How to let ups turn off system automatically when low battery? (Desktop)

[Bill_Bright]

Most of the cheap "power strip" style UPSes are straight square wave, even the APC ones.

Those would indeed be very cheap UPS and as you said, not recommended for computers.

That said, even the cheapest UPS I could find from APC, the tiny 350VA/200W BE350G for $49.99, has stepped approximation waveform output.

Like I said, I don't doubt it's accuracy, it just doesn't show actual load unless it's running off the battery.

I sure doubt and would not trust the accuracy of what HWMonitor is showing! It is relying on motherboard and graphics card sensors which are notoriously cheap (inexpensive) and inaccurate, very low-tech devices.

For example, look at the voltages shown by your OCCT screenshot. If your +12VDC was really at +6.09VDC as shown, your computer would not be running. Your +5 and +3.3V readings are below acceptable ±5% tolerance levels too.

These readings are not uncommon with software based monitors. Speccy, for example, shows the voltages in my system to be the following:

+3.3V = 2.028 V
+5V = 3.367 V
+12V = 0.048 V
+3V CMOS battery = 1.524V.

So for sure, you need to totally ignore those values and don't worry (or even think) about it and just go by what PowerChute says if you are interested in your loads.

 

[Asuredawn]

@Bill_Bright powerchute doesn't tell me the load, only the battery percentage and voltage from the wall. The version of occt I have is very old and I don't pay any attention to the sensor values it reports, I was just using it to put a load on the GPU.

I may be a noob here, but I've been running windows and Linux systems since I was 12 and I've watched my dad since I was 6, my first OS was RedHat (forget which), second was Mandrake 9, third Windows 95/98. I payed for my own computer at 18 (though I had been mucking around with the internals of an old packard bell well before then) and have since upgraded and built a few of my own.

The value HWMonitor shows sounds close enough to me, but I can check other utilities to be sure. I would use a power meter at the wall, but I don't have that much spare money, with health insurance, phone, motorcycle, and soon house to pay on.
Edit: HWinfo64 shows about the same value (again, only when unplugged), both it and HWMonitor show reasonable values for all the psu rails, but of course I know those can't really be trusted. Anyway, I'll probably upgrade the UPS eventually, I know for sure it's being stretched to the limit. It drops a few percent from full capacity every couple seconds, at idle, so it'd probably only last a little over a minute when I need it... If that.

 

[Bill_Bright]

@Bill_Bright powerchute doesn't tell me the load,

Yes it does. Under Current Status, there a "Load on Battery Backup" status bar and under that it says how much, in watts, your battery backup is currently providing.

I would use a power meter at the wall, but I don't have that much spare money, with health insurance, phone, motorcycle, and soon house to pay on.

Just make sure your next UPS has a LCD display panel.

That said, I would not worry about it. You can always check component specs and add them up, then make sure your power supply and UPS can support that number.

 

[Asuredawn]

Yes it does. Under Current Status, there a "Load on Battery Backup" status bar and under that it says how much, in watts, your battery backup is currently providing.

Just make sure your next UPS has a LCD display panel.

That said, I would not worry about it. You can always check component specs and add them up, then make sure your power supply and UPS can support that number.

Nope, just does not exist:

So untrustworthy... :/

 

[Bill_Bright]

Hmmm, your display is definitely different from mine.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Just to make sure it was not a battery vs on-line thing, I pulled the plug and got a similar display (only it shows 103W load instead of 77W).

 

[Asuredawn]

Just to make sure it was not a battery vs on-line thing, I pulled the plug and got a similar display (only it shows 103W load instead of 77W).

Yeah, I'm 90% sure it's a difference in features between the two models. Yours does cost at least double what mine does, after all.

 

[Honey]

Ah i think i need to buy apc one :/ money problems xD
I will soon update if i buy,
Thanks to all again, really helpful forum and lovely people.
My current apc ups is about dead, beep siren keep blowing, does it means battery now dead?

 

[eidairaman1]

Ah i think i need to buy apc one :/ money problems xD
I will soon update if i buy,
Thanks to all again, really helpful forum and lovely people.
My current apc ups is about dead, beep siren keep blowing, does it means battery now dead?

If its plugged in and the buzzer is sounding, yes it is dying or dead.

Does apc even make affordable units to begin with, ive always saw them as costly.

 

[Asuredawn]

Does apc even make affordable units to begin with, ive always saw them as costly.

The back-ups BE550G which I have can be had for $25 on Amazon (from 3rd party sellers, seems discontinued), it's a decent unit for systems that draw less than 400W and have an active PFC PSU. For more power hungry systems I'd look at 1000-1500VA UPSs, especially if you want them to last more than a couple minutes with the power out.
Edit: I should note that the over/under voltage protection on that unit is a bit lacking. You'd be better served by a more expensive unit if that's a major concern. If brown-outs aren't common and black-outs are the main concern, it'll do fine.

 

[Honey]

The back-ups BE550G which I have can be had for $25 on Amazon (from 3rd party sellers, seems discontinued), it's a decent unit for systems that draw less than 400W and have an active PFC PSU. For more power hungry systems I'd look at 1000-1500VA UPSs, especially if you want them to last more than a couple minutes with the power out.
Edit: I should note that the over/under voltage protection on that unit is a bit lacking. You'd be better served by a more expensive unit if that's a major concern. If brown-outs aren't common and black-outs are the main concern, it'll do fine.

What if i use home inverter and big battery for pc, will it work, if yes then how long, Is it safe?

 

[Asuredawn]

What if i use home inverter and big battery for pc, will it work, if yes then how long, Is it safe?

I'm not really familiar with those systems, so I can't answer honestly, but I imagine there are a few safety features in a UPS which you may have to implement yourself if you decide to go that route. I'm sure someone has posted a video or guide online somewhere.

 

[Honey]

I'm not really familiar with those systems, so I can't answer honestly, but I imagine there are a few safety features in a UPS which you may have to implement yourself if you decide to go that route. I'm sure someone has posted a video or guide online somewhere.

thanks to all,
cyberpower ups is 50% cheaper than APC model which i shared,
but i read review on amazon.in of cyberpower that it caught fire or blabla.
never heard cyberpower company before.

 

[Bill_Bright]

but i read review on amazon.in of cyberpower that it caught fire or blabla.
never heard cyberpower company before.

You cannot let one review cloud your judgement. No maker of any product can make perfection 100% of the time. Even the best makers of the best products have units that fail prematurely.

If there were many many reports of a specific model number that failed, I might avoid that model number, but not the brand. Remember too, you don't know the full circumstances of that fire. UPS are very heavy. That particular UPS might have been dropped and damaged during transport.

Cyberpower is a very popular and highly regarded company. Their problem is APC has been making reliable UPS for 30 years - or longer.