Not sure if im in the right area of the forum but seemed the best section. I have been having annoying power outages at night and its upsetting my server. So im after a UPS that will run the server for say 60 seconds and then if power not restored shut down. Lots of options on amazon for £100 mark. Any particular brands play nicely with Unraid? any to avoid?

1 hour ago, Randall8686 said:

Any particular brands play nicely with Unraid?

Generally APC and can also Cyberpower seems to work from what I read on the forum.

2 hours ago, Randall8686 said:

Lots of options on amazon for £100 mark

Have you measured your power draw at the wall when you start a parity check? You need to make sure whichever model you choose can comfortably handle your max draw for several minutes, in case there are processes running that take some time to exit cleanly.

 

Find your max VA draw, then compare that to the time / power curve provided for the UPS models you are considering. Be mindful that in order to be kind to the UPS batteries, you need to draw down to less than 50% capacity. Also keep in mind recharge times, typical is 10 to 20X outage duration. So if you run on batteries for 5 minutes, you may need nearly 2 hours to be fully charged for the next event, if you have multiple outages in rapid succession.

Id error on the side or larger vs it should be enough if your having multiple brown outs every night. 

While I agree with you guys, it feels like it might end up way off the £100 mark.  

8 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

While I agree with you guys, it feels like it might end up way off the £100 mark.  

Yep. Power regulation for an unattended machine generally needs about double that, for a modest server. The little (insert western currency here)100 units are generally not up to the task of keeping a server healthy. The local big box warehouse club sometimes has had 1500VA units on sale for US$99, but I'm afraid inflation has moved that marker significantly upward.

I looked into it all and went with a 850VA 520watt APC unit. I could get my system to draw 300watts doing 2x 4k plex transcodes and while doing a parity check. however the chances of that being done at the same time and during a power cut (given my router will loose power so plex transcodes will be cut off) are very very slim. Im not after it staying on. if the power is out for more than say 30/60 seconds then all i want is it to gracefully shut down until i can go turn it back on. 

 

Talking of turning it back on can this be done remotely quite easily? I would not have an issue leaving the server off until the UPS is charged back up. 

50 minutes ago, Randall8686 said:

 

Talking of turning it back on can this be done remotely quite easily?

Depends on equipment you have. The most direct is WOL hosted in your router, combined with a VPN hosted in your router.

53 minutes ago, Randall8686 said:

I looked into it all and went with a 850VA 520watt APC unit.

As long as your unattended shutdown can happen in 2 minutes or less, you should be fine. I'm not sure I found that exact unit, but an 850VA APC I found specs on is rated for 6 minutes at 300W, so if you wait 1 minute before starting shutdown, you need to be done and powered off before the 3 minute mark. It listed typical recharge times of 12 hours, so if you draw down to 50% you need to wait at least 6 hours before waking things back up.

 

That's running a little close for my taste, but everyone's risk tolerance is different.

 

58 minutes ago, Randall8686 said:

given my router will loose power so plex transcodes will be cut off

I recommend dry runs to see how things act.

 

Keep the server plugged in where it is, so it doesn't lose power during the test. Find a way to switch the input power to your new UPS without unplugging it. Switched outlet, power strip, whatever. It's vitally important the ground stays connected the entire time. Plug the USB communication lead into your server, verify it is detected and monitoring properly. Find roughly 300W of load, like a small space heater on low, or something similar. Old school halogen floodlamps are good too. Plug that into the power protected outlet of the UPS, verify the server is showing the load in the UPS monitoring. Turn off the supply to the UPS, and observe the server. Don't intervene, just let it think the power is down. Time how long it waits to start shutting down, and how long the process takes. Verify the dummy load on the UPS has stayed stable, no blinking lights or abnormal heater fan speed variations. When the server powers off, turn off the dummy load. Leave the power turned off to the UPS for a period of time, to simulate prolonged outage. Power up the UPS if it turned off, turn on the dummy load, boot the server. See how the stats look for charge percentage and such.

I've been running that 850 for a while. Normally I'm only Transcoding 1 maybe 2 at a time with 6 Drives. I've not had any issues. However I am as I type this ordering a 1500.

 

When I say I've had no issues doesn't mean nobody else will not. Seeing @JonathanM Math is pretty telling so I'm opting for something larger.

 

 

8 minutes ago, kizer said:

Math is pretty telling so I'm opting for something larger.

It's nice having a little margin so if things don't go to plan you aren't left holding the bag.

 

9 minutes ago, kizer said:

I've not had any issues.

How often has it been called into action? The issue I typically see is that people test under the best conditions, then when things actually happen it's not as clean and pretty as your test scenario. For example, you forgot you had a long running file copy open in a terminal, so the timeout waits much longer to kill things, or if you are there onsite watching it you frantically try to log in to close things down, all the while the battery backup is beeping faster and faster. The wifi access point you were connected to is on a different battery backup, just a small one, and it dies as you are logging in with a laptop that hasn't been charged, and is taking a painfully long time to boot up, your primary PC is already shut down, and you can't find a patch cable long enough to reach the stepstool you are balancing the laptop on.

 

Having an extra 5 minute cushion can mean the difference between a clean shutdown and a 24 hour parity check.

 

Can you tell I speak from first hand experience? 🤣

Uhm, I hear it click now and then. Lol

 

I've lost power a couple times and its safely shut off, but I've not put it to the test per say. Its always shut off safely under the best conditions. Meaning it was idling anyways so none of the drives was up. 

But....... I've been eyeballing a 1500 for a while and decided today is the day. 

I have A old APC SmartUPS. 1500 have it connected to my Router.

and My server. over the network.

network switch is Plugged in too.

At 11% load.

 

Just threw up my 1500 last night. Crazy amounts of reserve for my system. Not sure why I had to restart my APC Daemon just now since I restarted my machine last night, but I'll keep an eye on it. 

 

 

 

 

Yes I'm fully aware this is while its idling. I think when it was all drives spinning doing 1 Transcode last night I saw it with 90Minute uptime. Still not going to believe that 100%, but its just amazing seeing some numbers like that.  I haven't loaded up my router on to it yet or my monitor, but taking steps.

 

 

On 8/24/2022 at 12:08 AM, JonathanM said:

Keep the server plugged in where it is, so it doesn't lose power during the test. Find a way to switch the input power to your new UPS without unplugging it. Switched outlet, power strip, whatever. It's vitally important the ground stays connected the entire time. Plug the USB communication lead into your server, verify it is detected and monitoring properly. Find roughly 300W of load, like a small space heater on low, or something similar. Old school halogen floodlamps are good too. Plug that into the power protected outlet of the UPS, verify the server is showing the load in the UPS monitoring. Turn off the supply to the UPS, and observe the server. Don't intervene, just let it think the power is down. Time how long it waits to start shutting down, and how long the process takes. Verify the dummy load on the UPS has stayed stable, no blinking lights or abnormal heater fan speed variations. When the server powers off, turn off the dummy load. Leave the power turned off to the UPS for a period of time, to simulate prolonged outage. Power up the UPS if it turned off, turn on the dummy load, boot the server. See how the stats look for charge percentage and such.

This is some solid testing to simulate real life advice. thank you.

Edited August 31, 20223 yr by brucejobs

I too am looking to add a UPS.  I know there is a feature that the UPS can tell a computer that power is out and to shutdown.  I don't know what this is called so I can make sure I get it.

1 hour ago, jtcweb said:

I too am looking to add a UPS.  I know there is a feature that the UPS can tell a computer that power is out and to shutdown.  I don't know what this is called so I can make sure I get it.

Below is a short thread from a few years ago. You are basically looking for an UPS that works with apcupsd, though you might not find that specified in the literature for any specific model.

 

There is also the NUT plugin which tries to work with additional models, but I've never tried it. I always just go with APC or Cyberpower.

 

 

On 8/22/2022 at 7:39 PM, Randall8686 said:

Lots of options on amazon for £100 mark. Any particular brands play nicely with Unraid?

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/94250-ups-bluewalkerpowerwalker-cyberpower-apc/

I use the following here in the UK. Powercool Smart UPS 2000VA 2 x UK Plug 4 x IEC RJ45 x 2 USB LCD Display for 3 servers works with NUT.

 

Is  "True Sign Wave" needed?  It cost more and from my understanding all computer stuff changes the power to DC anyway.

Is true sign wave needed?  For most modern computer power supplies, not really.

 

However, UPS that output true sign wave typically have a better build quality, as it is a feature not offered in the cheaper model line a company offers.  For me, you don't buy the cheapest possible when it is something that runs 24/7/365 and is insurance to protect something I value.

10 hours ago, jtcweb said:

Is  "True Sign Wave" needed?

No need.