CyberPower CP700AVR 700 VA 350 Watts 6 Outlets UPS - $39.99 after promo code EMCYNZT48, expires today at midnight PST.

 

Is this UPS appropriate for unRAID?  I've been telling myself that as soon as I saw a good UPS on sale, I would buy it.  I've been waiting for an APS brand, since they seem to be the most popular here.  I've never heard of CyberPower.  Anyone have any experience with them?

 

Also, my server currently runs on a 380 W PSU (with 8 HDDs).  I know that my server doesn't use the full 380 W (I've tested it with a Kill-A-Watt), but is there any issue with running my server on this 350 W UPS?

That's a nice price for a UPS if you get the shipping at a reasonable rate.

 

...

 

You can get away with a 350 watt ups with the right monitor software.

You only need enough power to detect a loss and shutdown gracefully.

 

You would need to check what the power utilization is when you power up all drives at one time.

unRAID will issue a sync on all disks, thereby causing them to spin up before shutting them down.

The UPS will need to provide enough power for the initial power on spike and enough power to last through a shutdown.

 

Keep in mind, most UPS's measure the power output in VA not WATTS. Therefore switch the kill-a-watt to VA or do the mathematics before choosing one on the edge of your server's possible power utilization.

 

Also keep in mind where you would get or what it will cost to replace the batteries.

I've had the APC SU1400NET UPS for years and have replaced the batteries twice via Refurbups.com

Do a search on CyberPower in the forum... Others have reported it works with apcupsd with minor edits to the config file.

Thanks for the responses.  I think I'll order one, for better or for worse.  Worst case scenario, I'll just use it for my desktop or HTPC/TV set up.  Or just return it.  The sale ends tonight, and I've got a hot rock climbing date after work, so I won't have time to test my server's VA tonight  

 

Edit: Oh, and shipping is free.

Good price, especially with free shipping. (batteries are heavy)

 

It has a serial cable interface to the computer.  You'll need to have a serial port on your MB for it.

Good price, especially with free shipping. (batteries are heavy)

 

For Sure. The batteries for my su1400 are very heavy.

 

Check around to see how you would replace the batteries on this unit too.

Many times I get the UPS without batteries on eBay and then purchase the APC batteries from somewhere else.

Also, my server currently runs on a 380 W PSU (with 8 HDDs).  I know that my server doesn't use the full 380 W (I've tested it with a Kill-A-Watt), but is there any issue with running my server on this 350 W UPS?

For reference, I have a 750VA UPS on my server.  My server has 16 disk drives on a pair of 300 watt power-supplies, and I get about 6 minutes run-time.

Got the unit yesterday, it definitely was heavy (16 lbs).  Seems to be of good quality, though I really don't have any frame of reference for that.  So far I'm only using it for my unRAID server.  I originally tried to put my desktop, HTPC, TV, speakers, and unRAID server on it, but that was too much.  I tested it after the initial 4 hour charge time and it seemed to work perfectly (it beeps annoying while running on battery power, but I suppose that's a 'feature').  No LCD screen to tell me how much time is left, I suppose that is all supposed to happen through the included (Windows only) software.

 

The UPS has a serial port, and my motherboard does not.  Which is the simpler solution - to install an internal serial cable (since my mobo has a 'com' port), or to find a serial-to-USB converter and keep it all external?

Got the unit yesterday, it definitely was heavy (16 lbs).  Seems to be of good quality, though I really don't have any frame of reference for that.  So far I'm only using it for my unRAID server.  I originally tried to put my desktop, HTPC, TV, speakers, and unRAID server on it, but that was too much.  I tested it after the initial 4 hour charge time and it seemed to work perfectly (it beeps annoying while running on battery power, but I suppose that's a 'feature').  No LCD screen to tell me how much time is left, I suppose that is all supposed to happen through the included (Windows only) software.

 

The UPS has a serial port, and my motherboard does not.  Which is the simpler solution - to install an internal serial cable (since my mobo has a 'com' port), or to find a serial-to-USB converter and keep it all external?

It is completely unknown if a USB to serial converter will work at all on a UPS connected to the unRAID server.  I would guess they would NOT work since there are no usb-to-serial drivers in unRAID.

 

Get the serial cable to attach it to your COM port.  It should then work just fine.  The "apcupsd" software package you can install should allow you to see the status of the UPS. 

OK, thanks Joe L.  I didn't even know that serial-to-USB converters existed before I saw one pictured in the UPS's documentation.

 

Edit: Also, I expect a PCI-to-Serial converter like this would work as well, yes?  I don't really mind devoting a PCI slot to this function since my current motherboard has two, and any additional SATA expansion cards I buy will be PCI-express.

Got mine too and hooked it up tonight.  Works very nice and after charging I unplugged it to test out and it gave me a good 7-10 minutes of power.  I currently don't have the serial cable hooked up since my MB does not have a port, but will likely get a COM adapter.  The nice thing is this UPS has 3 plugs that run on the battery, so I was able to plug in my server, PC, and monitor.  So that way if I loose power in the interim I can still power the server down from my PC before the UPS is drained.  Now if I lose the power when I am not home then unfortunately it will still power down, but at least for now I am protected from the times when I lose my power for a few seconds.  If you successful hook it up using the serial cable please be sure to post how it worked out.