I bought some new external hard drives, and I'm out of outlets on my UPS, but I have a bunch of strip surge suppressors. I've read that you're not supposed to plug a surge suppressor into the output of a UPS, but they never say why. Is there any problem with doing it, besides the obvious precaution of making sure you don't draw too much power?
Can I plug a surge suppressor into a UPS?
- Thread starter boboko
- Start date
I never heard that.... but it could be possible.. there are plain strips that are not surge
I know you can't plug a ups into another ups.. its bad for the UPS...
I know you can't plug a ups into another ups.. its bad for the UPS...
I remember something in that regards mentioned in the APC manuals, and it warned against it. But, it may just have been plugging the APC into a surge protector, instead of vice versa.
- May 13, 2003
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Can you? Yes. Should you? Depends.
What are you going to be plugging into the surge protector? I wouldn't do it if you are going to be using a lot of high power (ie computer, etc) stuff on it... I have a surge protector plugged into the battery outlet of my UPS, but the only thing I have plugged into the surge protector is networking equipment (cable modem, router, wireless router, etc) so that I can stay online with my laptop when the power go out.
What are you going to be plugging into the surge protector? I wouldn't do it if you are going to be using a lot of high power (ie computer, etc) stuff on it... I have a surge protector plugged into the battery outlet of my UPS, but the only thing I have plugged into the surge protector is networking equipment (cable modem, router, wireless router, etc) so that I can stay online with my laptop when the power go out.
I plug in my laptops surge protector into my UPS all the time. Of course it's a really small surge protector and my power supply is one of the bigger models.
I do know not to plug a toaster into my UPS. My Toaster is 950 watts, which would have been ok by itself except I always have at least one computer running.
I do know not to plug a toaster into my UPS. My Toaster is 950 watts, which would have been ok by itself except I always have at least one computer running.
I'm wondering if this might trip some kind of overvoltage protection for the individual outlet, rather than the UPS overall?
There are 2 reasons you are discouraged from doing what you want to do:
1. Putting more devices on the UPS means putting more devices on the outlet, and too many could create a fire hazard. If these are mostly low-power devices, it's not such a concern.
2. Surge protectors of that type generally deal with voltage increases by shunting them off to ground, which the UPS may not like. If you were to use just a simple power strip (which only adds outlets, and has no surge protection), that would not be a concern.
As you may have noticed, both of these can be mitigated fairly easily. The main thing is to be careful that you don't overload an outlet.
1. Putting more devices on the UPS means putting more devices on the outlet, and too many could create a fire hazard. If these are mostly low-power devices, it's not such a concern.
2. Surge protectors of that type generally deal with voltage increases by shunting them off to ground, which the UPS may not like. If you were to use just a simple power strip (which only adds outlets, and has no surge protection), that would not be a concern.
As you may have noticed, both of these can be mitigated fairly easily. The main thing is to be careful that you don't overload an outlet.
pcgeek11
Lifer
- Jun 12, 2005
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This is what APC says:
APC recommends against the use of any surge protector, power strip or extension cord being plugged into the output of any APC Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products. This document will explain why.
Plugging a surge protector into your UPS: Surge protectors filter the power for surges and offer EMI/RFI filtering but do not efficiently distribute the power, meaning that some equipment may be deprived of the necessary amperage it requires to run properly ? causing your attached equipment (computer, monitor, etc) to shutdown or reboot. If you need to supply additional receptacles on the output of your UPS, we recommend using Power Distribution Units (PDU's). PDUs evenly distribute the amperage among the outlets, while the UPS will filter the power and provide surge protection. PDU?s use and distribute the available amperage more efficiently, allowing your equipment to receive the best available power to maintain operation.
However, please note that the UPS is designed to handle a limited amount of equipment. Please be cautious about plugging too much equipment into the UPS to avoid an overload condition. To understand the load limit of your particular model UPS please consult the User's Manual, or visit APC's Product Page at www.apcc.com/products.
Plugging your UPS into a surge protector: In order for your UPS to get the best power available, you should plug your UPS directly into the wall receptacle. Plugging your UPS into a surge protector may cause the UPS to go to battery often when it normally should remain online. This is because other, more powerful equipment may draw necessary voltage away from the UPS which it requires to remain online.
Maintaining EPP and Warranty: Plugging any non-APC surge protector, power strip, or extension cord into the output of an APC brand UPS could void your Equipment Protection Policy (EPP). However, the standard 2 year product warranty is maintained. If, after taking into consideration this knowledge base document, you choose to use an APC brand surge protector in conjunction with your APC brand UPS, your warranty and Equipment Protection Policy will be maintained.
If you have any additional questions regarding your set-up, please call APC technical support at 800-800-4272 (Mon-Fr 8am-8pm EST).
pcgeek11
APC recommends against the use of any surge protector, power strip or extension cord being plugged into the output of any APC Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products. This document will explain why.
Plugging a surge protector into your UPS: Surge protectors filter the power for surges and offer EMI/RFI filtering but do not efficiently distribute the power, meaning that some equipment may be deprived of the necessary amperage it requires to run properly ? causing your attached equipment (computer, monitor, etc) to shutdown or reboot. If you need to supply additional receptacles on the output of your UPS, we recommend using Power Distribution Units (PDU's). PDUs evenly distribute the amperage among the outlets, while the UPS will filter the power and provide surge protection. PDU?s use and distribute the available amperage more efficiently, allowing your equipment to receive the best available power to maintain operation.
However, please note that the UPS is designed to handle a limited amount of equipment. Please be cautious about plugging too much equipment into the UPS to avoid an overload condition. To understand the load limit of your particular model UPS please consult the User's Manual, or visit APC's Product Page at www.apcc.com/products.
Plugging your UPS into a surge protector: In order for your UPS to get the best power available, you should plug your UPS directly into the wall receptacle. Plugging your UPS into a surge protector may cause the UPS to go to battery often when it normally should remain online. This is because other, more powerful equipment may draw necessary voltage away from the UPS which it requires to remain online.
Maintaining EPP and Warranty: Plugging any non-APC surge protector, power strip, or extension cord into the output of an APC brand UPS could void your Equipment Protection Policy (EPP). However, the standard 2 year product warranty is maintained. If, after taking into consideration this knowledge base document, you choose to use an APC brand surge protector in conjunction with your APC brand UPS, your warranty and Equipment Protection Policy will be maintained.
If you have any additional questions regarding your set-up, please call APC technical support at 800-800-4272 (Mon-Fr 8am-8pm EST).
pcgeek11
jjsbasmt
Senior member
- Jan 23, 2005
- 485
- 0
- 71
I've done this for years with several computers at various locations with no side effects. Mostly low power stuff like DSL modems and Wirless Routers. I too have read the various pros and cons and am aware of APC's recommendations since I use their products exclusively.
Just a quck note, most average surge supressors use MOV's to stop a surge and in many cases if they are hooked to a ups they will not function properly and when a surge happens you may end up frying both units as the surge protector will not shut off properly in some cases.
Rubycon
Madame President
- Aug 10, 2005
- 17,768
- 485
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A power strip is fine to plug into a UPS to gain more outlets as long as the following conditions are met:
1- The capacity of the UPS is never exceeded! Please be aware that someone may see the extra outlets without knowing they are connected to the output of a UPS with limited power output. If they plug a laser printer, space heater, coffee pot into it POOF! :Q
2- The power strip is a straight line power strip. No surge suppression or line filtering at all. A circuit breaker, pilot light, and power switch is OK.
What happens is your typical office UPS produces -while on battery power - square wave or stepped approximation to sine wave power. When this is fed into a surge arresting type power strip that employs inductor elements for basic noise filtering/hash removal, the apparent load will increase significantly often resulting in an overload condition despite the protected loads being well below that of the UPS' capacity.
If your strip makes a buzzing noise when the UPS is on battery, discontinue use of it as it probably has a form of inductive filtering and is placing an unnecessary extra load on your UPS. At the very least you will experience reduced runtimes while on battery power.
1- The capacity of the UPS is never exceeded! Please be aware that someone may see the extra outlets without knowing they are connected to the output of a UPS with limited power output. If they plug a laser printer, space heater, coffee pot into it POOF! :Q
2- The power strip is a straight line power strip. No surge suppression or line filtering at all. A circuit breaker, pilot light, and power switch is OK.
What happens is your typical office UPS produces -while on battery power - square wave or stepped approximation to sine wave power. When this is fed into a surge arresting type power strip that employs inductor elements for basic noise filtering/hash removal, the apparent load will increase significantly often resulting in an overload condition despite the protected loads being well below that of the UPS' capacity.
If your strip makes a buzzing noise when the UPS is on battery, discontinue use of it as it probably has a form of inductive filtering and is placing an unnecessary extra load on your UPS. At the very least you will experience reduced runtimes while on battery power.
Thanks, I think I'll be fine. I will only run low power stuff on the strip (ext. hard drives, DSL Modem, LCD Monitor --- probably about 100W total) and I will only be on battery power long enough to turn everything off
No, don't do that. What you need to get is a PDU, it adds power ports with out having the surge protector function.
Um, UPS' generally or at least should know when to trip. Usually if you're pulling to much power through the UPS, the UPS will say overload and shutdown so I don't see how this is an issue.
A Tripp-Lite tech told me it was fine to plug the UPS into a surge strip but NOT to plug a surge strip into a UPS.
It had something to do with the way a surge strip discharges a surge back down the line.
It had something to do with the way a surge strip discharges a surge back down the line.
Well, yeah. So why do so many replies deal with how a surge suppressor shunts off spikes, when a spike should never reach it?
Actually, there are only two reasons that make sense to me about why I shouldn't do it --- other than total power draw, which I made explicit in my original question as not being a concern. One is what MS Dawn said, about the output from a UPS when it's on batteries, and that isn't really a factor FOR ME, because I will immediately shut down if I lose grid power, so I'll only be on batteries for a minute or two at most, and the stuff on the surge suppressor (external drives and DSL modem) will be turned off within seconds.
The other is something nobody has mentioned, and that is that maybe adding loads to a UPS output while it's already putting out power (e.g. by switching on a second external drive on the strip) might cause problems. But if that were a problem, it shouldn't matter whether the strip was a surge suppressor or not, right?
I assumed you asked the question in the first place because you wanted to protect your equipment the correct way.
Seems like you're going to use a surge strip plugged into a UPS no matter what anyone says.
It's your harware... do what you want to with it... it won't cost us a dime.
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