Surge Protector Under Heavy Load

[busia12]

Okay...

I'm in a college dorm room, which means I have 4 power outlets and an ethernet jack for all my living needs. Naturally, I have more power-hungry devices than I do outlets, so I have a APC UPS (http://apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=21) which has always done the job for me. If you look at the provided link for my UPS, you'll see that it has three plugs labeled "Battery Back Up & Surge Protection" and three simply labeled, "Surge Protection". There has always been this little quirk where it will only cooperate with me if my stuff is plugged in certain orientations. For instance, sometimes if I plug both my monitor and my tower into the battery backup side, it will beep at me. However, if I switch my monitor to the surge protection side, it's all happy. For this reason, I think my UPS may be on the fritz.

Anyone agree with my diagnosis? If so, what should I look into investing in? I'm on limited budget, but you'll be able to see from my list of stuff that needs power, I'm willing to spend for something that will do the job reliably.

Remember - I have 4 outlets. These are my devices. I'll include some specifics in case there are any electrical engineers out there who want to get technical. I need a compact solution for plugging 9 things into 4 outlets.

Computer tower 1 - (large power source, gaming machine)
Computer tower 2 - (small power source, web hosting and file server)
20.1 inch widescreen monitor - (Dell)
Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
Desk lamp - (40 W bulb and auxiliary 120V outlet)
Printer - (standard HP all-in-one)
Xbox 360
Western Digital External Harddrive
Linksys wired router

Thanks in advance for your help.

-----------------------------------------
G. Updike - Undergraduate
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

 

[robisbell]

that sounds like the electrical outlet it's plugged into is not rated for the UPS to fully do it's job.

 

[busia12]

yeah... I figured as much, I suppose what I'm looking for is a solution. Something that will give me the power I need, and not cause fires.

 

[robisbell]

Computer tower 1 - (large power source, gaming machine)
Computer tower 2 - (small power source, web hosting and file server)
20.1 inch widescreen monitor - (Dell)

those should be plugged into the power backup/surge side.

Printer - (standard HP all-in-one)
Western Digital External Harddrive
Linksys wired router

into just the surge protect side.


the rest plug into a surge protector on another outlet completely.

 

[bwatson283]

Originally posted by: robisbell
Computer tower 1 - (large power source, gaming machine)
Computer tower 2 - (small power source, web hosting and file server)
20.1 inch widescreen monitor - (Dell)

those should be plugged into the power backup/surge side.

Printer - (standard HP all-in-one)
Western Digital External Harddrive
Linksys wired router

into just the surge protect side.


the rest plug into a surge protector on another outlet completely.

Aggreed

 

[busia12]

That makes sense to me also.... however I get an alarm beep when I try to power everything on in that configuration....almost as if the UPS can't handle it or the wall outlet can't support it. Any more insights??

 

[robisbell]

make and model of UPS?

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: busia12
If you look at the provided link for my UPS, you'll see that it has three plugs labeled "Battery Back Up & Surge Protection" and three simply labeled, "Surge Protection". There has always been this little quirk where it will only cooperate with me if my stuff is plugged in certain orientations. For instance, sometimes if I plug both my monitor and my tower into the battery backup side, it will beep at me. However, if I switch my monitor to the surge protection side, it's all happy. For this reason, I think my UPS may be on the fritz.

When the power load on the battery backup side exceeds what the UPS/battery ratings, you will get a beep, and things will fail to turn on. That's the UPS protecting itself and your other stuff from damage. If you want to run that way, you'll need a higher rated UPS.

Also, as the battery ages, its capacity decreases. If the UPS is a couple years old, I would look into replacing the battery. The UPS unit itself sounds like it's working fine.

I've had the same problems with three different computers (not mine!) because people kept getting UPS's based on price range instead of based on their power usage.

:roll:

They would buy a 250W UPS for a computer requiring a 350W+ PSU. Sure, the wattage specs on most PSUs are a bit overblown; nonetheless, computers do have differing power requirements, and, if you look at some UPS battery time charts, differently-rated units can have a *huge* difference in the amount of time they support for the same PC.

What happens when you put too much strain on electrical equipment? The breakers start to trip to protect the devices. That's what the beep code is for.

Swapping UPS units between computers so that the power requirements matched the devices being run off the UPS battery slots fixed the issues. I also had to return one UPS and get a much higher-rated model. Now they work as intended.

If you are looking into the most cost effective solution, safety-wise, I highly recommend (a) getting a second UPS for the power-hungry computer, and (b) talking to your dorm's maintenance person (or someone else with such knowledge) about how much current can be safely drawn from your outlets.

But, personally, I would probably skip (b).

 

[busia12]

skipping (b) sounds like the least "terrorist-likely" solution. thanks!

I'll look into a higher rated UPS.... I'm sick of having to play musical chairs with my outlets.

The surge protector is in fact a couple of years old.... maybe that will do it.

I'll check back here in a bit once I've done some more research.

 

[robisbell]

what is the make and model of UPS?

 

[busia12]

I included a link in my original post, robisbell.

 

[robisbell]

okay, a APC, but which model?