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Question

What wattage for UPS back up

Aug 20, 2014 11:42PM PDT

I need to purchase a new UPS battery back up and would like some advice as to how much wattage I need. I am looking at one that has 1080w for $119 and another one that has 1500w for $179. My PSU is an XFS 1000w, I will have at least the following peripherals attached - Computer, LCD monitor, 2 printers, several external hard drives, and 1 or 2 powered USB hubs.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Why would we put printers on this?
Aug 21, 2014 12:01AM PDT

The 1000 Watt PSU in the desktop is a sign you may want the larger unit. This is only to let you have time to do an orderly shutdown. Not to keep gaming or printing.

Most advise 2X your biggest total load. We need a P3 Watt Meter (see google) to really know.
Bob

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Thanks, Bob
Aug 21, 2014 4:00AM PDT

As far as the printer(s) being on this, it just depends upon how many devices I need to have surge protected. Because I am "fighting" for space and have been using the UPS back up (battery protected) outlets for use with peripherals. I have a Belkin SurgeMasterII with eight outlets that I could use but I don't know its joule rating.

I do have a P3 Watt Meter. I will see what I can discover from using it

I can't afford to go much higher than 1500 watts. It has been very rare that I have been on the computer when there was a power outage, although during outages the computer is usually on unless late at night ( I shut everything down before going to bed). But the monitor and printer would be in sleep mode. I have been more concerned over power surges doing damage.

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Sorry
Aug 21, 2014 4:27AM PDT

I didn't see that noted. You'll need a P3 or such to measure then use the usual 2 or more X that reading to pick your UPS.
Bob

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More Info
Aug 21, 2014 6:55AM PDT

According to a technician at Belkin the SurgeMasterII is rated at 1756 joules. I will try to find room to use this for any extra peripherals.
I plugged a short extension cord that had both the computer and the monitor attached into my P3 Kill A Watt.EZ meter and I got readings under watts from 71.6 to 90.2. I guess that is a per second reading.

UNFORTUNATELY, while I was playing around with the meter I forgot that I was in the process of copying everything from my ext HD (80GB of info) to this computer and unplugged it. No big deal - do over what did not get copied. Except, when I pull the computer out the ext hd fell off the desktop and landed on a concrete floor - You guessed it. It no longer works and hundreds of hours of work has been lost unless I wish to spend the bucks to have some outfit try to restore the drive.

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One of my best tricks over the years
Aug 21, 2014 7:02AM PDT

Is to put items that can fall in a pre-fallen place. Long ago I dropped a drive and the lesson was burned in.
Bob

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Re: one of my best tricks
Aug 21, 2014 8:49AM PDT

I guess I will have to build myself a place to keep those kind of things placed in such a manor that they can't go anywhere. One of these days I will get rid of all of my old ext hard drives and get a couple of new ones that are Sata and not ide which most of mine are. Once I have ext sata hard drives, I will be able to remove them from the enclosure and install them into my computers HotSwap enclosures. So why have ext hd drives?- I use them to transfer data from one computer to another.

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An update to More Info
Aug 22, 2014 10:51PM PDT

I was fortunate. I hadn't lost the data and the ext hd is working just fine. Earlier when I had put the current hd in the ext. hd tray I had neglected to attach the hd with the 4 screws so all that had happened was that the hd had disconnected itself from the power and data connectors when it fell off the desk. After putting it back together with screws attached, it is working just fine and it is now located where it won't fall anywhere.