My UPS keep sending alarm when I game

[Martin007]

Hi

I have UPS mercury 1500va 900w but when I game I get alarm at random times and it has new two batteries. Seems overloading ? my card is 6800xt

 

[AsRock]

any thing else attached to the UPS, i don't know of the brand if it's good or not.

Battery and\or faulty or even over loaded or even battery low as the battery's are not charged which might indicate a charging issue.

Maybe check their website for beep codes.

 

[Nucleoprotein]

Yes, it can be overload, check how much wattage it can supply, also make a note thats the output wattage for UPS is input for your PC power supply and you need to add all inefficiency of your PSU. Currently most PSU are way over 80% efficiency so safe margin is to add 20% i.e. if you PSU output is 600W you need a 720W UPS. Also for Active PFC you need to use UPS with AVR and best with clean sinusoid or it can falsely overload because of power factor (cos φ) correction you PSU will do.

 

[Shrek]

I find it very useful to have a power meter

Running both monitors on the UPS?

 

[Nucleoprotein]

if UPS have a USB connection it should have power reporting itself. More advanced have LCD screen and display that info.
UPS without USB connection is really not useful as your system will not close automatically on power loss.

 

[Bill_Bright]

check how much wattage it can supply

I note he said 1500VA/900W.

If we go by the OP's listed system specs, that system with its R9 5900X, RX 6800 XT, RAM and even with "many" drives and many case fans, a "quality" 650W PSU could easily support that. But he has a 1200W Siliverstone PSU so even more room to spare. And a decent 1500VA/900W UPS is more than enough to handle most computers, as well as two monitors and network gear too.

It is important to remember that power supplies will demand from the wall (or UPS) only what the computer components demand, plus a little more due to inefficiency. So if the components (CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, drives, fans) demand 500W, the PSU will only deliver 500W, regardless if the supply is a 600W, 850W or 1200W supply. That Silverstone is Platinum rated. Assuming at least 90% efficiency, that means with a 500W demand, that supply will only pull from the wall (or UPS) ≈556W (556 x .9 = 500.4).

Even in the VERY RARE event both the OP's CPU and GPU max out demand at the very same point in time, as well as the other components too, maxing out a 650W supply, that 1500VA UPS should be able to handle it.

So I echo AsRock,

any thing else attached to the UPS

Are those "two QHD" monitors attached to the UPS too? What else? Router? Modem? External drives?

Note speakers and printers (especially laser printers) should never be connected to the battery side of a UPS.

Even if the two monitors and network gear is attached to the battery side (which is how my system is connected), that UPS should easily handle the load (assuming all the connected devices are working properly).

@Martin007

when I game I get alarm at random times

Does it just alarm or does it kick over to battery too? Does your computer crash?

As AsRock noted, check your beep codes for a pattern. Then check your UPS's web page or user manual to see of the code provides a clue as to what is happening.

FTR - you should NEVER plug a UPS into a surge and spike protector (SS&P). SS&Ps often just chop off the peaks of excessive surges and spikes and the UPS may see that output (the UPS's input) as "dirty" and error out/flip to battery as a precaution. And you should never plug a S&SP into the battery side of the UPS as the UPS may see that as an unstable load and shut down.

Also, some UPS will report errors if connected to a faulty, mis-wired, or ungrounded wall outlet. So I recommend you make sure yours is properly wired.

Every home and every computer user should have access to a AC Outlet Tester to ensure the wall outlet is properly wired and grounded to Earth ground. I recommend one that displays the actual voltage (instead of just LEDs) and a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupt) indicator as it can be used to test bathroom and kitchen outlets (outlets near water) too. These testers can be found for your type and voltage outlet, foreign or domestic, (like this one for the UK, or this one for German outlets) at most home improvement stores, or even the electrical department at Wal-Mart. Use it to test all the outlets in the home or place of work and if a fault is shown, have it fixed by a qualified electrician.

I find it very useful to have a power meter

I agree. Those can be very useful and informative. That said, many of the better UPSs have an integrated LCD status display panel that can also provide that same information - as well as error codes too.

***

and you need to add all inefficiency of your PSU.

No you don't. That is accounted for in the rating.

If you have a supply rated for 500W supply, it will only draw from the wall (or UPS) 500W. If the computer components demands exceed that (including the amount lost in the form of heat), the supply will [hopefully!] just shut down.

Also for Active PFC you need to use UPS with AVR and best with clean sinusoid

No one needs a pure sinewave UPS for their computers! That is pure marketing hogwash. A quality, sufficiently rated, stepped approximated (simulated, or modified) waveform UPS with AVR is just fine, has been for decades and no reason they are not today - even with active PCF supplies.

Pure sinewave output UPS may be required on highly sensitive, scientific measuring equipment and some very critical life support, medical equipment. But not computers - not even with mission essential servers. Do NOT believe the marketing hype spewed by the makers of pure sinewave UPS.

I am NOT saying don't get a pure sinewave UPS. If the price is right and it otherwise meets your needs, go for it. Just don't dismiss a good stepped approximated sinewave UPS just because it is not a pure sinewave.

If still believing the hype, please read my post here and follow the links to EVGA and Seasonic (makers of some the best PSUs) and Eaton, one of the most reputable UPS makers and see what they say about using simulated/modified/stepped approximated sinewave UPS.

IMHO UPS without USB connection is really not useful imo as your system will not close automatically on power loss.

100% totally agree! Plus, if interconnection is supported, there usually is monitoring software to go along with it. APC's is called PowerChute. CyberPower's is PowerPanel. These not only let you monitor the UPS status and power usage from your computer, but often let you configure the UPS with several options. The LCD status display, however, allows you to monitor much the same, but your computer does not need to be up and running.

 

[Shrek]

No you don't. That is accounted for in the rating.

If you have a supply rated for 500W supply, it will only draw from the wall (or UPS) 500W. If the computer components demands exceed that (including the amount lost in the form of heat), the supply will [hopefully!] just shut down.

Not to argue, but a 500W supply can supply 500W

So, if it is 80% efficient, it will draw 625W when supplying the rated amount.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi

I have UPS mercury 1500va 900w but when I game I get alarm at random times and it has new two batteries. Seems overloading ? my card is 6800xt

That alarm is the UPS warning you that it's being overloaded. You need a better UPS.

 

[Nucleoprotein]

No you don't. That is accounted for in the rating.

If you have a supply rated for 500W supply, it will only draw from the wall (or UPS) 500W. If the computer components demands exceed that (including the amount lost in the form of heat), the supply will [hopefully!] just shut down.

No is not, its output of PSU, not wall power consumption, check like 80+ certification PDFs, or some tests, there is power draw from outlet, it will be more than rating because its the output power of PSU not the input power, as input power is your country spec, like mine 230V 50Hz 20A (mostly limited by breakers to 10A or 16A because you not need as much). Look at any sticker on PSU.

Not to argue, but a 500W supply can supply 500W

So, if it is 80% efficient, it will draw 625W when supplying the rated amount.

Yes, there is efficiency, losses on power conversion from AC to DC. AC power drawn is always bigger than DC output power.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Okay. My bad.

Still decaffeinated and worded it all wrong. Sorry.

My point was and remains that power "delivered" by the supply is based on the power demanded by the connected components. So the connected components require 500W that is what the supply will deliver, regardless if rated at 650 or higher.

 

[Nucleoprotein]

100% totally agree! Plus, if interconnection is supported, there usually is monitoring software to go along with it. APC's is called PowerChute. CyberPower's is PowerPanel. These not only let you monitor the UPS status and power usage from your computer, but often let you configure the UPS with several options. The LCD status display, however, allows you to monitor much the same, but your computer does not need to be up and running.

I have CP1600EPFCLCD with PowerPanel Business and software is pure gold, recommended. I have used at work some PowerWalker software (i think WinPower) and it was terrible.

Okay. My bad.

Still decaffeinated and worded it all wrong. Sorry.

My point was and remains that power "delivered" by the supply is based on the power demanded by the connected components. So the connected components require 500W that is what the supply will deliver, regardless if rated at 650 or higher.

I agree (and everyone should), but if you use too "big" PSU like OP, then any longer power spike that is over 900W (about 6,5A as its rated 1500VA) can trigger overload on UPS, depends how sensitive UPS is.
Model of UPS will be great because there are different ones, most used for home should be (like my own) line-interactive but there are also online UPS with double conversion (mostly used for servers and critical infrastructure because of zero switch time).

PS: apparent power is crucial for UPS, they rate also in active power to be easier for users but UPS takes for itself full apparent power as its AC <> DC <> AC conversion there.
PS2: big UPS are also used in industry as reactive power compensation as they generate they own power, they reduce reactive power in electric grid, industry needs to pay also for reactive power if they generate too much of it - electric engines, transforms - generate reactive power.

 

[QuietBob]

@Martin007
Try running a light/older game (= one that isn't graphically demanding) in minimum detail with fps capped to 60 and see if the UPS still gives you a warning.

 

[lexluthermiester]

@Martin007
Try running a light/older game (= one that isn't graphically demanding) in minimum detail with fps capped to 60 and see if the UPS still gives you a warning.

Why? The UPS clearly doesn't sound it's alarm while in lighter duties on the desktop. It only seems to do it while gaming. This indicates clearly that the UPS is being overloaded. It's not defective, only underpowered for the tasks being asked of it.

 

[khartoff]

Hi

I have UPS mercury 1500va 900w but when I game I get alarm at random times and it has new two batteries. Seems overloading ? my card is 6800xt

Hello. We use the same ups. This ups also has buck/boost mode, if the electricity coming to the house is below 170 V or more than 240, it takes itself into buck/boost mode. If it runs in this mode for more than 25 minutes, it needs to turn itself off because it starts to heated up and beeping. So there is no problem in ups, you just need to know the electricity coming home and if the electricity is bad, try not to enter the game, even if you enter, you can prevent this problem by turning off the game every 20 minutes. Where I live, I have this problem because the electricity is between 170-180. If you have a question in mind, you can write

 

[melkor_unlimited]

I note he said 1500VA/900W.

If we go by the OP's listed system specs, that system with its R9 5900X, RX 6800 XT, RAM and even with "many" drives and many case fans, a "quality" 650W PSU could easily support that. But he has a 1200W Siliverstone PSU so even more room to spare. And a decent 1500VA/900W UPS is more than enough to handle most computers, as well as two monitors and network gear too.

Even in the VERY RARE event both the OP's CPU and GPU max out demand at the very same point in time, as well as the other components too, maxing out a 650W supply, that 1500VA UPS should be able to handle it.

What is in OPs case should work fine within UPS limits.

Are those "two QHD" monitors attached to the UPS too? What else? Router? Modem? External drives?

I suspect those 2 QHDs.

I am using 1500VA UPS for 5+ years and AMD 3700x/5800x/5700x3d/5800x3d/8600G/7600x combined with Radeon 5500xt/6800xt/7900xt/9070xt, NVME, SSD and 1/2 HDDs without issues. But my 4k 100W+ screen is not powered by that UPS (It uses only its power protection part not backup).

Yes. My UPS does some beeps. Sometimes even switch into backup mode. But thats due some not exactly perfect wiring in old house.

 

[Nucleoprotein]

Hello. We use the same ups. This ups also has buck/boost mode, if the electricity coming to the house is below 170 V or more than 240, it takes itself into buck/boost mode. If it runs in this mode for more than 25 minutes, it needs to turn itself off because it starts to heated up and beeping. So there is no problem in ups, you just need to know the electricity coming home and if the electricity is bad, try not to enter the game, even if you enter, you can prevent this problem by turning off the game every 20 minutes. Where I live, I have this problem because the electricity is between 170-180. If you have a question in mind, you can write

Thats normal behavior for all models, better UPS just have fan for cooling. Turning off UPS automatically on battery is stupid because UPS means Uninterruptible Power Supply, so that UPS model you have is poor or some other thing is happening. Note that also there are online UPS that always use batteries, zero switch time ones, they charge batteries and use that to power devices, dual conversion, and they work uninterruptible powering countless of servers.

My CyberPower UPS can set upper and lower bound voltage, because of that i have asked what specific model OP has, there are maaaaany UPS models, some are crap some are ok, some are very good.
Also if UPS have USB connector everyone should use it with UPS software to monitor and shutdown system on power failure.

 

[dgianstefani]

Bad/weak UPS are almost pointless, and can in fact be worse than no UPS at all. You need to ensure the model is strong enough, the power it's getting is within it's defined input range, the batteries are healthy, and that it's not overheating. Unless it's an online double conversion UPS it's likely not designed to run for extended periods with poor quality input power, so as has been said already, check the quality of your power. If there is no screen or USB it's likely a bargain basement UPS that might not even be able to deliver it's rated power. Similar situation to poor quality PSUs that don't perform as advertised.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I agree (and everyone should), but if you use too "big" PSU like OP, then any longer power spike that is over 900W (about 6,5A as its rated 1500VA) can trigger overload on UPS, depends how sensitive UPS is.

But that "should" never happen - not unless the PSU is faulty, or of very poor design. Typically, the only thing buying too big a PSU hurts is the budget.

Swapping in a known good PSU of sufficient capacity for a test would eliminate the Silverstone from the equation.

It's not defective, only underpowered for the tasks being asked of it.

Except if we go by the OP's specs, it "should" have plenty of headroom to deal with the demands. What we need is for the OP to come back and clarify what is attached to that UPS, and maybe define what he means by "many" drives. If those many drives are being power by the same PSU connection, that may be a problem. And he needs to verify the wall outlet is not faulty.

Of course, "in theory" and the "real-world" don't always jibe. So it is often that "will" and "should" won't either.

I am not familiar with Mercury UPS either as their current market "includes Middle East, Africa, CIS, India and Indian Subcontinents". So I cannot attest to the quality of their UPS. About all I can say is they are a fairly new company (2021) and they have a nice website!

I suspect those 2 QHDs.

Why? Based on what?

I just looked at several 27" QHD monitors and most consume ≈25 watts or less. Even this LG 32" QHD monitor only consumes 29 watts. "Assuming" his UPS can deliver what its published specs indicate, it "should" easily handle two monitors and even a router and modem, in addition to the computer itself. Yes, there's that word "should" again, and "assuming" is not much better. But at this point, "in theory" is all we can go on.

 

[Shrek]

PS: apparent power is crucial for UPS, they rate also in active power to be easier for users but UPS takes for itself full apparent power as its AC <> DC <> AC conversion there.
PS2: big UPS are also used in industry as reactive power compensation as they generate they own power, they reduce reactive power in electric grid, industry needs to pay also for reactive power if they generate too much of it - electric engines, transforms - generate reactive power.

I would argue that due to APFC in modern power supplies, the power factor is always unity.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The OP has not answered if the two monitors are running on the UPS

Right. Or if anything besides the computer itself.

Regardless, two monitors on a 1500VA/900W UPS "should" not matter.

I would argue that due to APFC in modern power supplies, the power factor is always unity.

Not sure unity is obtainable - except on paper. But it typically is really close. The EU requires it be 0.9 or better. I believe 0.98 is about the best we (mere humans) can achieve - so far. At least with commercially available [read: affordable] PSUs.

 

[Nucleoprotein]

I would argue that due to APFC in modern power supplies, the power factor is always unity.




The OP has not answered if the two monitors are running on the UPS

APFC is a problem for UPS, truly compatible are only pure sinewave ones, and is not marketing as somebody said, it how active pfc works - it actively shapes the input current to match the input voltage waveform (as they never perfectly aligned) - if that is modified sinewave produced by UPS it can cause overloads, depends on quality of sinewave and active pfc circuit of PSU but in bypass mode line-intactive UPS should just pass outlet input sinewave. Sinewave produced by UPS is not important for PSUs with Passive PFC but thats not currently on PC market.

I running two monitors and speakers without issues on 1600VA/1000W so that's no problem, easiest solution is to use USB cable and software to check what UPS reports.

 

[agent_x007]

Hello. We use the same ups. This ups also has buck/boost mode, if the electricity coming to the house is below 170 V or more than 240, it takes itself into buck/boost mode. If it runs in this mode for more than 25 minutes, it needs to turn itself off because it starts to heated up and beeping. So there is no problem in ups, you just need to know the electricity coming home and if the electricity is bad, try not to enter the game, even if you enter, you can prevent this problem by turning off the game every 20 minutes. Where I live, I have this problem because the electricity is between 170-180. If you have a question in mind, you can write

^Please, check/verify this with multimeter if possible.
Having unstable voltage on outlets will cause many issues not only with UPS/PC, but with anything electric powered in your house. It may indicate a serious problem with electric wiring, or connections inside electric boxes (and can be a safety hazard at worst).

 

[A Computer Guy]

I am using 1500VA UPS for 5+ years and AMD 3700x/5800x/5700x3d/5800x3d/8600G/7600x combined with Radeon 5500xt/6800xt/7900xt/9070xt, NVME, SSD and 1/2 HDDs without issues. But my 4k 100W+ screen is not powered by that UPS (It uses only its power protection part not backup).

I miss the days of realtivly sane power usage. I say a little prayer for my UPS before powering on my Threadripper.

 

[Shrek]

APFC is a problem for UPS, truly compatible are only pure sinewave ones, and is not marketing as somebody said, it how active pfc works - it actively shapes the input current to match the input voltage waveform (as they never perfectly aligned) - if that is modified sinewave produced by UPS it can cause overloads, depends on quality of sinewave and active pfc circuit of PSU but in bypass mode line-intactive UPS should just pass outlet input sinewave. Sinewave produced by UPS is not important for PSUs with Passive PFC but thats not currently on PC market.

I agree, a APFC supply can be rather unhappy on a rectangular wave.

https://digilander.libero.it/hibone/UPS/PSU_and_UPS_Compatibility_Test_Report.pdf

I have supplies with 400V capacitors, so 500V might not be to their liking although they would probably survive.

 

[Bill_Bright]

APFC is a problem for UPS, truly compatible are only pure sinewave ones,

Nonsense. Cheap, backup power only UPS maybe. But those don't belong on computers. So I say again, don't fall for the marketing hype spewed by pure sinewave UPS makers.

PLEASE read what EVGA, Seasonic and Eaton say through the links to their sites in this post. Why would Eaton, the highly reputable maker of quality pure sinewave UPS and modified sine wave UPS say, "Modified sine wave UPS systems typically protect PCs" if their own modified sine wave UPS were not compatible?

If you are going to continue arguing, go argue with the experts and professionals at EVGA, Seasonic, and Eaton and tell them they are wrong. But please stop spreading this nonsense here.

I agree, a APFC supply can be rather unhappy on a rectangular wave.

Oh come on, Shrek! Why do you keep doing this? YOU KNOW any "good" UPS with AVR is NOT outputting "rectangular" (or square) waveforms. So why perpetuate that myth? It makes NO sense. You are helping to spread misinformation!

As YOU have seen several times before, they output approximated (AKA stepped, modified or simulated) sinewaves that look like this.

And come on, EVERYONE!!!! The "generated" wave form from an UPS only happens when the UPS is providing backup power during a full power outage. At all other times, typically > 99% of the time, the waveform from the grid is simply being passed through AS IS. Even when "buck and boost" are being applied, it is simply a regulated waveform from the grid the power supplies see.

Also - everyone here needs to understand that in many regions of the world, they use inverters to supply power to the home. And what do inverters output? Approximated, stepped, modified or simulated sinewaves.

Boats and RVs, even the AC outlets found in many of todays cars and trucks used are supplied by inverted DC to make simulated sinewaves.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE MARKETING HYPE.