so how long does your UPS last?

O

ozziegn

The man behind the curtain...
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
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well, I was so bored tonite that I decided to try out my APC 1500 battery back-up to see what it's runtime would be.

so I un-plugged the unit and used my PC as normal and got at least 30 minutes. I say "at least" because I plugged it back in after 30 minutes because I had to go outside for a little while and didnt want the machine to die on its own.

I was wondering what other peoples' runtimes are compared to my results. so, un-plug your UPS from the wall and tell us what kind of runtime you get and BE HONEST.

and by the way, tell us what you have for a battey back-up, PC and monitor so we can have a general idea of how hard your UPS has to work.

here's my system:

P4 2.4C with a 20" (Dell 2001FP) LCD.
 
I havent used an UPS or even a surge suppressor on my home machines in over 15 years. Probability is gonna get me soon!
 
i just got a UPS here a little while back but i mainly got it for the voltage regulator.. i havent tried out the runtime on it though.. i've been meaning to do it but i dont wanna ruin my good uptime :p

i got a cypberpower 625AVR with a 19" samsung crt, my pc, and my hydor L30 pump plugged into it.. so i'm not really expecting a lot outta it
 
Didja know that when using an UPS your equipment is actually running off the battery all the time? Theres some who believe an UPS isnt good for your equipment because your using DC power instead. AC power is cleaner than DC, the AC wavelength is smooth while DC looks like blocks.

Originally they wanted to make it so your equipment ran off ac and the battery was charged for backup but there isn't the technology for fast enough switching that could turn on the battery without interrupting flow to the equipment.

Just thought I'd share that. I looked into this years ago, so dont quote me word for word on everything :D
 
I think your right about the "running off the battery" bit. I got a UPS that couldn't charge the batttery fast enough so after 3-4 days it would run down and die and forcefully shut off my computer. This was a UPS 350 or so and my power supply is a Antec 430 wt and I had a LCD running on it too. I might try to get enough cash together to by a bigger backup supply, but I just don't know if its worth it. I live in MN and I have only had a few power problems (during large storms).
 
Originally posted by Supchaka
Didja know that when using an UPS your equipment is actually running off the battery all the time? Theres some who believe an UPS isnt good for your equipment because your using DC power instead. AC power is cleaner than DC, the AC wavelength is smooth while DC looks like blocks.

Just thought I'd share that. I looked into this years ago, so dont quote me word for word on everything :D
Click to expand...

does square wave out still exist?
i haven't seen anything lately that doesn't use pseudo sine (which is a much much closer approximation of AC than Sqaure wave could ever be)
But yea, square wave would not be healthy for something like a computer PSU.

in any event i know that's not the case with my APC supply. It only runs off battery when the output of the filter is out of the acceptable range.
It may very well be true for other manufacturers (it would be a simpler design).
 
Originally posted by Supchaka
Didja know that when using an UPS your equipment is actually running off the battery all the time? Theres some who believe an UPS isnt good for your equipment because your using DC power instead. AC power is cleaner than DC, the AC wavelength is smooth while DC looks like blocks.

Originally they wanted to make it so your equipment ran off ac and the battery was charged for backup but there isn't the technology for fast enough switching that could turn on the battery without interrupting flow to the equipment.

Just thought I'd share that. I looked into this years ago, so dont quote me word for word on everything :D
Click to expand...

I have a APC UPS and I can tell you definatly it is not running of the battery unless the power gets bad or goes out. I can hear it click on and off.

I get about 25 minutes out of it with the monitor turned off. It's a 500 volt model.
 
Originally posted by -=iNsAnE=-

i got a cypberpower 625AVR with a 19" samsung crt
Click to expand...

is the cyberpower thing a UPS or a PC? if it is a UPS, I didn't know cyberpower made UPSs.
 
I was under the impression that UPS's always ran off the battery. I figured that it was Wall --> UPS(battery) --> PSU

If the power went off, it would just be UPS(battery) --> PSU, with the end result still being that your computer had power.
 
No, they only use battery power when the power is out.
If they constantly ran off battery, the battery would be exhausted very quickly.
I've got an APC 3000 running a dual-21" monitor setup. I tested it for an hour before I got sick of hearing it beep.
 
Originally posted by Trekster
I was under the impression that UPS's always ran off the battery. I figured that it was Wall --> UPS(battery) --> PSU

If the power went off, it would just be UPS(battery) --> PSU, with the end result still being that your computer had power.
Click to expand...

Nope. They switch on and off. You don't have to use it, but they come with a program that let's you set the parameters to which they activate and display the stats on the power such as voltage etc.
 
EDIT: ok I just searched again... Theres two types and one that does turn on in under 5ms, which I don't consider "uninterrupted".

Actually the more expensive are the type that DO run off the battery all the time. I thought it was the other way around, let me get my foot out of my mouth
 
Mine lasts about 5 minutes. However I cant stand the beeping so ive got the comp set to shutdown should the ups come on
 
Originally posted by Supchaka
EDIT: ok I just searched again... Theres two types and one that does turn on in under 5ms, which I don't consider "uninterrupted".

Actually the more expensive are the type that DO run off the battery all the time. I thought it was the other way around, let me get my foot out of my mouth
Click to expand...
For reference, there are basically two types of UPSs:

-'standby': when AC power is available, the battery is being charged and the connected equipment is supplied with power which is led through a surge protector and similar first. Only when the UPS is not able to smooth out the incoming AC power (like during a brown-/black-out) does it switch to battery power.
It does take a short while for this switching to happen, but a well-designed PSU should have a large enough buffer to deal with such a short interruption.

- 'on-line': AC power charges the battery and the battery is used to supply power to the connected equipment.
Actually, this used to be how such UPS worked, but because this is hardly efficient and safe (batteries wear out fast and the charging process and a constantly running inverter produces a lot of heat), the battery in modern on-line UPS is largely bypassed.
 
I get around 45 minutes with 2 systems running (my freebsd server, dual PII 300, 128MB and 14 cd drives, and my desktop box, which is a duron 1200, 640MB 2 IDE drives 2 burners and 1 10K scsi drive) with both moniters off. I get around 30 minutes with one on. (I usually shut off one moniter and some of the other stuff on the ups when the power goes out) This is with an APC Smart-Ups 900 running on 2 12V 18AH batteries (not the normal batteries)
 
Memories. Long ago I got an APC 500CS for $10 at a garage sale, battery was DOA. For grins I grabbed the extra battery from my motorhome to see if the UPS worked, and it worked well. I ran it (Athlon 1.3 and 17 inch monitor CRT) over 90 minutes on battery power before I plugged the cord back in, no telling how long it could have gone on that big deep cycle. Left that batt on it for 6 months until I needed the batt for a trip. Eventually gave the UPS to my bro, along with a real replacement battery, still works 2 years later.
 
I get about 30 minutes off my apc rs-100. it doesn't switch to use the batter unless needed. it also had a buffer just a a psu does so that there is no drop in power during the switchover. newer up
s doen't use a squirewave anymore.

and, unless they have changed it, mose psu's also convert the power from ac, to dc, back to ac, and then to the different dc power levels to buffere the wave as it is. so, the square wave would not effect it as much.
 
My lasts about 30mins with 3 switchs, 1 cable modem, my Athlon 850 server, my p4 1.8 main box, and a 17" crt.

This was during the blackout during august, havent tested it again yet. All my stuff is on it now except for my speakers (500w sub would drain it quickly :O)

It's a Cyberpower 900AVR that I got for a $100 around a year ago.
 
Dont know how long mine last, but they do last a good long while, as long as the monitor is turned off. :)

If I am playing on the computer in the dark, or watching tv in the dark, I never notice a blackout as most everything I have has a UPS on it.
I have 4x 650 APC, a BF-500 APC, a 350 APC, several 400's.....Getting the batteries for my 1400 this weekend. :) My cablemodem & router sit on their own 400 APC ups....Got all these UPS's for free, except for my first 650. :)
 
my 300va lasts about 8 minutes on my 1.33ghz athlon system.:eek:

i actually have two 300vas, one for the computer and one for my 19inch monitor.

just long enough to save my stuff or to finish burning a cd.
 
I'm too lazy to test it but my RS800 says it'll give me about 14 or 15 minutes.

15 right now actually. Currently I'm drawing 270 watts with the 2.8ghz system in my rig and the two monitors on.
 
Originally posted by Supchaka
Didja know that when using an UPS your equipment is actually running off the battery all the time? Theres some who believe an UPS isnt good for your equipment because your using DC power instead. AC power is cleaner than DC, the AC wavelength is smooth while DC looks like blocks.
Click to expand...

Cheaper UPS's like the very basic Back-UPS from APC, run off of AC Mains and switch to battery when voltage level drops. This is a far cheaper design than ALWAYS on Battery, because you can build a cheaper DC->AC convertor that only has to operate for shorter periods of time. These devices do NOT do much for cleaning the power supply beyond what a good surge protector can do. These devices do suffer from switch speeds, however most are fast enough for most peoples needs, however I do have an OLD SPARC that can not work with my cheap APC Backups because of this, however my other AMD Athlon system works fine with the slow switch over.

The more expensive UPS do actually run off battery full time. They have higher quality DC->AC convertors, and they do have decent filtering to make a near sine wave output. They do NOT output a pure Square Wave and produce a much cleaner output than is usually found on an AC mains.

I have a couple of UPS, 2 of the always on battery type and one cheaper of the switch over type.

One APC Backups Pro 1100 connected to an Athlon 550 and Athlon 900 system. I get about 20 minutes on that one. Another APC Backups Pro 650 connected to an Athlon XP 2000+ with 3 HDs and an ATI 9700 Pro and a 17" LCD display and I get about 6minutes.

The last one is a plain jane APC BackUPS 650 connected to a 16 port switch, Cable Modem, WIFI AP, not sure how long I get on that, never really tested it.
 
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