Cheap UPS now or save for higher quality UPS

Niami · June 16

I'm looking to buy a UPS for my, rather small, homelab as it now serves as a NVR along with networked storage. I'm not too concerned about runtime as I just need protection against rare flickers and enough time for a graceful shutdown for anything longer. The APC Back UPS series seems promising but my issue is it is a stepped approximate sine wave output. I've seen some comments that stepped sine wave UPSs can damage PSUs eventually. Is this really a concern?

johnt · June 16

The traditional UPS have a place, but I am not sure where it is anymore. They are quite expensive and the run time is very short, usually less than 15 minutes. You say this is not important, but EcoFlow products generally provide hours of run time for a 256w or 512w unit, which I am assuming will handle your home lab, and you never really have to worry about it again. They cost about the same as a UPS. I have a 2 kW unit powering my home lab and it runs for 24 hours with zero changes (all cameras, all APs, all computers connected). We have like 2 to 3 power outages a year lasting less than 1 hour, so it was a no brainer for me. It's just an option you may want to think about it.

There are two key differences I want to point out. Traditional UPS models have a shorter reaction time than most of the older EcoFlow (or similar) products. But in practice this has not been an issue for me. My computers, all networking gear, television, projector, refrigerator, etc. have had no problems staying on with these batteries when the power goes out. The newer models have significantly shorter reaction times, so if you go with a Delta 3 model, then it is the same as a UPS. The other thing with these battery packs is that I will cycle them monthly. I just unplug them, let them drain to about 20% to 50% depending on what I'm doing, and then reconnect. I had one internal failure of my large battery, contacted support, and I was up and running with a replacement in one week.

Just an option to consider.

Niami · June 16

11 minutes ago, johnt said:

The traditional UPS have a place, but I am not sure where it is anymore. They are quite expensive and the run time is very short, usually less than 15 minutes. You say this is not important, but EcoFlow products generally provide hours of run time for a 256w or 512w unit, which I am assuming will handle your home lab, and you never really have to worry about it again. They cost about the same as a UPS. I have a 2 kW unit powering my home lab and it runs for 24 hours with zero changes (all cameras, all APs, all computers connected). We have like 2 to 3 power outages a year lasting less than 1 hour, so it was a no brainer for me. It's just an option you may want to think about it.

There are two key differences I want to point out. Traditional UPS models have a shorter reaction time than most of the older EcoFlow (or similar) products. But in practice this has not been an issue for me. My computers, all networking gear, television, projector, refrigerator, etc. have had no problems staying on with these batteries when the power goes out. The newer models have significantly shorter reaction times, so if you go with a Delta 3 model, then it is the same as a UPS. The other thing with these battery packs is that I will cycle them monthly. I just unplug them, let them drain to about 20% to 50% depending on what I'm doing, and then reconnect. I had one internal failure of my large battery, contacted support, and I was up and running with a replacement in one week.

Just an option to consider.

Definitely a great option now that I've looked through their products. The river 3 plus even advertises "NAS compliant" switching speeds, aka <10ms switchover. It's about double the price of the apc ups I was looking at but definitely seems good to use for the main server UPS.

I should have also mentioned explicitly that cost is a factor in this as realistically I would need another UPS (or alternative) to power the router and ONT as well in a longer power outage. 2 of these, even on offer, would be adding up to over £400.

Electronics Wizardy · June 16

I've tried a lot of devices on non sine wave invertors over the years and they have all worked. I'd probably save the money and get the cheaper UPS here.

yogurt245 · June 16

2 hours ago, Niami said:

I've seen some comments that stepped sine wave UPSs can damage PSUs eventually. Is this really a concern?

Not at all. However, they'll run less efficiently on a stepped sine compared to a pure sine. I've been using an APC UPS with stepped sine for many years, and have yet to run into any issues.

Alternately, you can go on marketplace or eBay and find a good used one and save a lot of money.