questions about UPS?

Summer approaching and during this season air conditioners are always running 24x7 usually in the building where I live which always causes the power to go out. (maybe its just my apartment but I have to always reset breakers.) Power went out on me 3 times yesterday and had to reset breakers. Now I'm not no electrical expert but I can tell this won't be good for my PC so I was thinking I need to get a UPS but not sure exactly on how these work? I suppose I would need something to cover 5 outlets but not sure exactly what kind of va/watt UPS's I should be looking to get my PC. can anyone recommend something? Also do these take up additional power?

Things to be covered on the UPS (if info needed)
PC Specs are: (***All overclocked***)
I7 2600k
16GB ram
3 ATI Radeon 6970's
3 Hard drives
1 Blu Ray Drive
maybe 4-5 Case Fans
1200 Watt Power Supply

Water Cooling Specs are:
2 Koolance 450-s Pumps with controllers
3 Fan Controllers
18 140mm Fans
450 Watt Power Supply

3 samsung 27" screens

APC has a UPS selector tool that may be of help. It allows you to put in your gear and figure out the capacity needed. You will need something fairly robust to handle a system with 3 graphics cards and a 1200W PSU. I partially link APC because I've had very good luck with their products.

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

To get the ball rolling on suggestions, I think you probably want to be looking at something rated at about 1500-1600W. Even then, you may only be looking at 4-10 minutes of runtime if you are gaming, but that sounds reasonable for your goal of surviving short blackout events.

This is a 2200VA/1600W unit from Tripplite that I think would do the trick. Just given your power requirements, this is actually at the cheaper end. You may want to go even higher, but the price tag will follow.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842111057

Also, these will take a bit of their own power. When I've seen them mention it, a UPS is often around 85% efficient. As a result, they generate some warmth themselves (our cat loves to rest on them for that reason).

I am pretty sure that would require a nema 5-20 outlet and 20A wiring which the OP most likely does not have. I would get the AC off of the same breaker as the computer if possible.

move

drescherjm said:

I am pretty sure that would require a nema 5-20 outlet and 20A wiring which the OP most likely does not have. I would get the AC off of the same breaker as the computer if possible.

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Yeah could be. I couldn't get specs to pull up for that one. From looking around, about the highest I see for standard consumer models are 1500VA/900W units. The question in my mind is whether that is enough for the rig he is running?

@ drescherjm
I thought about that but the problem may still happen. Yesterday I was gaming and my power blew out on me 3x times. the only thing I had on this breaker line was the computer and a light. air conditioner on another breaker line.
I really don't know how the electrical lines are set up in my building but I believe my lines are shared with other apartments or something to that extent. This only happens during the summer time (or when air conditioner season is in effect)

@ Jojo69
lol... In the searching process but it can happen anywhere.

Another question. How often do batteries need to be replaced on these things?

If I had breakers popping left and right losing work id be up the landlord's ass for real

on the batteries, depends a lot on how hard they get used, deep discharges are really hard on these sealed gel/AGM batteries, but I'd say 3 years easy.

deep discharges are really hard on these sealed gel/AGM batteries, but I'd say 3 years easy.

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That's been about the max time for me.

The batteries seem to become less likely to hold a charge for their origional run time specs.

My double conversion units have to recharge more often after 2 yrs cause I can hear the fan running more often.

air conditioner on another breaker line.

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Does the AC go off when the breaker trips?


Also I am concerned about this solution. The reason for that is during the recharging of the batteries you will have to lightly use the machine otherwise you may trip the breaker again..

I only read the OP post and didn't read the replies yet since I'm on lunch, but another idea you could try is get more than one UPS. Put you tower on one and the rest of your hardware on the other.
I did this to my home system and had no problem w/ it.

I've used a cyberpower 1500VA UPS for 2 years now with now issues its 900w capacity, and with everything (30" + 27" + 19" LCD plus my tower) at the very worst i'm drawing just under 600w, gives me about 6 mins of runtime but its enough time to shut down if the power is out for a long period of time.

@ drescherjm
no. the Air Conditioner was still running fine. only whatever that was connected in bedrooms was affected when power went out. (Air conditioner connected to Living room outlet through an extension cord)

A UPS is always a good idea, but its not gonna solve your breaker tripping problems. I would look into that first. Does the circuit trip only when the computer is under high load? Have you tried turning everything else on the circuit off? A 15 amp circuit breaker should be able to handle a minimum of 1400 watts continuous (80% load) - does your computer pull that much juice? Might you be using more than that with anything else on at the same time?

It could also be a weak breaker. Have you tried an outlet on another circuit?

You mentioned having your a/c unit on an extension cord - generally not a good idea unless the cord is designed to handle the load. Too much juice through an under-rated cord can cause big problems. Do you also have the computer plugged into an extension cord?

If you do get a UPS (I would - I use them on all my desk tops), check with the manufacturer of your psu to see it requires a pure sine wave output. I needed to get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Compatible-1500VA-Tower/dp/B00429N19W

when my old APC unit wouldn't work with the new equipment. I've always used APC, but pure sine wave APC units are pricey!

Good luck!

I have the older version of this model

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500G

It's rock solid. Clamping time is zero on over/under spikes and is adjustable. Run time is much longer than you usually need. Has software and cable to connect to your pc that will automatically backup/save/shutdown your system gracefully. My units (2) are several years old and the batteries are just now starting to show shorter life, but they still work and protect things as usual. I got these on a deal, but at $200 for at least 5+ years of reliable service with a good level of protection, well worth it.

If you set it to a fairly tight tolerance for over/under voltage you will find out just how dirty the power is when you otherwise wouldn't know it.