Best UPS for dorm

[Efadd]

I live in a dorm, and I have a chain of 3 power strips serving (at relatively idle, measured with wifi Kill-a-watt) 50-60 watts, with theoretical overhead of 200+ (basically idle Nexode 200) (have not tested on max power yet). What UPS would y'all recommend for making sure I don't draw too much or to get enough cable and outlets to at least only need one power strip? Preferably 9 outlets with space for some wall warts.

[Agall]

27 minutes ago, Efadd said:

I live in a dorm, and I have a chain of 3 power strips serving (at relatively idle, measured with wifi Kill-a-watt) 50-60 watts, with theoretical overhead of 200+ (basically idle Nexode 200) (have not tested on max power yet). What UPS would y'all recommend for making sure I don't draw too much or to get enough cable and outlets to at least only need one power strip? Preferably 9 outlets with space for some wall warts.

I would just look at the 900-1500VA territory since those'll come with built in USB* ports, so you can potentially get rid of the wall wart(s). I would generally assume a 0.6 power factor, so whatever the VA actual power would be *0.6 to get the true power. The greater capacity ones will sometimes come with a little LCD screen that shows statistics, including the draw in wattage. Its enough for a whole network and a PC, otherwise, a 450VA would suffice.

[Efadd]

4 minutes ago, Agall said:

I would just look at the 900-1500VA territory since those'll come with built in UPS ports, so you can potentially get rid of the wall wart(s). I would generally assume a 0.6 power factor, so whatever the VA actual power would be *0.6 to get the true power. The greater capacity ones will sometimes come with a little LCD screen that shows statistics, including the draw in wattage. Its enough for a whole network and a PC, otherwise, a 450VA would suffice.

UPS ports? You mixing up UPS and USB?

Also, I do need to look at my power topology and see what I could reduce by redundancy, especially on the USB-capable front

[Agall]

1 minute ago, Efadd said:

UPS ports? You mixing up UPS and USB?

Also, I do need to look at my power topology and see what I could reduce by redundancy, especially on the USB-capable front

Yes, USB ports. A few of the APC ones I've bought, including the 1500VA I have at home, came with an internal set of type-a and c USB ports designed for charging smaller devices. Generally with consumer UPS's, the more you spend, the more features and value you can get out of them until about $200 USD. Better off spending another $30-$50 now and have something that's more useful in the future since the appliance will last quite a while and only requires a battery replacement every 4-5 years or so.

 

Until the demands start to get crazy, like needing double-conversion over line-interactive type, past a consumer 1500VA isn't necessary for most people.

 

CyberPower 950VA Battery Back-Up System Black SX950U - Best Buy

 

An easy example of a unit with decent capacity, ports, and integrated USB charging ports. In every unit I've tested with them, those USB ports being supplied off the internal DC bus that the battery and inverter are on, so capable of charging a device with no power available.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Do you need a UPS here? You haven't mentioned the battery backup being useful here. For stuff like a USB C charger, I wouldn't run that on the battery backed up ports, so that won't add towards the wattage.

 

 

[Efadd]

Cool, may look for something with usb c ports so I can get 9v pd to a small dehumidifier that's desktop-sized, not to mention being able to quickcharge my phone without needing my 200w desktop brick for that.

 

Or maybe power my ARM pc right off the UPS and pocket it's 30w brick.......

 

Edit: re:

 

[Efadd]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you need a UPS here? You haven't mentioned the battery backup being useful here. For stuff like a USB C charger, I wouldn't run that on the battery backed up ports, so that won't add towards the wattage.

 

 

Moreso for the power sanity-checking of a UPS tbh

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Efadd said:

Moreso for the power sanity-checking of a UPS tbh

Most low power/cost UPS will basically have the same power filting parts as a surge protector. The inverter kicks on when power is lost, but otherwise there isn't much power filtering.

[Efadd]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Most low power/cost UPS will basically have the same power filting parts as a surge protector. The inverter kicks on when power is lost, but otherwise there isn't much power filtering.

Ah

[Agall]

2 minutes ago, Efadd said:

Ah

AVR on line-interactive UPSs are at least better than nothing and as long as the load isn't extremely sensitive, then they're fine. When you get to true power conditioning, its with double-conversion type UPS's. Those get extremely expensive since they're designed to be running the inverter 24/7.

 

I bought my first UPS because of brown outs from the local shipyard. Anytime they'd start one of the massive cranes, it would drop VAC enough to flick off most computers. Most consumer UPSs will still use wall AC with slight filtering and surge protection and will only kick on the inverter when it senses a low/high enough voltage/frequency.

[Zomeguy]

I bought mine as the room my PC is in is subject to power drops and spikes. I got

 

https://www.apc.com/ca/en/product/BR1500MS2/apc-backups-pro-1500va-900w-tower-120v-10x-nema-515r-outlets-avr-usb-type-a-+-c-ports-lcd-user-replaceable-battery

 

to smooth out the power and it's really helped to prevent unexpected reboots and shutdowns.

 

Does you dorm room suffer from either brown outs or power spikes? If so it wouldn't hurt to get a UPS that helps with that.

[Efadd]

2 minutes ago, Zomeguy said:

I bought mine as the room my PC is in is subject to power drops and spikes. I got

 

https://www.apc.com/ca/en/product/BR1500MS2/apc-backups-pro-1500va-900w-tower-120v-10x-nema-515r-outlets-avr-usb-type-a-+-c-ports-lcd-user-replaceable-battery

 

to smooth out the power and it's really helped to prevent unexpected reboots and shutdowns.

 

Does you dorm room suffer from either brown outs or power spikes? If so it wouldn't hurt to get a UPS that helps with that.

Not really suffering power issues unless it's a system-wide issue, but also the local utility company is known to be finicky at times.

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, Zomeguy said:

I bought mine as the room my PC is in is subject to power drops and spikes. I got

 

https://www.apc.com/ca/en/product/BR1500MS2/apc-backups-pro-1500va-900w-tower-120v-10x-nema-515r-outlets-avr-usb-type-a-+-c-ports-lcd-user-replaceable-battery

 

to smooth out the power and it's really helped to prevent unexpected reboots and shutdowns.

 

Does you dorm room suffer from either brown outs or power spikes? If so it wouldn't hurt to get a UPS that helps with that.

Same model I have at home, I also have two of these at work and a bunch of lesser models. I've got in the neighborhood of 3-4 dozen UPSs at work since every workstation and server rack has at least one. Tested regularly since our largest machine actually causes the whole server room and front offices to lose power for a solid second.  

[Efadd]

29 minutes ago, Efadd said:

Not really suffering power issues unless it's a system-wide issue, but also the local utility company is known to be finicky at times.

Looks nice, only 5v USB-C tho......
Maybe for my headphones......