Question UPS---APC BR1500MS2 - Good, Bad, or Run Away?

[lottaphotos4]

Hi, currently working through an issue with supplying power to my system.
Just realized that the UPS I've been using for years (APC NS 1080 rated for 600w) is probably under-powered for my new Corsair HXI750 PSU.

Been looking to upgrade to the APC BR1500MS2, but have seen a variety of things that have me concerned.
So,...

While it's nice to have the battery backup, I actually only need a couple minutes of runtime before a generator would kick in after a power failure, so my questions are not about how long the UPS will run, they're about HOW it will run.

1. I know they recently updated from the MS to the MS2. See lots of complaints/horror stories about UPS failing, catching fire, smelling like burnt plastic. Saw one note that seemed to indicate that APC was aware, and the MS2 might have come out, in part, to address the problems. Bottom line, is the MS2 a SAFE, reliable unit?
2. I've seen things that say that HXI PSUs need a sine wave, others that they DONT. Short simple answer?

I've always trusted APC in the past, but there really seemed to be a lot of issues as I researched. Would prefer to stay with the brand if it's safe.

Thoughts?

 

[bill001g]

A lot of people buy cyberpower because it is a bit cheaper but still considered high quality.

Modern power supplies to get the very high efficiency ratings they have want very clean power. You are better off getting a sign wave UPS but it more depend on the quality of the simulated signwave some UPS put out. Some are better than other but I don't know how you tell. It tends to be easier to just buy the sign wave units.
I am not sure if it actually damages a power supply or if it just does not have the ability to put out the rated power when it is not getting sign wave input.

You have 2 numbers on a UPS. The VA rating only gives you a clue. What you need to see is first the watt rating. That is the maximum power the UPS can provide to a device. It is partially dependent on the size and quality of the parts and wires.

But neither of those numbers tell how long the UPS will run. That all depends on how many batteries are in the unit. You can have a unit with the same VA and watt rating with very different run times.

This is where you dig around and find out what exact batteries are being used and do the math. You can usually look up what replacement batteries are used to find the numbers.

What you are looking for is the number of amp hours. So lets say you find a 12 volt 10 ah battery. That means it will provide 10 amps of power to 12 volts for 1 hour. This would be the same as providing 1 amp of power at 120 volts for 1 hour. But if you say only run for 10 minutes you could get 6 amps of power at 120 volts.
So the math says the battery can provide 120watts of power for 1 hour or 720 watts of power for 10 minutes.

Now of course this ignores that it is much more inefficient to draw all the power from the battery in 10 minutes rather than 1 hour. But in general it will give you a way to compare UPS. Pretty much the more battery amp hours there are the longer it will last.

 

[lottaphotos4]

Thank you Bill.
Not at all worried about the length of time the UPS will run/support my system. I only need 60 seconds before a generator kicks in during a power failure.

I'm more concerned from the point of view of what the computer requires, what the UPS can supply, and whether the MS and/or MS2 are reliable.

 

[bill001g]

Hard to say on reliability lately. All manufacture of quality products seem to also sell crap. APC has always been known as a quality provider of UPS systems but they also come at a premium price. When they market to home users rather than commercial price matters more.
I still have a APC UPS that is over 10yrs old and it works fine with just battery replacements. I of course only use it on stuff that does not need the new fancy sign wave UPS.

Is you current 1080 a sign wave model.

Just because your power supply is rated for 750watts does not mean you are using 750 watts. All that matters is how much power you are actually using.
UPS are such a pain with so many models and submodels. Does you 1080 have a way to display how many watts you are actually pulling. It would of course give you warning or shut down if you tried to pull over 600.

My guess is if your current UPS is already a sign wave model and you are not actually trying to use 750 watts you should be fine to just use that.
If you need to buy a new UPS the BR1500MS2 should work but there is no way to really know if any manufacture has some garbage product in their lineup. It is not like you are buying something from one of the direct ship from china companies.
That unit is also not the low end of the APC line so it should have better parts inside.

A note on generators unless you have a sign wave generator or it is a huge generator a UPS will generally have issues. The small amounts of time it take the generator to detect and increase its power output from a load is less than the time the UPS takes to switch to battery because of the small voltage drops you get as the generator spins up to speed. Many UPS will constantly transfer back and forth to battery. If you are already doing this then a new ups will also work it the generator that is the issue.