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Using more than one UPS recommended?

S

splooger

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
239
I have a cheap APC UPS for my current computer and will be upgrading to a more powerful one for my new computer. Should I use both for added protection on my new computer? I thought I read that using more than one UPS is not a good idea but I can't remember the reasons.
 
Well, if you have a Dual Redundancy PSU you would need to plug both power cords in, so I just wanted to clarify it. ;) I would advise against plugging one UPS into the other. Here are a few reasons why:

1) It is not UL tested. Therefore, should something go wrong and damages be caused to your connected equipment, the manufacturer would not honor the claim.

2)This configuration does not provide any extra surge protection. The UPS is designed to remove any possibility of a surge reaching the output recepticles. If a surge, strong enough to damage equipment was received, the first UPS in the chain would sacrifice itself to protect it's load. This would mean that power would be removed from the 2nd UPS in the chain and force it to battery.


3)Whenever connecting a 2nd UPS into a 1st UPS, the chance of Overloading the 1st UPS is greatly increased. The amount of receptacles in a UPS are restricted. This is due to the power limitations of the UPS itself. Although, the amount of receptacles has been increased, the overall Watt capacity of the 1st UPS remains the same. The capability of the 2nd UPS, will be inversely affected by that of the 1st UPS. Therefore, the overall Watt capacity of the configuration is no greater than that of the 1st UPS in line.


4) In most cases, daisy-chaining UPSs does not allow for extra run time. If you are using a UPS that outputs a step-approximated sine wave when on battery, as soon as the fist UPS goes on battery, the second UPS will also go on battery because it will see the step-approximated sine wave as distorted or bad power. Both units will discharge together, and will not provide any extra run-time to the load.
 
It's really not a good idea to daisy chain UPSes. It could hurt more than help. You could, however, buy a new ups and put that ups on your computer and then put your old ups on your monitor(or somehow divide up the load between the two). That would provide for more runtime, but the two would probably go out at different times.
 
foenix said:
Well, if you have a Dual Redundancy PSU you would need to plug both power cords in, so I just wanted to clarify it. ;) I would advise against plugging one UPS into the other. Here are a few reasons why:

1) It is not UL tested. Therefore, should something go wrong and damages be caused to your connected equipment, the manufacturer would not honor the claim.

2)This configuration does not provide any extra surge protection. The UPS is designed to remove any possibility of a surge reaching the output recepticles. If a surge, strong enough to damage equipment was received, the first UPS in the chain would sacrifice itself to protect it's load. This would mean that power would be removed from the 2nd UPS in the chain and force it to battery.


3)Whenever connecting a 2nd UPS into a 1st UPS, the chance of Overloading the 1st UPS is greatly increased. The amount of receptacles in a UPS are restricted. This is due to the power limitations of the UPS itself. Although, the amount of receptacles has been increased, the overall Watt capacity of the 1st UPS remains the same. The capability of the 2nd UPS, will be inversely affected by that of the 1st UPS. Therefore, the overall Watt capacity of the configuration is no greater than that of the 1st UPS in line.


4) In most cases, daisy-chaining UPSs does not allow for extra run time. If you are using a UPS that outputs a step-approximated sine wave when on battery, as soon as the fist UPS goes on battery, the second UPS will also go on battery because it will see the step-approximated sine wave as distorted or bad power. Both units will discharge together, and will not provide any extra run-time to the load.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, although I don't understand most of it, you sound like you know what you're talking about :)
 
No Problem ;) Basically, the main point is #4. It just says that if the power were to go out: the first UPS would switch to battery, which sends a different signal to the second UPS and the second UPS would interpret this signal as a power failure itself (and switch to battery) so both UPSs would drain at the same time.
 
use the old UPS for your modem and router.. this way, you can continue viewing the web without being distracted.. hummm, u can DL porn during a black out.. :p
 
mjz_5 said:
use the old UPS for your modem and router.. this way, you can continue viewing the web without being distracted.. hummm, u can DL porn during a black out.. :p
Click to expand...

LOL I think I'll try that.
 
Yeah, split the load. If you just want to run one rig do something like put the monitor or accessories on one and the PC on the other. If you want extra surge protection, just plug the UPS into a regular 'ol surge protector.
Audiophiles sometimes daisy chain surge protectors. Some of them are pretty crazy and buy multi-hundred dollar surge protectors. They put a regular one (say a $50 one or whatever) in front of the fancy one to try to protect it. Of course these guys usually have $20,000 stereo systems.
 
zandor said:
If you want extra surge protection, just plug the UPS into a regular 'ol surge protector.
Click to expand...
Not a good idea and not really necessary, either. Any decent UPS should have better surge protection than the $5 power strips most people use.

Audiophiles sometimes daisy chain surge protectors.
Click to expand...
I doubt that. They, of all people, should know that that is pretty pointless and won't help much. Though they also spend $500 on a power cord, so who knows what is running through their minds. They do, though, spend hundreds of dollars with this stuff like you said. When you spend that much money on just getting power to your equipment then you do it right and don't fuck around.
 
There are certain models from APC that can be daisy chained, can't remember which models though, may have been the SmartUPS line. I talked to APC a few years back when I worked at a TV station and we were getting a bunch of UPS's for all the computers and studio equipment.

I'd do like the others recommend and just split the load between the 2 UPS's.
 
Ya, I would reccomend using a good one for your pc and monitor and another one for your peripherals.
 
foenix said:
Well, if you have a Dual Redundancy PSU you would need to plug both power cords in, so I just wanted to clarify it. ;) I would advise against plugging one UPS into the other. Here are a few reasons why:

1) It is not UL tested. Therefore, should something go wrong and damages be caused to your connected equipment, the manufacturer would not honor the claim.

2)This configuration does not provide any extra surge protection. The UPS is designed to remove any possibility of a surge reaching the output recepticles. If a surge, strong enough to damage equipment was received, the first UPS in the chain would sacrifice itself to protect it's load. This would mean that power would be removed from the 2nd UPS in the chain and force it to battery.


3)Whenever connecting a 2nd UPS into a 1st UPS, the chance of Overloading the 1st UPS is greatly increased. The amount of receptacles in a UPS are restricted. This is due to the power limitations of the UPS itself. Although, the amount of receptacles has been increased, the overall Watt capacity of the 1st UPS remains the same. The capability of the 2nd UPS, will be inversely affected by that of the 1st UPS. Therefore, the overall Watt capacity of the configuration is no greater than that of the 1st UPS in line.


4) In most cases, daisy-chaining UPSs does not allow for extra run time. If you are using a UPS that outputs a step-approximated sine wave when on battery, as soon as the fist UPS goes on battery, the second UPS will also go on battery because it will see the step-approximated sine wave as distorted or bad power. Both units will discharge together, and will not provide any extra run-time to the load.
Click to expand...

lol, nice cut and paste from APC's website :D
foenix said:
There are certain models from APC that can be daisy chained, can't remember which models though, may have been the SmartUPS line. I talked to APC a few years back when I worked at a TV station and we were getting a bunch of UPS's for all the computers and studio equipment..
Click to expand...
With the smart ups series you can daisy chain in additonal batteries for more runtime, but you can not link more together to give you more output capasity. What apc does make is a "Redundant Switch " which will change which ups you are connected to if one dies.
 
Frosty_axe said:
lol, nice cut and paste from APC's website :D

With the smart ups series you can daisy chain in additonal batteries for more runtime, but you can not link more together to give you more output capasity. What apc does make is a "Redundant Switch " which will change which ups you are connected to if one dies.
Click to expand...

That is probably what it was.
This is from the site as well,
"If you are looking for extra run-time, we recommend one of our Smart-UPS XL products, which have the capability of adding extra, external battery packs. If you require more runtime or VA capacity than you currently have."
 
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