Recommended UPS device for basement NAS

[Handruin]

Does anyone have a recommended UPS device these days? I don't need tons of run-time, I'm mostly looking to get about 5-10 minutes tops in order to shutdown my NAS in the event of a power outage. I haven't got an actual power consumption estimate but I would guess this system pulls less than 600W of power at peak and likely 350-400W during normal usage. My power supply is a SeaSonic SSR-650RM 650W 80 Plus Gold in case that matters.

I'd like a sine wave UPS with AVR. I'd also like to find something that has a USB cable so that my Linux OS can be powered down after extended time on battery. If the unit has 4-6 plugs that would be great. I can't think of any other critical feature that I'd need. A display showing power usage might be nice but isn't critical.

Is CyberPower any good these days? I had one years ago and it was ok but not great. I see they have a sine wave version of a product. Something like the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS 1500VA 900W PFC seems like it could offer a decent protection. There is also a beefy rackmount unit that looks nice called the CyberPower PR1000LCDRT2U Smart App Sinewave UPS 1000VA 700W.

Does APC make decent units these days? Is there other brands I should be considering?

 

[Chewy509]

Either APC Smart-UPS or most EATON models are generally ok from what I've seen (and that's pretty all I see around these days)...

Most EATON UPSes can be LAN configured/monitored, and most of their rack setups support ESXi as well.

 

[Chewy509]

For Linux support here is a list of UPS's Network UPS Tools support natively... http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

 

[Mercutio]

I generally prefer Tripp-Lite because they're local to Chicago but if I wander around around a datacenter for any length of time, power protection will be overwhelmingly trusted to APS devices and I've probably installed dozens of its 1500VA units.
My crappy experience with the boat anchor in my back room aside, UPSes are by and large fairly hassle free until the batteries crap out and if the Cyberpower doesn't do what you need it can always be repurposed for some lesser task.

 

[ddrueding]

I have a dozen or so of the smaller Cyberpower you linked above and none have failed. I also have some of their rackmount units but not the one you linked. I still go with one of the bigger companies when it REALLY matters, but Cyberpower has never given me a reason to distrust them.

 

[Stereodude]

I've bought refurbished APC SmartUPS UPS's for my basement "servers".

 

[Handruin]

Either APC Smart-UPS or most EATON models are generally ok from what I've seen (and that's pretty all I see around these days)...

Most EATON UPSes can be LAN configured/monitored, and most of their rack setups support ESXi as well.

For Linux support here is a list of UPS's Network UPS Tools support natively... http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

I tried looking up the Eaton units but based on limited availability and their barely-functional company website I have to feel they don't want to sell to me. I do like the idea of managing it through my LAN. I've seen some of the APC units support this and even the pricier CyberPower models.

Thanks for the link to the network tools. I'll look into that more before selecting a UPS.

 

[blakerwry]

Is CyberPower any good these days?

At work we purchased several of the CyberPower 1500 AVR units. We threw them out after a year or two. First, the units would often trip (they shut off completely) when reaching about 75% of the stated load rating, even when on line power. Second, some equipment connected to them would reboot when the units would switch to battery. Third, they do not seem to periodically test the battery, so you have little/no advance notice when batteries need replacing. Lastly, testing the units did not accurately emulate an AC power event (units would test fine, but when the AC would go out the units behaved differently), leading to incorrect conclusions about the unit's capabilities.

We also bought a few desktop units (~ 300-500 VA) and no longer use them. Differences like having hot swap batteries and things like that mostly made the price difference for the APC/Tripp-Lite models worth it. We still have 10+ year old APC units that work fine (just replace the batteries every 3-5 yrs).

My recommendation is to use an APC or Tripp-lite. If you're using an active PFC power supply, you'll need a sine wave UPS, though it can be either line interactive or on-line (AVR). Sizing of the run time and sizing of the peak power draw are not always related, but typically a higher rated UPS will have bigger batteries and will supply power longer than a lower rated UPS at a given load. Use the usage calculators to estimate run-time, keeping in mind that run-time is not a linear relation to power draw (run time decreases exponentially as draw increases).

Based on your comments, I would look at the ~1000VA or similar rated range units.

 

[Handruin]

I've bought refurbished APC SmartUPS UPS's for my basement "servers".

Where did you buy them from? Was this a craigslist thing or from APC them self?

 

[Handruin]

At work we purchased several of the CyberPower 1500 AVR units. We threw them out after a year or two. First, the units would often trip (they shut off completely) when reaching about 75% of the stated load rating, even when on line power. Second, some equipment connected to them would reboot when the units would switch to battery. Third, they do not seem to periodically test the battery, so you have little/no advance notice when batteries need replacing. Lastly, testing the units did not accurately emulate an AC power event (units would test fine, but when the AC would go out the units behaved differently), leading to incorrect conclusions about the unit's capabilities.

We also bought a few desktop units (~ 300-500 VA) and no longer use them. Differences like having hot swap batteries and things like that mostly made the price difference for the APC/Tripp-Lite models worth it. We still have 10+ year old APC units that work fine (just replace the batteries every 3-5 yrs).

My recommendation is to use an APC or Tripp-lite. If you're using an active PFC power supply, you'll need a sine wave UPS, though it can be either line interactive or on-line (AVR). Sizing of the run time and sizing of the peak power draw are not always related, but typically a higher rated UPS will have bigger batteries and will supply power longer than a lower rated UPS at a given load. Use the usage calculators to estimate run-time, keeping in mind that run-time is not a linear relation to power draw (run time decreases exponentially as draw increases).

Based on your comments, I would look at the ~1000VA or similar rated range units.

Thanks for the feedback on CyberPower. That's unfortunate they failed to perform after only a year or two. I'm still using a 6-7 year old APC for my main workstation and it works fine. I've recently replaced the batteries in it and it continues to perform well. I have to check on it but I don't think it's a sine wave UPS and I have a PFC power supply. My last system ran using this APC for 6 years without any issues to it and it was also a PFC PSU. I'd like to buy a sine wave UPS now, but why would I need one?

In regards to runtime my goal isn't to keep it online for as long as possible. I'd like a few minutes of time (2-5) just for those times when power drops and kicks back on shortly after. Anything beyond that I'd rather the software shut down the system. I was also leaning toward a 1000VA UPS like you recommended or higher if the price isn't incredibly more expensive.

 

[Handruin]

I generally prefer Tripp-Lite because they're local to Chicago but if I wander around around a datacenter for any length of time, power protection will be overwhelmingly trusted to APS devices and I've probably installed dozens of its 1500VA units.
My crappy experience with the boat anchor in my back room aside, UPSes are by and large fairly hassle free until the batteries crap out and if the Cyberpower doesn't do what you need it can always be repurposed for some lesser task.

My current and prior lab exposures also indicate that APC is the dominate brand for surge and UPS power management.

 

[Clocker]

400w seems like a lot for NAS. Is it doing double duty as a distributed computing device?

 

[Mercutio]

If it has big-boy desktop CPU and a dozen or so hard drives (like the "spare" old rigs many of us would have), 400W isn't out of the question.

 

[Handruin]

400w seems like a lot for NAS. Is it doing double duty as a distributed computing device?

It is serving as my Plex server with transcoding, a CrashPlan server for local backups, a VMware workstation server for a couple VMs for gaming/chat servers, and I also use it to convert my DVD/Bluray ISOs using handbrake during some evenings. I have four new drives en route putting it at 12 x 4TB 7200RPM HGST HDDs and two Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (boot/cache/VMstorage & L2ARC). The CPU is a Xeon E3-1270 V3 (similar to a Core i7 4770K) and 32GB DDR3 ECC RAM.

Hence why I'd like a decent UPS protecting it.

 

[Clocker]

Hehe. Yeah that sounds like just a bit more than a NAS. Nas....real Nas.

 

[Stereodude]

Where did you buy them from? Was this a craigslist thing or from APC them self?

Somewhere in between those two. UPSforLESS and RefurbUPS.

 

[Mercutio]

Most of my UPSes are also hand-me-downs for client sites. I'm sure I have a couple that are over 10 years old.

 

[Handruin]

I like the sound of buying a warrantied refurb. This APC Smart-UPS 1500 LCD RM 2U looks pretty nice for the price considering what it costs new and it's not a discontinued model (yet).

 

[blakerwry]

Thanks for the feedback on CyberPower. That's unfortunate they failed to perform after only a year or two.

I think it just took us a year or two to realize their faults; the faults were present from the beginning. For a home user who wants to worry less about power outages and will likely replace the UPS when a battery ages out, the CyberPower units may represent a good value. For someone looking for a decent unit, they didn't meet my expectations.

 

[mubs]

I have two APC Back-UPS RS 1500 units, both purchased in 2006. One had batteries replaced about 4 years ago. Both perform quite well. One gets a UPS for reliability; not point scrimping on a critical item.

 

[Handruin]

I know I'm digging up an old thread but it's in context and a continuation of my long decision-making process (or lack there of).

I decided to try one of the CyberPower OR1500PFCRT2U UPS. I ordered it through newegg given they had the unit on sale and was cheaper than anyone else at the time I purchased. Some basic attributes of this unit are:

• Capacity: 1500 VA / 1050 W
• 4 x 12V/7Ah batteries (lead acid)
• Topology: Line Interactive
• Waveform: Sine Wave
• Plug type & cord: NEMA 5-15P, 10 ft. cord
• Outlet types: 8 × NEMA 5-15R
• 3-year warranty
• 2U height rack mount

The unit arrived in the manufacturer's own box with no other Newegg packaging. The box had a squished corner but otherwise arrived safely as far as I can tell. There is thick styrofoam inside the box protecting it from impacts. This UPS is the largest capacity unit I could find in my limited searching for a 15A circuit. I would have preferred to go for the 20A unit but I didn't want to deal with hiring an electrician to get the required outlet and circuit breaker installed. I wasn't able to find any real website-based reviews for this UPS. I made my decision based on the reviews from Amazon and Newegg and eventually just decided to give this a try. I'm hoping in time it proves to be worthy of a decent investment.

Overall the unit seems to feel of high quality construction in an all-metal chassis. The power button is protected behind a flap cover to prevent accidental power off. The menu system on the front panel is operated by a single button and can be a little confusing at first. Once you understand the pattern of selecting for several seconds to enter sub-menus it works fine. This unit allows you to tune the sensitivity of cut-over to battery along with things like low and high voltage cutover. The front panel will otherwise show input and output load capacity, runtime, health, and a few other items.

When powering-on the unit it was completely silent. Only when I unplug it from the power source does the fan kick on in the back. The fan noise generated from this UPS is not that loud from the limited time I left it on batteries. I imagine if one had a home theater this noise would be undesirable but given it's only when power has been lost or is determined to be unclean is when the fan runs. The fan supposedly turns off after 20 seconds post power correction. There is a USB cable included and software available to manage the unit in a variety of OS flavors. I'll spend some time trying their software to get a better understanding if it adds value to my setup. There is also a connection on the back for EPO (Emergency Power Off) which I think is a nice feature. I'm unlikely to ever go to that level but it's nice they offer it.

I'm tempted to open the unit to get an understanding of the actual craftsmanship inside but I need to see if this will void the warranty by breaking a sticker. I'd love to see if the soldering and internal wiring are of decent quality. I've seen other threads on tomshardware where one of the members/writers tears down UPS and surge suppressors with quality insight to the circuitry and wiring to give you an understanding of the level of quality. I don't have that background but maybe if I post pictures someone could point out feedback on the quality.

Overall I'm happy so far but it's only been a day with this UPS. I'm hoping that I can report back in 6-12 months with no issues with this unit.

 

[Howell]

Does it have an Ethernet management port or ability to add one?

 

[Handruin]

No it doesn't. I would have had to move up to the CyberPower PR1500ELCDRTXL2U which is significantly more money at an additional $300+ for that feature.

 

[Handruin]

I opened the unit and took some pictures of the internals and batteries.

 

[Handruin]

I should also note the wall power cable running to this unit is 14AWG which from what I can tell is fine for up to 15A under a 50' length.

 

[sechs]

If you're using an active PFC power supply, you'll need a sine wave UPS, though it can be either line interactive or on-line (AVR).

False.

Seasonic active PFC PSUs will operate fine on approximated sine wave UPSes, which is why I have all Seasonic or Seasonic OEM PSUs in my systems. It's much cheaper to buy a Seasonic PSU and cheap UPSes than pure sine wave UPSes.

 

[Handruin]

I have many Seasonic PSUs but three of my servers have something else that comes specific to their chassis so I chose to go pure sine wave to play it safe. I do have a simulated sine wave APC powering my desktop which is also a Seasonic PSU and it works fine.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

I should also note the wall power cable running to this unit is 14AWG which from what I can tell is fine for up to 15A under a 50' length.

Looks like a nice unit you have there. What kind of load do you have on the UPS? 14 gauge should be fine for a 15A run, assuming you don't have anything else plugged into the circuit?

I went with a Tripp Lite 1500VA/900W ups for my folding pc in the basement: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009TZTGWK

With the pc folding with two RX480s and one cpu unit, and the receiver and projector also on load I sit just below the 900W level. The outlet it's on is a dedicated 12 gauge run with 20A breaker feeding a duplex 15A receptacle.

I've been thinking of getting a second UPS to allow me to get the PS4 on battery backup, will prob move the projector over to that one so I've got the full load distributed over both. With the 20A UPS units they seem to jump in price significantly when compared to the 15A units.