I want to buy a UPS for my gaming PC as the power around here goes out quite often.
The PSU in my PC is "Active PFC" which will supposedly only work with a "Pure sine wave" UPS.
Does anyone have knowledge on this; how much money should I spend and what brand should I buy?
I have an active PFC on my CM 1KW silent pro gold. But I use a Cyberpower 1500VA 900W tower unit.
It's modified SineWave, which is a square/sine hybrid wave. So it's... sine, but stepped. It will likely work, but will produce more noise in the PSU in the computer.
For a bit more you could get this one which is the same as mine except it does pure sine wave: [url]http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W/ref=pd_cp_e_0[/url]
I happen to go with 900W since I have lots of equipment on it. And this model will run my desktop, my speakers, my monitor, my external HD, and all my audio equipment for about 15minutes.
This 510watt one for about 60% of the price would do fine for most stuff: [url]http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W/ref=pd_cp_e_0[/url]
I tend to stick to the bigger names when choosing. I too have a couple of CyberPower units, which have been solid.
Best in the business is APC, but be prepared to pay the premium.
Ideally, USB support is nice. The cheaper APC units tend to only have RS232. USB is going to let you shut down or hibernate the attached machine when power drops, or the battery reaches a threshold.
As for capacity, you just need to add up the power draw of all equipment you intend to attach, then add in some reasonable overhead. Check the datasheets for the UPS you choose to check the run time at different loads.
Also - never connect a printer to UPS.
[QUOTE=birkett;42763463]I tend to stick to the bigger names when choosing. I too have a couple of CyberPower units, which have been solid.
Best in the business is APC, but be prepared to pay the premium.
Ideally, USB support is nice. The cheaper APC units tend to only have RS232. USB is going to let you shut down or hibernate the attached machine when power drops, or the battery reaches a threshold.
As for capacity, you just need to add up the power draw of all equipment you intend to attach, then add in some reasonable overhead. Check the datasheets for the UPS you choose to check the run time at different loads.
Also - never connect a printer to UPS.[/QUOTE]
Ideally you'd only connect the computer itself, monitor and a eventual external harddrive to the UPS.
But yeah, never connect a printer [B]ESPECIALLY[/B] laser printers.
I don't even see why you'd need a printer on a UPS :v:
I was curious about why not to connect a printer to a UPS, well due to the fuser in the thing that has to heat up.
Read for yourself:
''When turned on, Laser printers draw a high current to heat up their fuser roller. A typical UPS cannot cope with such a spike.
Descriptions of the problem by UPS manufacturers do not go into details.
The problem may be one or other of
The initial inrush current at start-up, This can be seven or more times the average operating current of the printer.
Initial power-on when the fuser is heated to the temperature needed to fuse toner. Subsequent re-heating of the fuser may be periodic or may occur when the printer switches from and idle state to full-power to satisfy a print request after a period of inactivity.
Fuser temperature is up to 200 °C (392 °F).
Printer Information
From HP specification for LaserJet 3200
Power consumption 135 watts
During Printing: At nominal line voltage.
Model A (120V): Maximum of 700 W, Average of 210 W
Model AB (240V): Maximum of 625 W, Average of 210 W
Inrush Current: (Duration: significantly < 1 second)
Model A (120V): 23 A peak (20 deg C, from cold start)
Model AB (240V): 40 A peak (20 deg C, from cold start)
Note:
If we disregard power factors and other AC complications,
The (overall average?) power usage quoted at 135W at 120V would draw a little over 1 Amp.
The active average power usage quoted at 210W at 120V would draw just under 2 Amps.
The maximum active power usage quoted at 700W at 120V would draw well over 5 Amps.
The inrush current is an order of magnitude larger than average operating currents.
In conjunction with other equipment, the 700W max during printing could overload a small UPS.
UPS Information
For example Belkin say
A laser printer or scanner draws significantly more power when in use than when idle. This may overload the UPS.
APC say
APC recommends a [UPS] that is sized for the maximum power draw of the laser printer as defined by the manufacturer. This is typically a 1500va or larger UPS. Even small laser printers can have very high maximum power draws due to the nature of the technology.
Anecdotal reports say
Laser printer usage is sometimes reported as causing voltage sags in power circuits such that lights noticeably dim in the building for a brief moment.
Here is an example of power used vs time.
[t]http://i.stack.imgur.com/2xpRl.gif[/t]
Brother 5250 current draw
[QUOTE=Agent_Wesker;42760624]The PSU in my PC is "Active PFC" which will supposedly only work with a "Pure sine wave" UPS.[/QUOTE]
Don't even consider taking a risk with this. I've seen a computer fuck the vram on no less than 3 graphics cards until we figured out it was the UPS
[QUOTE=Darkimmortal;42768037]Don't even consider taking a risk with this. I've seen a computer fuck the vram on no less than 3 graphics cards until we figured out it was the UPS[/QUOTE]
Same. I wouldn't risk it either, but my modified sinewave does well enough with my PSU.
It's kind of a bummer that modern high efficiency power supplies are so picky regarding the waveform shape and the frequency of the power being supplied to them.
Makes UPS in general really inefficient and bulky (not including the batteries)
I ended up buying this one:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Sinewave-Compatible-Mini-Tower/dp/B00429N19W/ref=pd_cp_e_0[/url]
Might as well have a little bit more capacity than I need, just in case.
Thanks for the help guys.
I have a Cyberpower, this one:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N19W/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url]
it's heavy as fuck but it looks light (and is the size of an xbox 360)
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