SU vs. SUA

[Anonymous user]

I am looking to find out what the key differences are between the SU and SUA series.

I see that the SUA vs. SMT series major differences are LCD screen, better online efficiency and new communication language.

I shop usedefurb units and am making sure I don't miss some new major feature. Other than just being newer, I don't see much advantage to the SMT series, so I'm curious about the SUA series.

I currently have some SU Smart-UPS units and when on generator, the UPS trips to battery a lot and therefore may not charge properly. Kinda hoping the SUA doesn't have that problem.

[Anonymous user]

Oh, so the SMX is the successor to the SMT?

I don't know what problems the generator is producing, but are any of the generations are more likely to tolerate power problems when on generator?

[BillP]

SMX and SMT are current generation products. Within SUA's time, we had SUA's then we had SUA with XL capability. SMX is the replacement for SUA XL with [intelligent] external battery pack capability. in addition, the transformer for boosting and trimming is not always in use and is bypassed when it is not needed. i don't think that is the case with SUA.

so basically order of release was:

SU
SUA
SMT/SMX

the features of the SMT though are more like an updated SUA but SMX is different from the ground up.

all of these UPSs will have settings to tweak to better work with generators. they all have sensitivity settings to deal better with generator power.

[Anonymous user]

Okay, thanks.

I have been using regular SUs and SUXLs.

I'll actually start building my own setups for my DC plants and actually phase out a bunch of my smaller units I have around. I'll just use a regular UPS in my server room.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

SU units were the predecessor to SUA. some of the differences are the color of the chassis (beige vs. black), support for both USB and serial communications (as opposed to just serial on SU) and I am sure a heap of firmware/hardware enhancements i am not privy to. they are completely different generations of products but ultimately look very similar.

SMX and SMT are newer than SUA. SMX has major differences but an SMT is more comprable to the older SUA but just with an LCD. SMX allows for intelligent battery communication, rack tower convertible, green mode, etc.

if you are just looking for battery back up capability, graceful shutdown and don't require a fancy LCD screen versus LED panel, i think an SUA is a good choice.