mwbutler Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 Hi Guys My house is forever having powercuts - the electrics needs ripping out and rewiring but this is way too costly, therefore I want to buy a UPS to make sure that my PC + TV doesn't get wrecked by not shutting down properly. I've been doing some reading, and people were suggesting that the UPS I get will need to output more watts than my PC power supply, so 750w+. Is this true or overkill? I was looking at getting this but I cannot find much info about whether that model is any good. This UPS gets good reviews on Amazon, but I'm unsure if 405w output will be enough. I'm looking to spend around £100 - £150 - does anyone have any suggestions what to get? Cheers Matt
twin--turbo Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 Pick up a good used APC Smartups 1500I on ebay. Rob 1
SHimmer45 Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) +1 for APC even an older smart ups 700 will do the job without fuss (depending on how long you want the pcs to remain running for in the event of an outage) just because you have a 750W psu doesnt mean it will draw that all the time, the small power meters give you an accurate measurement of load at the socket which is what i would work from. Edited January 30, 2013 by SHimmer45 1
Oaktech Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 you can often find liebert ups on ebay which will give you more VA for your money as they are less popular, just a thought. 1
Michael Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 Surely plugging in your AV equipment into a surge protected strip would be a cheaper option? I'd recommend you at least get someone out to diagnose what the problem is as it may/may not be costly. If it's an external problem (to your property) it would cost you nothing to get it fixed. 1
twin--turbo Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 I am putting in a UPS, 2 Weeks ago my home Vmware ESXi stoped responding ( or rather the TeamViewer Session on the virtual XP ) when I got home I asked the wife if there had been a power cut during the day. "No , I don't think so....." "I did have the mains off though to decorate arround the light fitting...." Doh!! it's been there for 5 years in one form or another chuntering away !! Rob
mwbutler Posted January 30, 2013 Author Posted January 30, 2013 Surely plugging in your AV equipment into a surge protected strip would be a cheaper option? I'd recommend you at least get someone out to diagnose what the problem is as it may/may not be costly. If it's an external problem (to your property) it would cost you nothing to get it fixed. I currently have the equiplent plugged into a surge protector but if I'm working on something and the power goes, I'm likely to lose whatever I was working on. We have had the problem looked at multiple times and each electrician said that the entire electrics need replacing due to it "being old and bodged repeatedly over many years." After hearing the quoted prices, a UPS is so much cheaper and it'll give me piece of mind about my electrical goods (I don't intend to live in this house any longer than 1-2 more years so there's no way I'm going to spend a lot of money fixing this problem.) Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Michael Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 I currently have the equiplent plugged into a surge protector but if I'm working on something and the power goes, I'm likely to lose whatever I was working on. We have had the problem looked at multiple times and each electrician said that the entire electrics need replacing due to it "being old and bodged repeatedly over many years." After hearing the quoted prices, a UPS is so much cheaper and it'll give me piece of mind about my electrical goods (I don't intend to live in this house any longer than 1-2 more years so there's no way I'm going to spend a lot of money fixing this problem.) Thanks for the suggestions guys. I appreciate where you're coming from. Bodged is one thing, but so long as it's safe for you to live with that's the main worry
Oaktech Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 Surely plugging in your AV equipment into a surge protected strip would be a cheaper option? I'd recommend you at least get someone out to diagnose what the problem is as it may/may not be costly. If it's an external problem (to your property) it would cost you nothing to get it fixed. It might work... but it's always better to power stuff down properly than to just dump power, even through a strip. Speaking as someone who has put in a large UPS system for a company who work in a rural location, sometimes the problem can't be fixed by the distribution company and you simply have to take steps to mitigate the effects. The scenario I worked with was that an acquaintance had started an engineering design and prototyping company in his parents barn in cumbria, they live down a mile long drive, their nearest neighbour is 2 miles away and they share a single 3 phase line. The neighbour is a working dairy farm and they regularly overload the lines in. The lines are 4 miles long on poles across rough ground and the distribution company have said that they simply cannot justify the cost of upgrades for 2 customers. As such, my friend has bought a Chloride UPS system which is capable of maintaining the 3 phase supply at slightly less than full capacity for around 15 minutes - which is long enough to shut down cam machine tools and the solidworks render farm. The distribution company helped with some of the purchase and performed the power connections, and I installed and configured the monitoring system. the whole thing sits in a container. For the gear po*n obssessed, its one like this... Containerized Infrastructure Solutions I appreciate this is an extreme example, but its still an example!
mwbutler Posted January 30, 2013 Author Posted January 30, 2013 I appreciate where you're coming from. Bodged is one thing, but so long as it's safe for you to live with that's the main worry It's cost us a lot of money but the electricians (now) assure us it is safe!
Michael Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 For the gear po*n obssessed, its one like this... Containerized Infrastructure Solutions I appreciate this is an extreme example, but its still an example! It is extreme, but I can appreciate the circumstances as running a farm essentially is a business
Michael Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 It's cost us a lot of money but the electricians (now) assure us it is safe! Certainly worth the piece of mind though I had my electrics done recently as there was fuse boxes or consumer units... essentially daisy changed together, all different ages. After a big think I had a full re-wire. The cost was one thing, but the red brick dust was the bigger issue. It literally gets everywhere... I felt like a cleaner coming home every night and hoovering everywhere!
mwbutler Posted January 30, 2013 Author Posted January 30, 2013 Certainly worth the piece of mind though I had my electrics done recently as there was fuse boxes or consumer units... essentially daisy changed together, all different ages. After a big think I had a full re-wire. The cost was one thing, but the red brick dust was the bigger issue. It literally gets everywhere... I felt like a cleaner coming home every night and hoovering everywhere! If I intended to live hear for say the next 20 years I'd definitely fix the problem, but as I intend to move to a bigger town in the next few years (I'm bored of this small town in the middle of no where!) its not worth it
Michael Posted January 30, 2013 Posted January 30, 2013 Yeah I'd agree then, let the next owner worry about it
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