I'm looking for a UPS setup for out home desktop. Normal setup, with dual 24" monitors.

Of course the printer doesn't need to be, I had multiple things going on. I was thinking surge protection. I have a good surge protector but the UPS should provide the same protection I think.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Riley,

Just go to Amazon and buy an APC unit. Lots of choices. I have had one for years and had to change the battery once. The unit actually told me when it was time to do so.

Mine will power the CPU, monitor, router, and cable modem for about 15 minutes and then shut the system down automatically.

Good Luck,

RMD

Yup...APC.

Tripplite would be a close second.

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Just go to Amazon and buy an APC unit. Lots of choices. I have had one for years and had to change the battery once. The unit actually told me when it was time to do so.

Mine will power the CPU, monitor, router, and cable modem for about 15 minutes and then shut the system down automatically.

Good Luck,

RMD

This^^^

Also you don't want to plug a printer into it. There's no point. The UPS is there to allow you time to save and close things down and to act as a surge protector.

There are essentially three types.
1. Stand-by ~ cheapest electronics and cost less than $100. Good for most home and SMB Network equipment.
2. Line Interactive ~ better electronics, some could come with minimal software for shutdown and or monitoring. Cost average $125 ~ $250-ish.
3. Sine or Server grade with the best electronics and software for manageability. Cost $350 to "a lot".

Get a line interactive, lots of good brands ~ I prefer and am a partner with APC but others are good too ~ Cyberpower, Triplite and some others.

NEVER put your printer on the UPS.

For a desktop and monitor(s) min 700va but more may not be that much more.

Note that ones with plastic bodies are not the best ones.

YMMV

What others have said, APC. I only run their SmartUPS line as they output a true sinewave as opposed to a chopped sinewave like many of the cheaper models. Everything from their 420 to 1500. Probably have 20 of the smaller 420 and 620 units at my business that are 10-15 years old running great with battery updates every three to four years.

I'm running 2 APC Pro 1500 units for our workstations (laptops plugged into a dynadock which powers a speaker setup, 2 monitors, mouse & keyboard).

I have several older non-computerized UPS units, which have limited battery life after 4-6 years of service (the batteries could be replaced). These units are utilized for the TV, Xbox, Printer, etc. They're only intended to give you a chance to finish what you're actively doing (save a game, finish a mid-outage print job, etc.), and power down the equipment. They clean up the power (which was a concern at several previous office/home locations).

We have a separate APC pro 1500 (ended up being an extra after a workstation elimination) which powers our network router and receptionist ATT 1080 phone. When the power goes out, each workstation has about 40-50 minutes of full power before the laptops get unplugged and run on internal power. So far the record on the network is 24 hours on battery. That keeps us on the internet and working.

We now live inside city limits (moved into town last fall), and haven't experienced a power failure since. Prior to the move 6-12 hour power failures were frequent.

So far our APC brands have outlasted our UPS brands, but all have given more than acceptable service life.

A timely thread as I'm also looking at battery backups - particularly APC as my Cyberpower unit does not do what it should. The unit is only a year old but has never been fast enough to switch to battery and keep my system running like my old APC unit did.

A couple of questions for those who know:

- Would it be wise to get a power/line conditioner as well as the battery backup, or does the UPS already perform that function?

- Why is it recommended to not plug in a printer to the UPS - too much power draw?

The UPS I'm looking at is APC Smart-UPS 1500VA with LCD (120V)

The SmartUPS 1500 LCD is a great unit as I have two of them along with a 1000.

Printers, particularly laser printers, have a huge power draw when heating up and can out-draw a ups. A true online ups will not switch, it runs all the time through the inverter so there is no switching time. The SmartUPS 1500 and 1000 models have never interrupted service for me during a power outage.

I run a separate surge suppressor on my home theater setup before the UPS but I consider that overkill for any of my PC's. This is not a cheap outlet strip suppressor either. Think it was over $100.

The UPS systems I'm used to are very large and expensive for industrial use. I wasn't sure if the home systems worked the same, but it appears the better ones do.

Basically a battery pack that supplies power to your equipment with a dedicated charger. With a loss of power, if the UPS is in good shape, there should be no effect on the equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by Riley:
The UPS systems I'm used to are very large and expensive for industrial use. I wasn't sure if the home systems worked the same, but it appears the better ones do.

Basically a battery pack that supplies power to your equipment with a dedicated charger. With a loss of power, if the UPS is in good shape, there should be no effect on the equipment.

It is not likely that you will find the same thing at work that you end up buying at home.

Critical information or hardware is protected by double conversion units. They take the utility power (AC) convert it to DC, this charges a battery, the output from that is then converted back to AC for your computer to use. There is zero downtime from when it switches from utility to UPS power and back because it's always coming from the battery and the utility power is used to charge the battery only.

These start at $500, most people won't spend that on their home computer.

I use an APC SMC1500.

It's been rock solid so far. Pure sine wave output on battery.

$320 at B&H.

Free shipping and no tax outside of NY and NJ.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by EZ_B:
I use an APC SMC1500.

It's been rock solid so far. Pure sine wave output on battery.

$320 at B&H.

Free shipping and no tax outside of NY and NJ.

Good luck.

Yep, a great unit.

Guess I'm the odd man out here. I've had numerous brands in the past and currently use a CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1000VA 600W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower with which I am very well pleased. It has the same features smachulz cited in his post above.

Not sure what unit marksman41 has but mine has handled utility power issues without a hitch.

As an aside I even have a second which protects some medical equipment like my CPAP.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Guess I'm the odd man out here. I've had numerous brands in the past and currently use a CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1000VA 600W PFC Compatible Mini-Tower with which I am very well pleased. It has the same features smachulz cited in his post above.

Not sure what unit marksman41 has but mine has handled utility power issues without a hitch.

As an aside I even have a second which protects some medical equipment like my CPAP.

That's actually the exact same unit I'm currently using and am having issues with. I wonder if there's some setting(s) that can or need to be adjusted?

The CyberPower units, while adequate for typical consumer use, are not what I would call anything more than adequate.

There really only use to be 2 big players in the UPS market, APC and Best with a small nod to Tripp Lite, but like everything else, things change. As stated above, there are basically 3 tiers:
1. Standby
2. Line interactive
3. Online/sine/server grade

#2 would be a minimum for computing service or anything for that matter in my book, but everyone has their price tolerance.

Personally, I standardize on #2 or #3 APC units that use the same, or groups of the same batteries. That way I can keep a few batteries laying around for when a unit fails a battery test. I probably have more things on UPS than most, but I look at it as an investment to protect my electronics.

Take a look at the surge protector Joule ratings for whatever you buy, the higher the better (>400 is my minimum), and try to get the largest VA rating you can for the connected equipment.

If you aren't concerned about runtime - go to walmart and buy just about any basic APC brand ups.

If you want a really good one - with pure sine wave output and a few more features - blow the money on one of the APC Smart series 1000 and up.

I have one of the 1500 units running my home theater stuff. Receiver, TV, cd/bluray players, xbox, etc. It never skips a beat.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
That's actually the exact same unit I'm currently using and am having issues with. I wonder if there's some setting(s) that can or need to be adjusted?

Have you tried the Power Panel Personal Edition software self tests and settings?

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
The CyberPower units, while adequate for typical consumer use, are not what I would call anything more than adequate.

Again, with their standard line I agree. But they have more recently marketed upscale sinewave grade units that offer features identical to APC, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:


That's actually the exact same unit I'm currently using and am having issues with.
I wonder if there's some setting(s) that can or need to be adjusted?

What kind of issues?

With the CyberPower unit I'm using when the power goes out everything that is plugged into it loses power instantly, but the unit kicks in a second or two later and powers everything back up again. The problem is that when the computer powers up on the battery juice, all the information, work, etc., is lost and I get a message about if I want to use the default start settings.

On my previous APC battery backup I never had this issue as when the power went out it was a seamless transition to battery and I could shut everything down normally. The reason I went with CyberPower was because the battery went bad in the APC unit (a much older 1500 unit) and I thought I'd try a whole new unit for not much more coin. I'm going to give Bald1's suggestion about checking the settings and self-test to see if there's something I can adjust and correct the problem - just have to figure out where to find them.