APC UPS overloaded

[fzkl]

I have the setup listed in the signature and if I were to run any 3D application, after about 2-10 minutes the UPS indicates a red warning light and beeps constantly indicating an overload. The UPS is an APC 500 VA.

Is my system really consuming more than the UPS can handle?

 

[grohl]

How old is the UPS? I just replaced mine that was 6 yrs old because it was acting up.

 

[fzkl]

Less than 2 months old.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: fzkl
I have the setup listed in the signature and if I were to run any 3D application, after about 2-10 minutes the UPS indicates a red warning light and beeps constantly indicating an overload. The UPS is an APC 500 VA.

Is my system really consuming more than the UPS can handle?

How many watts is it actually rated for? It is very likely that you are consuming too much power.

Is your monitor plugged into it? if so unplug it from the ups and plug it into a separate Surge protector? Same goes for printers, speakers, and anything that is not related to running your actual computer.

 

[SuperNaruto]

I have a feeling you're near the limits.. only way to tell is get a kill a watt meter..

You can tell how much you're drawing.. i think you're drawing around 250-300w out of the whole thing..

If your monitor is hook into the ups, try to move it off the ups and run your apps..

Other than that.. it'll be hard to tell w/o seeing how much you're drawing.

 

[BladeVenom]

Your UPS can probably only put out 300 watts, and it looks like your set up is too much for it.

 

[SuperNaruto]

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNQYF_R0_EN.pdf

The ratio of the Watt to VA rating is called the "Power Factor" and is expressed either as a number (i.e. 0.7) or a percentage (i.e. 70%).

Examples where a sizing problem can occur
Example #1: Consider the case of a typical 1000VA UPS. The user wants to power a 900W heater with the UPS. The heater has a Watt rating of 900W and a VA rating of 900VA with a power factor of 1. Although the VA rating of the load is 900VA, which is within the VA rating of the UPS, the UPS will probably not power this load. That is because the 900W rating of the load exceeds the Watt rating of the UPS, which is most
likely 60% of 1000VA or around 600W.

Example #2: Consider the case of a 1000VA UPS. The user wants to power a 900VA file server with the UPS. The file server has a Power Factor Corrected power supply, and so has a Watt rating of 900W and a VA rating of 900VA. Although the VA rating of the load is 900VA, which is within the VA rating of the UPS, the UPS will not power this load. That is because the 900W rating of the load exceeds the Watt rating of the UPS, which is 60% of 1000VA or around 600W.

 

[tribbles]

SuperNaruto nailed it.

I'm running a 2.66 GHz 4-core Mac Pro on a brand-new APC Back-UPS RS 1500 VA. I also have a 24" LCD, backup hard drives, a cable modem, and a printer (surge only) plugged into the UPS.

Despite the extremely hefty specs on the UPS, sometimes when I cold-boot my Mac Pro, the UPS will overload. The battery backup will kick in for a few seconds so the Mac Pro can continue to boot. What this means is that on startup, the required power spike is somewhere in the range of 800-900 watts! And there isn't anything wrong with my UPS. A quick search of the Apple Support Forums shows that some people have had problems with Woodcrest Macs tripping their circuit breakers!

Now granted, your problems aren't occurring on startup, and you're not using a Mac Pro. But I can see how your system might pull a pretty decent amount of power, especially if your video card is working hard on OpenGL calculations when you're working in a 3D app. If your UPS is the one I'm thinking it is, it's only rated for around 315 watts. I wouldn't be surprised if just the power supply in your computer is rated higher (whether truthfully or not).

 

[fzkl]

Alright. I checked with another UPS. Same problem. Obviously an overload issue. The funny thing is, it seems borderline. The overload happens only when I OC the processor to 3 GHz. No such issues at 2.4 GHz.

Any idea if a 600VA UPS will suffice? I am kinda tight on the money now.

Thanks for the inputs.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Are you doing something silly like connecting the speakers or a printer to battery-backed outlets on the UPS? They should go into surge-only outlets.

You could move the monitor to a surge-only outlet for now, since most of the time your UPS is to protect against very short outages and losing the screen for a few seconds doesn't hurt.

 

[fzkl]

The only thing on the UPS apart from the box is the monitor. I will check with the monitor on another UPS. That should help. But I would have liked to have both on the UPS.
Speakers and everything else are on another UPS.

 

[Operandi]

According to the specs that PSU has an APFC and is 80+ certified so you should be good there.

2-10 mins is all a UPS such as that is designed to run hardware of your wattage class for. If you want more run time there are bigger and more pro orientated units but they are expensive.

 

[fzkl]

Not sure if you got this right.

The 2-10 minutes is not the time for which it supplies me power with the mains off without overloading.

I am talking of a scenario where the mains are stable. UPS is receiving power from the mains. And it overloads the moment I start something like 3DM06

 

[Mark R]

How many Watts can your UPS handle? I know it says 500 VA, but VA aren't the same as W.

I'd expect your system and monitor to use about 300W at max load during 3D. If that's close to the maximum capacity of your UPS, then that's your problem.

Whether you're running on mains or battery doesn't matter - the UPS still has to carry an monitor the power. It's of no use to have a UPS allow huge amounts of power through on mains, that will instantly overload the battery when the mains fails.

 

[Navid]

This is a 500VA APC model.
http://apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE500R
Yours may not be the exact same model. But, the VAt to W ratio should be close.
This one can only supply 300W.

Edit:
This is the Indian version.
http://apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE500Y%2DIN
Again, 300W.

You can disconnect your system from it and connect 3 100W lamps to it and run it for a few minutes to make sure that it can handle the rated 300W and does not overload.
If it overloads again, you should contact APC and ask for customer service. I am not sure what kind of warranty they offer in India.

If it does support 300W, as it should, you are probably drawing more than 300W and need a unit with a higher rating.