UPS Recommendations please!

[CharlieOneSix]

UPS is an area I know nothing about so some advice would be appreciated. I need it as a mains power outage x3 yesterday has resulted in me losing all my home weather station records for September - not the first time so I need to get a UPS.

The one I liked the look of and which has an 810 watt capability is the CyberPower Intelligent LCD 1350VA UPS which would easily meet my needs. However it only has 2 x UK 3-pin outlets, the remainder being 4 x IEC outlets which are no good to me. Ebuyer are selling this for £139 - any recommendations for a UPS around a 800 watt capability and that price range but with more UK 3-pin outlets?

[green granite]

Why not just get some IEC plug to IEC socket leads such as these (http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/35219-lead-iec-plug-iec-socket-3m-pe00059-pro-elec.html)

[CharlieOneSix]

Thanks for the suggestion, green granite -it may come to that but surely there is a UPS out there with more than 2 3-pin plugs as standard.

[mike-wsm]

One month of weather can't be a whole lot of data. Why not back it up in nvram? For example a flash memory stick.

For larger volumes of data, an external hard disc provides lotsa gigs.

Another route - UPS is inherent in a laptop or tablet, might be the right way to go if you are outage-prone.

[Bushfiva]

3 of 4 Cyberpower units have failed for me over the past 2 years. Also, on certain models a light touch of the power switch will turn them off. My APC units are working well although I begrudge the price, but I have gone back to them.

Unless you're spending serious money, I wouldn't rely on a UPS to keep things running. Instead, use the power fail signal to start an orderly shutdown.

As others have said, simply bang a power strip in to get the sockets you want.

[mixture]

CharlieOneSix,

I would strongly caution against Green Granite's suggestion without further investigation into (a) loads you are placing on your ups, and (b) you should really be looking at a UPS more suited for such aggregate outputs (there are models from APC, for example, that provide 16A rectangular sockets).

I would also caution against mike-wsm's suggestion of a laptop, thats not what they are made for. The normal models you get off-the-shelf are not intended for continual 24x7x365 operation.

I would however, agree with Bushfiva's view that yes, you should get a UPS. But you should get one with a serial port that can signal your PC to perform a safe shutdown.

Because you do not know how long a given power outage will last, you don't really know what you need to spec your UPS for. Even a larger UPS might only give you a few hours run time depending on your load.... plus larger UPS means larger batteries means more weight ! (even some of the cheaper "small" larger models still weigh in at 40kg !).

Go for a good brand like APC, not something unknown like Cyberpower, no wonder Bushfiva had problems. Make sure you properly calculate your loads and desired runtimes prior to buying anything though.... if you decide to buy a 40KG beast, you don't want to find yourself in a position of returning it early.

The other alternative rather than running it all off one UPS would be to buy a couple of UPSs and split the load between them.

[green granite]

I would strongly caution against Green Granite's suggestion without further investigation into (a) loads you are placing on your ups, and

Sorry Mixture, I don't understand your reasoning, the whole point of having the ups output as IEC sockets, other than to stop the cleaner plugging the vac into it, was so that you had unique power leads for the computer and the monitor and nothing else got plugged into it, you would need a 13 amp skt to plug the router psu into. All other peripheries should be powered from the raw mains.

[CharlieOneSix]

Excellent! Many thanks for all the comments and suggestions. My intention in getting a UPS is to enable an orderly shutdown not to keep the system operational during an outage. The computer is off overnight and the missed data downloaded from the weather console each morning. The weather station software does a daily back up to a different disk at 1155 every day but incredibly wipes out the previous day's backup in doing so. After the power outage unfortunately I hadn't noticed the data corruption in the 10 minutes between when power came back on for the third time and 1155 came around.......

So, a separate scheduled backup strategy is now in force with Acronis and I'll look at an APC UPS.

[Booglebox]

Nerd friend of mine who runs about 20 servers in his basement swears by the APC "Smart-UPS" line. :cool:

[mixture]

green granite

Aah.. sorry, misread your post. I assumed you wanted were thinking of plugging an extension strip type assembly into the C13 sockets. Apologies. :{

That sort of thing should only be done with the C19 sockets present on the larger units.

But yes, single cables are fine as long as they feed a single device.

Booglebox

swears by the APC "Smart-UPS" line.

Agreed, although if budget permits, I recommend "Smart-UPS Online" rather than the plain "Smart-UPS". The "Online" variant are double conversion with true mains isolation, therefore giving you zero switchover delay during powerloss becasue all that happens is that the rectifier drops out of a circuit that was already live (i.e. mains power is always the secondary power source).

But both types have given me many years of faultless service.

[Loose rivets]

I got two robustly built APC units for $5 at Goodwill. They would have been that each, but it was half price day. :p

It seems big companies throw them out when the batteries fail, and here, batteries tailored for this unit are about $20 each on't net. Not much more from APC. Hopefully, someone in the UK would be able to offer such prices if you happen across anything used.

I imagine having to fit 13a outlets is quite an investment for the makers. It certainly would soak up the available panel space.


I put this ramble on JB for the less serious-minded Ppruners.


Edit to say, I'd forgotten just how funny the Pixars 'Alien Check Ride' was, a few posts down.


http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/437840-power-units-plasma-palm-trees-painful-percussion-panic.html









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[mixture]

It seems big companies throw them out when the batteries fail,

Batteries on the business-grade units (i.e. Smart-Ups / Smart-Ups online) are replaceable and replacements are easily obtained from APC.

However should you feel so inclined, you can usually do a trade-in deal with APC so you get a brand new unit and they take care of disposing of your existing unit in an environmentally sound manner.

[unclenelli]

I've always been a fan of a UPS on a PC. Firstly Belkin, and latterly APC.
I use £20 Surge Protectors into £200 UPS to protect them also.
Having seen an electrician fry a £250k dongle on Ops, I've always been wary!

Both Belkin and APC host supplies to PC/Monitor/peripherals etc via "kettle cables"
I currently use an APC Smart-UPS 1500w - just changed the battery after 4 years after it started screaming at me!
Software lets me know via email & text that I've had a power-outage.

[Saab Dastard]

It seems big companies throw them out when the batteries fail, and here, batteries tailored for this unit are about $20 each on't net. Not much more from APC. Hopefully, someone in the UK would be able to offer such prices if you happen across anything used.

I have a SmartUPS 1000 - APC branded replacement batteries are £162 all-in, 3rd-party eqiuvalent replacements are £62. Hmmm... for the effort of swapping over the spade connectors I can save £100!

Batteries on the business-grade units (i.e. Smart-Ups / Smart-Ups online) are replaceable and replacements are easily obtained from APC.

However should you feel so inclined, you can usually do a trade-in deal with APC so you get a brand new unit and they take care of disposing of your existing unit in an environmentally sound manner.

The trade-in for an equivalent model would reduce the price by £71 to £278, although you can buy that model for £30 less on amazon (granted they won't take the old unit away at no cost).

I'll be buying 3rd party batteries and carrying the old ones to the dump (sorry, recycling centre) on my bike!

SD

[Milo Minderbinder]

One of my customers has an APC unit with 6 outputs that had been running continuously 24/7/365 for six years before the batteries finally failed two weeks ago (they actually started "blowing" like bad tin cans)
That seems pretty good to me. The exact model wont be available, but I'm sure they'll have something suitable now

[CharlieOneSix]

The river company delivered an APC Smart-UPS 750 this morning. All up and running with a load of 40% and looks a nice bit of kit. Thanks for the recommendations:ok:.

[srobarts]

I am puzzled. What weather station program are you running that loses a months worth of data? I have run Weather Display for many years now and have only lost at most a few hours of data when things have gone awry. Yes a UPS helps but I have not found it necessary for my weather station as it is a hobby not critical. I echo the comments made about choosing one that will close down your PC gracefully. I have always found APC good in that respect.
Many moons ago I had a server with an APC UPS and remote monitoring software. I was able to manage a server form a different continent, even rebooting the server if software crashed.

[aviate1138]

Here in the Surrey Hills South of Farnham we have had 6 power cuts in the last 5 months.

My trusty APC 700 has worked well and it has run continuously for 2 years so far.

I only have an iMac 27" 2010 w/ printer and backup HD and it has saved hours of fiddling about.

Got the usual surge protectors and APC should serve you well CharlieOneSix.

[CharlieOneSix]

I am puzzled. What weather station program are you running that loses a months worth of data? I have run Weather Display for many years now and have only lost at most a few hours of data when things have gone awry.

Yes, it's Weather Display - been running since 2008, but at this location since April. I've only ever lost a few hours due to blips before but this one wiped out all my rain data for September and makes my website records incomplete.

[green granite]

but this one wiped out all my rain data for September and makes my website records incomplete.

Do what the Met Office does in those circumstances, use the data from the nearest weather station to replace it.

[Mike-Bracknell]

I have a SmartUPS 1000 - APC branded replacement batteries are £162 all-in, 3rd-party eqiuvalent replacements are £62. Hmmm... for the effort of swapping over the spade connectors I can save £100!



The trade-in for an equivalent model would reduce the price by £71 to £278, although you can buy that model for £30 less on amazon (granted they won't take the old unit away at no cost).

I'll be buying 3rd party batteries and carrying the old ones to the dump (sorry, recycling centre) on my bike!

SD

Just be aware, there are batteries and there are batteries.

The Yuasa ones are recommended.

I've also had a couple of experiences replacing UPS batteries where the supplier sent the (subtly) wrong part. All goes well until you have the whole thing in bits on the server room floor wondering why the goddamn beeping won't stop!

Not to mention the one in 1992 which threw me 10 feet across the server room when an internal part had failed and I was auditing the plug sockets a little too closely. :{

[ExSp33db1rd]

....instead, use the power fail signal to start an orderly shutdown.

We've just experienced a 'weather bomb' i.e. rapid drop in pressure accompanied by very high winds and lashing rain. ( yes, it does happen in New Zealand - often )

I should have know better, and shut down the computer, 'cos this Met. condition always results in a power outage - with an overhead supply threaded through trees this is inevitable - and I then usually disconnect the computer, and other gear, until 'normal service is resumed', but this time the power was off and on in about a milli-second, enough to switch everything off, but immediately on again. Fortunately no apparent damage, so far.

Would this device have started an orderly shut-down, even tho' the power came straight back on again ?

[Bushfiva]

You'd typically set it to send the shutdown signal after a short while, say a minute or so. You can do rough calculations of power draw to make sure you start the shutdown with plenty of power left in the UPS. But on consumer-grade equipment, nothing you can afford is going to power stuff for more than 10 minutes or so, especially at end of service life. In your case, if you have frequent transient outages, you might want to spend a little more on a unit that does full-time line conditioning.

In my case I have good power, outages are almost unknown and I want my network to shut down in an orderly manner, so I have the computers run for a minute before they shut down, the NASes power down at 5 minutes and the routers, etc. run until their UPS is depleted. Hopefully there's no network traffic by that stage. Although all the devices are set to turn on when power is restored, I've also set the router to send everything a WOL packet when it powers up and at regular intervals thereafter just in case. I shut down early rather than late because I may want the remaining UPS power for other things.

There are more sophisticated ways of doing this, but I can't be bothered.

Incidentally, I also have battery-powered LED lighting that comes on if the power goes down, and the network powers down if it gets an earthquake alarm, 'cos I may want to grab the NAS and exit without much ceremony, but the computer stays on because I want to see where the quake is and when it will get here :)