In dire need of a new UPS

[Fox Mulder]

Please share your experience guys. I need a UPS with one hell of a 'clean/pure' sine wave output. I'm currently using this cheap-ass chinese piece of s*** that reads 'Weli Power'

My house was built in the 1980's and the power here sucks. Went through a lot. Need more.

Belkin vs APC? Thoughts?

 

[Fox Mulder]

Bump? By 'clean/pure' sine wave output I meant 'clean signal'.
I'm pretty much of a n00b in terms of EEE and I don't know if there are UPS' that generate square wave signals

 

[jipchen]

Bump? By 'clean/pure' sine wave output I meant 'clean signal'.
I'm pretty much of a n00b in terms of EEE and I don't know if there are UPS' that generate square wave signals

Calling it a "pure sine wave output" isn't really so wrong because there are UPS's with a true sine wave output and the cheaper ones with an approximation to a sine wave.
Some computers (Mac Pros!) don't work with the cheap UPS's..

I've got the APC Smart-UPS 1500 VA and it works great. Just the Mac Pro, my 24" screen and keyboard&mouse are connected to it and I get between 20 and 40 minutes power from the battery.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Calling it a "pure sine wave output" isn't really so wrong because there are UPS's with a true sine wave output and the cheaper ones with an approximation to a sine wave.
Some computers (Mac Pros!) don't work with the cheap UPS's..

I've got the APC Smart-UPS 1500 VA and it works great. Just the Mac Pro, my 24" screen and keyboard&mouse are connected to it and I get between 20 and 40 minutes power from the battery.

Phew, glad to know that. The APC Smart-UPS 1500 VA generates a pure sine wave output only when in battery mode. If your one is the Online version, cheers dude! If it's offline/line-interactive - you got a good grid.

Looks like I gotta go for a 'Chinese Online UPS' that would keep me isolated from dirty power at all times: http://www.idealups.com.tw/Product3.html

The power sucks at my place.

 

[HatchetDrummer]

Both are junk ime, go for the Panamax band UPS if you want pure sine wave output. On top of that the Panamax higher end units have AC noise attenuation, and the fastest surge protector in the business. Its has a reaction time in the pico seconds. They also have a 52,000 Amp spike capacity.

I have two MAX 1500 running the entire studio. Same basic design as the MB1500, mine are older units. I've had 2 APC just stop working in the studio and had one catch fire at work. Pure piece's of shit, I can run the studio on battery power for a solid hour, and that is with the analog console on.

Best part is the Panamax shit is user serviceable, the battery pack is a metal frame that houses 3 or 4 gel cell 12v motorcycles starter batterys.

Dave

 

[sprack]

Those Panamax have pretty much the same specs as the APC Smart-UPS. We have over a 400 APC's in constant use in the lab. None have ever caught fire. Batteries need to be replaced about once every 5yrs, they use motorcycle batteries too.

 

[HatchetDrummer]

Maybe on paper, but not in use IME. Noise is a huge factor unless you have a machine room thats dead silent and is away from any recording source, and the APC's are much louder then the Panamax, I have owned both. The response time of the surge protection on the APC is slower, how much IDK but after talking with one of the lead engineers at Panamax no other company's product can stop as much as quickly as the Panamax units. My panamax will dissipate up to 1650 joules of burst enegy, the only comparible APC that I found could only dissipate up to 650. Thats not pretty much the same, thats a huge difference.

They are quieter, much faster, dissipate more energy, and runs for longer. I dont know how that makes them the same, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Dave

 

[sprack]

I can't find anything in their spec sheets or site to corroborate the 1650J surge rating or pico second transfer time (both the Panamax and APC say 4ms). 52kA?? Where are you finding that?

Ya, I guess I'm entitled to my opinion. But I'm basing it on several tons of units that have given me flawless usage over many years.

 

[HatchetDrummer]

data sheets...

http://www.panamax.com/PDF/Datasheets/M1500-UPS_L544D.pdf


the transfer time is of the unit switching from AC to battery power not how fast the surge protection algo reacts. That came straight from the guy that designed it. To my knowledge no one releases that number. Hes the landlord of an ex-guitarist of mine, funny enough he gave me my first one to check out, Kinda hard to turn down free.99, liked it so much I bought a second one. But I doubt the guy that designed it is going to blow smoke, after all he gave me one for free

 

[sprack]

That Panamax is very nice.

I didn't know this, but APC has an A/V line. Here's their comparable unit.
http://www.apc.com/products/apcav/products/index.cfm?action=detail&base_sku=H15BLK