BR800i vs active ps?

[Anonymous user]

Hi all,

I bought 3 APC BR800's to protect 3 different pc's.
The first one blew up within onemonth, it was replaced.
The second blew up yesterday, like the first one, big bang when I pressed the power button of my pc.
Note that the problem occured on two different pc's having different brand ps but both active pfc type.
APC now states that it has to do with the ps of my pc being an active pfc 600 watts from Antec.
APC backups cannot handle active pfs ps. I find this hard te belief, anyone has any ideas about this?

When I pointed out that my choice UPS was based on the ips selector on the APC website they gave me the following reaction:

" The information provided in the APC UPS Selector is provided for general informational purposes only. It is subject to change without notice and is provided ?as is? without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Different solutions address different needs; please contact an APC sales representative to discuss the best solution for your specific needs."


Greetz,
Geert Veen

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

In both cases the UPS went out right after turning on the pc attached to it.

Regards,
Geert

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Hello Geert,

There is no known nomenclature stating that APC Back-UPS will not work with Active PFC Power Supplies to my knowledge. The reason is because proper sizing can be adjusted to adjust this problem. Your BR800's are only capable of 540W (http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR800BLK), therefore, having an Active PFC Power Supply from Antec which draws 600W at startup is overloading the UPS each time the PC starts by 60W. This does not include anything else attached to the UPS that may result in increasing the load.

Even though after startup the Power Supply returns to a lower watt consumption, it's the initial in-rush that's going to cause the overload/damage to the UPS.

[BillP]

My powersupply is the CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520 watt, which is also and active PFC. Does this mean that I need a UPS that can support 520 watts or more?

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

You would need a UPS that supports a Watt consumption equal to your power supply in addition to any load you're going to power on battery as well.

[Anonymous user]

600W means the maximum output the power supply is capable of providing. Input power at 600W output is around 800W for most power supplies, but in most usage, the power supply don't see anything near this level of load.

The power load depends entirely on the configuration and load placed on your computer.

There are some power supplies that interact with modified square wave input regardless of power level.

Are you plugging your PSU into your UPS while on battery or turning the computer on by the switch on the back of the PSU? This can create more inrush than many UPS can handle.

If the UPS can't handle booting the PC from soft-shut down state or hold the power on when the power goes out, you have an interaction problem provided that you're not using some gaming PC that draws a lot of powe

It seems that the newer model consumer grade UPSs(plastic chassis) are having more break-downs than older metal body models made before the fierce pricing competition.

The active PFC circuit was not always designed to accommodate modified square wave, although some are and modified square wave UPSs depend on the ability of the load to cope with the modified square wave.

Contact the manufacturer of PSUs/PCs and see if your particular model can handle modified square wave input.

It maybe cheaper to replace the PSU without a PFC to accommodate the UPSs than buying sinewave UPSs.

[Anonymous user]

Hi all,

many thnaks for your contribution.

I made my choice based on the selector utility offered by APC.
So I did mention my bigtower chassis, my big display, processor type, 4 harddisks and so on.
The outcome was a choice of 3 amongst them the chosen BR800i
In my opinion this should work, if not or in doubt APC should not advise me at all.
The disclaimer is a poor offer from APC to backout from liability.
Power drawn from mains is at startup approx 200 watts rising to about 300 fully booted pc and lots of activity, using a power meter.

Today I say difference in both cases. The first UPS gave up with a big bang, powering it up again resulted in the same bang every time.
The other UPS also gave up with a big bang but now at power up it blinks on repace battery and overload. Anyone got an answer on this?

By the way, the APC technician handling my case states that neither smart ups'es nor back-up ups'es from APC can handle PFC PS.
I hev asked for a technical explaination, without proper explaination it could also be the color of the PS (being black) which causes the problems 🙂

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

geencar wrote:
Hi all,

many thnaks for your contribution.

I made my choice based on the selector utility offered by APC.
So I did mention my bigtower chassis, my big display, processor type, 4 harddisks and so on.
The outcome was a choice of 3 amongst them the chosen BR800i
In my opinion this should work, if not or in doubt APC should not advise me at all.
The disclaimer is a poor offer from APC to backout from liability.
Power drawn from mains is at startup approx 200 watts rising to about 300 fully booted pc and lots of activity, using a power meter.

Today I say difference in both cases. The first UPS gave up with a big bang, powering it up again resulted in the same bang every time.
The other UPS also gave up with a big bang but now at power up it blinks on repace battery and overload. Anyone got an answer on this?

By the way, the APC technician handling my case states that neither smart ups'es nor back-up ups'es from APC can handle PFC PS.
I hev asked for a technical explaination, without proper explaination it could also be the color of the PS (being black) which causes the problems 🙂

Does it do this when the UPS goes to battery with the computer running?

All current BackUPS's are modified squarewave and there are some fluorescent ballasts (many APC units says for IT equipment only) and new IT equipment that do not work properly with them. There was a sinewave BackUPS called the VX or XV in the 80s, however that is the only exception as far as I know.

The SmartUPS line, with the exception of the current SC and 1990's v/s, they're all pure sine wave therefore should work with just about anything. SmartUPSs are very expensive unless you get a used one and I don't know of the distribution channel in Netherlands...

I think the best option, however, is to get this one, then manage it over the LAN http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1500I