Do UPS's (Uninterruptable Power Supply) consume more electricity?

[EKKC]

I know nothing about electricity, but that huge power brick under my desk has me wondering if it consumes more electricity than not using one

I would think that the only electricity it uses more than not using one is the juice it needs to store power and charging the battery, once it's at 100% it should use minimal to no extra electricity than a direct wall connection. am i correct?

 

[mrrman]

its still based on 120V consumption so its like having a power bar on...

 

[amdskip]

After it is charged it should just use a trickle charge to maintain the batteries.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: amdskip
After it is charged it should just use a trickle charge to maintain the batteries.

More or less. It also uses more power because of the inefficient conversion from AC to DC and DC to AC though.

 

[EKKC]

thanks guys. and sorry for not posting in GH.

 

[soydios]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: amdskip
After it is charged it should just use a trickle charge to maintain the batteries.

More or less. It also uses more power because of the inefficient conversion from AC to DC and DC to AC though.

A switching UPS (switches from AC to DC power when activated) would only need to draw enough power to maintain the batteries' charge via trickle charge. A line-interactive UPS (AC converted to DC, DC goes through battery, DC converts back to AC) would draw more power because of all the power conversion going on, but line-interactive UPS's are somewhat more expensive.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: soydios

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: amdskip
After it is charged it should just use a trickle charge to maintain the batteries.

More or less. It also uses more power because of the inefficient conversion from AC to DC and DC to AC though.

A switching UPS (switches from AC to DC power when activated) would only need to draw enough power to maintain the batteries' charge via trickle charge. A line-interactive UPS (AC converted to DC, DC goes through battery, DC converts back to AC) would draw more power because of all the power conversion going on, but line-interactive UPS's are somewhat more expensive.

But even a switching UPS still has to have a rectifier in there to charge the battery, so it is converting from AC to DC. Granted the extra power consumption would be pretty small, but it's still there.

 

[Minerva]

True power conditioning ones in fact do incur transformer losses as their chief component has loss. The cheapies under your desk? Negligible.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: MinervaThe cheapies under your desk? Negligible.

Yep! About 5~10W once the batteries are charged up. When the batteries get old and won't fully charge, then the unit will start using more wattage trying to fully charge the unchargable. Solution? Load test the batteries with the unit's provided software utility about every 90 days.