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| Thread ID: 58413 | 2005-05-31 05:26:00 | Uninterrupted power supply - recommendations? | Tony (4941) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 359949 | 2005-05-31 05:26:00 | Having just had 5 hours of power out, brown out, on-off, the issue of a UPS has moved somewhat up the list of priorities. I'm looking for something to support two PCs and their monitors. I'm not looking for a long up-time, rather more a power conditioner and the ability to gracefully power-down. It seems to me that this is probably (a) an area where you get what you pay for, and (b) not something you ought to skimp on. Any suggestions/things I should be aware of? What would be a reasonable price to expect to pay for such a beast? TIA |
Tony (4941) | ||
| 359950 | 2005-05-31 06:03:00 | Consider 2 units, might be a lot more affordable than one large one. The "long up-time" could be the decider, most are a 5 minute supply to allow a save/shutdown. Beware just adding external batteries to a cheap unit as well (a tempting option) as the cheaper units are not rated for long term supply, and the battery rail is not isolated from the 230 (so one side of the battery is hard connected to the mains) in many units. For two PC's and monitors (CRT?) with a long uptime, you are looking more at thousands. This unit www.ascent.co.nz gives 14 minutes at 700 watts. $2,326.81 |
godfather (25) | ||
| 359951 | 2005-05-31 06:21:00 | For two PC's and monitors (CRT?) with a long uptime, you are looking more at thousands.Thanks for the comments, the 2 units sounds like a good idea. I think you misread my original post, I'm not looking for long uptime. :) | Tony (4941) | ||
| 359952 | 2005-05-31 06:54:00 | Moved to PressF1 main forum - Might get more coverage there :) | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 359953 | 2005-05-31 10:13:00 | Hi Tony Take a look at This Thread (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz) and This One Too (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz) for a bit more background and a few more ideas. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 359954 | 2005-05-31 12:24:00 | Hi, I was thinking about getting one myself to protect the $7k~ worth stuff I have in my sig. Using the APC Selector (www.apc.com) I came up with about 750kVa. Would that be about right? The PC might pull about 650W max (PSU maximum) and I suppose I could connect my router and home theatre speakers & amplifier to that as well. What do you recommend for just a few minutes uptime and preferably as cheap as possible? I have been hunting around and can't figure out the difference between Smart-UPS and Back-UPS. What's the difference? |
E|im (87) | ||
| 359955 | 2005-05-31 18:58:00 | Using the APC Selector (www.apc.com) I came up with about 750kVa. Would that be about right? 750 kVa would be enough to supply around 200 houses. Like a subdivision or a major street area. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 359956 | 2005-05-31 19:01:00 | Thanks for the comments, the 2 units sounds like a good idea. I think you misread my original post, I'm not looking for long uptime. :) Oops - you are right. Sorry. Two smaller units would be the cheapest I believe. I use a micromaster 400 vA unit for a P4 2 GHz and 2 x LCD monitors. Works fine. It was about $230 from memory some years back. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 359957 | 2005-05-31 20:11:00 | What do you recommend for just a few minutes uptime and preferably as cheap as possible? I have been hunting around and can't figure out the difference between Smart-UPS and Back-UPS. What's the difference? Reliable and cheap are mutually exclusive E|im, so don't buy on price alone. Smart-UPS are the commercial/networking models and offer facilities for monitoring and for controlling shutdown. Back-UPS are the home office/residential models and are a little cheaper. APC's website (www.apcc.com) will give you more information. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 359958 | 2005-05-31 23:47:00 | I bought a couple of second hand smart-UPS 700s for $70 each as they didn't work. Batteries were swollen and dead. I was looking at the APC brand replacement batteries and they were about $120 USD per UPS. I then hunted round for generic batteries and got them for $50 NZD per UPS. (Each UPS has two batteries, they were ~$25 each) This has worked well for me. I can get 14 minutes battery time on my gaming rig, and the other one on my server gets about 30 minutes. I would suggest watching trademe for the occasional sweet deal. |
BIFF (1) | ||
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