UPS Systems

Ryaner

I dunno if I should be posting this here. It not exactly a mod but I'm sure quite a few of you guys would have one of these. Move if there somewhere it better suited to.

Basically I've been wanting to get a decent UPS system for the last ages. With the recent power blackout (three outs in last two weeks) I've finally decided that I'm gonna make sure I get one soon. I would like suggestions from people on what to get, what to run through it etc.

Some links to where to buy them, prices etc would be nice. I'm mainly looking for enough time to safely shutdown the pc (manually or auto) although a few minutes of working time would be nice to have. I'd be willing to pay upto about 500 if I saw the benifit of it but prob around 200/300 be what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the help

Adeptus Titanicus

Elara stock a range. Have a look here. Prices don't seem too bad...

Ryaner

Thanks for that. Forgot to check elara. I owed stuff from them for a router that going back too.

Anyone any suggestions on make, model etc?

Adeptus Titanicus

Any time we've gotten an UPS in work it's always been an APC unit. Have never had a problem with them, but that's probably because we haven't needed to call on them too much (thankfully).

That probably doesn't help much though

Can't find many reviews, but these might help a bit.

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/3042/4/

http://www.envynews.com/index.php?ID=192&page=1

http://www.lanparty.com/articles/belkin800va/

All very professional reviews

Ryaner

Thanks gain for the info. Prob gonna get the APC 1000VA one. We see monday as if gonna be ordered thru business suppliers so my not be going thru elara and be claiming back vat

I'm wondering how much of a hum gonna be coming from it now. Hopefully not alot cause would be really annoying if it was to happen at night. The alarm would also be annoying if power tripped at night and it went off.


Anymore info on all of this would of course be very helpful. Anyone be able tell me a way to work out how much power my pc, monitor, speakers pull?

Col_Loki

APC are very good alrite, but theres also belkin..... ive went through a few of them and i found the belkin very impressive. Its the backup for the server at work and comes with software that closes and saves all information and shuts down properly. You can set it to do nothing except keep the PC powered for say 20 mins (incase its a short power outage) and then do the shutdown etc.

The one we have isint expensive at all and should keep the PC powered for 30mins or more. Im sure most UPS come with the software, i just found belkin very easy to use and install.

Viking direct stock them, might be worth a look.........

Ryaner

It just being used to stop my pc getting the major shunt it does when the power drops here. Yeah I'd like a system that could keep it on during the power outage but thats what laptop will do so not too important.

The software was mainly cause I leave system running all day when I aint there and I'm setting up a server in the house so that would need to be shutdown too so might have to get second UPS.

What kind of noise comes out of these things? Something you could sleep in the same room as?

Adeptus Titanicus

These things are designed to keep a system going long enough to shut down safely, so sounds ideal for the server you plan on setting up at home. Being a light sleeper I understand your concern about the sound that May come from them, but I doubt you'll get much info on that as these are normaly deployed in a server room/office environment where the noise is not an issue. :dunno:

The APC 1500's that we have in work seem pretty quiet. Putting my ear against the side I can hear a hum, but it's difficult to tell how that might sound at 3am on a Tuesday night in a bedroom. It's a hard one to call. It depends on how light a sleeper you are

Col_Loki

They are designed to keep you running (including screen) for 20-30mins, which means if the power only goes for 10mins then nothing will happen and your system will stay active. You can set it to shut down when the battery is at 20% or after a certain time period.

Ive used the system while powered with this thing, has been used quite a bit with the server. Great the way u dont have to be there as the software does everything for you (the server is left on 24/7). It also acts as a surge protector and gives cleaner power than the mains..... ie levels it out.

I really dont think noise will be a factor, there pretty quiet....... you wont hear it over say a case fan or CPU fan.

You dont need a big expensive UPS, the cheaper models will do exactly what your looking for.

Ryaner

Originally posted by Adeptus

it's difficult to tell how that might sound at 3am on a Tuesday night in a bedroom. It's a hard one to call. It depends on how light a sleeper you are

Well normally bout 3am I tend to be up or jst going to bed :P

As for it being louder than case fans, prob. My case fans (although rated at 20db) are kinda loud on front. ALthough a light hum would be grand. The BB modem hums for some reason neway.

Software does sound like it'll do the job nicely. Can they be set to exec any kinda of programs, says run some scripts on the system it's plugged into?

Also thanks for the help so far

Col_Loki

Thats something im not sure about, theres alot of different settings and options which i ignored when installing it as it wasent nessary.

I prob wont be able to check until friday, but i will try to find out for you. I will check for definite the noise level of them aswell (have an APC & Belkin) since your sleeping near it.

tribble

I have a Belkin 525VA Gold Series.

Best £100 I ever spent.
Noiseless, runs my 19' CRT, XP2200 machine for about 25 minutes.
Thats twice as long as the box advertised, so I'm happy.

tribble

Ryaner

25 min on 525VA is long enough for what I want. I prob gonna go for 1000VA just to be safe neway. My pc turning into a big of a monster lately been adding so much stuff. Also wanna proper the hub on the UPS too.


Thanks COL_LOKI for all the help

Col_Loki

No probs at all .

Will also find out about the software to see if it can run programs and the exact model of belkin we use (prob friday) and will post again.

PS its running a P4 2.4ghz , 512mb Ram, Dual Hard Disk, for about 20-30mins with no problems (including 15" TFT screen)....... using the 425VA model Seen Here - Viking Direct.ie . It comes with bulldog software then will stay in the bottom corner (beside clock) and monitor power and act according to the way you have it setup.

Ryaner

The times that have been posted here are the times given on the websites. 20-30 minutes would be sweet. I was expecting 20 max from the 1000VA model that I'm looking at.

Saying that my system may pull a bit more than a P4 but guess the extra 500VA will level that a bit.

How do you know when you've plugged too much into them? Is there some sort of guide to it?

Col_Loki

How do you know when you've plugged too much into them? Is there some sort of guide to it?

Theres an indicator built in with the software to let you know what % of the full power is being used......... the 425Va one is easily handling the P4 system.

1000Va will almost definetly hold it for 20-30mins, quite a bit of power there!!