UPS Question

[torquer]

Question for everyone that I haven't found a really good answer for. For years I've been a big believer of having UPSes on just about all of my electronics, including all of my PCs. I have a mixture of APC and CyberPower brand UPSes running the range of 300VA up to 1000VA currently. My main goal with these is really to prevent shutdown during a brownout, not so much to keep it running for any significant period of time.

My problem is this - very recently I had a brownout on my main gaming PC while gaming. While I expected my 1000VA CyberPower UPS would have kept it running, the PC immediately shut down. Since I have an SSD cache drive, I had to wait to rebuild the cache, etc causing a lengthy reboot process. Under full load, the PowerPanel software that came with the UPS reports I'm pulling around 480W. This is for my Mac Mini (used as a small home server for various things) and for the PC in question, which I'll post the specs to below. The software is set to only shut down the attached PC when there is less than 5 minutes of battery life remaining. The Mac Mini did not shut down but the PC did.

The simple answer is to get a more powerful UPS, and I do have a 1500VA on order now, but I'm curious as to why the PC would have shut down when there was at least 3 minutes of runtime available per the PowerPanel software rather than shutting down immediately as if there was no battery backup at all. Is it possible the load is greater in terms of total draw than the battery could support, so the backup functionality was completely bypassed?

Specs:

Core i7-2600k stock voltage @ 4.2GHz
Gigabyte Z68 mobo
2 SSDs
2 7200 RPM hard drives
GTX 670s in SLI (mild overclock)
SeaSonic Platinum 860W PSU

Its worth noting that when this PC is shut down the Mac Mini uses between 10-40W of power on its own. These are the only two devices currently plugged in.


EDIT: I just realized that this may be due to the fact that it is not a pure sine wave UPS and the SeaSonic is an active PFC power supply. Could this be why?

Second edit: After more research, I've found this is actually the problem. Certain types of Active PFC power supplies aren't compatible with simulated sine wave UPSes like the Cyberpower model(s) I have. When this is the case, you don't get the battery backup functionality, resulting in these symptoms. Cyberpower and other UPS makers make pure sine wave UPSes that are compatible, so I'll have to order one of those.

 

[Old Hippie]

Certain types of Active PFC power supplies aren't compatible with simulated sine wave UPSes

This is usually not a problem and I've never heard of a specific problem between Cyberpower and Seasonic.

While I've never used the PowerPanel software I wouldn't count on it for an exact runtime.

If your UPS is over 2-3 yrs old the battery probably needs replaced for maximum runtime.

I use a pure sine wave-double conversion UPS for my server and main computer and they are more expensive.

They also have an almost continually running fan which will ramp-up from time to time.

My only suggestion is to buy a refurbished unit from RefurbUPS or UPS ForLess and save yourself a little cash.

They come with brand new batteries and I've purchased many times from both places with great results.

I think you just need a new battery but double conversion units are the ultimate.

Good Luck!

 

[Dangman]

Moved to the correct subforum.

 

[drescherjm]

This is usually not a problem and I've never heard of a specific problem between Cyberpower and Seasonic.

While I've never used the PowerPanel software I wouldn't count on it for an exact runtime.

If your UPS is over 2-3 yrs old the battery probably needs replaced for maximum runtime.

I use a pure sine wave-double conversion UPS for my server and main computer and they are more expensive.

They also have an almost continually running fan which will ramp-up from time to time.

My only suggestion is to buy a refurbished unit from RefurbUPS or UPS ForLess and save yourself a little cash.

They come with brand new batteries and I've purchased many times from both places with great results.

I think you just need a new battery but double conversion units are the ultimate.

Good Luck!

I second all of this.Only to add to also look at eBay for refirbished UPSs with new batteries. You can pickup server grade APC units for less than $200 shipped that have more than double the runtime of a typical consumer grade unit. I did that with my APC SmartUPS 1400 XL. It weighs 55lb and has 2 x 22 Ah 12V batteries instead of 2x 9 Ah 12V batteries that a lot of ~25lb consumer units contain.