UPS Recommendations

[crowdx42]

Hi all,

so I am thinking about investing in a UPS. Nothing crazy, just want something for surge protection and give 10 - 15 minutes battery life for short power outages.

Any recommendations on manufacturers or specific models?

 

Thanks

[jevans04]

I bought this one on sale last year for $80 and works good for me.

I live in Florida with frequent thunderstorms and occasional momentary power outages.

It should be able to power my server for about 30 mins if needed.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101311

 

 

[betaman]

Depends if you're running any PFC power supplies?  The UPS's that output a stepped approximation to a sine wave like the one linked above are dropping like crazy in price as manufacturers like APC, Tripplite and Cyberpower move towards backup solutions that output a true sine wave (just like your power company).  There's some obvious pros and cons but you might want to do a little more research before pulling the trigger.  Since the batteries in my APC just died, I'm trying to decide between replacing them (as my backup was working even though I have PFC supplies in my UnRAID server and PC) or spend a little extra and get a new UPS with true sine wave output.  Cyberpower is about 1/2 the cost of a similar APC or Tripplite model for similarly sized models.  I was concerned that it might not work with APCUPSD but the feedback I got appears to indicate otherwise.  See below:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31071.0

 

I'd also research current battery replacement costs as these batteries last about 3-5 years and if you go with a true sine wave model then you likely wouldn't have a need to upgrade it in the near future.

[garycase]

You don't necessarily need a true sine-wave unit; but I would NOT buy any of the very low-cost units that don't have AVR.

 

[Roger C]

I have the Cyberpower CP1000PFCLCD and can confirm it works fine with APCUPSD without any changes. Only odd thing is it shows the battery at 120% but I had a power outage last week and the server shutdown clean after my 5 minute timeout I have set.

[snowboardjoe]

I used to buy APC exclusively, but a few years ago after quite a few failures (batteries dying prematurely, unit not warning me when battery was bad, etc.) I switched.  I should add the small/compact APC versions are the ones that failed me the most.  The larger and slightly smarter units are still very reliable.  Seems like APC got a little too cheap on components with their lower end units. 

 

I've been getting CyberPower and have been very happy so far.  They've been very reliable and have almost identical features to APC.  You can get them in pure sine wave too, but I don't have a need for that.  Power in Seattle is very stable.  It the power does go out, it won't be back for many hours.  So, I only let my computing equipment run for about 5 minutes on batteries before they start performing an orderly shutdown (and I have unRAID wait 10 to make sure client connections are shutdown first).  Apcupsd talks to CyberPower just fine.  Get a unit that can provide you some good diagnostics on the front panel too.

 

This is a good starting point (adjust for your power demands):

http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP850AVRLCD-Intelligent-850VA-Mini-Tower/dp/B000RZPK1W/ref=pd_sim_e_6

 

Costco sells them too and tends to have good deals on them.

[garycase]

Agree the CyberPower units are good values -- and the one suggested above is fine for most UnRAID setups ... and has AVR (which, as I noted earlier, is a "mandatory" requirement you should check on any unit you buy).

 

[betaman]

Good point on the AVR Gary.  I forgot to mention it exclusively as I haven't come across a PFC true sine wave model without it but I'm sure it could exist.