Which UPS(es) to get?

[Guden Oden]

I have an APC CS 500 right now (500VA), and it can run my entire PC setup when idling and doing pretty much nothing other than light surfing for about five to seven minutes. That's not very much. Thus, I was thinking of getting a second larger UPS for the PC itself and using the current just for the screen and ADSL modem/router gear. I also want to get an UPS for my new flatscreen TV and games consoles.

The ones I've been looking at for the PC are either one of these (depending on how cheap I feel at the time I'm buying):
APC CS 650 (650VA), about SKR 1200 OR
APC RS 800 (800VA, duh ) priced at a little under SKR 1900 - relatively expensive

Or else:
Belkin UPS Pro 1000VA, SKR 1575
The Belkin unit is more powerful and cheaper, and less well-known as a brand name. They still offer £50.000 in damages in case the PC system fries while protected by their unit, so it can't be crap or they'd go broke within months. Unfortunately, it is also Very Ugly.

The one I looked at for my entertainment stuff;
MGE Protection Center 675DIN - ~SKR1400, 675VA (naturally), PDF here.

This one should be good for TV + consoles because it's got plenty of power sockets, four standard wall type that are battery backed for TV, PS3, x360 and speaker system. Then older consoles like gamecube, NES, N64 etc could use the other four surge-protected connectors... Also, it looks good too.

Any other recommendations/thoughts?

 

[John Reynolds]

And here I was just thinking that perhaps it's time I break down and buy a decent little UPS since I have so much high-end review equipment hanging off my house's wiring.

 

[Geo]

Criminy, we've got three of the buggers here, all the "good" stuff electronic-wise plugged into them. TVs, stereos, monitors, etc. Last one I bought that this rig is plugged into is a Belkin 900va. I don't do anything fancy with it tho (you can, theoretically, do various communication back and forth, should the power go while you aren't home and your stuff is still on).

 

[Ty]

For Audio/Video equipment some say that you should NOT use a traditional UPS because the waves they pass out are square. So they claim you should use something from Brickwall.

/shrug. I make no claim on this myself (I have a few APC UPS' for my PCs and Plasma TV) and only passed this along so that it could be discussed and I would have the chance to learn something.

So please, any EEs out there care to tell me about the danger of square vs. sine waves?

 

[Geo]

I just observed that the price of UPS at Ultimate Electronics was sky-high compared to CompUSA and acted accordingly.

Tho I'd be interested to hear the theory on why too.

 

[Karma Police]

I spent a good 3 months looking for the best UPS, and finally settled on the APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB.

APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB & Serial 120V

 

[MatiasZ]

I spent a good 3 months looking for the best UPS, and finally settled on the APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB.

I have first hand experience on this one and must add that is GREAT. I've used it with a DELL 1800 server, with RAID5 discs and redundant PS, a proxy server (regular PC), router, two screens, one ADSL modem, a fax and some other not so important stuff, and the load led was always at the minimum, and when I wanted to try how the equipment turned off I had to wait almost 45 minutes at full load for it to finally run out of battery. So yes, it's great. And the USB port works with everything (even Slakcware linux and other distros that are not RPM based).

 

[Fate]

I have first hand experience on this one and must add that is GREAT. I've used it with a DELL 1800 server, with RAID5 discs and redundant PS, a proxy server (regular PC), router, two screens, one ADSL modem, a fax and some other not so important stuff, and the load led was always at the minimum, and when I wanted to try how the equipment turned off I had to wait almost 45 minutes at full load for it to finally run out of battery. So yes, it's great. And the USB port works with everything (even Slakcware linux and other distros that are not RPM based).

Is it loud?

How good is the AVR?

 

[BrynS]

I'm probably going to jinx mine by talking about it, as the battery is only guaranteed to last for 3 years (and I bought the UPS in early 2002), but what the hell!

I have an IBM branded (made by Tripp Lite) Office Professional 700 AVR, which is attached to my main pc (nothing special, but I have a couple of optical drives and HDD's) and monitor (21" CRT). It has a serial interface and monitoring software which I used when I was running Win2K, but IIRC had a couple of quirks with XP so I haven't bothered with it recently -- it allowed a fair bit of functionality, although I'm only interested in having the peace of mind of knowing that any voltage dips or surges are being regulated, as I had a couple of dips, with the pc losing power before I bought the UPS.

I don't know how long it can sustain power after an outage, as I usually shutdown straight away -- I think it was marketed at being about 15 minutes at full load, so that probably means you should shutdown after 5 minutes. I must say though that it gives a very convincing beep when it loses mains power, which makes the ~£120 I spent on it worthwhile!

 

[Guden Oden]

Thanks guys for not really answering my questions, heh - I guess there's a bit of an atlantic divide going on here as APC don't offer all products in all territories, including the 1500VA model linked above (which the website lists as 1440VA incidentally)...

I'd love to get something like that, but the 1000+ APC models are just too damn expensive for me to buy. I have to be able to afford the stuff I want to drive off of them also, heh!

As for the alledgedly square waves of UPSes, I don't believe that. Square waves would probably seriously screw with almost any equipment plugged into it, as the nominal voltage over time would be noticeably different (as in higher). I don't remember dick of the differential equations used to calculate AC voltage, but I don't think electronics would like square wave AC if it's designed for sine wave.

Besides, a buddy of mine runs all his AV gear from UPSes and he hasn't reported any problems, apart from with having an underdimensioned UPS (his surround receiver has a large inrush current when turned on, causing a 500VA UPS to buckle and not being able to power on the device correctly).

Besides 2, at least that APS 1500VA UPS offers sine output - it's listed in the specs.

 

[_xxx_]

For Audio/Video equipment some say that you should NOT use a traditional UPS because the waves they pass out are square. So they claim you should use something from Brickwall.

/shrug. I make no claim on this myself (I have a few APC UPS' for my PCs and Plasma TV) and only passed this along so that it could be discussed and I would have the chance to learn something.

So please, any EEs out there care to tell me about the danger of square vs. sine waves?

It's a very complicated thing to explain to someone who's got nothing to do with electronics. Basically, it's not a "danger" as such, square waves contain a much wider freq. spectrum and thus cause more losses of all kinds, as well as more crosstalk and/or other unwanted effects. Or not, depends on many factors.

I doubt you'll see true "square" waves coming out of that, it'll rather be a distorted/overdriven sine (half-way in between).

 

[MatiasZ]

Is it loud?

How good is the AVR?

No it's not loud... I can't say for sure how quite it is, buy I wasn't annoyed by it.

Regarding AVR, I don't really know what it stands for and I couldn't find a def. in the wiki, so if you enlighten me I can tell how good or bad it works