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Questions about UPS units

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  • C cjb110

    Try this[^] to estimate your PSU requirements. But with a highend graphics card pulling ~200w, 2 10k rpm drives and 12gb you were never going to be anywhere near 400W! 800 is more likely.

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    Dario Solera
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    cjb110 wrote:

    800 is more likely.

    The power supply tops at 750W, at any rate the problem seems to be related with active PFC and the pseudo-sinusoidal output wave from the UPS. It seems to be a common problem.

    If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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    • C cjb110

      Try this[^] to estimate your PSU requirements. But with a highend graphics card pulling ~200w, 2 10k rpm drives and 12gb you were never going to be anywhere near 400W! 800 is more likely.

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      Dario Solera
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      cjb110 wrote:

      Try this[^] to estimate your PSU requirements.

      502W at full load, just to let you know.

      If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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      • D Dario Solera

        I recently purchased a cheapo UPS, 400W/700VA. It turned out to be undersized for my PC*, as it simply shuts off when unplugging the power cable. Also, when the PC is at full load, the UPS unit goes overloaded and the beeper starts shouting. How do I know how much power my PC uses without using a watt-meter (which I don't have)? I calculated that it should be within 400W, but I'm lost at this point. When the UPS is overloaded, the software says it's using 154% of its power rating, which would be more than 600W... *) Intel Core i7 920, nVidia GTX275, 2x WD Velociraptor, 12GB 1,333 MHz DDR3

        If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        This happened to me too. I bought a VMark 500 UPS, and my computer would shut down whenever it had no power input. What I did to see if it was broken was to disconnect all hard disks, CD-ROMS, both PCI-Ex video cards, and all PCI cards, one by one until I could get it to run. I ended up removing everything except the CPU, and only then it ran continuously on the UPS battery. Of course, that was useless, so I bought an APC 800va UPS. Later I realized that the VMark also had problems with power surges. It had no surge protection other than a replaceable fuse at the back and two replacements were provided. It blew two fuses in one week or so. The APC I have now has some kind of button at the back that pops out when a power surge occurs, and all I have to do is push it back in for it to work again. :) APC was recommended to me by a friend, so I'll do the same for you. You can't go wrong. :) The software for my APC ups shows me that my rig doesn't use more than 270 watts of power. Not sure if that should've been a problem to handle for the VMark, but I don't care anymore. I have an APC that works now. :)

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        • L Lost User

          This happened to me too. I bought a VMark 500 UPS, and my computer would shut down whenever it had no power input. What I did to see if it was broken was to disconnect all hard disks, CD-ROMS, both PCI-Ex video cards, and all PCI cards, one by one until I could get it to run. I ended up removing everything except the CPU, and only then it ran continuously on the UPS battery. Of course, that was useless, so I bought an APC 800va UPS. Later I realized that the VMark also had problems with power surges. It had no surge protection other than a replaceable fuse at the back and two replacements were provided. It blew two fuses in one week or so. The APC I have now has some kind of button at the back that pops out when a power surge occurs, and all I have to do is push it back in for it to work again. :) APC was recommended to me by a friend, so I'll do the same for you. You can't go wrong. :) The software for my APC ups shows me that my rig doesn't use more than 270 watts of power. Not sure if that should've been a problem to handle for the VMark, but I don't care anymore. I have an APC that works now. :)

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          Dario Solera
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          Emil - Gabriel wrote:

          The software for my APC ups

          Is that UPSilon 2000? At any rate, how can I be sure that the APC works with a PSU that has active PFC (see my other replies)?

          If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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          • D Dario Solera

            The power supply is a Corsair 750W (it's a bit too powerful for my config it seems, but there were no "smaller" models, so...) At any rate, I'm reading some stuff on the interwebs and it seems that power supplies with active PFC usually don't work with UPS units that generate a pseudo-sinusoidal output wave. :doh:

            If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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            peterchen
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            Dario Solera wrote:

            it seems that power supplies with active PFC usually don't work with UPS units that generate a pseudo-sinusoidal output wave

            I guess that's the long form of "doesn't like". :rolleyes:

            Don't attribute to stupidity what can be equally well explained by buerocracy.
            My latest article | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist

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            • D Dario Solera

              Emil - Gabriel wrote:

              The software for my APC ups

              Is that UPSilon 2000? At any rate, how can I be sure that the APC works with a PSU that has active PFC (see my other replies)?

              If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              Dario Solera wrote:

              Is that UPSilon 2000?

              No, it's not. It's APC's own PowerChute 2 and it works via USB, not RS232.

              Dario Solera wrote:

              At any rate, how can I be sure that the APC works with a PSU that has active PFC (see my other replies)?

              You can check out their products page. Here's a link to the one I got: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR800I[^] The weird thing is that they say that product is not available in my country. :) Only the black model is: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR800BLK[^]. And the black model has only 120V Input and Output. :| My country's standard is 220V, so the white model, with 230 V I/O should be available. Weird! They must've messed things up with that. :) EDIT: Just realized I was using their US page. My bad! :D There's a lot of info there, and I didn't bother to look for anything in specific before buying it. My friend just told me it will work and I trusted him. :) If you don't find what you're looking for, you can always drop them an email and ask. I think you'll find one somewhere in the Support section there.

              modified on Monday, July 27, 2009 5:02 AM

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              • L Lost User

                Dario Solera wrote:

                Is that UPSilon 2000?

                No, it's not. It's APC's own PowerChute 2 and it works via USB, not RS232.

                Dario Solera wrote:

                At any rate, how can I be sure that the APC works with a PSU that has active PFC (see my other replies)?

                You can check out their products page. Here's a link to the one I got: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR800I[^] The weird thing is that they say that product is not available in my country. :) Only the black model is: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR800BLK[^]. And the black model has only 120V Input and Output. :| My country's standard is 220V, so the white model, with 230 V I/O should be available. Weird! They must've messed things up with that. :) EDIT: Just realized I was using their US page. My bad! :D There's a lot of info there, and I didn't bother to look for anything in specific before buying it. My friend just told me it will work and I trusted him. :) If you don't find what you're looking for, you can always drop them an email and ask. I think you'll find one somewhere in the Support section there.

                modified on Monday, July 27, 2009 5:02 AM

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                Dario Solera
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                Thanks for the link. :)

                If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                • D Dario Solera

                  Thanks for the link. :)

                  If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  You're welcome!

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                  • D Dario Solera

                    I recently purchased a cheapo UPS, 400W/700VA. It turned out to be undersized for my PC*, as it simply shuts off when unplugging the power cable. Also, when the PC is at full load, the UPS unit goes overloaded and the beeper starts shouting. How do I know how much power my PC uses without using a watt-meter (which I don't have)? I calculated that it should be within 400W, but I'm lost at this point. When the UPS is overloaded, the software says it's using 154% of its power rating, which would be more than 600W... *) Intel Core i7 920, nVidia GTX275, 2x WD Velociraptor, 12GB 1,333 MHz DDR3

                    If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                    realJSOP
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    I run a 1500 on my main box, 900's on all of the other boxes, and 650s on my routers. They key is to not anything but your PC into the battery backed up side of the UPS. Of course, this means that you have to hook up the UPS software so that it can do a controlled power-down of the box immediate on loosing power.

                    "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                    -----
                    "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                    • L Lost User

                      You're welcome!

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                      Dario Solera
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      BTW, how much power does your PC drain at full load according to this tool[^]? And what PSU do you have?

                      If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                      • R realJSOP

                        I run a 1500 on my main box, 900's on all of the other boxes, and 650s on my routers. They key is to not anything but your PC into the battery backed up side of the UPS. Of course, this means that you have to hook up the UPS software so that it can do a controlled power-down of the box immediate on loosing power.

                        "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                        -----
                        "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                        Dario Solera
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        My main concern is about compatibility with active power factor correction (PFC) PSUs. And, I'd also like to avoid UPS units with cooling fans.

                        If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                        • D Dario Solera

                          My main concern is about compatibility with active power factor correction (PFC) PSUs. And, I'd also like to avoid UPS units with cooling fans.

                          If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                          realJSOP
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #16

                          Dario Solera wrote:

                          I'd also like to avoid UPS units with cooling fans.

                          With bigger units like what you need, good luck with that. Besides, the fans in them are almost silent.

                          Dario Solera wrote:

                          My main concern is about compatibility with active power factor correction (PFC) PSUs.

                          A UPS is a UPS. The PFC stuff is only applicable while the computer is powered up and allows more stability on the 12-volt rails. When the UPS takes controls and shuts your PC down, it does it through the OS via installed drivers and utility software.

                          "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                          -----
                          "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                          • R realJSOP

                            Dario Solera wrote:

                            I'd also like to avoid UPS units with cooling fans.

                            With bigger units like what you need, good luck with that. Besides, the fans in them are almost silent.

                            Dario Solera wrote:

                            My main concern is about compatibility with active power factor correction (PFC) PSUs.

                            A UPS is a UPS. The PFC stuff is only applicable while the computer is powered up and allows more stability on the 12-volt rails. When the UPS takes controls and shuts your PC down, it does it through the OS via installed drivers and utility software.

                            "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                            -----
                            "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                            Dario Solera
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #17

                            The problem with PFC PSUs is that they don't like non-sinusoidal waves and they usually shut off. Moreover, they interact with the inverter of the UPS causing heavy distortion of the generated wave, thus reducing the effective capacity of the latter down to 30%. I'd be interesting in knowing what PSUs yo have. On a side note, I also suspect that things work differently with 110V or 220V ratings (I'm in Europe, so my equipment runs at 220V/50Hz).

                            If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                            • D Dario Solera

                              BTW, how much power does your PC drain at full load according to this tool[^]? And what PSU do you have?

                              If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #18

                              The PSU is the stock 500 watt one that I got with the case. The tool you linked to gave me 261 watts, which is close to what I get in the PowerChute softare I mentioned earlier (270 watts). I have two onboard SATA controllers. I also have onboard AC97 sound, which I couldn't find there, but I checked "Sound Blaster w/ Front Bay" as I assume it's what I have (a separate front-panel controller for audio), 2x onboard NICs, an on-board USB WiFi adapter and one cable TV-Tuner. So that pretty much raises everything to around 270 watts. I only did a quick fill of that tool. Here's the full spec of my board if you want to check yourself: http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1163&l1=3&l2=101&l3=300&l4=0[^] Add 2x 1000 rpm , 2gb ram and 2x 8500 gt in sli...

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                              • D Dario Solera

                                The problem with PFC PSUs is that they don't like non-sinusoidal waves and they usually shut off. Moreover, they interact with the inverter of the UPS causing heavy distortion of the generated wave, thus reducing the effective capacity of the latter down to 30%. I'd be interesting in knowing what PSUs yo have. On a side note, I also suspect that things work differently with 110V or 220V ratings (I'm in Europe, so my equipment runs at 220V/50Hz).

                                If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                                realJSOP
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #19

                                An Opti 1500C, three APC BackUPS XS 900, and two APC BackUPS 650 All but one of my machines use PFC PSUs

                                "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                                -----
                                "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                                • C cjb110

                                  Try this[^] to estimate your PSU requirements. But with a highend graphics card pulling ~200w, 2 10k rpm drives and 12gb you were never going to be anywhere near 400W! 800 is more likely.

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                                  Dave Parker
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #20

                                  hehe the draw on my server is only about 17W with monitor switched off. It's an extremely low power system though with an Intel Atom CPU.

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                                  • D Dave Parker

                                    hehe the draw on my server is only about 17W with monitor switched off. It's an extremely low power system though with an Intel Atom CPU.

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                                    Gary Wheeler
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #21

                                    You're using a netleaflet as a server?

                                    Software Zen: delete this;

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                                    • D Dario Solera

                                      Emil - Gabriel wrote:

                                      The software for my APC ups

                                      Is that UPSilon 2000? At any rate, how can I be sure that the APC works with a PSU that has active PFC (see my other replies)?

                                      If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                                      Gary Wheeler
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #22

                                      Contact their tech support. I've had good luck with APC.

                                      Software Zen: delete this;

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                                      • G Gary Wheeler

                                        You're using a netleaflet as a server?

                                        Software Zen: delete this;

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                                        Dave Parker
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #23

                                        I'm using one of these: [^][^] At least I think thats the model I got. It doesn't need a lot of CPU power and the 2GB RAM is plenty for my exchange server, domain controller, backup jobs, remote access, various virtual machines etc.

                                        D M 2 Replies Last reply
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                                        • D Dario Solera

                                          The power supply is a Corsair 750W (it's a bit too powerful for my config it seems, but there were no "smaller" models, so...) At any rate, I'm reading some stuff on the interwebs and it seems that power supplies with active PFC usually don't work with UPS units that generate a pseudo-sinusoidal output wave. :doh:

                                          If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki

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                                          Dan Neely
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #24

                                          Yes and no. The problem as I understand it, is that at startup, or following a brief interruption (eg the time your ups takes to switch to battery) causes the PSU to briefly draw its maximum power to recover and that if you've got an UPS with more output power than your PC can draw you'll be fine. Remember that your PSU is rated in terms of output power, not input power (which will be higher due to conversion losses). It's probably on the box or pamphlet somewhere but your PSU should be at least 80% efficient.

                                          The European Way of War: Blow your own continent up. The American Way of War: Go over and help them.

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