UPS's - Does anyone use them for the main rig or their networking kit or something else??

[OolongGoat]

I have been on my APC 1300VA for a few years now. I have only had to replace the batteries in it twice. I am running my internet and network equipment off of it as well as my main PC.

 

[Nordic]

Pretty sure net metering refers to the billing/metering tool. It doesn't sound like you are in the US, or are you?

I am in the US. I know several people who used to sell power back to the utility but they no longer allow that.

 

[ModEl4]

I wonder with the energy crisis in Europe, if we have daily blackouts in winter in some areas, are electronic equipment in danger so it will become essential to have a UPS? (so prices up?)

 

[Bill_Bright]

Anyone here able to do the test? some older models work with square wave, some need sine wave.

Andy! We've been through this multiple times already. Why do you keep bringing it up when you clearly refuse to accept what anyone tells you? You just keep obfuscating threads with that same comment, driving them OT.

Tests? I've already mentioned in multiple threads I've run electric blankets off UPS for many years. I said earlier in this thread I have several of my friends and technician colleagues in this area who have their electric blankets on UPS. None have reported problems with stepped approximated output UPS.

Nobody is talking square waves here, Andy. Simulated or stepped approximated waveforms may be "jagged" but they are not square. Even the most el cheapo supreme, budget UPS do NOT output square waves.

If your home runs off an inverter with a poorly regulated, filtered output, that might be an issue with some electric blankets. But we are talking about UPS here, not inverters. Regardless RV and boat owners have been using electric blankets for decades with no problems. And most of those use inverters too.

I just spent 30 minutes searching for an electric blanket that requires sinewave input as you claim. I found none.

Since this seems to be an obsession, then Andy, I can only suggest this. Do NOT go to the Dollar Store and do NOT buy the cheapest electric blanket you can find. Then do NOT buy the cheapest, most basic UPS you can find.

Better yet, use a good non-electric comforter and don't worry about power at all.

I guess it is my fault for mentioning I have electric blankets running through UPS. Sorry everyone!

 

[Shrek]

Electric blanket and modified sine wave converter. – RVelectricity – RV Travel Forum

Now can we please stop this stupidity?

 

[Bill_Bright]

Did you read your own article? It says "inverter" and "some" blankets and I just addressed that in my last reply!!!!

Camping with an Electric Blanket: Everything You Need to Know – The Outdoor Fanatic
Can You Use An Electric Blanket In An RV? (EXPLAINED) (rvandplaya.com)

We can stop the stupidity when you quit running these topics OT every time anyone mentions they use an UPS with their electric blanket.

 

[Shrek]

I never said all; actually, I didn't have an issue till I replaced a controller due to broken wires.

Off Topic?
"UPS's - Does anyone use them for the main rig or their networking kit or something else??"

I was very careful to read 'or something else'

What is it with you? I just want to work with you, not against; I am sure you have much to teach me.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I am sure you have much to teach me.

I've tried. But when you get something stuck in your head, you refuse to accept that anything could be different than what you believe - tossing up links that don't apply or one off anecdotal examples you believe makes an entire point moot. So that's not teaching or learning.

Off Topic?
"UPS's - Does anyone use them for the main rig or their networking kit or something else??"

Yes. Using an UPS with an electric blanket is on topic. But not square wave output UPSs (which I am not sure even exist any more - maybe 40 years ago) or whether or not electric blankets, as you claim, require sinewaves because, apparently, after a broken wire, your blanket did.

As you noted, the OP asked if anyone uses UPS for "something else". The answer is, "Yes." Time to move on.

 

[thesmokingman]

I am in the US. I know several people who used to sell power back to the utility but they no longer allow that.

Yea, that's a "utility company" thing, not "net metering" thing. I'd agree most utilities if not all utilities do not want to cut checks but hopefully for you they allow you to carry over any surplus credits.

 

[Shrek]

I've tried. But when you get something stuck in your head, you refuse to accept that anything could be different than what you believe - tossing up links that don't apply or one off anecdotal examples you believe makes an entire point moot. So that's not teaching or learning.

Teachers need to be a little mellow when dealing with stubborn students

 

[cvaldes]

Teachers need to be a little mellow when dealing with stubborn students

In a classroom, the teacher is paid to be there either from your tuition or tax dollars.

In an anonymous online Q&A forum, the community members aren't paid to be here. Bill_Bright nor anyone else is obligated to run out to buy a bunch of electric blankets, test them for your pet obsession this week, and report back. Sorry about that.

Answers to your questions aren't always going to be handed to you on a silver platter from TPU community members or anyone else for that matter.

All students of life need to learn from their mistakes because often the teacher isn't a human who will tell you what you did wrong. If Mother Nature kicks your ass while you are kayaking, guess what? She doesn't give a sh!t about you, she'll do it again. As an adult, the burden is on you to figure out what you can reasonably expect to learn from others and what you need to figure out yourself.

Returning to the main topic, people do use UPSes for a variety of usage cases that aren't about protecting a main PC or their networking gear.

I'm charging a pair of AA batteries on one of my cheap UPSes, mostly because the UPS's placement is more accessible than the wall receptable it's connected to. So there's another usage case relevant to this topic.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I'm charging a pair of AA batteries on one of my cheap UPSes

That reminds me. I have rechargeable lights for my bikes that are recharged through USB. And I have a small UPS I got free from Newegg with a USB charging ports. I keep this UPS by the door and I use it for the lights, and my cell's wireless charger.

But clearly, at only 75W, that UPS is not suitable for much else - noting it claims to be "optimized" for cell phones, tablets and network adapters - though not sure what they mean by network adapters.

Side comment - Wow! The price of those lights doubled since I bought them. They are great lights, highly visible even in bright sunlight, with long runtimes. But not for that price.

 

[dgianstefani]

I did a lot of research picking out a UPS.

Like with all tech, there's a lot of different levels of performance and quality. Online double conversion, line interactive, and offline. There's also whether the system outputs a pure sinewave, modified or stepped sinewave, or a non sinewave output (not suitable for sensitive electronics).

Riello SEP1500 & Liebert GXT MT+ 2 kVA G2 ES, both being Online UPS systems outputting a pure sinewave, were what I narrowed my selection to, with a PDU to connect office and computer appliances to.

 

[caroline!]

Electric blanket and modified sine wave converter. – RVelectricity – RV Travel Forum

Now can we please stop this stupidity?

Make the controller analogue electronics, problem solved.

A warm blanket is simply a normal blanket with insulated heating wire inside, not much science behind it. A resistive element won't care about square or pure sine-wave.

 

[Shrek]

Mains voltage is dangerous and so should not be applied directly, so things are not quite so simple; that and the need to regulate the level of heating.

I believe the controller is analogue, but I could be wrong.

 

[mechtech]

UPS
yes
One for main PC/setup
One for network system

 

[silentbogo]

With constant power outages here due to recent russian bombings my house is now all covered in UPSes and battery backups.
I've replaced my generic UPS with a jerry-rigged 24V DC-DC UPS for my networking equipment, which works like a charm and takes up less space than my router.
Basically a 6s1p Li-Ion powerbank with a 25.2V charger, and on the output side I've added a step up/down converter for 12V stuff. Last time I had no power for 7+ hours and it held up just fine with some charge to spare. Works for now, but in the future I want to replace it with something bigger and more reliable, so it could handle additional devices like an extra 4G router for redundant WAN or LED lights, and at least 24H of operation. Probably dabble into the LFP rabbit hole for ideas.

My server rack still suffers, but I'm in the process of replacing another puny UPS with an APC SUA1500RMI2U. Should be just enough to cover our current 4h/4h scheduled outages during the day.
But I'm thinking of ditching all the AC stuff out of my setup and simply getting a big-ass 12V 100Ah AGM or LFP battery for my servers. All I need is a couple of PicoPSUs and maybe a beefier step-up-down converter to have a stable 12V output regardless of the current charge state. The whole rack consumes around 60W (a bit more if my Supermicro NAS is on). Going straight to DC will definitely improve efficiency as well.

Parted out a broken solar outdoor street light(got it a long time ago for repair from a friend, only to find out that it was designed by a bunch of monkeys and should not work at all). Made a portable rechargeable projector out of each LED section by adding lithium cells from old laptop batteries, and a few modules that total around $1 in BOM. Now all I have left is to make a nice presentable enclosure, so I can carry or hang it somewhere without worrying about wires. If my calculations are right - each should be able to provide light for 5-6 hours, but in the future I may need to swap the charging module to something beefier: right now it's a generic 5V 1A module, which was actually made out of 2 broken modules yesterday, which means it also charges around 5-6 hours as well. But I've seen some newer cheap two-way modules(like a powerbank) that can handle up to 2.5A and costs approximately the same.

 

[Bill_Bright]

With constant power outages here due to recent russian bombings

Stay safe!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi all

Just a random question for you, I was wondering about getting a UPS for my homeserver, router and network switch for home and I was just curious if anyone else here has done or is thinking of (plus all the in betweenness) done the same etc.
My server at home contains all of the important things like childrens photo's, documents and all that kind of jazz, but does anyone protect theirs?? If you do, which UPS did you buy and why?

If you do, don't or are thinking about it like myself, please do let me know below and why/what drove you to the choice

Massive thanks as always for your input

I do. I have 4 in the house total with 2 being in our "office". One for my daily driver(PC I'm typing on) & wife's PC and one for my dedicated gaming PC. Then one in the utility room with the internet modem and one in the living room. They have been life savers. Have had to replace the battery in two of them and getting ready to replace a third. Overall, fulling worth the expense.

With constant power outages here due to recent russian bombings my house is now all covered in UPSes and battery backups.

Glad you're still here!

 

[Shrek]

With constant power outages here due to recent russian bombings my house is now all covered in UPSes and battery backups.
I've replaced my generic UPS with a jerry-rigged 24V DC-DC UPS for my networking equipment, which works like a charm and takes up less space than my router.
Basically a 6s1p Li-Ion powerbank with a 25.2V charger, and on the output side I've added a step up/down converter for 12V stuff. Last time I had no power for 7+ hours and it held up just fine with some charge to spare. Works for now, but in the future I want to replace it with something bigger and more reliable, so it could handle additional devices like an extra 4G router for redundant WAN or LED lights, and at least 24H of operation. Probably dabble into the LFP rabbit hole for ideas.

My server rack still suffers, but I'm in the process of replacing another puny UPS with an APC SUA1500RMI2U. Should be just enough to cover our current 4h/4h scheduled outages during the day.
But I'm thinking of ditching all the AC stuff out of my setup and simply getting a big-ass 12V 100Ah AGM or LFP battery for my servers. All I need is a couple of PicoPSUs and maybe a beefier step-up-down converter to have a stable 12V output regardless of the current charge state. The whole rack consumes around 60W (a bit more if my Supermicro NAS is on). Going straight to DC will definitely improve efficiency as well.

Parted out a broken solar outdoor street light(got it a long time ago for repair from a friend, only to find out that it was designed by a bunch of monkeys and should not work at all). Made a portable rechargeable projector out of each LED section by adding lithium cells from old laptop batteries, and a few modules that total around $1 in BOM. Now all I have left is to make a nice presentable enclosure, so I can carry or hang it somewhere without worrying about wires. If my calculations are right - each should be able to provide light for 5-6 hours, but in the future I may need to swap the charging module to something beefier: right now it's a generic 5V 1A module, which was actually made out of 2 broken modules yesterday, which means it also charges around 5-6 hours as well. But I've seen some newer cheap two-way modules(like a powerbank) that can handle up to 2.5A and costs approximately the same.

Amazing; take care out there.