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Question about UPS power utilization

A

azev

Golden Member
Let say I have a APC 3000va ups capable of 2500Watts. If I power this UPS through the wall outlet and have nothing plug in to it, no computer no nothing. How much power do you think this ups draw just to stay online and charge the battery ?

Thx
 
2500 gigawatts!?!!, I think your math is wrong.

Regardless however if it's not charging the battery it should draw next to no power on its own.
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
2500 gigawatts!?!!, I think your math is wrong.

Regardless however if it's not charging the battery it should draw next to no power on its own.
Click to expand...

He said WATTS not gigawatts. Learn to read 😉

Basically once the battery is charged the only current the thing should draw is to run the power light.
 
Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Originally posted by: Operandi
2500 gigawatts!?!!, I think your math is wrong.

Regardless however if it's not charging the battery it should draw next to no power on its own.
Click to expand...

He said WATTS not gigawatts. Learn to read 😉

Basically once the battery is charged the only current the thing should draw is to run the power light.
Click to expand...

I read just fine, it was a joke; Gigawatts isn't even a word.
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Originally posted by: Operandi
2500 gigawatts!?!!, I think your math is wrong.

Regardless however if it's not charging the battery it should draw next to no power on its own.
Click to expand...

He said WATTS not gigawatts. Learn to read 😉

Basically once the battery is charged the only current the thing should draw is to run the power light.
Click to expand...

I read just fine, it was a joke; Gigawatts isn't even a word.
Click to expand...

teasing you 😉 all in fun 😀 sorry if I offended you.

I think Gigawatts is a word, because giga is a prefix meaning 1 billion, so gigawatts is 1 billion watts.
 
Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Originally posted by: Operandi
2500 gigawatts!?!!, I think your math is wrong.

Regardless however if it's not charging the battery it should draw next to no power on its own.
Click to expand...

He said WATTS not gigawatts. Learn to read 😉

Basically once the battery is charged the only current the thing should draw is to run the power light.
Click to expand...

I read just fine, it was a joke; Gigawatts isn't even a word.
Click to expand...

teasing you 😉 all in fun 😀 sorry if I offended you.

I think Gigawatts is a word, because giga is a prefix meaning 1 billion, so gigawatts is 1 billion watts.
Click to expand...

Hmm.... it seems you are right.

Even though it's not even a word I still managed to misspell it. I meant to say Jigawatts, "Jigawatts! Doc, What the Hell is a Jigawatt?" 😎
 
After the intial charge probably not much of any power at all

Since there would be nothing large draining the battery
 
thx for the answer, anyway I got a quick laugh off Jigawatts hahahha..... One more question about UPS; when you have an equipment plug in to a UPS, does it gets power off the battery? or it only condition the power output and switch to battery in ms if power is off ?

Thx
 
Originally posted by: azev
thx for the answer, anyway I got a quick laugh off Jigawatts hahahha..... One more question about UPS; when you have an equipment plug in to a UPS, does it gets power off the battery? or it only condition the power output and switch to battery in ms if power is off ?

Thx
Click to expand...

It depends on the type of UPS

not sure how many are left out there but some let the computer run from electricity and kick over to battery on a brown/blackout or a big surge

APC and some of the other larger ones run the comuter from the battery all of the time
 
good info so far... thx guys.... well I'll keep the question coming then, would a 208V ups uses less electricity compared to its 110V counterparts ??
For example, lets use the same UPS APC 3000va 110v version and 208v version. If each of these UPS is powering up 2 servers of the same exact config, just different power input, one 110 and the other 208, which one would uses less electricity ?
 
Originally posted by: azev
good info so far... thx guys.... well I'll keep the question coming then, would a 208V ups uses less electricity compared to its 110V counterparts ??
For example, lets use the same UPS APC 3000va 110v version and 208v version. If each of these UPS is powering up 2 servers of the same exact config, just different power input, one 110 and the other 208, which one would uses less electricity ?
Click to expand...

That dosn't make any sense.... AC power in the US is 120v. In other contries it varies but power draw is going to be the same.
 
This is a good reference with regards to your question about when the UPS uses battery and when it does not.
As this document from APC describes, most lower-cost UPS units (standby type) used at homes get their power from the AC outlet from the wall. The battery only kicks in when the power is lost.


I think you are talking about the line voltage. In the states the line voltage is 120V. In some other countries, the voltage is 220V.

If the two UPS units you are talking about are powering two loads that use the same amount of power, then, the two UPS units will be using the same power.

Power is also equal to Voltage multiplied by current (Power=V I).
So, if the power is the same but voltage is higher, the current will be lower, so that the product is the same.
 
theres alot of 208 ups sold here in the us, not only overseas. I am talking about a server grade ups which comes in different flavor up to about 3000va. 5000va and more is normally only comes in 220V.
 
Originally posted by: azev
theres alot of 208 ups sold here in the us, not only overseas. I am talking about a server grade ups which comes in different flavor up to about 3000va. 5000va and more is normally only comes in 220V.
Click to expand...
Ok, there is some equipment in the states that runs on high voltages but its not consumer grade. And would probably uses some sort of dual-phase power from the utility.
 
its not strange to have a dual phase power in your home. At least there will be one for the dryers. At my work place we have a 3phase 400v ups running for the whole computer room.
 
You are right, multi-phase devices exist, in which case the differential voltage is higher than the usual single-phase line voltage.

As you increase the voltage, the current drops. As a result, there will be less power dissipated in the wires carrying the AC line voltage. That is why the power lines carry high voltage to minimize power dissipation in lines.

But, the answer to your question remains that the power (energy rate) drawn from the AC grid is the same if the loads of the 2 UPS units are the same (same power).
 
Hi, After the battery is fully charged the the UPS will draw very little power. The float charge to the Batt is very small, the UPS logic draws very little and everything else is being powered from the Wall Outlet. Good Luck, Jim
 
Actually a lot of equipment is more efficient given a higher input voltage, so if you ran your UPS off 230 instead of 115 it would probably use less Watts in standby/charging mode.

There are three types of UPS:
1- the lowest tech type is the battery backup which stays off line (on charge) unless the AC power drops below a certain set voltage - can take a few millisecs to switch over,
2- line interactive, the midtech type - this one can adjust the voltage within a narrow range w/o relying on the battery by switching between windings on the AC transformer - switches to battery when AC drops below that range - shorter switching time - seems to be the preferred choice of PC users in the US,
3- online or true UPS - this one runs the load full time off the battery - AC is just used to keep the batteries charged - this one is for areas where the power is really messy as the load is totally isolated from the mess - significantly more expensive than the other two - zero switching time.

If your PC's PSU has autoranging AC sensing, you can more safely use the cheap battery backup type as your PSU can compensate itself - some down to 100, some down to 90VAC. Of course your monitor may not be able to do the same, so you'll need the better, line-interactive UPS, unit to take care of that. Active PFC also helps to get the most uptime out of a UPS battery - usually comes along with the autoranging AC sensing in PC PSUs like my Zippy HP2-6460P.

.bh.
 
Hi, 208 is derived off of two legs of a Three Phase system. The two legs are out of phase with each other which causes it to be less than the 240 expected. Any one leg to neutral is a good 120 V. Hope this clears up the 208 question. Jim
 
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