Help me pick a UPS

[de.das.dude]

So the power supply folks here are doing some cable work, which means i get sudden power fluctuations where the power is gone for around 1 to 5minutes.Usually less than 10 mins.

I wanted to get a UPS that will last around that amount of time. My specs are for the system Monke in my system specs <-


i have shortlisted the https://www.amazon.in/APC-BX600C-600VA-230V-Back/dp/B016XVRKZM?crid=32MT8WVAT7GBP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AhMoK2ifAFBEiUYyV18gJJVNoGsZM0Qep2tcGvspfUZ7cOf04Nm-k8QvJ5PKKa7WkC79CQ4tGO0GQGaGqipzctDh8rPjkgnhUDi4aLUBk0mIkyk4f1mAU841z1XcsQjEGrwPYDXfX_f8A08cCbk4G9uy48yxNzxEtx8JyGy-Hiqcj-i-8fdDbkc20VnJOk8bOXw2vgLOXyvIRH_jn4PofwQGxXIid3VT-Iz5HOtEsOs.7wmsluNVNX4PuCKF1urnlVU9YmMYQ-fdP0QMcwG_JH4&dib_tag=se&keywords=apc+ups&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1743406029&sprefix=apc,aps,578&sr=8-3

and https://www.amazon.in/APC-BX1100C-1100VA-230V-Back/dp/B01ELNPG2I?crid=3URHEEEUQZA52&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zn7julc98pqY2Zp-y83soVUy03svkzl_r5J_FlMM6lfoiex0lKmF9yjC8lNkwmizFB1BP5HbwTwtxMTiO3UfEizngzw-j8TWFlvIfgA2NIF_AK3hQePNIFq3gh3oVGBDZ5rUt6v8XiLR5WSNZrUARSEt_X0NHdW2jvbYndJt3xDZXTPVDrK34jsK7rFkcTnq8yyaPwrhmVyUwvgx_rJd79bfw3BNLaQhQiA8dFfWPF8.IgOExIScq0Yls9Iiv2uW1oDmv_Dk6t9H59oEij_DG88&dib_tag=se&keywords=apc+ups+600w&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1743406217&sprefix=apc+ups+6,aps,758&sr=8-3

please search in www.amazon.in for any other you might find suitable. Getting around 30min of battery time while idling in a game would be nice!

 

[Bill_Bright]

A couple things first. Power "fluctuations" have a duration so short, you typically don't even see them. When you see the lights "flicker" that is actually a long fluctuation. Fluctuations are caused by a sudden drop (dip or sag) in the voltage that quickly returns.

If the power goes "out", that means the voltage dropped to 0V and that is an actual "outage" even if it only lasts 30 - 60 seconds.

Getting around 30min of battery time while idling in a game would be nice!

Yes that would be nice but that is not what "good" UPS with AVR are designed for. The purpose for a "good" UPS with AVR is twofold. (1) The AVR (automatic voltage regulation) is the most important feature as it protects the connected equipment from excessive and abnormal high-voltage events like surges and spikes as well as abnormal low voltage events like dips (opposite of spikes), sags (opposite of surges) or brownouts (long duration sags) - including flickers. Any of those abnormal events can result in your computer crashing and/or your drives and data becoming corrupted.

(2) The second (bonus) feature of a good UPS with AVR is to provide backup power during a full outage. But not 30 minutes so you can keep playing your game. The purpose is to provide power long enough so you can save your open documents, exit your running programs, then "gracefully" shutdown Windows and turn off your computer - safely.

I recommend going bigger if the budget allows. 1500VA will support your computer, monitor, and your network gear for at least 20 minutes. And if you immediately shut down your monitor and computer, it will keep your network alive for much longer so you can then access the Internet with your wireless devices. Plus, generally, the bigger you go, the better quality the AVR and UPS features tend to be.

If you "need" power for longer periods of time, then a generator is the way to go, with a "good" UPS with AVR to keep you going between the time the power goes out and the generator kicks in.

In any case, the larger the VA/wattage rating, the longer the battery run time. You definitely will NOT get long with the 600VA/360W UPS.

Edit comment: fixed a couple minor typos.

 

[SN2716057]

What @Bill_Bright wrote, that's why I went with the APC Back-UPS RS 1500G for my sig rig (PC+monitor). On my NAS I have a smaller version but that one auto shuts down.

 

[cal5582]

current one im using. has pretty good active pfc and auto-shutdown options if you plugin the usb cable.

 

[AsRock]

Be much better of with a 1500VA, if available could go with Cyberpower too.

 

[Bill_Bright]

@cal5582 - note the OP apparently lives in India as he specifically asked for options available at www.amazon.in.

 

[wackywombat]

That cyberpower cp15 is very reliable. My friend is using one and he never said a bad thing about it.

 

[qxp]

Just want to add is to make sure to pay attention not only to 1500VA rating but also to the max power the unit can output. For example, the first unit listed says 600VA which seems ok, but the power is only 360W - might be too little for a desktop. There are video cards that use more all by themselves.

A common behaviour of UPS when the power draw exceeds maximum is to shutdown and cut all power - even if you were not using battery. So putting under-specced UPS might make power stability worse.

In USA, the 1500VA units usually come with around a 1000W allowable load which is reasonably future proof.

 

[de.das.dude]

A couple things first. Power "fluctuations" have a duration so short, you typically don't even see them. When you see the lights "flicker" that is actually a long fluctuation. Fluctuations are caused by a sudden drop (dip or sag) in the voltage that quickly returns.

If the power goes "out", that means the voltage dropped to 0V and that is an actual "outage" even if it only lasts 30 - 60 seconds.


Yes that would be nice but that is not what "good" UPS with AVR are designed for. The purpose for a "good" UPS with AVR is twofold. (1) The AVR (automatic voltage regulation) is the most important feature as it protects the connected equipment from excessive and abnormal high-voltage events like surges and spikes as well as abnormal low voltage events like dips (opposite of spikes), sags (opposite of surges) or brownouts (long duration sags) - including flickers. Any of those abnormal events can result in your computer crashing and/or your drives and data becoming corrupted.

(2) The second (bonus) feature of a good UPS with AVR is to provide backup power during a full outage. But not 30 minutes so you can keep playing your game. The purpose is to provide power long enough so you can save your open documents, exit your running programs, then "gracefully" shutdown Windows and turn off your computer - safely.

I recommend going bigger if the budget allows. 1500VA will support your computer, monitor, and your network gear for at least 20 minutes. And if you immediately shut down your monitor and computer, it will keep your network alive for much longer so you can then access the Internet with your wireless devices. Plus, generally, the bigger you go, the better quality the AVR and UPS features tend to be.

If you "need" power for longer periods of time, then a generator is the way to go, with a "good" UPS with AVR to keep you going between the time the power goes out and the generator kicks in.

In any case, the larger the VA/wattage rating, the longer the battery run time. You definitely will NOT get long with the 600VA/360W UPS.

Edit comment: fixed a couple minor typos.

1. i dont need AVR since this apartment already runs on one for the bedroom and other outlets like the fridge. It did already have backup capabilities but the battery is long since dead, and i dont want to shell it out of my own pocket for a place i am renting.

2. The flickers occur only when the power is coming back, i guess they join our grid back.

3. I dont need anything for my network gear, as i already have semi-unlimited 5g on both of my phones and get over 300mbps.


A power outage in the local definition would be anything over 15 minutes. Since this is a developing country and 100s of new apartments are joined to the grid every week, there are scheduled times every thursday when we are expected to get around 5 to 10 mins of downtime.

Let me be clear, i need a UPS ONLY for this reason. Windows corrupting or drives breaking are mostly thing of the past, and i have never had this issue that a power outage has damaged anything. You just lose data, even if that (dont need to worry about work because we use cloud VMs). Even HDDs park themselves.

i will look into a 1500va. But they arent easily available since most people use their AVR's as backups :S

 

[Rover4444]

The elites don't want you to know this but many solar generators can also be used as a UPS. Get an eb3a if you can.

 

[Bill_Bright]

1. i dont need AVR since this apartment already runs on one for the bedroom and other outlets like the fridge. It did already have backup capabilities but the battery is long since dead, and i dont want to shell it out of my own pocket for a place i am renting.

Most computer UPS have AVR. The two you linked to above do.

 

[Dr. Dro]

The honest truth is, you're not getting 30 minutes of "light gaming load" out of pretty much any budget UPS for a 5600X/6700 XT system (400 W ish, accounting for PSU input side efficiency). The 600 VA one, you can effectively dismiss for those system specs, the RM750e can easily overload it.

The one that @cal5582 linked is an ideal choice, but that model will run for ~10 minutes at best at ~400 W. If you want 30 minutes+ of uninterrupted runtime on battery for that system, you'll need to look at a 5000 to 6000 VA UPS, possibly larger, and these cost a very hefty chunk of change.

How much are you willing to spend?

 

[de.das.dude]

The honest truth is, you're not getting 30 minutes of "light gaming load" out of pretty much any budget UPS for a 5600X/6700 XT system (400 W ish, accounting for PSU input side efficiency). The 600 VA one, you can effectively dismiss for those system specs, the RM750e can easily overload it.

The one that @cal5582 linked is an ideal choice, but that model will run for ~10 minutes at best at ~400 W. If you want 30 minutes+ of uninterrupted runtime on battery for that system, you'll need to look at a 5000 to 6000 VA UPS, possibly larger, and these cost a very hefty chunk of change.

How much are you willing to spend?

at this point i think it makes more sense to get my apartment's backup up and running. Decisions decisions lol.

i ordered a 1500VA one from an indian brand. Seemed to be decently reputable and have good reviews from other users with similar config as mine. One person even ran a ender 3 for over 45minutes while printing lol.

 

[Bill_Bright]

"Ender"?

As far as printing, typically printers are not considered mission essential so not normally are put on the battery side of UPS. And for sure you should NEVER - as in NEVER EVER put a laser printer on an UPS (unless a HUGE whole-house type UPS).

i ordered a 1500VA

I think that was wise.

 

[Dr. Dro]

"Ender"?

As far as printing, typically printers are not considered mission essential so not normally are put on the battery side of UPS. And for sure you should NEVER - as in NEVER EVER put a laser printer on an UPS (unless a HUGE whole-house type UPS).

I think that was wise.

It's a 3D printer, so like completely different type of machinery, uses a lot less power than a laser printer. At least my Xerox chugs

Ender-3 3D Printer

Creality Ender-3 3D Printer|An open-source 3d printer with amazing printing precision and affordable price, quite the best 3d printer for beginners.

www.creality.com

at this point i think it makes more sense to get my apartment's backup up and running. Decisions decisions lol.

i ordered a 1500VA one from an indian brand. Seemed to be decently reputable and have good reviews from other users with similar config as mine. One person even ran a ender 3 for over 45minutes while printing lol.

Good one, should tide you over for some time, just don't expect a lot of runtime out of it

 

[eidairaman1]

You would have to know total system draw and convert it into VAs

 

[de.das.dude]

You would have to know total system draw and convert it into VAs

that would be 230W + 65 W +20W +20% headroom = 380W.

with a power factor of .983 for my PSU, around 400VA

its here.

says upto 900W so i am safe i guess.

 

[Rover4444]

It's a 3D printer, so like completely different type of machinery, uses a lot less power than a laser printer.

I seriously doubt that, the hotend and heated bed on an Ender 3 should be something like 50W minimum, sustained. If it doesn't have klipper it'll be much slower too, taking hours or even over a day to complete a print.

Nerd rant over.

 

[de.das.dude]

I seriously doubt that, the hotend and heated bed on an Ender 3 should be something like 50W minimum, sustained. If it doesn't have klipper it'll be much slower too, taking hours or even over a day to complete a print.

Nerd rant over.

yeah even i feel like a printer is like 300W. I can see the difference in my power bill quite clearly when i have been doing a lot of printing specially with higher bed temps.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I seriously doubt that, the hotend and heated bed on an Ender 3 should be something like 50W minimum, sustained. If it doesn't have klipper it'll be much slower too, taking hours or even over a day to complete a print.

Nerd rant over.

Laser printers use muuuuch more power than that. I have a tiny Xerox Phaser 3020 monochrome laser here, it is a very, very basic printer - no embedded scanner or anything, and it's rated for 313 W while printing, and it's got some hefty inrush current.

 

[Rover4444]

yeah even i feel like a printer is like 300W. I can see the difference in my power bill quite clearly when i have been doing a lot of printing specially with higher bed temps.

Yeah I think I was being pretty conservative with the number. I thought the Ender 3s come with 200W power supplies, though.

Laser printers use muuuuch more power than that. I have a tiny Xerox Phaser 3020 monochrome laser here, it is a very, very basic printer - no embedded scanner or anything, and it's rated for 313 W while printing, and it's got some hefty inrush current.

I don't know. A printer at 50W for 24 hours uses more power than a 314W+ printer for one hour, and the former's a lot more likely to happen with an Ender than the latter with a laser printer in a home environment.

 

[Endymio]

Usually less than 10 mins.

I wanted to get a UPS that will last around that amount of time....

You can view the actual runtime vs. power draw graph at UPC's website. Based on that data, a 370w draw will give you 10 minutes of run time with that model:

APC Back-UPS Pro 1100VA, 10 Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports, AVR, LCD interface - BN1100M2 | APC USA

BN1100M2 - APC Back-UPS Pro 1100VA, 10 Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports, AVR, LCD interface | APC USA

www.apc.com

If you're simply web browsing with a power draw <100w, you'll get more than an hour's time.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Yeah I think I was being pretty conservative with the number. I thought the Ender 3s come with 200W power supplies, though.


I don't know. A printer at 50W for 24 hours uses more power than a 314W+ printer for one hour, and the former's a lot more likely to happen with an Ender than the latter with a laser printer in a home environment.

Ah, I see where you're coming from now. That is true. Both cases would necessitate a much higher capacity UPS to run for that long, though.

 

[de.das.dude]

Guys, i dont know if it charged completely or not, but i was able to get a little more than 5 minutes of time while playing a game lol.

this lacks an indicator for if its charging or not.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Guys, i dont know if it charged completely or not, but i was able to get a little more than 5 minutes of time while playing a game lol.

this lacks an indicator for if its charging or not.

UPSes tend to charge slow. Give it a full day online for max battery life.