Help required....My UPS exploded.

Tyson deVybe

Reputable
Oct 1, 2015
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I was working on my dad's studio pc one day and suddenly, the ups blew up. Like, sparks came and a burnt smell. I was shocked, i thought i was dead 😛 .My dad connected it very sophisticatedly. A power strip was connect to the wall, to which the ups , another power surge to which one of the studio monitor was connected. The PC's power and my LED TV was connect to the UPS(Yes, it sounds stupid). But then that night, i tried connecting my UPS to one surge suppressor connected directly, to which only one studio monitor and the audio interface was connected. That too exploded , sparks and almost a fire broke out and smoke spread everywhere. This time i knew that i did almost nothing wrong. I tried to smell each component after some time , none of them gave a burnt smell or something. So what was the problem? Is my PC destroyed and the hard drives and Gpu and all trashed?
BTW , here are my pcs specs (if required ):

Intel Core i7 3.40 ghz
Intel Extreme board DZ77GA
16 gb ram
Coolermaster Thunder 500W
Ati radeon hd 5450 2 gb

Please help me, im helpless and hopeless!
🙁
 
Solution

Not weird at all. Normal experience when doing this stuff enough. You know something failed. Does every UPS function operate when a UPS is tested for normal and battery backup mode under a light load? Of course not. They only tested some basic functions - not all. Did they open it to examine the parts that spewed sparks? Why not?

A UPS has a near zero surge protector. Protector circuit may have vaporized. That protector circuit would fail on a surge too tiny to damage any appliances. You may have been lucky. That catastrophic failure did not cause a fire - a problem with protectors containing near zero joules...

First time, i connected the UPS to a surge protector, which was connocted to the main. To the UPS , another surge protector was connected in which my TV and audio interface was connected.
Second time, i tried connecting the protector that i connect to the UPS directly to the main and connect the UPS to it. Still, both of them blew up. The UPS is a very cheap Indian made Zebronics ZEB-U725.
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Im afraid if i try again something, it might trash my pc's components or damage my hard drives. 🙁
 
Well , I used that setup for YEARS 😛 .Didnt have any problem with that. I plugged the cpu directly and also my old monitor. Computer runs fine, only that the TV does not turn on, maybe a fuse broke or something? Anyway, gonna get the UPS and TV fixed.
But, just out of curiousity, what happened there? And any good method to power up a studio setup?
 
In my studio, the only things plugged into the UPS are my main Pro Tools computer, the audio interface (Digidesign 002) and one of the monitors. The rest of the electronics are either plugged directly into the wall sockets or surge protectors, depending on the importance of the equipment. With this setup, if the power goes off, the UPS will give me about 5 minutes to save and safely shut down the Pro Tools session and not lose any recorded data. If I was in the middle of a session when the power went out, I would manually turn off everything else and wait for the power to come back on before turning things back on. Where I live (Southeast Texas) the power may only go off 2-3 times a year for an hour or so (unless we have a hurricane which I have been through twice), but I have never lost any recorded audio due to a power outage.
 

Some facts unknown to you. A UPS not in battery backup mode simply connects the load (ie TV, computer, power strip protector) directly to AC mains. No problem. But a UPS in battery backup mode creates much 'dirtier' electricity.

A protector on a UPS is fine when the UPS is not in battery backup mode. Problems exist if that UPS switched to battery. So it worked without damage for years.

Due to protection routinely found in TVs and computers, then that 'dirty' UPS power is also ideal power.

Second, read spec numbers for a UPS or power strip protector. Destructive surges can be hundreds of thousands of joules. How many joules did that power strip claim to absorb? Thousand? Be concerned about a protector so undersized (and still so expensive). How many joules does the UPS claim to absorb? Hundreds? That is even tinier protection. But just enough above zero so that naive consumers *know* it is 100% protection.

Third, damage is typically to one component in a PC or TV. Nobody can really say more until best evidence is obtained from the dead body - that PC or TV. What internal part failed? Extremely unlikely is damage to disk drives, CPU, etc. Except if a major defect exists in the safety ground (either building wiring or power strip/UPS wiring).

Learn why power strips without protector parts are safer. Why protector type strips must not be plugged into a UPS (the source of 'dirtier' power). And why something completely different (also called a surge protector) is properly earthed and always recommended. To even protect a UPS and power strip protectors.
 
The PC's fine. No data lost or no damage done. The ups was bought months before and i took it to the shop where i bought it. They checked it , no problems on it! The ups worked in backup mode and plugged mode, no input socket was damaged. This is getting weirder.
 

Not weird at all. Normal experience when doing this stuff enough. You know something failed. Does every UPS function operate when a UPS is tested for normal and battery backup mode under a light load? Of course not. They only tested some basic functions - not all. Did they open it to examine the parts that spewed sparks? Why not?

A UPS has a near zero surge protector. Protector circuit may have vaporized. That protector circuit would fail on a surge too tiny to damage any appliances. You may have been lucky. That catastrophic failure did not cause a fire - a problem with protectors containing near zero joules numbers. That function is missing - disconnected - vaporized. Did they also test for it? Something clearly failed. They did not dig deep enough to find what should even be visually obvious.

Do not address only this one example. Because the example only demonstrates one of tens of reasons for sparks. Another circuit would exist to protect hardware should connected TV and computer demand too much power. Was other functions also were not tested?

Normal is to have an undetected failure for reasons a consumer magazine also discovered. They created many computer failures. Took computers to computer shops. Most defects were not repaired. But they sure got plenty of power supplies replaced. Many who repair this stuff do not know how electricity works. Especially damning when sparks mean a visual indication of that damage exists inside.

Meanwhile, power strip protectors should not be connected to a UPS - as both UPS and power strip protector manufacturers quietly note. As explained why in a previous post.
 
Solution
I think i found the problem. An electrician came to my house to repair the TV, found out that the TV was okay and the AC cable's plug was burnt. Changed it , everything went well. I think that the UPS' are okay, it was the cable that sparked and caught fire.
Anyway , everythings okay now. Thank you all for your answers!