# Uninterruptible power supply recommendations?



## Harpmaker (Oct 28, 2007)

I was surprised to find that these wonderful devices haven't been discussed on the forum before. :scratchhead:

I have been using two APC BE500U UPS's for the last ??? years. It's been so long I don't remember buying them! I used one on my desktop PC and one on my entertainment center and they worked great for a long time.

I live in an area that has frequent 1 to 5 second power loses, and there was a time when they happened several times a day! This prompted me to buy these units to keep things going smoothly through these short blackouts. I don't like having to wait for my PC to reboot (3 min. +), but what really got me was when I was recording a movie or TV program and the power went off - it ruined the recording!!!

Anyway, the above units served me well for a lot of years, but nothing lasts forever and one went bad about a year ago (the entertainment center) and the one on my PC just bit the dust. I'm pretty sure it is the electronics of the devices and not just a bad battery. The first one that went actually smelled burned! I always meant to do a post-mortem on it, but haven't yet.

The unit on my PC didn't quite stop working, in fact, I thought my local power company was screwing up and serving me bad juice! It has happened before; but now I don't think that was the problem. I now think that my not-quite-functioning UPS was causing the electrical problems throughout the house! The symptoms were lights flickering and sometimes the UPS would start to turn on and off (the relay would click closed and then open over and over again). The lights would flicker throughout the house; I don't know how one UPS acting up would cause that, but ever since I stopped using it the problem hasn't happened again. :dontknow:

At any rate, the unit is old and it's time to replace it (the one on the entertainment center was replace with one I had bought for the PC, but it didn't have enough power for the PC). My question is what is the "best" UPS for the money?

In my case, my needs are simple. The unit's primary job is to keep the PC happy for very short power outages of less than 30 seconds. My current system is drawing around 200 watts, but my new system might be more than that. It has a 750 watt power supply, but I don't think it pulls that even at cold boot. I have a watt-meter, but haven't used it on the new PC yet.

I guess I'm looking for a 500-1000 watt UPS. What are the more reliable brands? Any specific brands to stay away from? Does brand matter?

Views? Opinions? Experiences?


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I have had several and decided this last time to go for the gusto...

Back-UPS RS 1500 - 188.44
Back-UPS RS 1500 Add-on Battery Pack - 114.96

Subtotal: 303.40
Shipping: 46.40
Total: $349.80

At www.provantage.com

Probably more than you need.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

I've never bothered with one. Have never had any problems. Very seldom have any power issues, pretty stable here.


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## xflapx (Jul 23, 2009)

make sure they have a voltage regulator and you're good to go. Time and power recommendations are up you to entirely, and really it's hard to stay in business as a UPS maker if you manufacture faulty products, just stick with reputable sellers and you'll be happy. If you have frequent outages there is a good chance you also have voltage spikes. While top end PS control this to a certain degree, it's always good to ensure you are feeding your power supply properly. IMO there is no more important component in a PC when it comes to performance and longevity than a solid power supply, a UPS with voltage regulation can only help.


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

I would look at APC SMART UPS line, these are the true sine wave models which provide you with cleaner power. The problem with other square wave generating UPS units is that many modern power supplies may not function properly when they don't detect a correct sinewave. Especially if your PSU is an automatic unit that detects incoming line voltage.


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## Hunter844 (Apr 22, 2007)

8086 said:


> I would look at APC SMART UPS line, these are the true sine wave models which provide you with cleaner power. The problem with other square wave generating UPS units is that many modern power supplies may not function properly when they don't detect a correct sinewave. Especially if your PSU is an automatic unit that detects incoming line voltage.


Smart Pro...not the Smart Digital...those have PWM Sinewave battery output but do have true sinewave during power normal power pass through which I imagine is pretty normal. That website Sonnie linked is incorrectly labeling their Tripplite models as being Smart Pro but they are actually the next grade down labeled as "Digital UPS" on the Tripp Lite website. They are still a good price and I almost bought one but couldn't figure out why one with a supposed pure sine wave was such low cost so I started doing a little research and that's what I found.

My bad, you said APC not Tripp Lite.

Thanks for the link Sonnie...that website is good even though they are incorrectly labeling their stuff.


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