Recommendations for Uninterruptible Power Supply

[maemoonha]

Hi all

What I am looking for is a kind of UPS power supply that will not only protect me from a dip like when a brownout occurs, but also give me essentially 15-30 minutes of power if there my electricity is completely eliminated in a blackout.


From my layman's and non-tech research I have done and subsequent understanding of UPS power supplies, there are apparently 3 types, which are the standby/line-interactive/online versions.


I believe that the one that will actually give me some juice to continue working on the internet for about 15-20 minutes after a blackout happens (just basic computer work, no gaming or streaming), is the "online" version.

My last question is if the "online" version is indeed the type that can provide what I am looking for, how do I calculate what number of VA to get?



Here is a link of one that I found on amazon that may be good:

https://goo.gl/GPWKYm



I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback as I am a newbie when it comes to this stuff


cheers

 

[mwryder55]

On-line UPS systems are always on. This means that all power from the mains is used to charge the batteries. The batteries are used to power a DC to AC converter to power your computer. This provides the cleanest power to the equipment but is the most expensive and there is some waste in the conversions from AC to DC and back to AC These are mainly used to protect equipment that is critical and may be damaged by any power fluctuations.

The other style of UPS systems monitor the power going to the computer and if certain conditions are met, such as a brownout or outage, they disconnect the line power from the computer and use the batteries to convert the battery power to AC to power the computer. There is a short time between when the fault is detected and the UPS takes over but the power supply in the computer can usually handle that. The link provided is an example of this style of UPS. These are usually all that are needed for most home and small office users.

Both types can provide power during a power failure until the batteries are discharged. This may be minutes or hours depending on the load and the battery size.

 

[maemoonha]

On-line UPS systems are always on. This means that all power from the mains is used to charge the batteries. The batteries are used to power a DC to AC converter to power your computer. This provides the cleanest power to the equipment but is the most expensive and there is some waste in the conversions from AC to DC and back to AC These are mainly used to protect equipment that is critical and may be damaged by any power fluctuations.

The other style of UPS systems monitor the power going to the computer and if certain conditions are met, such as a brownout or outage, they disconnect the line power from the computer and use the batteries to convert the battery power to AC to power the computer. There is a short time between when the fault is detected and the UPS takes over but the power supply in the computer can usually handle that. The link provided is an example of this style of UPS. These are usually all that are needed for most home and small office users.

Both types can provide power during a power failure until the batteries are discharged. This may be minutes or hours depending on the load and the battery size.

First off Id like to thank you for taking the time to respond to my question

What im still wondering is if money is not a limitation, which one would be slightly superior in terms of guaranteeing that neither a blackout nor brownout will result in my computer shutting off?

The entire reason Im doing this is because Im a full-time trader, and a couple times a month there is an announcement that I MUST act on within a split second after it is posted, and I need to absolutely guarantee that for whatever unlikely reason, my computer does not shut down because of any electricity issue.

(I know the odds of something like that happening just the moment that I will be trading after the announcement are close to none, but the opportunity cost of my computer shutting down would be enormous then)

 

[mwryder55]

As I mentioned, the on-line UPS is the best for protecting critical systems from power problems. They also have the advantage that the chance of damage to a protected computer from spikes and lags is greatly reduced. A number of years ago our office was having problems with hard disk failures and the problem was determined to be the power in the area. We installed an on-line UPS in the computer room and the problems disappeared.

They are more expensive than the stand-by units but as long as they are properly maintained they are much better at protecting your computing equipment.