Ups

[wolfeyes89]

hey guys i was looking for a good UPS because im getting a lot of brownouts(i know i shouldn't be using my pc till i filter the electricity but i need to finish my ap english hw) my budget is about 500 bucks. I was thinking about this one will it do the trick.

Newegg.com - APC Smart-UPS SUA1500 1440VA 980W 8 Outlets UPS - Retail

 

[Law]

This is an OK line-interactive UPS, it will provide you protection against brownouts but they are not that efficient as I heard with handling and distinguishing brownouts and blackouts. But they are cost effective for those who are conscious about price. This APC should give you enough time to save your work and power down gracefully. Plus the additional software can do it for you if you're not home, plus it can alert you also by whatever it supports.

If you want full protection from brownouts, opt for an online UPS. These UPS use the battery to power the inverter that provides you with clean A/C power to your PSU so there is no switching. But they are quite expensive though.

The other type is the standby or offline UPS, they are the cheapest but don't necessary do good against brownouts because they have to switch. In that millisecond that it takes to switch to the battery, that's call a glitch and can mess up computer systems.

What I like to do is also use a surge protector + UPS. UPS connects to surge protector, surge protector connects to your powerline. So in case of a surge, your surge protector takes the beating and protects your expensive UPS.

 

[Jorsoft]

APC is a good brand (my preferred) and that one should be excellent for the money. I don't know nearly enough about online UPS' to comment on that, though.

 

[Law]

Actually I should add, don't opt for an online UPS unless you want to clear your bank account.

That APC should do you good, if your computer power supply has at least a hold-time of 10ms or higher and supports PFC. The advantages of that APC is lower cost compare to online UPS, lower heat because of minimum components and high reliability because of lower operating temperatures. However the disadvantages is if you live in an area where the AC power fluctuates a lot and is unstable, your line-interactive UPS will wear out its battery quickly because it will have to constantly switch over to the battery each time it experience a brownout, and to much of that will drain the battery which will leave you with barely to none power when the real blackout occurs. Also because of the switching to battery, you should check the switch or transfer time of your UPS and compare it to your computer power supply hold-time. If the UPS switch time is lower than the PSU's hold-time then it should be good.

This is a good factor to know when buying inexpensive offline UPS also, which might save you some money in the long run. As far as I know, APC don't make anymore offline UPS. But some company probably still do.