Living in China - Just bought US APC ES

[BillP]

Hello!

I just bought an APC ES 750 from the U.S., and I'm living in Shanghai.

I plan to use it with a Mac Mini and my network router.

My question is, since I'm in China, the usual voltage is 220V. I'm living in expat housing, so they provide heavy duty power converters that convert down to 110V or 120V.
I'm not sure why some of them do 110V and some do 120V... just noticed that today... but anyway...

I notice that the APC ES 750 wants 120V. I also notice that the instructions say I should plug it directly into the wall.

About the power converters - they're big, heavy, encased in heavy duty metal. They power most everything in our place as most of our appliances are American. They're built to be run 24/7. Really really heavy stuff.

Anyway...

So if I plug my APC into one of the 120V power converters... Am I going to destroy it? Or worse, burn down my house?

Thanks for any advice!

[Anonymous user]

Hi saikyo, in regards to your inquiry the UPS's are indeed designed to be used on a 120v system connected directly to wall power. That being said as long as the power being provided to it is 120v and there is not a lot of distortion (THD or other) then the ups should function properly. In general i would say the better the power coming out of the converter (ie the closer it resembles normal AC line power) the more likely the ups will run unaffected. Hope this helps.

[BillP]

Thanks for the feedback!

Is there a way that I could test what kind of distortion is coming out of my socket? Or, to put it another way, to test the quality of the power coming out of the converter?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

You could, but usually that equipment is not cheap. You could to to a hardware store and see what kind of volt meters and other equipment is available. My guess is if your equipment has been working fine, then the UPS should be ok. Hope this helps.