Silly Questions about UPS'

[Tarvaln]

I moved in to an older house with all my cool newish technology. I've come across the problem of my computer resetting or turning off due to loss of power in that room or partial loss of power. I've trying fixing the house by checking the breaker box and wiring but simply the house is too old and wiring too small for all my cool stuff.

I want to buy a UPS which I know will turn on during complete loss of power but what about partial loss? Also does it regulate power so I'm getting a constant feed to my PC, monitors and devices?

My PSU is a 550 watt. I have 2 monitors, 1 router, 1 cable modem and 2 speakers in that room. I'm guessing I need a 650-700 watt UPS. If anyone has any suggestion on watts or brands of PSU; I'd appreciate it.


Any advice (besides reroll on the house) would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[dguy6789]

Depends on the UPS you get.

The two features you want to make sure your ups has are battery back up and automatic voltage regulation. The battery backup is obvious, it allows your devices to stay on for a limited amount of time when the power goes out, perfect for houses with power that flickers a lot. AVR feeds all of the devices connected to it a constantly stable amount of voltage so that devices don't get worn out or damaged from having to deal with voltage fluctuations in the power fed to them.

This is what I use for the rig in my signature:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16842102044

I run one 22" LCD, one computer, my cable modem, my router, and my external hard drive on it. I am quite happy with how well it works. Since you want to run speakers and multiple monitors, you'd probably be better off with a higher level model such as this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16842102043

or this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16842102041

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Tarvaln
I moved in to an older house with all my cool newish technology. I've come across the problem of my computer resetting or turning off due to loss of power in that room or partial loss of power. I've trying fixing the house by checking the breaker box and wiring but simply the house is too old and wiring too small for all my cool stuff.

I want to buy a UPS which I know will turn on during complete loss of power but what about partial loss? Also does it regulate power so I'm getting a constant feed to my PC, monitors and devices?

My PSU is a 550 watt. I have 2 monitors, 1 router, 1 cable modem and 2 speakers in that room. I'm guessing I need a 650-700 watt UPS. If anyone has any suggestion on watts or brands of PSU; I'd appreciate it.

Here's my sage advice, if you own the house and plan to stay there for a few years...
1. Don't confuse "wattage" rating with "VA" rating, when sizing a UPS.
1000VA = 500W-800W (depending on the individual UPS unit)

2. I would (and have), install surge protection for the whole house in the form of...
Delta Surge Capacitor CA-302R AND Delta Surge Arrestor LA-302R
3. Be smart about what items NEED to be running during a blackout...
PC, 1 monitor (yes)... router, cable modem (maybe)... speakers (no).
4. Buy a line-interactive (AVR), UPS with plenty of capacity for the components connected.

In this case, "overkill" is good.

 

[0roo0roo]

err i have doubts. how are u sure its the wiring. are lights going off at the same time as the pc? house wiring even weedy wiring is enough to feed a 500watt psu pc.. pc's don't really use 500watts. most use a fraction of that, more like 100watts idle if its a consumer model of recent build. maybe 150idle if its a gamer spec. insane spec mabye 200 watts idle. even peak it doesn't really get heinous even with monitors and such.

a simple blow dryer will suck down 1600watts for instance.

i'm guessing your pc/psu is faulty and misbehaving before the wiring

there are different ups. some come on a moment after power failure, the better more expensive kind sits between your pc and the power grid and constantly feeds power through itself so theres no gap...and the power is always clean.

 

[VirtualLarry]

One place that I was living in, the lights would dim whenever someone used the microwave oven. My UPS was invaluable then, as it would switch over to battery when that happened.

I would suggest getting a good-sized UPS (500W or better, so around 800-900VA), and one with AVR (automatic voltage regulation). AVR means that if the voltage drops, it may not switch entirely over to battery, instead, it uses the battery to boost the voltage back up when it droops.

I got some nice Ativa brand UPSs, 1200VA/720W at Office Depot on clearance for $75 ea. You could check your local OD to see if they have any clearance UPSes left, most were probably cleared out last month. (Ativa is OEMed by APC)