UPS VS PSU

[JesseGaming]

Howdy all! Quick question! It's thundering and lightning outside at this moment, and it blew a window out of my roommates room.  It got me thinking, does a UPS work differently than a standard PSU? And in what way? Annnnnnd as I typed this, my UPS just lost power with my 4k60 Acer Predator, my $3000 pc, plugged into it.... should I be worried? Also, could Linus do a video about the differences if there are any, and if he did, can I have a link, thanks in advance either way!

 

A techie confused,

 

JesseGaming

 

Edit: I looked at the Pinned Thread, but, I didn't see anything about a UPS, did I just not see it?

 

Edit 2: I realise this is a poor time to ask, apologies to everyone!

Edited August 27, 2023 by JesseGaming

[dizmo]

The UPS is more meant to safely shut down your PC once you realize the power is out, not to run off of it.

The UPS doesn't power the PC, but acts as backup power when the mains lose power.

 

I don't think it's a poor time to ask, if anything the people that care about the drama would probably like the break from it to answer something and actually be useful instead of carrying on either way about said drama

Welcome to the forum.

[JesseGaming]

8 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The UPS is more meant to safely shut down your PC once you realize the power is out, not to run off of it.

The UPS doesn't power the PC, but acts as backup power when the mains lose power.

 

I don't think it's a poor time to ask, if anything the people that care about the drama would probably like the break from it to answer something and actually be useful instead of carrying on either way about said drama

Welcome to the forum.

Thank youuuuu!

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, JesseGaming said:

Thank youuuuu!

Someone who knows more about it will probably chime in in a bit, we have really solid power where I am and I don't do anything crucial on my computer so I've never needed one. I'll probably look into getting one when I move to the East Coast though.

[JesseGaming]

26 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The UPS is more meant to safely shut down your PC once you realize the power is out, not to run off of it.

The UPS doesn't power the PC, but acts as backup power when the mains lose power.

 

I don't think it's a poor time to ask, if anything the people that care about the drama would probably like the break from it to answer something and actually be useful instead of carrying on either way about said drama

Welcome to the forum.

 

13 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Someone who knows more about it will probably chime in in a bit, we have really solid power where I am and I don't do anything crucial on my computer so I've never needed one. I'll probably look into getting one when I move to the East Coast though.

Yeah, it's rained and thunderstorm(ed?) here from last night, and the weather app on my phone says it's going to all the way to tomorrow morning at 2am. I joke sometimes and say, "I'm getting a little slice of Seattle, lol". Oh, and don't even get me started on Hurricanes......

Edited August 27, 2023 by JesseGaming
Typo

[Skipple]

26 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The UPS doesn't power the PC, but acts as backup power when the mains lose power.

As a point of clarification, a UPS can be used to given enough time to gracefully power down the PC. Higher quality UPS will communicate with machines connected to it and report on it's capacity. For example, my unRAID server is configured to gracefully power itself off once my UPS loses AC power and battery capacity goes below 70%. This allows some time for very brief power outages where the server can remain up, while also ensuring the array spins down appropriately and without corruption. when the power is out for an extended period of time.

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, Skipple said:

As a point of clarification, a UPS can be used to given enough time to gracefully power down the PC. Higher quality UPS will communicate with machines connected to it and report on it's capacity. For example, my unRAID server is configured to gracefully power itself off once my UPS loses AC power and battery capacity goes below 70%. This allows some time for very brief power outages where the server can remain up, while also ensuring the array spins down appropriately and without corruption. when the power is out for an extended period of time.

I mean that's essentially what I said in the first part of the post

[Godlygamer23]

I'm not an expert by any means, but a UPS is a temporary means of powering hardware to safely shut it down, like mentioned above. My router, modem, and FreeNAS server are all attached to my UPS's outlets that are connected to the battery, so when power goes out, they'll still be operational for a time. The FreeNAS server is connected through a USB port to my UPS, and it's configured so as soon as power goes out, the server shuts itself down.

 

Typically a UPS will provide surge protection, just like a traditional surge protector, and usually in the same way. UPS units can also be configured such that the battery is always being pulled from and recharged, or once power goes out, the UPS will switch to battery power. The former is faster and reduces the chance of components shutting down.

 

My UPS unit is a Cyerpower CP1500AVRLCD, which as the model name suggests, has AVR(Automatic Voltage Regulation). The unit, if the voltage would drop below nominal will bring the voltage back up, by either pulling more current, or using the battery as supplemental. The same thing will happen if the voltage is too high, but inverse, aside from the battery aspect. 

 

One other aspect is how power is converted once either AVR is used, or power goes out. Since the battery stores energy as DC, and our appliances require AC, the voltage must be converted back to AC, which will be either in the form of a Pure Sine wave, or a Simulated Sine wave. Pure sine waves will have a very consistent oscillation as would be expected from your wall outlet, whereas the simulated sinewave will have more steps present in it, which makes it harder on your appliances. If you barely need to use yours, it's probably fine to use a simulated sine wave, but if you use it frequently, getting one that uses a pure sinewave will be easier on your components. My particular UPS uses a simulated sine wave.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Godlygamer23

[JesseGaming]

6 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

I'm not an expert by any means, but a UPS is a temporary means of powering hardware to safely shut it down, like mentioned above. My router, modem, and FreeNAS server are all attached to my UPS's outlets that are connected to the battery, so when power goes out, they'll still be operational for a time. The FreeNAS server is connected through a USB port to my UPS, and it's configured so as soon as power goes out, the server shuts itself down.

 

Typically a UPS will provide surge protection, just like a traditional surge protector, and usually in the same way. UPS units can also be configured such that the battery is always being pulled from and recharged, or once power goes out, the UPS will switch to battery power. The former is faster and reduces the chance of components shutting down.

 

My UPS unit is a Cyerpower CP1500AVRLCD, which as the model name suggests, has AVR(Automatic Voltage Regulation). The unit, if the voltage would drop below nominal will bring the voltage back up, by either pulling more current, or using the battery as supplemental. The same thing will happen if the voltage is too high, but inverse, aside from the battery aspect. 

 

One other aspect, which my UPS is part of, is how power is converted once either AVR is used, or power goes out. Since the battery stores energy as DC, and our appliances require AC, the voltage must be converted back to AC, which will be either in the form of a Pure Sinewave, or a Simulated Sinewave. Pure sinewaves will have a very consistent oscillation as would be expected from your wall, whereas the simulated sinewave will have more steps present in it, which makes it harder on your appliances. If you barely need to use yours, it's probably fine to use a simulated sinewave, but if you use it frequently, getting one that uses a pure sinewave will be easier on your components.

Wow! Thank you so much for the assistance everyone! I'm so lucky to be able to have access to knowledge like this! Thanks again! I am curious now though, how do I mark this as resolved, I don't see the button.

 

A more educated and cured of confusion techie,

 

JesseGaming

Edited August 28, 2023 by JesseGaming
Typo

[Skipple]

2 minutes ago, JesseGaming said:

I am curious now though, how do I mark this as resolved, I don't see the button.

You have already marked a post as the solution, so the thread is effectively marked as solved. have fun!

[GTC]

In my very limited understanding a UPS is basically just a battery to protect your electrical components from surges and to allow you to properly shut everything down in the event of loss of power.

 

Side note: Why would now be a bad time to ask?

[JesseGaming]

Just now, GTC said:

In my very limited understanding a UPS is basically just a battery to protect your electrical components from surges and to allow you to properly shut everything down in the event of loss of power.

 

Side note: Why would now be a bad time to ask?

Okay so clarification, not a bad time to ask in the forum, but, more of a poor time to ask if Linus could do a video about ups, and a psu.  It was a poor choice of words, I apologize.

[Godlygamer23]

8 minutes ago, GTC said:

In my very limited understanding a UPS is basically just a battery to protect your electrical components from surges and to allow you to properly shut everything down in the event of loss of power.

Pretty much. 

Consumer UPS units tend to be more low end, offering less current capability than commercial units, which makes sense, since you might have multiple computers hooked up, and a rack(s) of hardware running. My particular unit can handle 900W of power for about 5 minutes, and for the actual current workload, it'll last about a 45 minutes. And of course, the simulated sine wave can suck too if you have to utilize your UPS a lot. 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Godlygamer23

[Poinkachu]

2 hours ago, JesseGaming said:

Howdy all! Quick question! It's thundering and lightning outside at this moment, and it blew a window out of my roommates room.  It got me thinking, does a UPS work differently than a standard PSU? And in what way? Annnnnnd as I typed this, my UPS just lost power with my 4k60 Acer Predator, my $3000 pc, plugged into it.... should I be worried? Also, could Linus do a video about the differences if there are any, and if he did, can I have a link, thanks in advance either way!

 

A techie confused,

 

JesseGaming

 

Edit: I looked at the Pinned Thread, but, I didn't see anything about a UPS, did I just not see it?

 

Edit 2: I realise this is a poor time to ask, apologies to everyone!

If you are that worried, and want to be sure just in case, unplug your PC and UPS until the thunder & lightning are done.