So, a UPS...

R.C.Anderson

R.C.Anderson

R.C.Anderson

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I've just started creating myself a small home server, and as part of this, I've been thinking I should really get it on a UPS. Problem is, I know next to nothing about them (I know what they do, but not much more!)

So, which UPSs are worth getting & which aren't? I'm not going to need a particularly high capacity one, as it's a fairly low powered device, and will only be powering the server & router at most.

Any suggestions or pointers so I don't pick something stupid would be hugely appreciated!
 
Get a line interactive one. Depends on how much run time you want, but a 600VA will be plenty to save the files you're working on, and shut down the computer. A 1500VA lasted about 30 minutes, that's with a monitor, switch and router connected.

You will need to change the batteries every 5 years.

Had a APC 1500 for about 10 years, still got it just need to buy new batteries.
 
can recommend refurb APC from UPS trader. their after sales support is also very good.

reminds me i need to get another set of batteries from them.
 
What's your budget? I personally use an APC BackUps PRO 900 which is a 900Va line interactive UPS. The UPS can also connect to one device and if supported (using the Windows software, or in my case a Synology NAS) can shut it down when the batteries reach a certain level. We went through a period of having quite unstable power and the UPS proved to be an excellent bit of kit in keeping my NAS and networking kit running.
 
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My PRO 900 is a fairly slim passively cooled unit which ran warm to the touch but nothing to worry about. I'd expect most of the rack mounted units to have active cooling.
 
As above Schneiders APC is a decent range with lots of choice. The Eaton ones aren't too bad either but not sure if they do a desk top factor. Most if not all of the APCs come with a cable and software that can shut your PC down if you so wish - I'd only consider this if you're leaving your PC unattended for long periods of time as the UPS when it loses its mains will go into alarm mode anyway
 
APC are usually excellent - we had an issue recently though where I think its the BX series Back-UPS were turning up with a lot dead - turns out they aren't very tolerant of being knocked around in transit - they come with a full engineer's checklist/verification so would be odd if they were shipping faulty from APC and we even had the supplier (who is trustworthy) check a load at their end before sending them out at one point to try and work out what was happening - we could only conclude the couriers were treating them pretty poorly and they weren't tolerant of it.
 
We use APC at work, solid but expensive kit.

At home I have a 4 year old 750 watt cyber power unit, been faultless and still going strong. I've also got an Eaton 1000 watt unit too which I've had about a year, good as gold so far.
 
No harm in mentioning that we use Riello at work. Rack mounted 2kVa units for bigger deployments and the Sentinel Pro 1kVa true online units for smaller sites, of which we have about 45.

Most have been running 24/7 for at least 5 years and we've just started to go round and replace the batteries. They use 3 Yuasa NP7s which are easily and cheaply sourced, unlike some of the proprietary battery units in some UPS'

They units themselves are more expensive though.
 
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Don't forget when you change batteries in a APC UPS you need to reset the unit, use apcfix.exe

APC recommend doing a run time calibration but this basically flattens the battery which for a lead acid isn't good. The APCFIX.EXE resets the runtime without running off battery.

Need to buy this set sometime but a bit skint. The genuine APC pack is about £150

http://www.hardwarexpress.co.uk/rbc...y-4053-p.asp?gclid=CJndxe_artICFUO3GwoddcMA1Q

Just need to transfer the fuse and lead wire from the old battery to the next one, and use sticky pads to hold the two batteries together
 
R.C.Anderson said:
I've just started creating myself a small home server, and as part of this, I've been thinking I should really get it on a UPS. Problem is, I know next to nothing about them (I know what they do, but not much more!)

So, which UPSs are worth getting & which aren't? I'm not going to need a particularly high capacity one, as it's a fairly low powered device, and will only be powering the server & router at most.

Any suggestions or pointers so I don't pick something stupid would be hugely appreciated!
Click to expand...

Do you know how much is being drawn by the small server? Its easy to throw numbers at you, but for example, I have turned an old desktop into a file server. Small in stature and doesn't do anything other than serve files, but on its own loads my APC1000 to 50% (Pentium D930, 6Gb Ram, 6 hard drives)
 
As everyone else has already mentioned APC units are solid and will last forever - we have 25+ units at work and have had 1 failure in 10 years. Would also recommend Eaton (have just swapped our Server room to Eaton units, due to higher capacity and longer runtime for similar pricing)
 
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