UPS overloading and PSU buzzing sound on boot

[Tomcraft]

I just purchased a new 1600W UPS unit - https://www.njoy.global/product/echo-pro-2000/UPOL-OL200EP-CG01B

Initially everything was working fine, I carefully followed all the instructions, waited for the initial battery charge and then I plugged in my devices (a gaming PC with 1200W DeepCool PSU unit and a 1440p Dell monitor).
Since then I powered the PC on and off multiple times and everything was working and operating normally.

 

Two days later, there was a power outage, and the UPS went into battery mode and it worked as expected. I shut down the PC during this time, and since the outage was long, I also decided to turn off the UPS unit as well to avoid the battery drain.

When the power came back, the UPS started recharging again and after the batteries were 100% full, I turned the UPS on. The UPS turned on and went into Line mode as expected.

But then I tried to turn on the PC and the PC immediately shut down, the UPS started beeping and it went into Warning (overload) mode.

Now im not sure why this happened, I tried to turn on the PC multiple times and it kept doing the same thing. The monitor on the other hand worked fine. If I plug the PC directly into the wall socket, it powers ON normally, so this happens only when it goes through the UPS.

I'm also worried if this instant shut down could have caused any damage or harm to my PC or other components? The motherboard, GPU and coolers briefly turned on and then immediately shut down when the UPS failed.
 

[Tomcraft]

I attached two videos (WARNING: High beeping noise)

 

1. First video is when the PC doesn't turn on (UPS fails)
2. Second video is when everything works normally

I can also hear some brief and loud buzzing/power surge sound, every time I turn on my PC (just after I press the power ON button). 

This happens in both scenarios and you can hear it in the videos.

Is this a normal sound for a PSU of this type or should I be concerned? It is a brand new PC so Im not sure what to expect.

 

[191x7]

Can you get an electricity usage monitor like the kill-a-wat?

[Tomcraft]

1 hour ago, 191x7 said:

Can you get an electricity usage monitor like the kill-a-wat?

Unfortunately I don't have anything like that at the moment. I will have to see if I can get any.
Are you suggesting that I should measure the power draw on start up?
Should I measure this from the UPS or without the UPS, or both?

[191x7]

10 minutes ago, Tomcraft said:

Unfortunately I don't have anything like that at the moment. I will have to see if I can get any.
Are you suggesting that I should measure the power draw on start up?
Should I measure this from the UPS or without the UPS, or both?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm recommending. To get a clearer image of what's going on with the draw, if there's a power draw spike. Both.

[Tomcraft]

19 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Yes, that's exactly what I'm recommending. To get a clearer image of what's going on with the draw, if there's a power draw spike. Both.

In the meanwhile, I decided to test one more time and plugged my PC back to the UPS unit and this time it turned ON just fine, so now Im a bit confused.

I can still hear that power surge sound when I turn the PC on. Im not sure if that is normal or maybe suggests to a faulty PSU?

I will still try to get that power measurement device, but now I'm not even sure if I can even reproduce the issue.

[191x7]

6 hours ago, Tomcraft said:

In the meanwhile, I decided to test one more time and plugged my PC back to the UPS unit and this time it turned ON just fine, so now Im a bit confused.

I can still hear that power surge sound when I turn the PC on. Im not sure if that is normal or maybe suggests to a faulty PSU?

I will still try to get that power measurement device, but now I'm not even sure if I can even reproduce the issue.

Get the measurement device, it's good to have. 

 

Maybe it was something temporary with the UPS or the PSU.

 

Report back.

[Tomcraft]

3 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Get the measurement device, it's good to have. 

 

Maybe it was something temporary with the UPS or the PSU.

 

Report back.

I was able to get some measurements, however there is almost no difference.

First photo is without UPS (WALL -> Measure Device -> PC) - the max recorded was 248W
Second photo is with UPS (WALL -> UPS -> Measure Device -> PC) - the max recorded was 230W

After some further testing however, it seems that initial power surge/electricity sound only happens when the PC is connected to the UPS unit. Without the UPS there aren't any unusual sounds.

 

[191x7]

12 minutes ago, Tomcraft said:

I was able to get some measurements, however there is almost no difference.

First photo is without UPS (WALL -> Measure Device -> PC) - the max recorded was 248W
Second photo is with UPS (WALL -> UPS -> Measure Device -> PC) - the max recorded was 230W

After some further testing however, it seems that initial power surge/electricity sound only happens when the PC is connected to the UPS unit. Without the UPS there aren't any unusual sounds.

 

 

 

How about wall -> measure device -> ups -> PC ?

 

Can you try with a diferent power cable?

[Tomcraft]

33 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

How about wall -> measure device -> ups -> PC ?

 

Can you try with a diferent power cable?

I just tried (WALL -> Measure Device -> UPS -> PC) - the max was 280W

 

However something different happened this time when I started the PC with this combination. The PC started normally, but the UPS went into some Fault/Warning mode immediately. It was still providing power and the PC remained on.

According to the manual, the error code on the UPS shows - Bus Unbalanced: DC-DC converter failed.

 

Please note that I can no longer reproduce the initial problem and my PC keeps booting normally (except for the power surge sound I keep hearing with UPS on).
The only time I was unable to start the PC was after the power outage (after a full UPS reboot?)

 

I tried different power cables only to test if it will affect the power surge sound, but it didnt change anything.
 

[191x7]

45 minutes ago, Tomcraft said:

I just tried (WALL -> Measure Device -> UPS -> PC) - the max was 280W

 

However something different happened this time when I started the PC with this combination. The PC started normally, but the UPS went into some Fault/Warning mode immediately. It was still providing power and the PC remained on.

According to the manual, the error code on the UPS shows - Bus Unbalanced: DC-DC converter failed.

 

Please note that I can no longer reproduce the initial problem and my PC keeps booting normally (except for the power surge sound I keep hearing with UPS on).
The only time I was unable to start the PC was after the power outage (after a full UPS reboot?)

 

I tried different power cables only to test if it will affect the power surge sound, but it didnt change anything.
 

 

 

Ok, what happens now when you have the PC running and you unplug the UPS from the wall?

 

Is there a chance the power outage was accompanied by a power surge / voltage spike?

That might hurt a UPS if the wall socket isn't properly grounded. And a lightning strike can kill a UPS even if the grounding is fine, but that's a rare occurance.

[Tomcraft]

11 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Ok, what happens now when you have the PC running and you unplug the UPS from the wall?

 

Is there a chance the power outage was accompanied by a power surge / voltage spike?

That might hurt a UPS if the wall socket isn't properly grounded. And a lightning strike can kill a UPS even if the grounding is fine, but that's a rare occurance.

I will try to test this later or just wait for the next power outage and then report back. It usually happens at least 2-3 times per month and thats why I even got this UPS in the first place. Im sure I will have more opportunities to test this.

The first outage that happened on Sunday was a region wide outage or something, so im not sure how serious it was and if there has been any risk of power surge/spike.

[191x7]

26 minutes ago, Tomcraft said:

I will try to test this later or just wait for the next power outage and then report back. It usually happens at least 2-3 times per month and thats why I even got this UPS in the first place. Im sure I will have more opportunities to test this.

The first outage that happened on Sunday was a region wide outage or something, so im not sure how serious it was and if there has been any risk of power surge/spike.

Large outages usually cause spikes right before they happen or the moment the network comes back or stabilizes. 

 

If the UPS got damaged, thank it for protecting your equipment.

[Tomcraft]

On 5/19/2025 at 2:33 PM, 191x7 said:

Large outages usually cause spikes right before they happen or the moment the network comes back or stabilizes. 

 

If the UPS got damaged, thank it for protecting your equipment.

It seems that the issue mostly appears whenever I try to start the PC. There was also another short outage today, and the UPS properly went into battery mode and it kept my PC running. When the power came back, the UPS recovered and everything was in order.

 

A bit later I decided to fully shut down my PC, and 60 minutes later when I turned it back on, the UPS failed again.

 

I was also doing some further research and I was told that this is because of the 1200W PSU. The starting current of the PC power supply exceeds the maximum current accepted by the UPS and that's why it fails. And then I was also recommended to get a more powerful UPS that could handle this current.

Could this indeed be the case? I thought that this UPS was already an overkill 2000VA/1600W for a 1200W power supply. Even with 1200W power supply, I dont ever except to reach even 500-600W max under most circumstances.

 

Anyone has any suggestions or recommendations of what UPS I should be getting? Do I need to look for any specific characteristics when choosing the UPS that could handle my power supply unit?

[191x7]

2 minutes ago, Tomcraft said:

It seems that the issue mostly appears whenever I try to start the PC. There was also another short outage today, and the UPS properly went into battery mode and it kept my PC running. When the power came back, the UPS recovered and everything was in order.

 

A bit later I decided to fully shut down my PC, and 60 minutes later when I turned it back on, the UPS failed again.

 

I was also doing some further research and I was told that this is because of the 1200W PSU. The starting current of the PC power supply exceeds the maximum current accepted by the UPS and that's why it fails. And then I was also recommended to get a more powerful UPS that could handle this current.

Could this indeed be the case? I thought that this UPS was already an overkill 2000VA/1600W for a 1200W power supply. Even with 1200W power supply, I dont ever except to reach even 500-600W max under most circumstances.

 

Anyone has any suggestions or recommendations of what UPS I should be getting? Do I need to look for any specific characteristics when choosing the UPS that could handle my power supply unit?

I don't think you have a machine that draws so much. Based on your previous info, your system draws less than 300W during boot.

Having a 1200W PSU doesn't mean your system draws 1200W. That number is just how much load your PSU can handle while still being efficient enough for the rating it has. It's not even the maximum that PSU can do.

If you have a mid-range system that needs 500W under heavy load, even if you'd have it on a 1600W PSU it would still draw less than 550W.