UPS question

sunama

sunama

sunama

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Joined
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NW London
Hi,

The power supply to my house has recently become strange. Randomly, my entire house will lose power for a split second, such that my PC will shut down (as soon as power is lost) and restart (when power is regained less than a fraction of a second later). This tends to happen about once a month on average.

I want to prevent this from damaging my PC by introducing a Uninterruptable Power Supply unit.

Can anybody recommend a unit that I would be able to prevent my PC from shutting off, when power is lost for a fraction of a second.

Just to make sure, will a UPS prevent this?

Thanks
 
squiffy said:
I'm not too sure, but I think a standard UPS will provide you with power for that second power outage, as it just switches over as the UPS detects power loss and switches to battery within a couple of milliseconds.

However when the power fluctuates up and down this can also cause damage to your components too, to protect the gear you want a voltage regulating UPS. Standard UPS's won't have this, as they only kick in when there's a total power failure. A brown out is when the lights dim, but things like TV's and PC's stay on. If it's below or above a certain range the UPS corrects this.

Stick to APC, don't buy a Belkin. Have a look on the run times, how many displays and computers are you connecting to it? Do you want x minutes of run time? What spec are the computers?

Happy with my APC Smart UPS, about £200 but worth it. I probably didn't need such a high rated UPS (I have sig rig, plus 3700+ HTPC 20" and it's only on the second LED with everything on and playing a game)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17695305&highlight=smart+ups
Click to expand...

Squiffy. Can you confirm the following:
If you shut off the power on the plug socket (that the UPS is plugged into), your PC keeps running, unhindered, and the fan powers up on the UPS? And as soon as power is switched back on (to the UPS), the UPS fan, stops. Throughout this, your PC runs without a hitch - no reboot, no nothing.
 
One more question: when there is a power variation (ie. a brownout and the lights go dim and then back up again), does your UPS kick in and its fan spin up? If so, how long does the fan spin at its full speed.

I ask this as I am concerned about this fan noise. I have spent a lot of time and money on getting my PC ultra quiet, using water.
 
squiffy said:
A brown out might not trigger the UPS, only the smart line offer voltage monitoring/smoothing (keeps it within range) - AVR trim & AVR boost.
Click to expand...

But your UPS is a "smart" UPS. Does your offer voltage monitoring/smoothing?
 
So that was 36mins, which is more than enough time for a home user to save his/her programs before shutting down.

I am looking at the APC Smart 1000VA, which I should have within the next 2 weeks or so.
 
Right. Today I took delivery of an APC SMART 700.
Ive hooked up my monitor and PC to it, switched the mains power off and on a few times and the pc and monitor are totally unaffected and run as normal. This is exactly what was required.

It cost me £55, so Im pleased that it didnt break the bank. To be honest, for what I want, this is a bit overkill, but I was unable to find a SMART APC UPS that had a lower power rating; I think they do a 450 model, but I was unable to find this.

Thanks for your help people, especially squiffy.
 
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