Subwoofer flips battery backup

[Green Gigs]

I was wondering if any of you could tell me why my logitech 4.1 sound system trips my battery backup when turned on. It usually only happens when the sub has been turned off over night. If I turn it on and off within a couple hours it doesn't do this. Also, I know when it is going to happen because when I flip the power switch on it will buzz quite loudly before triping the battery backup and then returning to its normal "humming" sound.

Is my sub going bad? Is it damaging to a battery backup from APC to be tripped frequently?

Thanks!

 

[vi edit]

Is the sub plugged into the battery backup? It's not really something that I would want plugged into one. Does your APC have surge only outlets that aren't part of the battery that you can move it over to?

 

[Shawn]

You definitely shouldn't have your sub hooked up to your battery backup. Plug it into one of the non-battery plugs.

 

[Green Gigs]

My sub is not plugged into the battery backup ports, it is plugged into the "Surge Only" ports. I didn't want to plug it right into the wall outlet. My bups is the APC XS 1300 so its a good quality one. My sub also did this on my old APC BUPS 500.

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: Green Gigs
My sub is not plugged into the battery backup ports, it is plugged into the "Surge Only" ports. I didn't want to plug it right into the wall outlet. My bups is the APC XS 1300 so its a good quality one. My sub also did this on my old APC BUPS 500.

I'm getting the weirdest feeling that it has something to do with plugging it into a UPS...

 

[BassBomb]

Don't plug a sub/speakers into a UPS. Seriously.

Theres no reason to do that.

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Don't plug a sub/speakers into a UPS. Seriously.

Theres no reason to do that.

Like he said he doesn't have them on the UPS side, just the surge side, but there's still something weird going on here.
OP, let us know what you figure out.
What happens when you just plug them into the wall outlet? Do they function normally then?

 

[BassBomb]

I mean surge/ups

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Does it do it when not plugged into the ups but plugged in on the same circuit? I have an extra CRT in my PC room and when I have everything else turned on and then flip that on it causes a slight brownout that trips my UPS on the other computer.

 

[sdifox]

It's on the circuit. When you turn on the amp in the sub, it draws a lot of power, which looks like a brown-out to the UPS. Not much you can do on the cheap.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: sdifox
It's on the circuit. When you turn on the amp in the sub, it draws a lot of power, which looks like a brown-out to the UPS. Not much you can do on the cheap.

Exactly. Just buy a cheap power strip from walmart and hook your sub up to that.

 

[Green Gigs]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. So it is normal then for an amp to draw that much power when turned on? Thats what I wasn't sure of. I guess I will buy an el cheapo surge protector and hook it into that, but I haven't been able to test whether or not it will still trip the battery back up or not since all the sockets in my room are on the same circuit.

I kinda have a very staged setup for my logitech sub and speakers and it would be difficult to rearrange it to plug into a different outlet. Can someone tell me if its bad to just leave the sub switched on all the time, or should it be turned off at night? The built in amp on the sub hums noticeably, this is normal though right?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Green Gigs
Thanks for all the replies everyone. So it is normal then for an amp to draw that much power when turned on? Thats what I wasn't sure of. I guess I will buy an el cheapo surge protector and hook it into that, but I haven't been able to test whether or not it will still trip the battery back up or not since all the sockets in my room are on the same circuit.

I kinda have a very staged setup for my logitech sub and speakers and it would be difficult to rearrange it to plug into a different outlet. Can someone tell me if its bad to just leave the sub switched on all the time, or should it be turned off at night? The built in amp on the sub hums noticeably, this is normal though right?

sound like you are putting too many things on that breaker... a Logitech 4.1 sound system should not be tripping UPS

My 5x165w rms tripping UPS is understandable, your dohickey should not... how old is the breaker?
also, how big is the breaker? as in current rating.

how loud is the hum?

 

[Green Gigs]

Its a brandnew APC XS 1300 with a 15 amp breaker. Here is the spec page. http://www.apc.com/resource/in...cfm?base_sku=BX1300LCD

I only have my pc, monitor, printer, modem, and speakers plugged into it. Theres a couple slots still empty on the back, and the speakers and printer are plugged into surge only.

The sub hums loud enough that in a totally silent room it can be heard, but not if a fan is on. Do you guys just leave your subs on? One time when I left it on it seemed to me like the humming got slightly louder after a few days, and one day my battery backup was beeping to tell me it was overloaded. Hasn't happened again since turning it off frequently now...not sure if it was coincidence or not.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Green Gigs
Its a brandnew APC XS 1300 with a 15 amp breaker. Here is the spec page. http://www.apc.com/resource/in...cfm?base_sku=BX1300LCD

I only have my pc, monitor, printer, modem, and speakers plugged into it. Theres a couple slots still empty on the back, and the speakers and printer are plugged into surge only.

The sub hums loud enough that in a totally silent room it can be heard, but not if a fan is on. Do you guys just leave your subs on? One time when I left it on it seemed to me like the humming got slightly louder after a few days, and one day my battery backup was beeping to tell me it was overloaded. Hasn't happened again since turning it off frequently now...not sure if it was coincidence or not.

err, do not plug your sound system into the ups, even to the surge only part. get a power bar for it.

I was asking about the breaker in the electric panel, not the UPS.

 

[Green Gigs]

Originally posted by: sdifox
err, do not plug your sound system into the ups, even to the surge only part. get a power bar for it.

I was asking about the breaker in the electric panel, not the UPS.

Standard 15 amp breaker on the panel. You'd think there would be some kind of warning not to plug speakers into the surge only outlets of a battery backup/surge protector if it was such a problem. I'm not doubting you, I'm just saying its wierd to me to buy a $150 surge unit, and then have to buy a $5 dollar special just for my computer speakers. Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll do that and see if it helps.