Uninterruptable Power Supply what do i need to know ?

[Barking Mat]

Two main governing factors:

The power of the inverter.

The amp hours of the batteries.

Bigger inverter will obviously require heftier battery pack.

Then obviously when the grids not down you'll want an inbuilt battery charger keeping those batts fully charged.

 

[Barking Mat]

1000watt one would give you about half an hour or so depending on the load requirements?
Out of interest have you got a total wattage?

Depends how many batteries in a battery pack.

 

[Barking Mat]

We run 1000 and 2000 watt inverters off 12 and 24 v batt packs on our boats and they'll support a 220v fridge running 24/24 or a hefty diesel 220v heating system. Plus all the domestic pumps, lighting, toilets and all that.

 

[sparkysy]

This is very true, but the one linked to was only 450ah or something like that, if the PC and monitor's are say 250w then it's not going to last long!

What capacity and how many batteries are you running to achieve that @Barking Mat?

 

[Kayos]

Given the original brief, I'd buy a laptop

Mine spends most days plugged in, and usually has charge on a Monday after not being touched all weekend

 

[sparkysy]

@Kayos
That is a very good idea and much simpler!

 

[skotl]

If you really need a UPS then today's inverter devices are very straightforward to size and use, especially compared to lead-acid units from ~20 years ago.
Car batteries, inverters, chargers, etc. are just too complex for basic use.

APC have been the name in small/medium sized UPSs for more than four decades. If I needed one, I'd be starting here, at around £80

https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-Back-UPS-BV1000I-MS-Uninterruptible-Universal/dp/B07QBZKG5T/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2RVE2KEVHL2ON&keywords=ups&qid=1676675927&sprefix=ups%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-6

A 1KVA unit will run a typical PC and monitors for an hour or more. That said, a UPS isn't really for running a system for an extended period of time; it is (as per the OP's requirement) to ensure that the machines can be shut down safely.
UPSs come with software (almost certainly for Windows, commonly for Macs and Linux too) that allows a PC to run for... say... 15 minutes and if the power hasn't returned then to safely shut the system down.

 

[maroon]

I think you can get ups boards without battery. Or pickup a knackered ups off eBay cheap. Put a bigger battery in it.
A ups is basically just a 12v battery with switching circuits (the uninterrupted type)

Once the battery goes people bin them and don't fix them. I took one apart once.
Pick them up for dirt cheap.

Does it need to "look nice" ?

 

[gaz1]

This would be way overkill for this situation. There are millions of places around the world that keep stuff running with quite small UPS although normally they are there to povide enough power for an orderly shut down. Can't really understand why you are recommending something that is likely to run into thousands just to keep a PC running.

erm user has stated he wants the pc to stay on all night long in standby mode so he dosnt loose his tabs

not even a battery pack could do this its only for short term use and power your systems down

you cant do that when your in bed

so he needs something else that can provide that sort of power the only 2 alternatives battery back up running 10/20 batterys or a genny with simple battery back up

 

[maroon]

erm user has stated he wants the pc to stay on all night long in standby mode so he dosnt loose his tabs

not even a battery pack could do this its only for short term use and power your systems down

you cant do that when your in bed

so he needs something else that can provide that sort of power the only 2 alternatives battery back up running 10/20 batterys or a genny with simple battery back up

I think it's just a ups he's after?

As long as he's not using it during the outage it should last a considerable amount of time off a ups. A lot of them are designed to keep servers going. As a power outage is "in time" regarding some security measures. The only way you can get into a microprocessor is cutting the power and latching it. And those ups' are running power hungry harddrives

If it was out for a day then you would start needing genny's.

 

[Olderisbetter]

I had 3 from a skip from a supermarket, 1 was about the size of a shoe box the other 2 were as big as small microwaves, i think branded NCR, all had dead batteries but worked fine with new ones i mainly had them for the old pc and the smaller one was good for my dads electric bed incase of a power cut.

 

[MetalMonkey]

erm user has stated he wants the pc to stay on all night long in standby mode so he dosnt loose his tabs

not even a battery pack could do this its only for short term use and power your systems down

you cant do that when your in bed

so he needs something else that can provide that sort of power the only 2 alternatives battery back up running 10/20 batterys or a genny with simple battery back up

I think you misread it Gaz,
He said he wants something that will keep the PC powered through power cuts, most of which he assumes are short blips for a couple of minutes.
But that's enough to restart his PC so he loses anything he had open from the previous day.

Nothing mentioned about keeping it running on battery all night, the mains will do that...

 

[gaz1]

looking to just keep a pc 5 years old running through power cuts most i assume are short a few mins or just a blip that when you get to the pc in the morning is restarted and you have lost all of the tabs you where browsing

i dont want any thing fancy just to keep the power going as long as possable for as cheap as possable

I think you misread it Gaz,
He said he wants something that will keep the PC powered through power cuts, most of which he assumes are short blips for a couple of minutes.
But that's enough to restart his PC so he loses anything he had open from the previous day.

Nothing mentioned about keeping it running on battery all night, the mains will do that...

both you and he are thinking there blips of power cuts they might not be

a blip to the power will shut the pc down i agree battery back up has a longer chance i also agree which he says is happening at night when he cant shut it down ( bed )

but any longer and as said above your looking at something different as suggested above it could be ups or other alterenative the user wants cheap

i also clean my pc often x2-x3 a year same with the power supply as i always vac the cpu fins and also the power supply box they do fail could be another thing thats shutting his pc down

 

[angellonewolf]

What's your maximum grid down time ? Did you say two pooters ? Do you need the monitors on ? Total watts ?

1000 watts ? Take your average wattage and double it to be on the safe side.

Lighting, if it's at night ?

1000watt one would give you about half an hour or so depending on the load requirements?
Out of interest have you got a total wattage?

Two main governing factors:

The power of the inverter.

The amp hours of the batteries.

Bigger inverter will obviously require heftier battery pack.

Then obviously when the grids not down you'll want an inbuilt battery charger keeping those batts fully charged.

its only 1 pc as if the 2nd one is a problem its in another room only 3 meters away but to get a cable to there from the 1st pc and have no trip problems it would be run round the skirting and that would be 8 meters and the cost of a 1000 watt is 120 plus the 450 watt is 60 so might as well buy 2

Given the original brief, I'd buy a laptop

Mine spends most days plugged in, and usually has charge on a Monday after not being touched all weekend

nice idea but at least the pc is under the desk so safe from spils where as the laptop will be in the way

 

[angellonewolf]

If you really need a UPS then today's inverter devices are very straightforward to size and use, especially compared to lead-acid units from ~20 years ago.
Car batteries, inverters, chargers, etc. are just too complex for basic use.

APC have been the name in small/medium sized UPSs for more than four decades. If I needed one, I'd be starting here, at around £80

https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-Back-UPS-BV1000I-MS-Uninterruptible-Universal/dp/B07QBZKG5T/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2RVE2KEVHL2ON&keywords=ups&qid=1676675927&sprefix=ups%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-6

A 1KVA unit will run a typical PC and monitors for an hour or more. That said, a UPS isn't really for running a system for an extended period of time; it is (as per the OP's requirement) to ensure that the machines can be shut down safely.
UPSs come with software (almost certainly for Windows, commonly for Macs and Linux too) that allows a PC to run for... say... 15 minutes and if the power hasn't returned then to safely shut the system down.

I think you can get ups boards without battery. Or pickup a knackered ups off eBay cheap. Put a bigger battery in it.
A ups is basically just a 12v battery with switching circuits (the uninterrupted type)

Once the battery goes people bin them and don't fix them. I took one apart once.
Pick them up for dirt cheap.

Does it need to "look nice" ?

its only to stop the short power outages as said im sure if the power goes off its only for a few mins so 15 mins should be ok 30 mins would be better


and as said here im going to look at windows update as well as that could be set to restart after update is this standard setting or would you set it to shut down after update


dont need to look nice new but safe and not out of place

 

[daleyd]

For what you want don’t overthink it, just a small ups from a decent brand. Sounds like it’s only to keep it from powering down during short power dips.

Though if nothing else is showing signs of power loss are you sure it’s not the pc itself that’s shutting down/restarting and not an actual power issue?

Failing that laptop as said, you can also stick them under the desk and put a monitor, keyboard etc on it if you want.

 

[angellonewolf]

both you and he are thinking there blips of power cuts they might not be

a blip to the power will shut the pc down i agree battery back up has a longer chance i also agree which he says is happening at night when he cant shut it down ( bed )

but any longer and as said above your looking at something different as suggested above it could be ups or other alterenative the user wants cheap

i also clean my pc often x2-x3 a year same with the power supply as i always vac the cpu fins and also the power supply box they do fail could be another thing thats shutting his pc down

the pcs can be remote accessed so work from home if its gone down some one needs to get up there to reboot so there is that side but its not important i dont think

 

[indy4x]

Keep it simple,

1. Configure your browser to open tabs where you left off

2. Get an APC UPS, 1000w @240v would be ample

3. Use the APC software to shut the PC down if the battery is getting low on the UPS

4. Configure PC to start up when power is restored

Jobs a good one

 

[drjim]

UPS, New Batteries - UPS Trader

Supplier of Refurbished UPS, New Batteries and UPS associated hardware. 12 Month RTB warranty and new batteries as standard.

secure.ups-trader.co.uk

 

[Onthespotwelding]

Don’t forget anything with fancy electronics running from a generator will need AVR (auto voltage regulation)

Not all generators have it and you will pay extra for it.