UPS Selection

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Gene

Active Member
Jan 27, 2016
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so are all the larger apc units online type ups's? from what i have read that is harder on the batteries as you are constantly charging/discharging

Im going to try to test that 10kv surt apc system today. All the batteries were bad (32 x 5ah) so hopefully it'll turn on and i can see if there are any errors with it other than batteries through network card. Don't want to blow $300+ on batteries for nothing
 

JimPhreak

Active Member
Oct 10, 2013
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Ok I think I'm going to go with a rack mount UPS since I've decided to purhase a rack cabinet for sure. What's a good price on a used UPS on eBay?
 

Aestr

Well-Known Member
Oct 22, 2014
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Have you settled on voltage and sizing? Just like most things if you know what you want and are good at watching ebay you can find great deals. I picked up a brand new SMT3000RMT2U a couple of months back for $430.
 

JimPhreak

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Oct 10, 2013
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120v and 900-1000w is what I'm looking at. Should power my upcoming Xeon D vSAN cluster fine.
 

cperalt1

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Feb 23, 2015
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T-Minus had a few Rackmount UPS for sale which I don't think he has sold, maybe check with him.
 

Stereodude

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Feb 21, 2016
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APC units tend to drift out of calibration over time and boil their batteries. Without adjusting the float voltage, you can expect about 3 years on the original batteries, 2 years on the first replacement, and less than 1 year on the second replacement. This is for Smart-UPS units. Back-UPS are worse, Symmetra are better.
What about other brands? I mean how hard is it really to implement a proper temperature controlled float circuit?
 
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Terry Kennedy

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Jun 25, 2015
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www.glaver.org
I mean how hard is it really to implement a proper temperature controlled float circuit?
You have to remember that UPS products in this market segment are engineered for lowest cost. APC didn't add software control of charging parameters because it was a nice feature, they did it because their previous method involved measuring test points and selecting resistors to calibrate each individual unit on the production line.

As you move up in the product space, you get better hardware. I have an 18 year old Matrix 5000 that is still going strong, as well as a 15 year old Symmetra, both purchased new. For the smaller units, models of that age require hardware mods to adjust the charging voltage and are just old. I feel the newest units have been "cost engineered" to a level where they're not as reliable as slightly older ones. My personal preference for used Smart-UPS is a black case one from around 2008.
 

Gene

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Jan 27, 2016
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I checked your spec sheet and it says less than 50dba for your cyberpower unit. I looked at my eaton 5px and it says less than 45 dba so I think you may need to look for one that doesn't run fans unless under battery load. honestly the eaton i have is audible but not a bad fan noise. Pretty low key. I could deal with it in the same room

Found a reddit thread on quiet rackmount ups's and these two were mentioned:
HP R1500 G2-NA - quick spec lookup says less than 40dba so this could be a winner plus it seems fairly cheap - AF401A network management card for it is at $76 on ebay right now as well
APC SMT1500R2X180 - 46dba
Quiet rackmount UPS • /r/homelab

So that HP ups would be half as loud (or less) as the cyberpower unit you have now with that 10db difference
examples of 40db: Library, bird calls (44 dB); lowest limit of urban ambient sound
examples of 50db: Quiet suburb, conversation at home. Large electrical transformers at 100 feet
 
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Terry Kennedy

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Jun 25, 2015
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APC SMT1500R2X180 - 46dba
APC has been known to change the UPS internals without updating the model number. I'm not sure about this unit, but some SmartUPS models had a firmware change to always run the fan, where previous firmware only turned on the fan if the unit was operating on battery or the internal temperature exceeded a certain value. This APC KB article says:
FA156553 said:
"SMT" and "SMX" models use a variable speed fan. The speed is determined by multiple factors such as operating temperature, mode of operation, and load. This operation may vary depending on the model and firmware revision of the UPS.
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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I can confirm that my new Dell1500SM2U (APC SMT1500RM2U) only runs the fan when on battery, starts off low rpm and gets faster the longer it's running on the battery pack. It's a good bit louder than my switch when it gets going, but starts off pretty quiet :)