[SOLVED] A question regarding UPS

[WrongRookie]

I just now powered on my UPS but it did not give power to my PC. Its only after disconnecting it and reconnecting the plugs that it gave the power to PC and is working since. Why did this happen? for the past five days, the fan was running when it was not in use but I suspect that it had to do with the weather as it was raining heavily and the temperature was a bit cold. Now it seems to be fine from what I can tell.

My UPS is APC BACKUPS 1100

 

[avg9956]

How old is the UPS?

the fan was running when it was not in use

Does this UPS also have a fan inside if I'm not mistaken?

If so, the fan inside the UPS spins to cool down the unit, especially if the unit draws more power. More power drawn by your PC means more heat. Most modern designs do not have the fan spin constantly 24/7 and only spins once the UPS senses that it reaches a certain temperature in order to prolong the life of the fan. This is the same configuration for the fans inside a modern PSU.

I would observe a few days and see if the same behavior happens again, you may want to send it to APC for check up of the unit.

I would suspect that the UPS' battery needs to be replaced if there is a power outage that occurred and your system shuts off as well at the same time the outage has occurred instead of being continuously supplied with power. This would mean that the battery is no longer functioning.

 

[WrongRookie]

How old is the UPS?

Does this UPS also have a fan inside if I'm not mistaken?

If so, the fan inside the UPS spins to cool down the unit, especially if the unit draws more power. More power drawn by your PC means more heat. Most modern designs do not have the fan spin constantly 24/7 and only spins once the UPS senses that it reaches a certain temperature in order to prolong the life of the fan. This is the same configuration for the fans inside a modern PSU.

I would observe a few days and see if the same behavior happens again, you may want to send it to APC for check up of the unit.

I would suspect that the UPS' battery needs to be replaced if there is a power outage that occurred and your system shuts off as well at the same time the outage has occurred instead of being continuously supplied with power. This would mean that the battery is no longer functioning.

Ok but how does that explain as to why the UPS did not supply the power for the PC until I unplugged the PSU cable and reinserted it?

 

[avg9956]

I just now powered on my UPS but it did not give power to my PC. Its only after disconnecting it and reconnecting the plugs that it gave the power to PC and is working since.

Possibly the plug went loose and you accidentally moved things?
If not, then it may be UPS malfunction.
If it has happened again more than once, would have it send to APC for them to look at it.

 

[WrongRookie]

@avg9956 ok so I contacted Apc and they said that the transformer cannot be replaced and that I need to order a new replacement.

what I want to know is that my PSU is 850 w platinum and the apc is 1100 va. The apc guy said that I have to get the ups which is 900 w or at 1500va for it to work and the transformer won't take much of heat. Is this true?

Here is the full specs of my PC incase you need it

My system specs:

OS: Windows 10 pro 64-bit

CPU: Intel Core i7 7700@ 3.60GHz
Kaby Lake 14nm Technology

Ram 16.0 GB Dual-Channel @ 1063MHz

Motherboard: Supermicro C7H270-CG-ML(CPU)

Graphics

ViewSonic XG2401(1920X1080@144Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1050 Ti(ZOTAC INTERNATIONAL)

Storage

1863GB SEAGATE ST2000Dm006-2DM164(SATA)

Optical Drives

Asus DRW-24D5MT

AUDIO
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[avg9956]

what I want to know is that my PSU is 850 w platinum and the apc is 1100 va. The apc guy said that I have to get the ups which is 900 w or at 1500va for it to work and the transformer won't take much of heat. Is this true?

Yes

If you have a 850W PSU and you only have a UPS thats <850W (ex. a UPS thats 700W only), when your computer reaches 700W it will blow up the UPS but not the PSU.
Its the weakest link that will blow up first, same is true for PSU (i.e. 700W PSU and 850W UPS but your power consumption from your PC reaches 700W, then PSU will blow).

Just a quick glance at your specs I can tell that 850W is already fine but you might want to get BOTH a higher wattage UPS and PSU (1000W at least) IF you plan to upgrade your GPU to a Nvidia RTX 30 series and above because they are power hungry and have high voltage transient spikes.

Also the higher your wattage capacity but the lower your actual power consumption, the less heat that your PSU and UPS generates (i.e. lets say 500W actual power consumption but you have a 850W PSU and UPS - so you have 350W of extra headroom left. If you have a 1000W PSU with the same amount of 500W actual power consumption, then you have more extra headroom of 500W. It also allows you to install more powerful components if you desire in the future).

And if you're following the NEC rule standards, don't run a continuous load of more than 80% of your max wattage capacity (since PSU is a branched circuit). So assuming you have a 850W PSU and 850W UPS, your system's total power consumption should not exceed more than 680W for safety.

 

[WrongRookie]

@avg9956

Ok so just to be clear on this, the 1100 va ups is fine with my PC specs alongside the PSU 850w platinum rated as long as I don't upgrade my pc. Is this correct?

and the apc guy was not wrong in saying that i need to get a ups that matches the watt usage to that of the psu so that the transformer won't take a lot of heat even if I run games that are not power hungry?

 

[WrongRookie]

Also will it be safe to use my pc with the ups at this point? My uncle says that it's not a great idea to go with what apc says and I'm concerned with how the fan keeps running at night. Because apart from the fan issue, everything else seems to be fine as of now.

I'm only scared that if anything happens to the ups it can damage the pc as well even if it does surge protection...

 

[avg9956]

Ok so just to be clear on this, the 1100 va ups is fine with my PC specs alongside the PSU 850w platinum rated as long as I don't upgrade my pc. Is this correct?

ok so I contacted Apc and they said that the transformer cannot be replaced and that I need to order a new replacement.

You might as well get a UPS that's rated for that is at least the same wattage as your PSU. You're buying a new replacement UPS anyways.
There's no point in buying a UPS that has a lower wattage capacity than your PSU. It doesn't make sense.

To convert the VA rating to watts = just multiply the VA rating by 0.6
1500VA * 0.6 = 900W
However your current UPS is only 1100VA *0.6 = 660W
Your PSU is 850W.

You might as well get the 1500VA unit he is suggesting.

and the apc guy was not wrong in saying that i need to get a ups that matches the watt usage to that of the psu so that the transformer won't take a lot of heat even if I run games that are not power hungry?

Yes

 

[avg9956]

Also will it be safe to use my pc with the ups at this point? My uncle says that it's not a great idea to go with what apc says and I'm concerned with how the fan keeps running at night. Because apart from the fan issue, everything else seems to be fine as of now.

I'm only scared that if anything happens to the ups it can damage the pc as well even if it does surge protection...

APCs are professionals. Assuming you did contact them from the legitimate website and didn't land on a scam page, then you're in the right hands

Yes it is safe to keep using it, just dont go stress testing or overclocking your CPU/GPU. Buy the new 1500VA UPS unit.
Electronics degrade over time, they don't repair themselves over time.

Idle wattage consumption for simple web browsing or running light programs is about 100-200W only.