Question Is it okay to plug laser printer into surge-only outlet on the UPS ?

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MacNerd79c

Jul 9, 2025
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I just recently bought a laser printer. I read online that laser printers shouldn't be plugged into a UPS. But UPS's have both surge + battery AND surge-only outlets. Is it OK to plug my laser printer into a surge-only outlet on the UPS?
 
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MacNerd79c said:
I just recently bought a laser printer. I read online that laser printers shouldn't be plugged into a UPS. But UPS's have both surge + battery AND surge-only outlets. Is it OK to plug my laser printer into a surge-only outlet on the UPS?
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The surge only plugs are fine for a laser printer. The reason that plugging into the battery protected plugs is not recommended, is that the laser has high surge current and will drain the battery quick if it prints during a power outage.
 
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My laser printers are plugged into the battery backed outlets, because I have a considerable excess of UPS capacity from my solar setup.

The startup power draw of a laser printer can briefly be more than 2x the maximum power draw on its label, which can easily cause a UPS to instantly shut off if its capacity is suddenly greatly exceeded/overloaded, even if the line power never goes out. That's a big deal if your printer label says 700-1000w like mine. There's sometimes a middle ground where the UPS overload alarm can sound without it just shutting off, annoyingly each time you print.

I also have my furnace plugged into the battery backed outlets. Induction motors are far worse than laser printers as inrush current can be 10x the motor's label rating for just a moment. If the UPS is running on battery when the motor starts, well you'd better have ample capacity to spare. This is why you'd generally want inverter motor powered appliances like A/C or refrigerators if you will be drawing from a solar bank--those are inherently variable speed so can ramp up slowly to not cause the huge inrush, thus are considered generator or UPS friendly.

If you won't need to print during a power outage, then the surge-only outlets should be fine. I've never heard of a laser printer getting damaged by a power cut in the middle of a print job so at most you can waste some paper. If an inkjet's heads remain unparked for long enough though, they can clog.
 
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OK, I have related questions about UPS's. I have a 2023 Mac mini which puts out a maximum of 150 watts. I have an old 27" Dell monitor which puts out 20 watts. The total is 170 watts. I have a Cyberpower 1.,000 VA compact UPS. It has 12 outlets - 6 surge + battery & 6 surge-only. I don't need 12 outlets. So, when the time comes I want to upgrade to a smaller compact line-interactive UPS. The fewest number of outlets that I've seen is 6 each. So, is there a minimum wattage that I should upgrade to? A 170 watt UPS wouldn't provide power for very long. Also, my monitor is dying. A new monitor would probably put out more than 20 watts. A newer Mac mini would probably put out more than 150 watts. So, is double good? In other words, 170 X 2 = 340 watts. I want to keep the maximum under 1,000 VA.

On the APC website I've seen some UPS's that have non-replaceable batteries. Is that good or bad?
 
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I have a Brother MPC-L3720CDW multi-function color laser printer that I bought almost a year ago. It is a great printer, but Brother specifically advises you NOT to plug it into any outlet on a UPS. I missed that instruction, and plugged it into both the battery-protected outlets and into the surge-only outlets on my APC BR1500MS2 UPS. Both ways, the UPS started squawking when I tried to print something with the printer was connected to it, which is when I investigated, via Google, and found that Brother states that the printer should never be connected to a UPS unit.

Then I plugged the printer directly into a wall outlet, and all has been well since. Different printers may be fine on a UPS, but not my Brother multi-function printer.

This was just my experience. YMMV.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil
 
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MacNerd79c said:
OK, I have related questions about UPS's. I have a 2023 Mac mini which puts out a maximum of 150 watts. I have an old 27" Dell monitor which puts out 20 watts. The total is 170 watts. I have a Cyberpower 1.,000 VA compact UPS. It has 12 outlets - 6 surge + battery & 6 surge-only. I don't need 12 outlets. So, when the time comes I want to upgrade to a smaller compact line-interactive UPS. The fewest number of outlets that I've seen is 6 each. So, is there a minimum wattage that I should upgrade to? A 170 watt UPS wouldn't provide power for very long. Also, my monitor is dying. A new monitor would probably put out more than 20 watts. A newer Mac mini would probably put out more than 150 watts. So, is double good? In other words, 170 X 2 = 340 watts. I want to keep the maximum under 1,000 VA.

On the APC website I've seen some UPS's that have non-replaceable batteries. Is that good or bad?
Click to expand...
Would someone please answer my questions about upgrading my UPS to a more powerful one?
 
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I have a Cyberpower LE 1000DG. According to the Cyberpower website, it has 530 watts. My monitor & computer have a total of 170 watts. 170 X 2 = 340 watts; 170 X 3 = 510 watts.

According to the runtime for this UPS, 100 watt load has a runtime of 37 minutes. A 200 watt load has a runtime of 15 minutes. So, 170 watts would be around 20 minutes.

5 minutes or so. Enough time to shut down my computer.
 
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