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What size ups?

Featured Replies

I have a Norco 4220 case and a 650 watt power supply.  My questions is if the case was filled with hard drives, it's not yet, what size ups should I get?

How long an uptime do you require.

  • Author

Just enought to shut it down, maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

There are user addons that will shut it down for you. I assume this is what you refer to. Manual shutdown requires much much longer assuming you actually leave your home sometimes

  • Author

Yes, I want it to shut down automatically if the power goes out for more than 5 minutes.  What size UPS should I get?  Why does it take longer to shut down manualy?

Yes, I want it to shut down automatically if the power goes out for more than 5 minutes.  What size UPS should I get?  Why does it take longer to shut down manualy?

Get an APC brand, they are easiest to configure using the package manager built into unMENU.

Get one with the run-time around where you specified.  It takes several minutes to shut down the server, and you don't want it shutting down in a short outage, so powering down after 5 minuets actually takes at least the capability to run 7 or 8 minutes.

 

I have a APC Back-UPS 750 on my server.  It gives me about 7 minutes run time.  I have 16 disks in my server, most of them 4 or more years old (non-green drives)  I have the apcupsd software configured to shut down when there is 5 minutes run time remaining, or less than 10% battery capacity remaining, or if an outage exceeds 300 seconds.  The first of these that is reached initiates the shut-down process.

 

With all my disks sleeping I'm at 38% of capacity.

All disks spinning, it looks like this:

LOADPCT  :  58.0 Percent Load Capacity

TIMELEFT :  6.5 Minutes

 

My Back-UPS 750 is actually able to provide about 450 Watts of power.  I do have the router plugged into the UPS as well, so I can still get to the server in an outage. 

 

I know people have used the smaller Back-UPS 500, but on smaller arrays, with fewer disks.  Regardless of the UPS you get, the batteries only last about 3 or 4 years, so you'll need to replace them on occasion, and they lose capacity over time, so, 15 minutes run-time when new might be 10 minutes run-time in 4 years.  I can see my battery is due for replacement...  :(

 

So, you need a UPS with sufficient Wattage/Volt-Amperage capacity to power your server, and enough battery capacity to power it for the time duration needed for a clean shutdown.

 

Oh yes, it takes longer to shut down the server manually since you might not notice the power outage until you wake the next morning, or when you return home and find power has been lost.

 

Joe L.

  • Author

thanks but how many watts should I be looking at, more than 650 since that's what my PSU is, or just go by run time?

thanks but how many watts should I be looking at, more than 650 since that's what my PSU is, or just go by run time?

From my post:

So, you need a UPS with sufficient Wattage/Volt-Amperage capacity to power your server, and enough battery capacity to power it for the time duration needed for a clean shutdown.

How many disks do you anticipate?  It does not matter what your power supply is rated for, as you do not draw 650 watts from the wall outlet.  Odds are you draw much less.

 

You probably need something similar in size to mine, something between 750 VA and 1000 VA are typical for larger home UPS.  Commercial APC UPS have far larger capacity and run-time.  I have several of them in my theater, powering the equipment there.  (An APC Smart-UPS 1000, and an APC Smart-UPS 1400) They power the projector, the HTPC, the cable box, etc.  One of those might work if you need the extended run-time.  They can often be found on e-bay at great prices with new batteries installed..

 

If you wish to know exactly what your server is drawing, consider investing in a kill-a-watt power meter.

http://www.killawattplus.com/?gclid=CLLD0-Du0aICFUNf2godLxRRxQJoe L.

 

Joe L.

Here is the budget build with 5 Western Digital Green drives on a 750watt APC all spinning ;)

 

root@Tower:/boot/scripts# ups_status

APC      : 001,038,0944

DATE    : Fri Jul 09 15:31:05 GMT+7 2010

HOSTNAME : Tower

RELEASE  : 3.14.3

VERSION  : 3.14.3 (20 January 2008) slackware

UPSNAME  : Tower

CABLE    : Custom Cable Smart

MODEL    : Back-UPS ES 750

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: Fri Jul 09 15:16:55 GMT+7 2010

STATUS  : ONLINE

LINEV    : 121.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :  6.0 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  67.6 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 10 Percent

MINTIMEL : 5 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

SENSE    : Medium

LOTRANS  : 092.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 139.0 Volts

ALARMDEL : Always

BATTV    : 13.7 Volts

LASTXFER : Low line voltage

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2009-12-21

SERIALNO : 3B0951X68495

BATTDATE : 2001-09-25

NOMINV  : 120 Volts

NOMBATTV :  12.0 Volts

NOMPOWER : 450 Watts

FIRMWARE : 841.I3 .D USB FW:I3

APCMODEL : Back-UPS ES 750

END APC  : Fri Jul 09 15:31:12 GMT+7 2010

root@Tower:/boot/scripts# ups_status

 

All Drives shutdown

 

root@Tower:/boot/scripts# ups_status

APC      : 001,038,0944

DATE    : Fri Jul 09 15:33:32 GMT+7 2010

HOSTNAME : Tower

RELEASE  : 3.14.3

VERSION  : 3.14.3 (20 January 2008) slackware

UPSNAME  : Tower

CABLE    : Custom Cable Smart

MODEL    : Back-UPS ES 750

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: Fri Jul 09 15:16:55 GMT+7 2010

STATUS  : ONLINE

LINEV    : 121.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :  3.0 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT : 106.3 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 10 Percent

MINTIMEL : 5 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

SENSE    : Medium

LOTRANS  : 092.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 139.0 Volts

ALARMDEL : Always

BATTV    : 13.7 Volts

LASTXFER : Low line voltage

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2009-12-21

SERIALNO : 3B0951X68495

BATTDATE : 2001-09-25

NOMINV  : 120 Volts

NOMBATTV :  12.0 Volts

NOMPOWER : 450 Watts

FIRMWARE : 841.I3 .D USB FW:I3

APCMODEL : Back-UPS ES 750

END APC  : Fri Jul 09 15:33:38 GMT+7 2010

root@Tower:/boot/scripts#

Looks very impressive.  You've got a nice cushion of run-time available.

 

Joe L.

I knew the WD Greens are power sippers, but man not that much of a sipper thou.  ???

I currently have this mix of 15 drives ...

 

Model / Serial No.                                   Temperature Size

parity WDC_WD20EARS-00J_WD-WCAYY0000000    *         1953,514,552

disk1 WDC_WD1001FALS-0_WD-WMATV1400000   *           976,762,552

disk2 WDC_WD15EARS-00S_WD-WCAVY4300000   *         1465,138,552

disk3 WDC_WD15EADS-00S_WD-WCAVY0400000   *         1465,138,552

disk4 Hitachi_HDS72107_GTE200P800000               *           732,574,552

disk5 Hitachi_HDS72107_GTE200P8G00000             *           732,574,552

disk6 ST31000340AS_9QJ00000                           *           976,762,552

disk7 ST31000340AS_9QJ00000                           *           976,762,552

disk8 WDC_WD10EADS-00L_WD-WCAU45000000     *           976,762,552

disk9 WDC_WD10EADS-00M_WD-WMAV50000000   *           976,762,552

disk10 WDC_WD15EADS-00P_WD-WMAVU0100000     *         1465,138,552

disk11 WDC_WD15EADS-00P_WD-WMAVU0500000   *         1465,138,552

disk12 WDC_WD10EAVS-00D_WD-WCAU46200000     *           976,762,552

disk13 WDC_WD20EARS-00M_WD-WMAZ20200000   *         1953,514,552

cache WDC_WD5000AAKS-00YGA0_WD-WCAS82900000*           488,386,552

 

 

All Drives spun Down

APC      : 001,038,0944

DATE    : Fri Jul 09 22:12:11 PDT 2010

HOSTNAME : storage

RELEASE  : 3.14.3

VERSION  : 3.14.3 (20 January 2008) slackware

UPSNAME  : storage

CABLE    : Custom Cable Smart

MODEL    : Back-UPS ES 750

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: Fri Jul 09 18:16:28 PDT 2010

STATUS  : ONLINE

LINEV    : 115.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :  25.0 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  16.1 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 15 Percent

MINTIMEL : 5 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 600 Seconds

SENSE    : Medium

LOTRANS  : 092.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 139.0 Volts

ALARMDEL : Always

BATTV    : 13.7 Volts

LASTXFER : Low line voltage

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2010-01-29

SERIALNO : 3B1005X42791

BATTDATE : 2001-09-25

NOMINV  : 120 Volts

NOMBATTV :  12.0 Volts

NOMPOWER : 450 Watts

FIRMWARE : 841.I3 .D USB FW:I3

APCMODEL : Back-UPS ES 750

END APC  : Fri Jul 09 22:12:12 PDT 2010

 

 

During Parity Check

APC      : 001,038,0944

DATE    : Fri Jul 09 22:09:57 PDT 2010

HOSTNAME : storage

RELEASE  : 3.14.3

VERSION  : 3.14.3 (20 January 2008) slackware

UPSNAME  : storage

CABLE    : Custom Cable Smart

MODEL    : Back-UPS ES 750

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: Fri Jul 09 18:16:28 PDT 2010

STATUS  : ONLINE

LINEV    : 114.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :  50.0 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  7.8 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 15 Percent

MINTIMEL : 5 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 600 Seconds

SENSE    : Medium

LOTRANS  : 092.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 139.0 Volts

ALARMDEL : Always

BATTV    : 13.7 Volts

LASTXFER : Low line voltage

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2010-01-29

SERIALNO : 3B1005X42791

BATTDATE : 2001-09-25

NOMINV  : 120 Volts

NOMBATTV :  12.0 Volts

NOMPOWER : 450 Watts

FIRMWARE : 841.I3 .D USB FW:I3

APCMODEL : Back-UPS ES 750

END APC  : Fri Jul 09 22:09:56 PDT 2010

 

to choose this UPS I took the readings from my Kill-a-watt to find maximum power draw on boot which was lower than 450 Watt maximum this UPS was rated for ... and then I tried to guess the battery runtime hoping for five minutes plus 50% for battery aging.

 

In my case all drives spun down I get 25% utilization (16.1 minutes) ... and all drives spun up I get 50% utilization (7.8 minutes) ...

 

So depending on how long an automated shutdown takes ... and how many more drives I add ... and what I would assume the battery capacity would be in four years ... this UPS might be going to my HTPC ;-)

 

 

Once I figure out how to get the apc software to cleanly shutdown cache_dirs and sabnzbd I can start checking the actual shutdown times and then decide if this one can stay where it is

 

Hope this helps a little more too ...

 

Bobby

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