Looking into battery backup for first time

[regularguy290]

Hello,
i am not exactly sure where to post this but it kinda sorta has to do with motherboards.
i recently moved into an older apartment and found out the outlets are not grounded. (money is tight and the price was right. moving out is not an option, i live in a small town and cheap apartments are hard to find.)

this makes everything prone to surges that my surge strip cannot even out. turning on my lamp, for example, causes windows to play the "usb thing was just unplugged" sound. i know batteries can smooth out an electrical signal but i have never looked into a UPS before and have no idea about how they work or if they work without a ground. i found this one that puts out more watts than my power supply so that seems like a good idea http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101393

if anyone could help point me in the direction of, or give, good advice that would be great. and if anybody knows the correct forum category that would also be helpful. i guess my budget is under $150 US dollars or so. i hope that's reasonable.

thanks in advance!

 

[C12Friedman]

There are one or two considerations for a UPS outside of it's wattage. The biggest consideration at this time is whether the UPS will work with your PSU.
There is a factor, "sine-wave" and depending upon the design of the PSU, the UPS's sine-wave output must be compatible. The most common sine-wave outputs seen on UPS's are 'pure sine-wave', 'simulated sine-wave' and 'stepped sine-wave', the one you link has 'stepped'. This type of output will most likely not work with a UPS design having 'active PFC' which usually requires 'pure' or 'simulated' at least. I found that out after a PSU upgrade and my UPS stopped working right (I have very unstable power in my area). The best way (IMO) to be sure is to contact APC's customer support, tell them your PSU, the UPS you're interested in and simply ask if they'll work together.
The other consideration is VA which gives an indication of back up power time - higher number, longer lasting battery.
I'd suggest contacting APC though because it is quite the expense and you do want to ensure compatability.
The last thing is the lack of ground in your apartment. I do not think the UPS (being ungrounded) will provide for any grounding - might want to inquire about that with APC also.
Hope it helps

 

[Pyree]

This topic has been moved from the section Motherboards & Memory to section CPU & Components by Pyree