Does Back-UPS compensate for low input voltage?

[BillP]

Hi, I have a Back-UPS BE850M2

1. My electric supplier has intermittent brown-outs. On hot days my house voltage ranges from 92 to 100v. Does my UPS protect against low voltage? The manual says it protects surges but I don't see low voltage?  Research on this forum says that it's model-specific.  Does my model offer low voltage regulation?
2. I have a brand new All-in-One computer with an SSD, I don't want low voltage to damage it. I can't find any specs about acceptable voltage range for my model.  However it can run on the UPS battery for a couple hours (according to the PowerChute s/w).  The best s/w setting for battery take-over due to low voltage is 96v which seems too low to me.   Is there any way to set the battery to take over at 105v?

Thanks.

[BillP]

Hello,

On 7/15/2019 12:37 PM, James said:

Does my UPS protect against low voltage? 

Yes. If the voltage drops below the pre set low voltage setting the UPS will switch to battery power to protect the attached equipment. The typical brownout transfer is 92 Vac.

The User's Guide list the settings as

 Green LOW 88 Vac to 142 Vac Use this setting with equipment that is less sensitive to fluctuations in voltage or waveform distortions.

Red MEDIUM 92 Vac to 139 Vac Factory default setting. Use this setting under normal conditions.

Amber HIGH 96 Vac to 136 Vac Use this setting when connected equipment is sensitive to voltage and waveform fluctuations.

The User's Guide is available at this link https://www.apc.com/salestools/AHUG-A52BFR/AHUG-A52BFR_R3_EN.pdf

[BillP]

Thanks for the reply.

I realize that I wasn't clear in my question.  What I was trying to ask was if the UPS routinely leveled the power during under-voltages, prior to reaching the 96v threshold.  For example, if the AC input dropped to 100v, would the UPS boost it to, say, 110v to the computer.  Not going on full battery backup, but just raising the low voltage up to a more normal value. 

From researching this, that feature is available in some APC UPSes.  It's called Automatic Voltage Regulation. From elsewhere on the APC website: "With AVR Technology, instead of going to battery during high or low input voltages, the unit will increase (BOOST) or reduce (TRIM) the voltage to a safe operating range. This is achieved by re-routing the input voltage through the internal Automatic Voltage Regulating transformer, all without running off of the internal battery."

That's what I was hoping mine would do, but apparently it does not.  At least I can't find anything about my model that says it has AVR. 

Since I can't find the minimum operating voltage for my computer, I'd feel better not chancing going down to 96v.  Even if the computer is rated okay below that, I'd prefer not to push the limit. My computer is only a couple weeks old so I'm trying to be particularly protective.

[BillP]

Hi,

That unit does not have AVR. If you would like AVR with a Back-UPS you should look at the Back-UPS Pro line.

Here is a link to a Back-UPS Pro 1000 https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/Back-UPS-PRO-BR-1000VA-SineWave-10-Outlets-2-USB-Charging-Po...

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Thank you.  My UPS is still going strong but I'll get one with AVR when I replace it. 

I had mistakenly thought that all UPSes have that feature, not sure where I got that idea.

I appreciate your help.