need help selecting UPS for pretty bad situation

[BillP]

I need something that can power a high-performance PC with a 650W power supply (of course I don't know what it will actually be using at any given time, but assuming the full performance it can) along with a WiFi router, a 19" CRT monitor, an external hard drive, and an external broadband modem for 2.5 to 3 hours.

I also need it to be compatible with 220 V (it will be used overseas where the power goes out 2-3x a day for at least 1.5-2+ hours each time), and with gas generators. I'm not sure what "generator-compatible" means when I see the specs on the main APC site. Do non-generator-compatible UPS(s) not work with generator power? (The generator's weak, can't really handle a draw over 600 W). Of course that's just to make life easy for me in case I can't get to the UPS in time to switch the power off before the generator comes on (although having to race against time every few hours might be exciting). How much wattage would a UPS (and I'm assuming some kind of extra or special battery?) for this application draw normally? How long would it take to recharge?

I'm trying to see whether going the cheap PC + expensive UPS route would be more cost effective than the expensive Laptop + cheap UPS route.

Thanks for any help.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

This is a little tricky to size due to the number of factors invovled, but i'll see what I can come up with. First off will your equipment run on 230V? Most power supplies can be set for either 120 or 230,but some of your smaller equipment may not. If it needs to be a mix of the two, APC makes an auto sensing ups' that take both 120 and 230 in and output 120, if not you can just use an international ups.

As far as generator compatibility is concerned, you can lower the sensitivity on your ups to work with "dirtier" power that is normally output by a generator, but APC does recommend the generator be 3-5 times the size of load it supports. So this generator has trouble with a 600 watt load, it may not work with our ups.

As far as a ups that would work for these purposes, I would have to recommend either the sum1500xli with 3-4 sum48xlbps or the sua2200xli with 2-3 sua48xlbps. These ups can support up to 1400-1900 watt load and would give you 3-4 hours of runtime at one time. This would be a pretty expensive solution though, it would roughly be at least $2000-$3000. The ups would only be drawing additional power than what it used to power the load while it was recharging the batteries which isnt that much.

It normally takes 3 hours to recharge the ups internal batts, it would take atleast 10-20 hours to recharge the remaining battery packs. So there may be scenarios where you would have to completely turn off your equipment to let the unit fully recharge. Also a ups is really intended for extended use everyday so the typical 3-5 year battery life expectancy would reduce greatly as well. It would be more around 6 months to a year.

This is all based off of needing the ups to provide power for 4-6 hours a day, depending on the frequency of outages, duration of equipment use, and actual load on the ups, a smaller ups with less runtime may work for you. However I would recommend going with a more expensive laptop with some good batteries or a better generator if you can. Let me know if i can be of any further assistance.