Smart UPS with a Surge Protector - Good Idea or Bad Move?

[Anonymous user]

Hey guys,

Quick question. So I just bought this DLA 1500 (which is the Dell way of saying the SUA 1500 - Smart UPS 1500 Va 1000 Watt backup). I had to by it because I have a 1000W computer and the SUA 15000 was the cheapest thing I could buy that can handle around 1000W.

Plugged into my SUA 1500 is my 1000w computer, two 24" flat screens, and an intense logitec dolby surround sound system (6 speakers).

I'm really worried about the weak joule rating that my APC unit has (I think it is around 500 joules). So I am going to either plug the SUA 1500 directly into an expensive surge protector (which will then plug into the wall), or first connect my components to a surge protector and then plug that into the SUA 1500.

Is one or both of these ways ok? Let me know.

Can anyone reccoment a good surge protector? APC, Monster Cable?

Thanks!

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

APC would never recommend plugging a UPS into a surge protector, which is plugged into the wall. There are power dissipation issues and the potential for voided warranties on our units. There is a Knowledge Base document that explains the situation:

http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1372

We would recommend the APC Surge family to plug into the output of the UPS to maintain warranty and the Equipment Protection Policy.

Thanks.

[Anonymous user]

Thank you for your answer.

I noticed that on the link you provided it stated that I should also NOT plug a surge protector into my UPS (I understand why the converse is bad - plugging the UPS into a surge protector).

I truly don't know why plugging a surge protector into the back of the UPS would cause a problem. Right now my 1000W computer is plugged into the back of my SUA 1500. Because my dual 24" monitors are too far away to plug into my SUA 1500, they are both plugged into an APC 3400 Joule SurgeArrest surge protector, which is then plugged into the back of my SUA 1500.

Is that ok? The other option is getting extention chords for each monitor, and plugging those into the back of my SUA 1500 (instead of using a surge protector).

[Anonymous user]

An APC Surge Arrest into the back of an SUA1500, is ok. The only concern, is drawing too much current out of the one outlet from the UPS. Other than that, warranty and EPP are still valid, as long as the surge protector is APC.

Thanks.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Sgt. Slaughter wrote:
An APC Surge Arrest into the back of an SUA1500, is ok. The only concern, is drawing too much current out of the one outlet from the UPS. Other than that, warranty and EPP are still valid, as long as the surge protector is APC.

Thanks.

I'm not trying to be difficult, but could you provide an official APC link citing maximum load per individual receptacle on UPSs with total output not exceeding the rating of the any individual receptacle specs?

Each NEMA 5-15P receptacle shall be capable of handling 12A continuous/15A non-cont (or 15A continuous, depending on which regulatory code you go by) so, if a UPS's input plug is the regular plug we're all familiar with at home, "excessive load on one outlet" is just not an issue.

If there's a very mild overload, the UPS will beep and complain. If there's a moderate overload, the UPSs breaker at the rear will pop, switch over to battery, then it will trip offline.

If there's a dead short, the breaker at the panel will trip and UPS will switch to battery, but instantly shut off.

Now, if you have a hard-wired 3kVA UPS with multiple NEMA 5-15P and NEMA 5-20P outlets and you decide to pull 3kVA from ONE NEMA 5-15P, then you then the concern you brought up becomes an issue.