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UPS or a Power Conditioner?

W

wWooDd

Member
Prior to building my new machine I have been given the suggestion of a UPS with burnout protection to avoid another failing power supply. Well, I know a UPS is really usefully for outages & brownouts but I think the issue I'm trying to avoid is just a crappy current in this old building. So while shopping around newegg & tigerdirect I realized that there are also power conditioners as well - a good one ammounts to the cost of a decent UPS from my observations. Now, I'm not overly concerned about a power outage or thunderstorms and things of that nature so I'm wondering if I shouldn't get a power conditioner instead of a UPS? To me, at least, it seems so much simpler to find a power conditioner instad of wading through the many specifications of a UPS I'm not even sure I'm getting for the right reason.

Any suggetions between the two? People suggest APC & Belkin for a UPS and I was looking at an offordable Panamax conditioner (PM8DBSEX) but I also now Monster is a fairly well known brand where as I've never heard of Panamax. I also saw a few (not many) APC & Belkin power conditions. I noticed any thing listed with an automated voltage control tends to be either pricy or a reviewer has had some issues with the unit/software as well.

Thanks for any help! I will post specs of my machine upon request if needed.
 
I'll have to check out APC's site. Brick Wall was definately interesting but its quite pricy (I'm looking around $50-$100) - definately on my favorites, though. Any other suggestions? Thanks guys!
 
Look at APC's overstock section. Sometimes they have great deals on brand new overstocked UPS for cheap.
 
Look for a line-interactive UPS (one or two step above the cheapest standby types). Those usually have several steps of voltage compensation w/o having to switch to battery as well as some EMI/RFI filtering and surge suppression. APC, TrippLite and CyberPower are popular brands. Powerware UPSes are also good but not as easy to find (merger of SafePower, Exide, Deltronics etc.).

.bh.
 
And if your PSU has active PFC and full-range AC compensation (e.g. Enhance ENP-5140GH/5i50GH, most Zippys, Seasonics, etc.) then you could probably get by with the simplest battery backup that has decent emi/rfi filters and surge suppression. Let the PSU itself take care of everything except total dropouts.

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
And if your PSU has active PFC and full-range AC compensation (e.g. Enhance ENP-5140GH/5i50GH, most Zippys, Seasonics, etc.) then you could probably get by with the simplest battery backup that has decent emi/rfi filters and surge suppression. Let the PSU itself take care of everything except total dropouts.

.bh.
Click to expand...

I just checked out Seasonic's site to see just what they could deal with.
SS-401HT, supports an input voltage range of 90-264VAC!
Pretty impressive.


UPSes: Some of Cyberpower's units have some kind of built-in voltage regulation, which I assume tries to keep the outgoing voltage reasonably stable without switching to battery power unless absolutely necessary. I have yet to experience a dropoff that was less than 110VAC without it being a complete outage, so I can't really comment on this capability.
 
Do yourself a favour and get electrician to have look at your apartment. Crappy wiring is dangerous.
 
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