Do I need a pure sine wave UPS?

[Phantomaniac]

I've never really bothered with UPSes before, but I'm building a home NAS/virtualzation server that will be running 24/7 and it seems like a bad idea to run it without one. I was minutes away from ordering when I stumbled across a newegg review that lead me to articles saying new efficient PSUs with active PFC don't work with cheaper UPSes. Does anyone here have any experience with this issue? Do I need to shell out for a more expensive pure sine wave UPS? I'm going to be running several drives in a RAID 5 so the last thing I want is to have my server go down resulting in a corrupt array when I thought I was protected.

This is the PSU I was planning on getting: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?...82E16817182202

I'm open to PSU recommendations as well, though I was hoping to get something efficient since the server will be running all the time.

 

[ControlD]

This is an issue I have been debating as well recently. All I can tell you from what I have found is that some active PFC power supplies (Enermax) need a sine wave UPS and some don't. My home server and main rig both have Seasonic power supplies (both active PFC) and my ancient APC back-ups can power both of them with no problems at all. If you browse the APC website they suggest that their non pure sine UPS units are not made to power active PFC power supplies but I have a feeling they are just doing a little CYA.

I find it hard to believe that basically every consumer level UPS being sold right now won't work with almost every new computer sold. I am interested to hear if other people have hands on experience with this issue. I have put off buying a new UPS for just this reason.

 

[philipma1957]

I've never really bothered with UPSes before, but I'm building a home NAS/virtualzation server that will be running 24/7 and it seems like a bad idea to run it without one. I was minutes away from ordering when I stumbled across a newegg review that lead me to articles saying new efficient PSUs with active PFC don't work with cheaper UPSes. Does anyone here have any experience with this issue? Do I need to shell out for a more expensive pure sine wave UPS? I'm going to be running several drives in a RAID 5 so the last thing I want is to have my server go down resulting in a corrupt array when I thought I was protected.

This is the PSU I was planning on getting: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?...82E16817182202


I'm open to PSU recommendations as well, though I was hoping to get something efficient since the server will be running all the time.

newegg has seasonic on sale


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151074


SSPSUSEP12 15% discount better psu just about the same price.

I use a UPS refurbished dealer great gear great price. I will find the link


I have 3 units from them

http://excessups.com/


the unit below would be more then enough for you

http://excessups.com/smartups-1400-su1400net-beige-p-40.html


the company is in BUFFALO NY they sell direct and on ebay these are rebuilt units and are about 55% less then a new unit.

 

[richaron]

Active PFC PSUs do prefer pure sine wave power. But most quality PSUs will work either way, even if you are abusing the main input capacitors. They are not designed for a square wave input (with instant changing, & much larger leading edge voltage spike). Many UPS's produce a "simulated" sine wave (sometimes just a square wave, but preferably a few more steps).

I have a half decent 750W active PFC PSU running on a cheap UPS. If the UPS kicks in it makes an unhealthy clicky sound, but my computer runs fine (I'm also running 240V, so the leading edge power spike is smashing cap's much more than 120V peeps): It all works, but I'm happy the UPS doesn't kick in too often.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I can't answer the question definitively, but my guess is that it is not required, for the reason Dave mentioned. Most UPSes do not produce a sine wave output, and I'd imagine that if a PSU required that, it would be spelled out clearly in the sales information.

Another issue to consider is how critical the application is, and how often the system will be running on battery backup. Most people just use the UPS to get past short outages or to allow safe shutdown. And normally, a UPS is feeding line power, so its inverter output doesn't matter that much.

I recommend buying a modified sine wave unit from a place that will take returns and testing it.

 

[philipma1957]

A lot depends on your price points. My refurbished units from excessups have a warranty and are serviced by them. If you look up the same unit as new it is more then 400. Your talking 180 plus 30 or so to ship that is 210. try and find a pure sine wave for 210 new does not exist.

Now do you get a lot of blackouts. Is the info on your drives priceless hard or really costly to replace. Well 210 is not so bad. yeah you can get a bargain stepped sine wave for 125. Savings of 85 bucks. Is that savings worth it to you? Now if I purchased them new at 499 pure vs 125 stepped yeah I am going with the stepped. But 210 vs 125 I want the pure.

 

[Phantomaniac]

Most UPSes do not produce a sine wave output, and I'd imagine that if a PSU required that, it would be spelled out clearly in the sales information.

According to this newegg review, that and other Antec power supplies with active PFC have major issues with stepped sine wave UPSes. The fact that you have to read reviews to find this out is pretty disconcerting.

 

[frostedflakes]

I've never had problems with stepped sine wave UPS, but it can be an issue probably depending on both the quality of the UPS and the quality of the PSU. More than likely it will work fine, but there's always the chance it won't since you're not feeding the PSU a true sine wave, which is what it was designed to handle, but instead an approximation with much higher harmonic distortion.

 

[2is]

My non-sign wave ups has worked fine in my machine (specs in sig)

 

[Phantomaniac]

I ended up going with the Seasonic SSR-360GP 80 plus gold certified PSU. A bit more than I had been planning on spending (as most of this rig is used xeon 771 era gear off ebay) but hopefully it will be worth it and not give me any issues with whatever UPS I get.