Recommendation for a 15-Minute UPS with Clean Power

1337Goat

1337Goat

Gawd
Joined
Apr 15, 2020
Messages
749
So I'm interested in a cheap home UPS that gives 15, or even 5 minutes of power, and also delivers a clean, smooth current. I dunno if that terminology is correct, but if you're the one who knows about this stuff then you probably know what I mean.

The UPS should also be able to send a signal to my PC to shutdown gracefully if the power is lost.

Anyways, my spending limit is $20 to $120, unless you laugh and say I've gotta spend more. Then fine. But my hope is something less than $100.
 
UPS are typically a you get what you pay for item. You can pickup basic units ~$50 but you're going to give up some filtering quality and battery run time. On the really cheap units you may even pull too much power and cause them to beep or trip constantly. 1000va would probably be safe for a moderately powerful PC,but I typically step up to the 1500va for the minimal cost difference.
 
I've had better luck with APC only because the Cyberpower unit I used did not provide power at all when the battery went bad. At least the APC will still essentially act as a power strip when the battery goes bad.
 
So I take it that batteries must be replaced, and not just that, but "money buys quality."

Thanks guys.
 
Aegir said:
So I take it that batteries must be replaced, and not just that, but "money buys quality."

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Batteries usually last 3-5 years depending on the quality of your power grid. If you have a lot of brownouts and blackouts, the batteries will have a shorter life.
I seem to average over 4 years on my batteries.
 
APC has always been king of the UPS. I have some high-end units that are very old and still function great. If you want auto-shutdown you'll need a higher end one that provides a smart USB interface.

If you want longer battery life, it's possible to use LiFePO4 batteries in lieu of lead-acid. They're a lot more expensive, but the batteries last a lot longer, like decades. The UPS will come with lead-acid batteries, but when it's time to replace them, look into the Li ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top