UPS backup musings

[Gregory Nowak]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Ideally, I'd like something that
can provide power for the maximum length of the longest outage so far,
about 2 hours 40 minutes. I have to balance that with what I'm able 
to spend on one of these. So, I'm willing to be content with running
things long enough for the system to shut down.

I've only been investigating units which have widely spaced outlets
for wall warts. I'm also ok with 5-6 outlets being battery powered,
and the rest just having surge protection. I've been specifically
avoiding units which say they have an lcd for easier configuration and
status.

I had to make some guesses on how much everything I have would
draw. The system itself is from around 2006. It used to be one of
those windows media center machines before I got it, and turned it
into a server. I'm guessing it draws 140-150W. Everything else I want
to run off battery is just wall warts. There are four of those, I'm
guessing 10-15W each. All together, that would place things at about
180-190W. The unit I have in mind supports up to 450W. So, that should
give me 15-20 minutes run time, which I'm ok with, since most of the
outages are within that range. If they go for longer, they're likely
to be the close to three hours kind.

Is there some way to calculate ballpark wattage without having someone
read labels on everything I want to plug in? No, I don't have access
to a multi-meter, accessible or otherwise. Do the figures I gave above
look reasonable? Thanks again for the replies so far.

Greg


On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 06:01:59PM -0500, Adam Myrow wrote:
> I say that a UPS of some sort is worth it for short blackouts.  What
> makes it hard is that they range all over the map in terms of price
> and ease of use.  There are small ones that will power your system
> for a few minutes, and big ones that can keep it running for over an
> hour.
> 
> Here are things I would consider when deciding on a UPS.  First,
> what are you looking for in terms of run time?  How many outlets do
> you want?  Do you want all of them to be battery-backed, or just
> some of them?  Many of the smaller units only provide battery backup
> to some of the outlets.  Do you have any large wall warts?  If so,
> look for a UPS that has extra space between the outlets so the wall
> warts don't cover adjacent outlets.
>  Also, does the device have a display?  If so, check to see if it
> requires sighted assistance to set up.  At a minimum, you want a UPS
> which can get you through a short blackout, and will shut down the
> system properly when the battery gets low.  While journaling
> filesystems have made things better, it is still a good idea to shut
> down the system properly especially if you are in the middle of
> doing something when the power fails.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

-- 
web site: http://www.gregn..net
gpg public key: http://www.gregn..net/pubkey.asc
skype: gregn1
(authorization required, add me to your contacts list first)

--
Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager at EU.org