assuming that the OP was using a regular, run of the mill APC UPS. There's plenty of continuous/online consumer grade UPSs now. >>> The PC power supply should hold during >>> this period. Before I had a UPS, a split-second power outage >>> would cause clocks to lose their time, etc., sometimes, even >>> my monitor would blink, but the computer would hold without >>> a glitch. If you want to test your UPS, pull the power cord with >>> a load on the UPS.
From: David Brown on 16 Oct 2009 04:00 Rod Speed wrote: > Ian D wrote >> Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa(a)gmail.com> wrote >>> Ian D wrote >>>> kenk <kenk(a)nowhere.com> wrote > >>>>> I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a >>>>> split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows >>>>> all 5 lights lit, the computer died. > >>>>> Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be >>>>> sub-par even though the test lights say it is OK? What have >>>>> others of you chosen? > >>>> I would be looking at your PC's power supply. There is a very >>>> brief delay between the loss of power, and the UPS switchover >>>> to battery power. > >>> Not with continuous UPSs, there is no delay at all with those. > >>> Essentially the PC is running off the UPS output all the time and >>> the only thing that changes with the mains failure is that the UPS >>> isnt being charged anymore and runs off the battery instead. > >> That's correct, and those units are the ones with true sine wave output, > > Nope, the type of output is an entirely separate issue. > Both types of UPS generate roughly sine wave outputs when the inverter is active. The difference is that with a standby UPS, the inverter is not active unless the power fails, so the output is just a filtered version of the input. >> and are relatively expensive. > > Not anymore with continuous or online UPSs. > Online or continuous UPSs are more expensive than standby UPS for the same ratings. Judging by a quick check on APC's website, the difference is something like 25% more expensive for "Smart UPS online" compared to "Smart UPS" (standby). Additionally, smaller and cheaper UPSs are mostly standby types, while online ones are for more professional markets. If you are wanting something that can give you 10 minutes at 300W, standby UPSs will be half the price. Online UPSs are also less efficient for smaller systems - the double conversion wastes at least 10% of your electricity. That doesn't mean that standby UPSs are a better choice for a small user - just that there are different balances to consider and the price difference (though less than it used to be) is significant. >> I was assuming that the OP was using a regular, run of the mill APC UPS. > > There's plenty of continuous/online consumer grade UPSs now. > >>>> The PC power supply should hold during >>>> this period. Before I had a UPS, a split-second power outage >>>> would cause clocks to lose their time, etc., sometimes, even >>>> my monitor would blink, but the computer would hold without >>>> a glitch. If you want to test your UPS, pull the power cord with >>>> a load on the UPS. > >
From: Ato_Zee on 16 Oct 2009 07:36
On 15-Oct-2009, bbbl67 <yjkhan(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Is not being able to hold a charge after only one year considered > junky enough? I bought a power supply appropriate for a home > environment, Most are sealed lead acid batteries, much like a vehicle battery, and vehicle batteries generally have around a 3 year life. Vehicles and UPS continuously float charge, and an UPS is generally on, which is rather longer than in vehicle useage, other than public transport which uses heavy duty batteries most vehicles aren't driven continuously throughout the day. The operating conditions of UPS batteries can rapidly deplete residual capacity. Main benefit of UPS is during a brown out, when flashing BIOS, and while MS$ is updating and the PC says installing 27 updates, don't switch off. |