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Ugh, I'm looking for an uninterruptable power supply rated for my 1000W/15A PC and my ???W/???A 55" monitor because I've had a few power scares lately.
I bought one without checking the ratings, and it's useless. I'm probably going to give it away just because I don't want to deal with the return. It wasn't that expensive - about as expensive as it was useful.
I'm finding the difference between 1000W protection and 1500W protection is about $250 vs $550, and a huge size difference as well, and I have limited space.
I'm going to use one of those $30 power consumption monitors to see what my real world draw is when I'm not banging on my video card or CPU.
For the first time, I'm kind of longing for a relatively low power AMD system again, instead of my 180W TPD CPU and 320W TPD GPU. My power supply is rated @ 1000W / 15A, but I'm sure that's peak, but then again so is the rating on the UPS, unless I spend another $130 USD to get 1000W sustained output.
Anyone have a power hungry system on a UPS? What did you get?
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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APC Backup-UPS Pro 1500VA. Looking on the APC site seems it's no longer available (model BR1500MS). They have however other models that might fit your needs.
Years of pain have taught me stay away from any UPS that is not APC. Might be a bit more expensive but quality is great and their service superb. In the end, if you pay a bit extra it gets amortized over the years of trouble free service.
Mircea
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I hate to say this, but Amazon's reviews on APC's top end products are pretty negative. A lot of people having to have units RMA'd and replaced due to defect or otherwise complaining about performance or glitches.
Many of them are saying they used to rely on APC but it has went downhill.
You may have lucked out by having one of their older units, but those reviews make me uncomfortable. Other brands like cyberpower aren't coming up with reviews like that as much
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Your mileage may vary but I’ve been using APC units for the last 15 years (I think). Previous bad experience was with triplite and cyberpower. Had only one APC unit die on me (actually on my son) and they sent a replacement unit in 2 days. Cool thing is that you send the bad unit only after you get the new one. Saves you the hassle of finding package for the old one.
Mircea
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My experience is similar to yours. I have 4 APC 1500's and they perform flawlessly (knock on wood), while I have had poor experiences with CyberPower and Triplite. All of my APC's are at least three years old.
I sold a Threadripper system a couple of months ago and tossed in an older APC unit (1350 I believe) that I had laying around. Too bad I could have sent the HCW for the cost of shipping.
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If you want to level up from APC you have to go to Eaton.
Been using them to power server racks on several places. Been extremely reliable, but also a bit pricey.
Selection starts here: Backup Power UPS[^]
(Read the FAQ near the top of the page)
You probably don't need to bother with a standby UPS, but rather a Line-interactive or Online
If you go for standby you can just as well buy an APC.
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I just contacted them for a quote, but the fact that I had to is sort of intimidating.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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You can buy them on Newegg[^] if you'd like.
Pretty sure you can find other online stores as well.
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Did you buy yours online?
I decided to buy mine at local Best Buy (yes there is still one here where I live) because I saw so many fraudulent items on Amazon which were supposed to be from APC.
If you read the reviews you will see that fraudsters can take over the sales listing and make it look like it is official product but it is not.
Some people had there "APC" product explode in fire.
I bought my APC at the beginning of the pandemic (ca 2020) and it is still working great.
I suggest you try to buy the product locally if you can, not thru amazon.
The fraudsters can make the product look just like official product but it is garbage.
It was shocking to me to learn this too.
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I have the same here.
The transformer in the thing may be a bit suspect though. I'm hearing they are using aluminum wiring in them and soldering to aluminum is not the most reliable connection. If it fails, chances are that's what is going to do it.
Other than that, everything else in them is rock solid.
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It seems you are looking for a UPS that will keep you working while there is a power outage...
It will you coast - in money and headache - more than you can imagine. I have learn that UPS is there to give you time to shut down gracefully and not to keep you running...
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ― Gerald Weinberg
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: I have learn that UPS is there to give you time to shut down gracefully and not to keep you running
That's exactly what I want it for.
But you have to understand my PC draws about as much juice as at least half dozen laptops.
I want to be able to plug in everything i spent more than $500 on into it.
Why? Because when the construction going on across the street shorts the power line to my house again I don't want it to blow up my computer, or its $900 monitor.
Equipment attached to a UPS is typically decoupled somewhat from the power source, using the battery as a go-between, and otherwise is more isolated than you can get with a surge suppressor.
I honestly don't care about shutting down gracefully. I care about weathering about 100 current spikes in the span of a minute.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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If your concern is spikes and surges, you should look into lightening protection and not UPS...
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ― Gerald Weinberg
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honey the codewitch wrote: at least half dozen laptops.
 honey the codewitch wrote: $900 monitor.
OK, why do you have such a computer ? Are you a supervillain planning to take over the world ?
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Most cheaper UPSs are of the standby type, they won't give you any protection of that kind, they run from the line until there's a power failure that turns them on.
There will be a short glitch when they turn on. I would not recommend them for sensitive (expensive) equipment.
An online UPS is converting power from AC to DC and back to AC and thereby completely isolating your computer from the line from anything except a direct hit by the lightning.
In between there are Line-interactive UPSs that clean and regulate the voltage to a some extent before turning on backup power. This is normally enough for most computers.
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honey the codewitch wrote: I honestly don't care about shutting down gracefully. I care about weathering about 100 current spikes in the span of a minute.
That's exactly why I bought my APC at the local Best Buy.
We were having spikes where the power would go off for 2-3 seconds every 10 minutes or something.
it was so infuriating. The APC resolved the issue. PHew...
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Sorry, but what is an APC? I'd like to look into it. It may be closer to what I want. I have a journaling filesystem and don't really give a damn about shutting down gracefully.
Edit: Oh you're talking about the brand. Silly me.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: I have learn that UPS is there to give you time to shut down gracefully and not to keep you running...
That would depend on the size of the battery pack.
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I remember those of size of a wardrobe - and you had to run for your life to shut down the computer before they run out of electricity (like 3 minutes)...
And of course power was back 5 seconds after you confirmed the shutdown... 
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ― Gerald Weinberg
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Nowadays they're the size of a large suitcase and will power a couple of servers for up to an hour.
But generally not for common people. But then again, our resident Witch isn't common, is she?
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I've been running a CyberPower similar to this[^] for many years and it's been a life saver. I had to change batteries a couple of years ago, easy and inexpensive.
It gives me about 15 mins. to shut down when power goes out.
Only down side is that it doesn't run with generator, that will cost you as it doesn't produce a clean sine wave. Most don't!
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What about a Honda (or similar) generator to supply power? Will the one you have last the 5 minutes it would take to walk to the generator and crank it up?
There's probably some problem with this idea that the more electronically inclined here will use to shoot down this notion.
And I'm okay with that, unabashedly ignorant of these things.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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I'm not looking to keep my computer on, but to isolate it from my house's power surges.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I have Cyberpower 1000va with AVR (automatic voltage regulation without battery) similar to Mike Hanely's. Have used it for years. Gives my system up to an hour of runtime, but more important it protects the system from minor power surges and outages without blinking an eye (although my over head room light will blink). My system is desktop, monitor, router, printer, speaker system, laptop (doesn't really care as it had it's own battery) and powered network switch. Cyber power software uses serial port to give one a real time picture of status of battery, outages, etc. Estimated runtime on battery is about an hour.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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I've got my 1000W PC on an APC BackUPS 1375 and it's humming along nicely. I can't recall ever having an APC unit fail on me, though I have worn out and replaced quite a lot of batteries over the years. I'm not sure about other brands, but replacement batteries for all my APCs are readily available at local stores. They have become a bit sneaky, though, as they no longer mark the batteries with the standard markings to encourage users to buy replacements from them. Happily, it's easy to measure the battery and match it to an equivalent in the store.
On a different track, if your service entrance has room for it, they make whole house surge arrestors that plug into a 2-wide breaker slot ( to cover both legs of the 240V circuit). At around $100, they're quite affordable.
Will Rogers never met me.
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