Using a Power consumption meter to choose a UPS

[s3379665]

Hey Guys,

Was wondering which Plug in power consumption meter you guys would recomend so i can obtain my wattage from all my electrical equipemt i.e (desktop, monitor, TV, ps4 etc.). I want to purchase a power meter so i can understand how much watts are being used so i can purchase a UPS.

Now in regards to using a plug in power meter. can i connect all my plugs to an 8 port power board then connect this to my plug in power meter to obtain how much watts is being used from all the devices in various scenarious?
Most likely will turn everything on to see the maximum amount of watts used. From this i will be then purchasing a UPS that produces about 30% more power just in case?

In saying so, Are there any reliable brands for UPS or are they more or less the same?

Thanks again yall

 

[jay32267]

You don't need a "power meter" really. All you need is a current meter. Your voltage is fixed so you can compute the power from that.

Current meters are generally MUCH cheaper than power meters.

Your idea is good though....and 30% sounds reasonable.

 

[s3379665]

You don't need a "power meter" really. All you need is a current meter. Your voltage is fixed so you can compute the power from that.

Current meters are generally MUCH cheaper than power meters.

Your idea is good though....and 30% sounds reasonable.

Trying to search some current meters, but getting prices higher then the plug in power meters. Here is a link of a plug in power meter i was thinking of purchasing: https://reductionrevolution.com.au/products/plug-in-power-meter?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=28203487113&gclid=CjwKCAiAlL_UBRBoEiwAXKgW5xZ6NcO90mazr7yTCHTPKJek1nraju_Y8jjlSX-AY3uCa3XjVrrIORoCwRcQAvD_BwE

So the idea of connecting all my electrical equipment onto one main power board and connecting it to the power meter would give me a good indication of what UPS to purchase?

Thanks for the quick reply

 

[jay32267]

Well...I wasn't aware that a power meter could be purchased so inexpensively. They have come down a lot. So, if that's the case....use that.

As I said....30% sounds reasonable.

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Aeacus]

As far as UPS goes, you need to consider the power draw of your PC and monitors. Maybe speakers and wi-fi router too if you plan to plug those into the UPS as well. Though, printers, scanners and other such hardware (full list on your UPS manual) don't plug to the UPS since their startup power draw is way too much for UPS to handle and you can fry your UPS.

I also bought a wattmeter and measured my equipment but i did it with one device at a time, before buying UPSes for my Skylake and Haswell builds (full specs with pics in my sig). Monitors keep quite a stable power draw and i added extra 5W to it for a safe buffer. For PCs, i took the PSU's max power output in wattage as a baseline where i added the monitors power draw with a safe margin.

For example:
Since my Skylake build has 650W PSU and most what it draw during full load was 203.1W, i still took the PSUs max wattage as a baseline. My monitor consumes 35.2W while in operation and i considered 40W for monitor. Did the same procedure with my Haswell build. Since i knew the figures, i bought CyberPower CP1300EPFCLCD (1300VA/780W, true/pure sine wave, line-interactive) UPS times two, so that both PCs would have their own UPS, rather than one big powerful UPS where both of my PCs connect to.

While my UPSes may be a bit too powerful for my 2 PCs, i'm happy that i can have far longer runtime out of them than i initially thought. While PCs are on idle/web browsing, my UPSes runtime is about 35 mins. On full load, my UPSes can keep the PC running at about 15 mins or so.

Oh, i bought the McLean Energy MCE06 230V/16A wattmeter. Though, i don't think it's available outside EU but anything similar to it would do for you too,
specs: http://maclean.pl/index.php?option=com_djcatalog2&view=item&id=122:miernik-energii-elektrycznej-maclean-mce06&cid=7:mierniki&Itemid=110
translated specs in English: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaclean.pl%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_djcatalog2%26view%3Ditem%26id%3D122%3Amiernik-energii-elektrycznej-maclean-mce06%26cid%3D7%3Amierniki%26Itemid%3D110&edit-text=&act=url

E.g this one, amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Consumption-Analyzer-Overload-Protection/dp/B0716WQW79

About UPSes in general:
Good UPS brands to go for are CyberPower, TrippLite and APC.
Note: The more powerful UPS you have, the longer UPS can keep your PC running before it's battery is empty.

When looking for a UPS, there are 2 things to look out:
1. Output waveform (square wave, simulated sine wave and true/pure sine wave)
2. Design (stand-by, line-interactive and online)

From here you can read about the differences between output waveform,
link: http://www.minutemanups.com/support/pwr_un10.php

And here are explanations about the UPS design,
stand-by: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/ext/ups/typesStandby-c.html
line-interactive: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/ext/ups/typesLineInt-c.html
online: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/ext/ups/typesOnLine-c.html

 

[s3379665]

Thank you both!

But damn Aeacus, you answered exactly everything i need so perfectly

 

[InvalidError]

If you want to have more than ~5min of battery backup, your UPS selection will be dictated more by battery size than output rating and in consumer UPSes, getting more than the bare minimum of battery capacity usually means having to look at 1300-1500VA UPS. Personally, for my main or only UPS, I'd just go straight for 1500VA.

If you want to go down the Kill-A-Watt (or equivalent) path first, a mid-range gaming PC is 300-400W, a large LED TV is 60-100W, a monitor is ~30W and the PS4 is ~150W peak, so that's ~700W if they're all near peak load at the same time. UPS are rated in VAs usually assuming a power factor of 0.6 and 700/0.6 is 1166VA. Add your 30% margin, you're near 1500VA anyway.

 

[Aeacus]

Thank you both!

But damn Aeacus, you answered exactly everything i need so perfectly

You're welcome.

I did a lot of research and study about UPSes for several months before i bought mine. And since i knew the issues i had when looking for an UPS, i can give a detailed answer to anyone who is in the same spot as i was. 😉