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UPS recommendations

I bought a brand new APS X800 for $10 at a local pawn shop. It was pretty funny. I walked in with my dad, and saw it sitting there without a price on the counter. I asked how much it was, and he laughed, saying he told a guy he wouldn't buy it from him so he left it there.

This backup is about $120 and can do a massive CRT and computer for 75 minutes. With my low power LCD and the computer, it's closer to 90-120 minutes tested.
 
I have a Best Power 1.4KV Ferroresonant Transformer \ UPS (FERRUPS) I rescued from the Recycler
(they don't play well with non-PFC power supplies or any ninlinear loads and a city computer lab had dropped it off)

sometimes your just in the right place at the right time
I also go a 40U Bud Industries rackmount enclosure that way ;)
 
Personally I own a Belkin 1200VA ups. It handles quite a magnificent load and it also carrry Belkin's 3 year warranty (1 unit went on me and within a week I had a replacment) and they also offer something like the $10,000 equiptment replacment plan if the UPS ever fails. I wouldnt get anything other than an Belkin or APC.
 
BossNoodleKaboodle said:
why use a ferrups instead of a line interactive?
Click to expand...

it was free? :p

ferroresonant transformers are more inefficient but
you can think of em as 100lb capacitors they will condition and store the power and have enough on tap to bridge most any brownout without having to hit the batteries for power
if its an actual blackout they will switch over before their stored charge is depleted

however they really dont like nonlinear loads and can oscillate and crash with non-PFC supplies

gee said:
Ferroresonant UPSes/regulators require a minimum power factor - when you give them a large complex load, the resonant characteristics of the transformer can go completely out of whack and cause weird oscillations and other things.

You can run a PFC supply off them without any problems, or a small non-PFC load off a large ferro UPS.
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Ferroresonant UPSs

These UPSs, which are another hybrid technology, keep the inverter in standby mode similar to line-interactive and standby UPSs. The protected system however, is powered from the utility through the ferroresonant transformer.

The transformer provides voltage regulation and power conditioning for disturbances such as electrical line noise. The ferroresonant transformer also maintains a reserve of energy that is usually sufficient to power most computers (i.e. PCs) briefly when a total outage occurs. This keeps the computer supplied with power within most input requirements until the inverter is switched on.

In cases where the input frequency is unstable, the ferroresonant topology subjects the load to some voltage excursions in addition to frequency fluctuations. When the frequency variations exceed a pre-set limit, the unit supplies stable voltage and frequency to the load through the backup battery and inverter. Ferroresonant technology is particularly sensitive to sudden current surges on the load input which may cause a significant change in the output voltage of the UPS. In general, ferroresonant UPSs that use transformers are often larger in size and produce heat which can impact sensitive components in a computer and batteries in the UPS.

These UPSs work best with most non-computer technology or linear loads such as monitors, heaters and lights.
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I was crashing all over the place with non-PFC supplies
but it works fine with any active PFC supply I have
 
So do you have to do anything special to match a UPS to a PSU? Sounds like you have to determine if your PSU is PFC or not, then match that with certain UPSs. What about Watts? If I have a 500W PSU would I have to have a 500W or greater UPS?
 
Karma said:
I still haven't heard a good reason to pick APC over anything else, only typical !!!!!! responses. The Gamingin3D article narrowly rated the Belkin over the APC, although the article isn't dated, and it could be old.
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As I posted earlier, I had a Cyberpower which repeatedly failed (cut power to my server when city power was on). I replaced it with an APC unit and everything is fine now.

Now, everybody can come up with individual defective individual sample of their products. However, inspection of the Cyberpower unit revealed an incredibly cheap on/off switch which cannot possibly be reliable for any extended period of time. In particular this switch isn't only cheap to boot, it is also mounted so that dust and dirt are pretty much forced into the switch.

I can post photos if you want but alas the APC unit is much better, both from actual usage results and from build quality. The APC wasn't that much more expensive either.
 
UPS's are rated by VA (Volt-Amps) I have no idea how to match them though, all I can say is there is a 40% load on my UPS with a 600 Watt psu, and 2 17" CRT monitors.
 
SJetski71 said:
depending on the size/strength of the unit, i'd venture to guess that 4 are active and 4 are bypass/surge only, its a safe assumption at least.
Click to expand...
so does anyone have any suggestions before I order this?
 
That's a good unit. I have a 1400VA version of it. I had 3 of those 1000VA ones and sold them because I didn't need them. All of the outlets on it are battery protected, and with most computers (w/o monitor), you'll get > 1 hour of uptime, maybe even 2.

I still recommend Liebert over it, though.
 
I think the OP knowns it but the Belkin 50% off code its "12345" It works on almost everything they sell, except Pre-N wireless stuff.
 
Holy Moly! Everywhere I look for good Belkin stuff it is above $150.00. Right away I can get it for ~$75.00 instead. That is amazing.
 
Good grief, you can use that code for their $600.00 server level UPSs, too. Knock that price down to $300.00. I cannot imagine a better deal than that.
 
Ok, so there is some pretty heavy duty stuff out there, and not many reviews to compare them. Does anyone have an opinion to the best UPS ~$150 (with or without codes/coupons)?

EDIT: preferrably one with AVR and Online, if possible.
 
Karma said:
Ok, so there is some pretty heavy duty stuff out there, and not many reviews to compare them. Does anyone have an opinion to the best UPS ~$150 (with or without codes/coupons)?

EDIT: preferrably one with AVR and Online, if possible.
Click to expand...

I have not heard of ANY high quality Online UPS for the price range you are looking at. I have a Powerware 3000VA Online UPS backing up my entire home theater (projector, receiver, subwoofer, DVD players, etc). So far (2 years), it's been rock solid. I'd strongly recommend Powerware.
Powerware

If you cannot afford a high quality Online UPS, you might as well get a very good Line Interactive model instead of spending on a low quality Online model, IMO.
 
Eaton \ Powerware would be a close 2nd choice after Liebert IMO ;)

Both are far more "enterprise" oriented
 
So, basically the Online UPS' are the $1,000 and up category, eh? :(

Ok, so if Online is out of the question, and a Line-Interactive UPS is what most enthusiasts get, gimmee some suggestions. It also looks like different companies call Automatic Voltage Regulation different things (Liepert calls it something else, too). Does it make a difference?
 
I've been very happy with the SmartUPS 1400 that I just got running a little while ago with new batteries... but then again I've had very little load on it with my system being down for new parts and no power problems to speak of :p
 
Dang, even for APC SmartUPS series, I can't find any reviews on the net. It looks like I'm just gonna have to go by you guys here. :p
 
How many times do us Liebert fans need to link you to GXT2s on Ebay (which ARE ONLINE) before anyone listens? <.<
 
hmmm...not me :p

the same seller seems to have a line on Liebert GTX2s
so if you miss that one its likely he'll have another soon
if I was guessing Id say hes getting them from an enterpise environment that is upgrading
or backstock
 
Ice Czar said:
hmmm...not me :p

the same seller seems to have a line on Liebert GTX2s
so if you miss that one its likely he'll have another soon
if I was guessing Id say hes getting them from an enterpise environment that is upgrading
or backstock
Click to expand...
I appreciate the heads-up
 
drizzt81 said:
Thanks for that link. I guess I will now be bidding against some other [H]ardforum member?
Click to expand...

I totally linked that first though... You know, back in the 6th reply to this thread.
 
Make sure those things are spitting out 115-120V 60Hz and something that at least resembles a sine wave. Both APC brick units I have don't come CLOSE.
 
I don't trust buying things from Ebay enough. At least, not a UPS. Maybe an autographed pic, but UPS?
 
Ice Czar said:
hmmm...not me :p

the same seller seems to have a line on Liebert GTX2s
so if you miss that one its likely he'll have another soon
if I was guessing Id say hes getting them from an enterpise environment that is upgrading
or backstock
Click to expand...
sure enough another one popped up.
 
Karma said:
I don't trust buying things from Ebay enough. At least, not a UPS. Maybe an autographed pic, but UPS?
Click to expand...
Ditto, you never know what its realy story is. Plus with retail or e-tail you get a full warranty :)
 
Just to repeat what Spectre was saying.

If you want the cleanest power, get a Liebert, Powerware, MGE, or GE UPS. Specifically an online model. Otherwise the UPS you are using does no better at conditioning the line voltage than a good voltage regulator, it just provides some backup time.

I have two Powerware myself and the system stability I have is second to none.

In summary,

UPS's listed above > APC, Belkin, and anything else Newegg or BestBuy sell
 
ninethreeeleven said:
I think the OP knowns it but the Belkin 50% off code its "12345" It works on almost everything they sell, except Pre-N wireless stuff.
Click to expand...

I wish Belkin made more stuff that I actually, you know, wanted.
 
DDogbert said:
Otherwise the UPS you are using does no better at conditioning the line voltage than a good voltage regulator, it just provides some backup time.
Click to expand...
Any filtering is better than no filtering ;)
 
strangely not according to dan

The plain surge/spike filter powerboards you can buy at various electronics, electrical and hardware stores are, arguably, worse than nothing. This is because they give you the impression you’re protected, when you probably aren’t - well, not for long, anyway.
Click to expand...

and thats applicable to any MOV based scheme, including cheap UPS
if you read the rest of the paragraph youll note that the LED indicator and how it reports status is the real key, hopefully a better quality MOV based line interactive UPS will give some indication that they are fried

hopefully
 
So along the lines of Surge Protectors: any good ones out there that do their job?
 
Brickwall
the no frills but equally sophisticated competitor to a MonsterCable

why pay a few hundred for a case design and brandname?
 
Huh. I always thought Monster Cable had expensive stuff that never did anything particularly well. But, they got good Surge Protectors, huh?
 
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