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  1. Member
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    My computer stopped working over 2 weeks ago. The computer place a friend of mine took it said the motherboard was bad. My friend of mine rebuilding it with new and better parts. I been using a ups on my desktop for 4 years till it stopped working. Last it did was the graphics kept flicking then that was it. my question is do ups do any harm to a computer or anything connected to it? I connect my hard drive enclosure to it too but on the other side. I'm using a cyberpower ups. I use to have a apc i used on my old desktop till it the apc stopped working.
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  2. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    there are 2 different types of ups boxes. one is square wave and the other sine wave power. most newer motherboards need sine wave power like what comes over the line. other than that neither type will do any harm to devices connected to it.
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  3. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Yes, but just because a UPS is supplying power in an uninterrupted fashion doesn't mean it has the proper regulated voltage it might need. Brownouts or steady over- or under-voltage can do much cumulative damage, to the point of premature failure. Even dirty power can engender shorter device life (in addition to increased self-noise).

    Scott
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  4. Not likely...
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  5. Member
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    Can it? As pandy stated, not likely. Did its? Even more unlikely, but possible.

    On of the things people ignore, is that a UPS, surge protector or line protector is a one hit wonder. If there's even a possibility it was hit by a major power surge, either by lightening or from the electric company, usually indicated by your device tripping off, it's time for a replacement. It did its job of protecting the equipment plugged into it by sacrificing it's own internal components. This happens a lot with powerstrips with surge protection. It trips itself off and people assume it's the electric company's fault when it's actually the device saying: "I've done my job, let me rest in piece."
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    The ups its new only two years old its set at 120v its what it auto sets it does go to like 200v and a bit little past 200v but drops back to i think i was 180v i seen it do that. I had a apc that i used over 5 years on my computers. I say i take your guys advice and not worry ups fault at my pc motherboard dying on me. I do get very little power outrage. But we do get a lot of storms.
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  7. Not likely if you know how PSU and UPS works internally. Of course there is always small chance that UPS is malfunctioned however statistic shows that PSU's are "weak link" devices. PSU has rectifying bridge that turns any incoming current (can be AC or DC) to DC, later there is PFC circuit and later after PFC there is proper PSU part (DC/DC converter).
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    Even severely distorted power (so worst possible case where UPS produce square wave) will be converted to DC in Graetz bridge...
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  8. That is NOT repeat NOT a UPS, it is a battery backup, and not a very good one. A battery backup switches to standby power, a true UPS is always on the battery, no switching ever occurs. These are dramatically more expensive and typically the size of a small refrigerator. Quite rare in small businesses.

    I live in the lightning strike capital of the world. I recommend, and install, ONLY one brand of battery back-up and surge protector, APC. Their guarantee pays off on surge damage with my repair invoice. Every time. No exceptions.

    Minuteman and Panamax are reputed to be of similar quality but much higher price and I rarely encounter them. All of my customers have APC units and surge damage and data loss from power outage are a thing of the past.

    You are covered even in the case of a direct strike. American Power Conversions. I do not work for, nor receive any compensation from, this company.
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  9. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    i beg to differ. even cheap "battery backup" ups devices always condition the current and are always on. they don't switch over to battery when the mains go down. it's easy enough to test. plug any high end desktop into a really cheap ups. it will fail to boot even with the mains on, as the ups is always outputting square wave ac to the device. newer more expensive but still small size ups devices output true sine wave ac.
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    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  10. Originally Posted by Nelson37 View Post
    That is NOT repeat NOT a UPS, it is a battery backup, and not a very good one. A battery backup switches to standby power, a true UPS is always on the battery, no switching ever occurs. These are dramatically more expensive and typically the size of a small refrigerator. Quite rare in small businesses.

    I live in the lightning strike capital of the world. I recommend, and install, ONLY one brand of battery back-up and surge protector, APC. Their guarantee pays off on surge damage with my repair invoice. Every time. No exceptions.

    Minuteman and Panamax are reputed to be of similar quality but much higher price and I rarely encounter them. All of my customers have APC units and surge damage and data loss from power outage are a thing of the past.

    You are covered even in the case of a direct strike. American Power Conversions. I do not work for, nor receive any compensation from, this company.

    Nope - there is many UPS architectures - basic ones are OFF Line and ON Line - OFF Line are usually providing higher energy efficiency and ON Line are more robust. OFF line are usually low power and cheap where ON Line usually are more expensive and preferred for high power loads due smooth operation by architecture/design. APC was for sure in past one of better companies but nowadays they facing strong competition and also technology was significantly more improved. UPS size depends on power capabilities and required off grid working time.
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  11. As a side note: Using APC UPSs @home for 20+ years and using UPS setups in server environments for a similar time, never encountered that a UPS caused a system to fail.
    Atm. I got three UPSs running through out my home and I'm fairly certain that if they would cause hardware problems I would have encountered some over the last decades.
    Worst thing I encountered was that an old UPS signaled that it was empty even then it wasn't and the attached system got a false alarm (a firmware update fixed the problem back then).
    users currently on my ignore list: deadrats, Stears555
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  12. APC is very good, reputable brand. Main problem for UPS is battery life cycle - commonly used SLA/AGM battery type can't be discharged more than 30% of specified capacity without significant life time reduction...
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  13. Originally Posted by pandy View Post
    Main problem for UPS is battery life cycle - commonly used SLA/AGM battery type can't be discharged more than 30% of specified capacity without significant life time reduction...
    Do you have a link for more info on this?

    Edit: Never mind, I found the info.
    Last edited by Groucho; 4th Feb 2019 at 22:12.
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