Posted on 03/25/2022 9:33:36 AM PDT by zeugma
I have a general questions for freepers who might be knowledgeable about electronics and such things.
I have a CyberPower UPS that I run my desktop and monitor through. It seems to work OK when I actually lose power here. However, we apparently get overvolts occasionally. When that happens the UPS just drops power and turns off. Obviously, this is a less than ideal situation. I have to physically power it back on before I can restart my desktop. Kinda defeats the whole idea of having a UPS.
The reason I suspect an overvolt situation, is because the UPS has a front panel that shows input voltage. Most of the time it displays between 120v and 122v. However, right after It drops power and I bring it back online, it will show the input as high as 123v, and I think I've even seen 124v a time or two.
Does anyone know if it would be worthwhile to put a powerstrip between the UPS and the wall? I figure some of them might be designed to smooth out power, but I really don't know enough about such things to be sure. Perhaps something else would work better.
I'd appreciate any advise on this, as it's kind of annoying.
Back in the day, many folks did this. But the hardware that suffered was the hard drive. I know because I used to do it and even with drives spinning down and such, I lost a couple after 2-3 years of leaving them running. Makes for a bad day if you don't have a current image handy.
These days with SSDs...not a bad idea for a Linux box. Windoze? Not so much.
You need a UPS for even power ;-)
I remember having to shut down (what was it called back then?!) the HD before shutting down the PC to avoid head damage. I think my massive 12MB HD was around $800 back then. Was told I would never be able to fill it up.. ROTFLMAO...
At least the cassette tapes were a LOT cheaper :P
Oh, and you had to be careful with the dip-switches. I fried a motherboard once because of the wrong one was flipped :/
You need a “power conditioner.”
Cassette tapes! Yes. I used to share a Wang 2500 with others in the math department soooo many years ago....70s I think. I carried all of my programs on a cassette tape that would fit right in my shirt pocket.
A few months after I signed up with Duke Energy Wire Protection thing an outside outlet near my central AC unit started sparking - the AC tech said it could ‘kill’ my AC unit (which would NOT be covered by the ten year “parts and labor” agreement I had) and that I better get someone out pronto.
Problem was it was labor day weekend.
Then I remembered the Duke Energy thing - called the program number - and they had someone out here, fixed the problem, and GONE within two hours of my initial call. Of course that was an emergency call - but I’ve been impressed with the program in general.
Yeah, that was it, “park the drive”.
maybe buy a surge protection power strip for it.
your battery seems to be defective
zeugma, I tried to reach the end (to make sure it wasn’t already stated) before I mentioned this, but another possibility is that you may have too much plugged into the UPS.
Nope just 2 things. An LCD monitor and the desktop itself.
I moved the Laser printer into another room quite a while back. Don’t know if the 2 rooms are on the same circuit though. Probably ought to check that.Also, if you have a laser printer connected, that could be the issue too. Laser printers are a no-no for a UPS because they use a power surge to use the fuser (the thing it melts the toner to the paper).
thanks, we are definitely gonna check into it- small price to pay for peace of mind-
These are mostly lead acid batteries
Don’t expect much past 3 years.
Also look for the aluminum wires at breakers in older homes. 1980 and older. Aluminum loses its tightness over time.
Replace the battery. All retail and industrial UPS devices have a replaceable battery. Take it to a local Batteries Plus, and get a new one. That’ll fix the drops.
I install and service UPS systems from 1.5kVa to 1.500kVa.
Get a new battery. The UPS may show some runtime but it is wrong. Inputs to a UPS can vary up to 10%.
A sag or swell phase to phase will force battery operation then your load drops. Battery is dead and UPS turns off.
Yes your UPS is a line conditioner at all times as the input is being re-created by the inverter.
You have a VRLA battery that needs replaced every 3 years.
Or get a better UPS. Always a chance your UPS itself is faulty. The small UPS’s do not hold up well after 5 years IMHO.
Back in the day, if my memory serves me correctly HD failures were the most common computer failures. I retired a couple of years before SSD drives were common and affordable. My aging mac-mini and dell laptop have energy saving settings that spin down the HD when not in use. So far, so good after 10 years and 6 years respectfully.
# A sag or swell phase to phase will force battery operation then your load drops. Battery is dead and UPS turns off.
I get that, but if I can kill power to the UPS by unplugging it, and it works as expected, doesn’t that mean the battery is OK, or at least not bad enough handle a small outage?
Yes it does. If the battery holds after unplugging the UPS your UPS has a problem.
125Vac input is not a problem.
After that tidbit of information I’m not sure what your issue is. What load % is on this?
Keep Printers off of it BTW. Inductive loads will overload if it goes above 105% on battery.
Also make sure the output receptacles are all battery backup.
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