Help with new UPS needed

[nuub]

Hi !

I’ve recently bought my first UPS ( http://www.njoy.ro/UPS/isis-1500l#overview ) and I have some concerns and questions I hope you guys will be able to help me with, would be very much appreciated !

Keep in mind this is my first UPS and I have very little to no knowledge about UPS’s, without wasting your time anymore I will go straight to the questions.

1) As shown here my battery voltage is at 27.4V @ 100 capacity, from what I understand this batteries should run at 24V, is this normal, should I be concerned about it ?

2) The UPS is quite warm on the back/top side and its not under load, is this normal ?

3) I see in the user manual they specify the UPS should be plugged into a grounded power outlet, what is the down side of having it plugged into a NON grounded power outlet ?

4) Is there any problem connecting power strips to the UPS ?

5) I have a 40W lamp and i've noticed when its powered by the UPS battery alone (ups unplugged from the wall) it flickers, is that normal ?, I dont have another lamp to test with.

6) Should I do anything to maintain my UPS ? like running those 10 sec battery tests or something similar ?

I would appreciate your guys input on this, thank you !

 

[Red Squirrel]

1: Typical float voltage for a battery is about 2.25v per cell, a 12v battery has 6 cells, so 24v has 12 cells. That means they float at about 27. I say about, because batteries can differ. I'd say that UPS is fine.

2: a bit of heat is fine, this is simply inefficiency losses (nothing is 100% efficient)

3: definitely want a grounded outlet.

4: No issue, as long as you don't draw too much from it. Also keep track of what strip is plugged in so you don't just start randomly plugging stuff in it like a laser printer

5: the flicker is normal, the AC that comes from a UPS tends to be a bit dirty

6: Not much you need to do, though it does not hurt to open it up and check the battery once in a while, make sure it's not bloating up or anything

 

[nuub]

Thanks for the reply !

If anyone else would like to add something please feel free to do so !

 

[Meghan54]

Actually, with #4, there IS an issue.

Cyberpower will void their warranty if found to be using a surge strip pre- or post-UPS.

Can I hookup a surge strip to the UPS unit?
Surge strips cannot be installed before OR after the UPS unit. Doing so will void the UPS’s warranty. If you require additional units, please upgrade your UPS to a unit that has more outlets. If you need a longer input cord, you can purchase a UL certified extension cord that is rated for the respective current of the unit. This cord MUST be a single-outlet extension cord.

Source: http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/support/faqs/general-ups-faqs.html (About half way down page.)


Schneider Electric (APC) talking about APC ups's and surge suppressors:

Plugging a surge protector into your UPS:
The noise filtration circuitry in a Surge Protector can effectively "mask" some of the load from the UPS, causing the UPS to report a lower percentage of attached load than there actually is. This can cause a user to inadvertently overload their UPS. When the UPS switches to battery, it may be unable to support the equipment attached, causing a dropped load.

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. PDUs use and distribute the available amperage more efficiently, allowing your equipment to receive the best available power to maintain operation.

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. In addition, it may compromise the ground connection which the UPS needs in order to provide adequate surge protection. All APC Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products provide proper surge suppression for power lines without the need of additional protection.


Source: http://www.apc.com/support/index?pa...ale=en_US&searchid=1382612716510&locale=en_US

 

[aigomorla]

the reason why they dont allow u to plug in strips is because they are worried you will exceed the amperage rating via strip.

if u only have 1 outlet pluged to the UPS which is a strip and NOTHING else, i dont see any problems with it, as long as that strip wont pull more amperage then what the UPS can supply.

 

[Meghan54]

the reason why they dont allow u to plug in strips is because they are worried you will exceed the amperage rating via strip.

if u only have 1 outlet pluged to the UPS which is a strip and NOTHING else, i dont see any problems with it, as long as that strip wont pull more amperage then what the UPS can supply.

The problem is idiots who plug in strips into darned near every available outlet on the UPS and then populate the strips completely. It happens.

But I agree, one strip on one UPS, not populated/overloaded, probably not an issue at all.

 

[nuub]

Thanks for the replies guys, the thing is i currently have 3 strips plugged into it, BUT i do not plan to add anything more, not to the strips themselves and not to the UPS, so everything should remain as it is now, currently the strips contain:

Strip 1) Gaming PC + Monitor
Strip 2) PC + Monitor + LCD TV + 40W desk lamp
Strip 3) Laptop + 2 phone chargers. ( I don't really need this in the UPS, could plug it into the wall )

As i said, i do not plan to plug in anything else anywhere, do you think it will be a problem having it setup like it is now ?

By my calculations the total W from all the devices running at the same time and both PC's in full load should not exceed 600-650W at most and thats a worse case scenario so i think it should be all good cause the UPS is rated for 900W, what do you guys think ?

 

[nuub]

Btw, from what i know Surge strips are those strips that have protection for over voltage and stuff like that, i don't have any of those connected, just normal power strips.

 

[mfenn]

As others have mentioned, it's not really the number of power strips that you have connected, but rather the total power draw.

I don't see any reason for you to have the LCD TV, laptop (it has its own UPS) or phone chargers plugged into the UPS. The biggest waste however is the desk lamp. If you don't do anything else, please unplug that from the UPS, it is just turning your battery power into heat.

 

[nuub]

As others have mentioned, it's not really the number of power strips that you have connected, but rather the total power draw.

I don't see any reason for you to have the LCD TV, laptop (it has its own UPS) or phone chargers plugged into the UPS. The biggest waste however is the desk lamp. If you don't do anything else, please unplug that from the UPS, it is just turning your battery power into heat.

Thanks, yes i am aware the laptop, phone chargers and the desk lamp (maybe TV also, not 100% sure) are a waste but its the only power strip thats close to them, would be more complex to plug them in somewhere else.

I'll probably remove the laptop+phone chargers strip from the UPS though.

Anyway i am far away from exceeding the UPS's capacity so if thats all that counts i should be safe :thumbsup:

 

[fixbsod]

Using 3 strips plugged into a UPS is BEGGING for problems. As others mentioned while the manufacturer of these UPS systems specifically state NOT using ANY strips it would likely not be an issue to have ONE strip as long as it was not overpopulated. 3?? Why don't you just daisy chain your whole block while you're at it?

 

[aigomorla]

The only things i connect to my UPS are the PC's Power Supply.
You can do the monitor... however i would leave it to at that...
Only things which will allow you to save and shut down, should be plugged into the battery side of the UPS.

The last thing u want is other devices eatting at the up time when you do have a power failure...
I even ended up being 2 min short one time... the power went off.... my UPS's battery ran out... 2 min later power came back on.

You couldnt imagine how annoyed i got...
That was Murphy law at its greatest fury :X

 

[nuub]

Is this dirty power the UPS supplies while on battery safe ?

I am a bit paranoia about it since lightbulbs will flicker while plugged into it @ battery, should i try to shutdown everything as soon as possible, can't this dirty power damage a PC if i leave it running on battery for a long time ?

 

[mfenn]

Luckily for you, you don't have enough battery capacity to run on UPS for a long time. 🙂 To answer your question directly: no, the (modified) square wave output of your UPS won't hurt switchmode power supplies like a computer PSU. It will shorten the life of analog devices like light bulbs and older resistive plugpacks.