UPS - Not the Courier...

The Guvnor

I'm looking at a UPS.

Have had a few power cuts this year - maybe 6. Seems like a lot. ESB Networks put some down to a swan hitting the line...lot of swans so...

Anyway I am looking to get a UPS for two computers.

On the back of this I did read on boards but no luck finding thread about hooking the ups up to a pair of truck batteries which would if power went down allow for continued power to comps for a good few hours?

Has anyone seen this done - how practical is it - what should I look out for?

The router is in another room - they would not require much power would they so possible to run that off just a UPS for a while?

Is it better to have the two comps on the one back-up or separate for each?

Thanks.

free_man

Hi,
I have hooked up truck batteries to a UPS. But it needs additional circuitry and I did it as engg. project :-)
There is lot of messing about needed and I am sure you will break the warranty.

I would suggest two separate UPSs for the comp. if they are in different rooms. They will give you 10-15 min depending on power draw.

If you need continuous running machines, I would go for a laptop(s) if there is a budget for it.

moonlighting

i have a large ups system setup in a cabinet. the larger units require cooling (fan on all the time) noise. so look at your computers wattage including monitor etc and get a ups to match (i guess try to get one that's low noise (no fan)

Overheal

With Crossfire GPUs and 2 PCs I have a basic ~500W supply, as the computer rarely ever gets up to that much draw and the LEDs are relatively low draw also. But that only gives me about 20 minutes of usage, it's really for the computer to do a safe shutdown/hibernate.

The Guvnor

Thanks Lads.

I kinda knew the truck battery idea would not be as easy as I would have hoped!

On thinking the best option really is safe shutdown of pc's. Maintain the connectivity via router and use laptops which we have.

Overheal

The Guvnor wrote: »

Thanks Lads.

I kinda knew the truck battery idea would not be as easy as I would have hoped!

On thinking the best option really is safe shutdown of pc's. Maintain the connectivity via router and use laptops which we have.

You can do that off something like a 500W, you just need to change your PC power settings when you get it to go straight to hibernation when it falls to something like 90% battery power, that will give you the most time possible for the modem and router (assuming your internet provider's node will still have power too). A model with a USB interface will tell your computer what the power level is, and if you get a model with AVR that will be safer for brownouts and dirty power issues.