UPS recommendation for home server

Forums › Off topic › UPS recommendation for home server

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#57440 13-Feb-2010 16:16

Hi folks, we're looking at getting a UPS unit for our home server. There's quite a range out there, from the very cheap Digitus unit to ... well ... you can spend a lot of money for a UPS unit I imagine.

What's a reasonable unit for home user? I have never looked at UPS before - do they come with a battery? What's the basic requirements for home use?

Cheers,
D.

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

1 | 2

4708 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1182

ID Verified

Trusted

#298671 13-Feb-2010 16:50

It depends on how long you want to be able to run your server if/when the mains power goes out.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298674 13-Feb-2010 16:53

That's true - Digitus has this for very cheap - not sure what it's like: http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=383260.

We don't tend to have massive power cuts - occasionally we have micro outages in rapid successions - that's what we're trying to smooth over.

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#298675 13-Feb-2010 16:53

I had a cheap digitus.. was useless. Put a bigger interuption in the power when switching over than the one it was trying to protect the computer from. Sometimes the monitor would even take that interuption as loss of power and go black and start up again.

got an APC and its so much better - with the desklamp on it, there is no visible glitch when pulling AC power to it out.

Now I am looking for a decent 2000VA one to run all the servers etc on but they go for stupid money :(

Richard rich.ms

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298677 13-Feb-2010 16:58

richms: I had a cheap digitus.. was useless. Put a bigger interuption in the power when switching over than the one it was trying to protect the computer from. Sometimes the monitor would even take that interuption as loss of power and go black and start up again.

got an APC and its so much better - with the desklamp on it, there is no visible glitch when pulling AC power to it out.

Now I am looking for a decent 2000VA one to run all the servers etc on but they go for stupid money :(

What made the Digitus useless? What model is your current APC?

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#298685 13-Feb-2010 17:07

The large interuption when it cut over is what made it a problem.

The current APC I have is just called a back-ups 280 - got it with a dead battery for $10 and put another battery in it.

I have a fenton on some of the other gear, never tried the digitus on it to know how it compares however.

Richard rich.ms

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298693 13-Feb-2010 17:31

This doesn't happen to be yours, does it? :o)

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Peripherals/UPS/auction-271358191.htm

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#298694 13-Feb-2010 17:33

looks the same. yeah. Shame its in chch since shipping would be a killer for me to get another

Richard rich.ms

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298695 13-Feb-2010 17:38

Well, shipping for me is a non-issue since I'm in ChCh - so this is a good unit? How long can it keep a PC running? It's a headless unit with 3 external 3.5" powered HDD hanging off it.

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#298698 13-Feb-2010 17:42

I get about 4 mins for my PC, but it is bleating about overload for all that time normally. Little small for a desktop computer, ok for something that is gutless like a small server. I was going to try a car battery on it but found that the battery leads are live on small UPS's so connecting to something external isnt a good idea.

Richard rich.ms

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298714 13-Feb-2010 19:47

I noticed it had an RS232 port on it - what's that for? I only have USB I think...will have to confirm that...

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10208

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#298717 13-Feb-2010 20:12

I think it just shuts the PC down. Some will monitor the load but I have not investigated it at all

Richard rich.ms

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

kyhwana2

2572 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 233

#298718 13-Feb-2010 20:15

I have a 650VA APC UPS that has been pretty good to me. It has USB, so it works fine in windows 7 (I've only had it shutdown my computer once during a power cut) and I just got a dynamix 650VA UPS for my linux server. It only has RS232 (serial) but this works fine in linux with nut. (The UPS monitoring app)

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 16

ID Verified

Trusted

#298723 13-Feb-2010 20:43

That's interesting...the Dynamix units are very cheap too I think. If I remember correctly you can also get USBRS232 adapters...may be wrong about that...

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

kyhwana2

2572 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 233

#298730 13-Feb-2010 21:43

dpw: That's interesting...the Dynamix units are very cheap too I think. If I remember correctly you can also get USBRS232 adapters...may be wrong about that...

Yeah, they're fairly cheap.. but I haven't heard any complaints about them..
I haven't had mine for too long but i'll let you know in the next year or so after some power cuts ;)

kyhwana2

2572 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 233

#298733 13-Feb-2010 21:45

dpw: That's interesting...the Dynamix units are very cheap too I think. If I remember correctly you can also get USBRS232 adapters...may be wrong about that...

Yeah, they're fairly cheap.. but I haven't heard any complaints about them..
I haven't had mine for too long but i'll let you know in the next year or so after some power cuts ;)

1 | 2