Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

FAQ
VERSION 2.3, March 6, 2005

Sections:

 01: What is this document all about?

o 01: What is this document?
o 02: How is this document made available?
o 03: Who maintains this?
o 04: Where did this information come from?
o 05: How can I contribute?
o 06: How may this document be distributed?
o 07: Got anything else you'd like to add?
o 08: Glossary.
 02: What is a UPS and how does is work?
o 01: What is a UPS?
o 02: How do you pronounce "UPS"?
o 03: Vendor X says that (description) is a UPS, is it?
o 04: Describe the types of UPSes?
o 05: How can a UPS help me?
o 06: What sort of stuff does a UPS do?
o 07: How long can equipment on a UPS keep running?
o 08: What is a "good" UPS?
o 09: Support contracts on UPSes.
o 10: Self maintenance tips.
o 11: Is a UPS a glorified power strip?
o 12: How important is the UPS output waveform?
o 13: Can I really count on a UPS protecting my equipment?
o 14: I think I'd like to build/refurbish/upgrade my own UPS myself. Is this
a good idea?
 03: UPS monitoring/shutdown software.
o 01: Can a UPS shut the computer down when power is low?
o 02: Can I write my own shutdown routines?
o 03: What freely distributable solutions are there?
o 04: No UPS software works on my machines, what to do?
o 05: What other software is out there.
 04: How big a UPS do I need?
o 01: How are UPS sizes determined?
o 02: What VA rating do I need?
o 03: How do I determine this?
o 04: What else should I consider?
 o 05: Can I use an UPS with a laser printer?
o 06: What UPS sizes do you use on what equipment?
 05: Specific manufacturer's info.
o 01: What vendors are there?
o 02: UPS Hardware.
o 03: UPS Software only.
o 04: Other companies.
 06: Bibliography
 07: Acknowledgments

01:
TOPIC: What is this document all about?
01.01

Q: What is this document?

A: This is a FAQ document on Uninterruptible Power Supplies. It is intended to provide a

starting point for those people that want to find out what they are, what they do, and
what's available.

Note that most of this document is very US-centric. The power numbers, companies and
services all emphasize US consumer needs. Sorry, but that's what I have to work with.
All the principles discussed here should be applicable just about everywhere.

01.02

Q: How is this document made available?

A: Currently, this document is available on the World Wide Web. It is referenced with
most major search engines. Many sites link to this document or reference it.

This document itself is available via the World Wide Web at:
http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/doc/ups-faq.html.

01.03

Q: Who maintains this?

A: Right now, this document is maintained by Nick Christenson. My preferred email

address is npc_AT_jetcafe.org, and I would like it very much if questions regarding
this document could have the word "UPS" or "UPS FAQ" or some such in the Subject
line. Note: I am maintaining this on my own time, so please don't be upset if it takes a
while for me to respond to your queries. Also none of the information in here represents
the views or has the blessing of any organization whatsoever. This represents one
person's opinions, although many have contributed useful material to this document and
my understanding.

01.04

Q: Where did this information come from?

A: Thankfully, many people have rallied to my cry to fill in the many gaps in my original
draft. This is now a group work, although I claim full responsibility for misstatements
and inaccuracies.

01.05

Q: How can I contribute?

A: You should mail new information, corrections, suggestions, etc. to the current
maintainer of this FAQ. If you provide a suggestion, make sure you reference where the
information is located in the document. I guarantee that suggestions of the form "Change
the word 'always' to 'almost always' in the part about surge suppression." will be ignored.

01.06

Q: Are there any restrictions on distribution of this document?

A: This document is copyright by the author. You are encouraged to distribute this
document for any non-commercial purpose as long as the contents remain unaltered, the
original document and author are properly cited, and a pointer to an up-to-date version is
included. If you would like to excerpt this document, that's okay too, as long as proper
attribution is given and a pointer to the complete FAQ is included.

01.07

Q: Got anything else you'd like to add?

A: Yes, now that you mention it. The people who contribute to this document can speak
only about equipment they have experience with. This may reflect a bias toward or
against certain brands, features, functions, etc.. Please keep in mind that the suggestions,
brand names and functions here are by no means exhaustive, or even necessarily
applicable to your situation. Also, if you have information that is not in this document,
please submit it to the maintainer listed above. If you submit information, please say
whether you'd like it to be attributed to you or not. I am more than glad to give credit to
the fine people who helped with this document, but I want to respect the anonymity of
those people who would prefer it.

01.08
Q: Glossary

A: This was contributed almost entirely by some kind soul. I just cleaned it up a bit.

Blackout
Complete loss of power. Some literature considers a voltage drop below about
80V to be a blackout as well since most equipment will not operate below these
levels.
Sag or Brownout
Decrease in voltage levels which can last for periods ranging from fractions of a
second to hours. Can be caused by heavy equipment coming on line such as shop
tools, elevators, compressors etc. Also occurs when utility companies deliberately
do this to cope with peak load times.
Spike
An tremendous increase in voltage over a very short period of time often caused
by a direct lightning strike on a power line or when power returns after a blackout.
Surge
An substantial increase in voltage lasting a small fraction of a second, often
caused when high powered appliances such as air conditioners are switched off.
EMI/RFI Noise
ElectroMagnetic Interference and Radio Frequency Interference. Caused by, inter
alia, lightning, generators, radio transmitters, industrial equipment.
MOV
Metal Oxide Varistors are added to circuits in order to control spikes. These are
common in Power Strips. If you see more than two, you likely have a fairly
decent Power Strip. They look like largish disk capacitors.
Inverter
Circuitry that converts DC battery power to AC power required by most computer
equipment.
Surge Protector
Circuitry consisting of MOVs, capacitors, rod-core inductors etc. for suppressing
surges and spikes usually embedded in a power strip.
Line Conditioner
A transformer that attempts to smooth out fluctuations in input voltage to provide
near uniform output voltage or voltage waveform.

02:
TOPIC: What is a UPS and how does is work?
02.01

Q: What is a UPS?

A: An Uninterruptible Power Supply is a device that sits between a power supply (e.g. a
wall outlet) and a device (e.g. a computer) to prevent undesired features of the power
source (outages, sags, surges, bad harmonics, etc.) from the supply from adversely
affecting the performance of the device.

02.02

Q: How do you pronounce "UPS"?

A: Many pronounce it "ups", but most of the literature seems to favor "you pee ess",
since they use "a UPS" instead of "an UPS". This document will try to follow the
literature. Neither pronunciation will get you laughed at by those who are experienced in
the field.

02.03

Q: Vendor X says that (fill in description) is a UPS, but it's different than what you
describe above. Who's right?

A: There really is no standard definition of what a UPS is. Anything ranging from a 9
volt battery backup in a clock radio to a building/compound wide backup generator has
been called a UPS by someone. The majority of this document refers to objects larger
than a beer can that help devices remain temporarily operational when changes to the
power they receive would otherwise interrupt their function.

Maintaining power to a minicomputer (like a VAX 11) is beyond the scope of this
document. This FAQ deals with UPS equipment that can be installed by a computer
owner/administrator. If you have requirements that large, you need to talk to a qualified
electrician. Basically, the focus of this document is on power protection devices that
operate in the 3000 Volt-Amp (VA) range or lower. These are smaller machines that can
be installed and managed without the assistance of licensed electricians.

02.04

Q: Can you give me some more information on the UPS industry?

A: (Kindly provided by Don Deal, Don.Deal_AT_oit.gatech.edu, my additions are in

[square brackets].)

The UPS industry is made up of many manufacturers, and there is a lack of standard
terms within the industry. I think this sometimes borders on deliberate misdirection. (It's
a jungle out there!) [ Note, in recent years the whole industry seems to have gotten better,
at least mostly agreeing on what the terms listed here mean. This is not true everywhere,
but things are getting better. ]

There are basically three different types of devices, all of which are occasionally passed
off as UPSes.
1. Standby power supply (SPS). In this type of supply, power is usually derived
directly from the power line, until power fails. After power failure, a battery
powered inverter turns on to continue supplying power. Batteries are charged, as
necessary, when line power is available. This type of supply is sometimes called
an "offline" UPS.

The quality and effectiveness of this class of devices varies considerably;

however, they are generally quite a bit cheaper than "true" UPSes. The time
required for the inverter to come on line, typically called the switchover time,
varies by unit. While some computers may be able to tolerate long switchover
times, your mileage may vary. [ Some articles in the trade press have claimed that
their testing shows that modern PCs can withstand transfer times of 100ms or
more. Most UPS units claim a transfer time to battery of about 4ms. Note that
even if a computer can stay up for 100ms, it doesn't mean that 100ms switchover
is okay. Damage can still be done to a computer or data on it even if it stays up. ]

Other features to look for in this class of supplies is line filtering and/or other line
conditioners. Since appliances connected to the supply are basically connected
directly from the power line, SPSes provide relatively poor protection from line
noise, frequency variations, line spikes, and brownouts.

[Some SPSes claim to have surge/spike suppression circuitry as well as

transformers to "boost" voltage without switching to the battery if a modest
voltage drop occurs. Often, as a "standby" UPS becomes more featureful it is
called a "line interactive" UPS.

2. Hybrid [ or ferroresonant ] UPS systems. I only know one vendor who sells them
- Best Power, Inc. [ Now called Eaton Powerware. Note that Powerware also sells
line interactive and online UPSes. ] The theory behind these devices is fairly
simple. When normal operating line power is present, the supply conditions
power using a ferroresonant transformer. This transformer maintains a constant
output voltage even with a varying input voltage and provides good protection
against line noise. The transformer also maintains output on its secondary briefly
when a total outage occurs. Best claims that their inverter then goes on line so
quickly that it is operating without any interruption in power. Other UPS vendors
maintain that the transition is less than seamless, but then again it's not in their
best interest to promote Best's products.

[ Note: According to some sources, ferroresonant transformers in an UPS system

can interact with ferroresonant transformers in your equipment's power supply
and produce unexpected results. On the other hand, ferroresonant UPS systems
don't kick off a lot of heat, which is important in some environments. The Moral:
Test equipment to make sure it meets your needs before you buy. -npc ]

3. What I call "true" UPS systems, those supplies that continuously operate from an
inverter. Obviously, there is no switchover time, and these supplies generally
 provide the best isolation from power line problems. The disadvantages to these
devices are increased cost, increased power consumption, and increased heat
generation. Despite the fact that the inverter in a "true" UPS is always on, the
reliability of such units does not seem to be affected. In fact, we have seen more
failures in cheaper SPS units. [ Note, though, that given the same quality inverter,
you'd expect the one that runs least to last longest. These devices are often called
"online" UPSes. ]

02.05

Q: How can it help me?

A: A UPS has internal batteries to guarantee that continuous power is provided to the
equipment even if the power source stops providing power. Of course the UPS can only
provide power for a while, typically a few minutes, but that is often enough to ride out
power company glitches or short outages. Even if the outage is longer than the battery
lifetime of the UPS, this provides the opportunity to execute an orderly shutdown of the
equipment. Advantages:

1. Computer jobs don't stop because the power fails.

2. Users not inconvenienced by computer shutting down.
3. Equipment does not incur the stress of another (hard) power cycle.
4. Data isn't lost because a machine shut down without doing a "sync" or equivalent
to flush cached or real time data.

02.06

Q: What sort of stuff do a UPS do?

A: A UPS traditionally can perform the following functions:

1. Absorb relatively small power surges.

2. Smooth out noisy power sources.
3. Continue to provide power to equipment during line sags.
4. Provide power for some time after a blackout has occurred.

In addition, some UPS or UPS/software combinations provide the following functions:

1. Automatic shutdown of equipment during long power outages.
2. Monitoring and logging of the status of the power supply.
3. Display the Voltage/Current draw of the equipment.
4. Restart equipment after a long power outage.
5. Display the voltage currently on the line.
6. Provide alarms on certain error conditions.
7. Provide short circuit protection.

02.07
Q: How long can equipment on a UPS keep running after the power goes?

A: That depends on how big a UPS do you have and what kind of equipment it protects.
For most typical computer workstations, one might have a UPS that was rated to keep the
machine alive through a 15 minute power loss. If it is important for a machine to survive
hours without power, one should probably look at a more robust power backup solution
that includes a generator and other components. Even if a UPS powers a very small load,
it must still operate its DC (battery) to AC converter (the inverter), which costs power. A
rough extrapolation from APC's documentation, leads me to guess that its 2000 VA UPS
can operate its own inverter (with no extra load) for just over 8 hours. A 1250 VA UPS
could run its converter for about 5. These are very rough guesses based on information
provided by one vendor for one vendor.

02.08

Q: Given the same vendor claims, how can I tell a "good" quality UPS from a "poor"
quality UPS?

A: Testing, testing, testing. I can't emphasize this enough. There are many good and bad
units out there that call themselves UPSes. There are many good units that are wrong for
your situation. Caveat Emptor.

Some properties you might look for include:

1. Sinusoidal power output. In general, the closer the AC output of the UPS is to a
sine wave, the better it is for your equipment. Many UPS units, especially the
cheaper ones, deviate a great deal from a sinusoidal output. Some of them
generate square waves. Waveform effects are dealt with in section 2.12 of this
document.
2. Does the UPS have a manual bypass switch? If the UPS is broken or is being
serviced, can you pass power through it to your equipment? The last thing you
want is for a broken UPS to be the cause of extra downtime.
3. The more information about a UPSes operation you can get from watching the
unit itself, the better. How much power (or percentage load) the equipment is
drawing, how much battery life is left and indications of the input power quality
are all very useful.
4. Some newer UPSes can communicate with their monitoring software via a
network connection and SNMP. This is wonderful if your network is on a UPS.
Also, beware, I have heard of dealers advertising "Network UPS" monitoring
where the network is the normal serial connection.
5. Does the UPS vendor offer support/maintenance contracts? If they aren't offered,
I would suspect the quality of the equipment.

If you do have a UPS that does not output a sinusoidal waveform, some manufacturers
strongly urge you to not put a surge protector between the UPS and the computer. The
surge protector might mistake the non-sine waveform as a power surge and try to send it
to ground. This could be bad for your UPS, not to mention your equipment. I don't know
if this has happened or not, but I wouldn't chance it.

02.09

Q: Should I make sure I have a support/maintenance contract for my UPS systems?

A: Some people strongly recommend this, some don't. It depends on the situation. There
are things that can go wrong with UPSes, and they require periodic maintenance. As with
all support contracts, you're generally spending a little extra money to reduce risk.
Whether this is worthwhile is up to you.

While the electronics in a UPS are likely to last for quite a while, the batteries will
periodically need to be replaced. This will happen more frequently the more (and deeper)
the batteries are cycled. Replacing the batteries every three years is a pretty typical
vendor recommendation (but read the product details for authoritative information). Any
UPS battery that has been in continuous service for five years probably should be
considered suspect until proven otherwise.

Like any other electronic device, a UPS can fail. You need to have a plan for this. If you
don't want to risk having to replace a failed unit at an inconvenient time, you might want
to look into a support contract.

02.10

Q: What sort of maintenance can I perform myself?

A: One good thing you might want to do is periodically test the UPSes and their failure
modes. A good time to do this might be right after after a periodic level 0 backup.
Nobody is logged in and you've got full backups of the machines. Throw the circuit
breaker with the UPS on it to simulate and outage and see how the transition goes. Note
that in general testing an UPS by pulling the plug from the wall is not a good idea.
Electronics like to always have a good ground reference. If you unplug a UPS, it's still
powered but now has what electricians call a "floating ground". Not only can this be bad
for electronics, but it can be quite dangerous as well. It is likely that unplugging just
about any UPS for a short amount of time isn't likely to result in disaster (don't take my
word for it, though!), but in all cases, throwing a circuit breaker would be a better thing to
do.

It might be useful to install a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) on your UPS-covered outlets
to facilitate this testing without having to throw a breaker, especially if you don't have
your UPS protected machines on an isolated circuit (which you probably should). These
are the sockets found in most modern kitchens and bathrooms with a red and a black
button. You push the latter to cut power and the former to restore power.
Almost all UPSes use lead-acid batteries, like most car batteries. Unlike, say, NiCad
(Nickel-Cadmium) batteries, lead-acid batteries do not have "battery memory". Each
"deep cycle" (running the batteries to very low or even drained levels) will decrease a
lead-acid battery's effectiveness, so this should be avoided. Of course, handling these
situations is the reason you've bought a UPS, but one should not run a UPS down when
doing so isn't necessary.

As a UPS gets older, its battery life will become shorter. Of course there's no way to
reliably test how long it is without running the battery down and you don't want to do that
because they have lead acid batteries. <sigh> All of these are very good reasons to get a
support contract for them that includes periodic battery replacement. At the very least,
you can figure that under a normal workload the batteries will usually still be reasonably
good at the end of the UPS warranty figure, so that's a good place to start guesswork.

02.11

Q: Isn't a UPS just a glorified power strip/surge protector with some batteries and a little
power conditioning thrown in?

A: Basically. It's also got a power inverter and some other circuitry. It may also have a
timer, thermometer or other gadgets.

02.12

Q: How important is the UPS output waveform?

A: That's a good question, and one is worthy of some debate. One school of thought
holds that one should always run equipment on the best approximation of sinusoidal input
that one can, and that deviations produce harmonics which may either be interpreted as
signal if they get through a power supply, or may actually damage the equipment.
Another school holds that since almost all computers use switching-type power supplies,
which only draw power at or near the peaks of the waveforms, the shape of the input
power waveform is not important. Who's right? I don't know. My opinion is that
sinusoidal output is worth the extra money, especially for on-line UPS systems that
continually provide their waveform to the computer. Also, if you don't know that your
equipment has a switching-type power supply, you might want to think twice before
buying a low quality UPS. [ Some of this information from a great article in the October
1994 issue of LAN Magazine, check it out. -npc ]

02.13

Q: Can I really count on a UPS protecting my equipment?

A: This is a tough question. While most UPS systems that you're likely to buy in a store
or computer catalog are likely to help your uptime more than hurt it, these are not
intended for safety or life-critical equipment.
Basically, these devices should be considered to be pieces of consumer electronics. The
number one basis on which most of these devices compete with each other is on price,
not quality. I have had UPSes arrive dead from the factory. I have had them fail (taking
equipment down with them) within weeks of first installation. I can't prove it, but I'm
willing to bet that when an old (beyond warranty) line-interactive UPS from a major
manufacturer died on me it fried a machine motherboard, memory, network card, and
monitor. In the < 2000 VA range, cost-effectiveness is more important to UPS vendors
(because it appears to be more important to their customers) than ultimate reliability. If
your life depends on computer uptime, you need a special purpose, online, big,
redundant, expensive system. These systems are beyond the scope of this document.
When you buy a UPS at your local computer store, you are not buying this sort of system.

This is not to say that these things are bad or a waste of money, it's just that they're not a
panacea. In most locations I have worked with most decent UPSes my equipment
statistically has suffered less downtime and lower hardware failure rates when it's
protected by a UPS than when it's not. But these devices are not infallible. When you add
one to the mix, technically it's one more thing that can and sometimes will go wrong.
These devices age and occasionally break. A bad one occasionally slips through quality
control. Consider it two steps forward and one step back. That's still progress.

There are some things you can do to decrease the likelihood that a UPS will trip you up.
Here are some suggestions. This is not an exhaustive list:

 Perform regular maintenance on your UPS. This includes changing the batteries
periodically. Don't ever run on bad batteries. Unless your UPS has a bypass
feature which allows you to change batteries without disconnecting the UPS, this
means shutting your important server down on occasion.
 Don't deep cycle the batteries any more than is necessary.
 Make sure the UPS keeps in contact with its electrical ground at all times.
 Don't subject the UPS to temperature or humidity extremes, water, excessive dust,
or excessive static electricity. Keep the area around the UPS clean and dry.
 Don't overload the UPS.
 If the UPS shows signs of misbehavior or malfunction, remove it from service at
the earliest possible opportunity. Don't put it back into service until it has been
examined and recertified by qualified support personnel.

02.14

Q: I think I'd like to build/refurbish/upgrade my own UPS myself. Is this a good idea?

A: My short answer: No, it's not a good idea. Basically, if you're soliciting information
from this document on whether or how to do this, you're not qualified to do this, so don't.

Just as with any other electronics project, it's possible to build one yourself if you know
what you're doing. In the case of a UPS, though, the tolerances are very tight, and the
consequences of building it wrong can be severe. You're working with energies sufficient
to kill a person or start a major fire, the batteries contain hazardous materials, and the
serious possibility exists that something can be hooked up wrong with disastrous results.
If the wrong types of batteries are installed in a UPS very bad things will happen. Unless
you really know what you're doing, you're much better off sticking with equipment that
others have certified rather than trying to save just a few bucks by doing it yourself. Of
course, if you do really know what you're doing, then you don't need (or want) my
advice. Definitely leave this project for the professionals.

03:
TOPIC: UPS monitoring/shutdown software.
03.01

Q: If the power is out for a long time, I would like to have my computer automatically
shut itself down gracefully before the UPS batteries die. Can I do this?

A: Yes. Most UPS manufacturers support software that will do this for some UPSes on at
least some platforms. Ask your UPS vendor for details.

Q: Okay, how about restarting the system for me once power returns?

A: Not all UPS software products do this, but many do. Again, ask your vendor. I do not
know of any freely distributable products that will do this. It doesn't mean that they can't
be built, but vendor software is cheap enough (usually) that it's probably not worth
building.

03.02

Q: How does this software work? I'm a starving (fill in the blank) who can't afford
software or I have a UPS protecting a computer running an operating system that nobody
supports.

A: Usually, there is a serial port on the back of a UPS that can be used to connect it to
just about any computer. Sometimes these connections are null-modem, sometimes
they're not. The UPS sends information along the serial line as it goes. If you can decode
which pins contain which information, how the information is formatted and figure out
what it wants to hear from the computer side, you're all set.

Here is a skeleton script that outlines a very simple UPS interface provided by Joe Moss,
joe_AT_morton.rain.com. Definitely check this out as a starting point, but don't expect
it to do anything meaningful without some work.

#! /bin/sh

# Shut down system in case of extended power failure

 # This should be the serial port to which the UPS is connected
# This port must be set to block on open until the DCD line
# is asserted - many UNIX systems have this determined by
# the minor device number, if not, see if there is some way
# to enable this behavior on your system
PORT=/dev/ttya

# Ok, this should block until there is a power failure

: > $PORT

# If we reach this point, we've lost power

wall << EOF
The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!
EOF

# call shutdown (or init or whatever)

exec shutdown

03.03

Q: Hmmm... that sounds kinda complicated. Has someone already done this?

A: Any solution would almost certainly be vendor specific. However, some brave souls
have provided partial functionality for certain vendors' UPSes. The upsd and upsmon
packages are Open Source software that supports APC UPSes. They are available at:
ftp://ftp.rge.com/pub/admin/upsd/ and ftp://newcorridor.com/pub/upsmon/.

Note: Different UPSes produce different sorts of signals. Some software that works with
one brand or model of UPSes may or may not work with others.

03.04

Q: I can't find monitoring software that will work on my configuration. What should I
do?

A: Well, it seems you have a few choices:

1. Build your own. See item 03.02.

2. Use something freely distributable. See item 03.03.
3. Lean on your UPS vendor to port to your platform.
4. Try a different vendor that supports your platform. See item 05.01.

03.05

Q: What other software is out there?

A: Software packages for UPS machines are getting more sophisticated. Most provide
some level of power and status monitoring, but lately there are more GUI's, more
interactive packages, SNMP support, and even call-out paging. See the software section
05.03 for more info.

04:
TOPIC: How big a UPS do I need?
04.01

Q: How are the "sizes" of UPSes determined?

A: Typically, a UPS has a VA rating. The VA rating is the maximum number of Volts *
Amps it can deliver. The VA rating is not the same as the power drain (in Watts) of the
equipment. (This would be true if the load were only resistive or the circuit were DC, not
AC). Computers are notoriously non-resistive. A typical PF (power factor: Watts/VA) for
some computers may be as low as 0.6, which means that if you record a drain of 100
Watts, you need a power source with a VA rating of 167. Some literature suggests that
0.7 may be a good conversion factor, but this will depend heavily on the specific
equipment. Moreover, there's really no way to determine these numbers besides
measuring them.

Note: Some UPSes can continue to deliver power if the VA rating is exceeded, they
merely can't provide above their VA rating if the power goes. Some can't provide power
above their VA rating at all. Some may do something really nasty if you try. In any case,
I strongly recommend not doing this under any circumstances. Generally, the rule of
thumb seems to be never drawing more VA from an UPS than about 75% of its rating.

04.02

Q: How can I tell what VA rating I need for my equipment?

A: First, when possible, get VA rather than wattage ratings. See Q04.01 above. There are
a couple of ways to evaluate your electrical load:

1. Direct measurement. You can get equipment to measure the current draw of your
equipment directly. You may or may not have access to this. If you are part of an
organization that has its own facilities/electrical type people, they're likely to be
able to do this. They might help you out if you ask nice. If you're on a budget and
don't want to shell out for a high-quality ammeter, you might want to dry a device
called the "Kill A Watt" electric usage monitor made by P3 International.
2. Compare notes. If you know someone with the same setup you're using, ask them
what they use and how close they are to the maximum VA rating.
3. Use a chart. Most vendors can help you out for common equipment. If you have
an unusual setup, or mix equipment a lot, this may be more difficult.
4. Use the equipment rating. Most pieces of computer equipment have a power
rating on some back panel near where power cord enters the chassis. This number
 is usually very conservative, as it is necessary for the manufacturer to play it safe
or they'll get sued. Also, these numbers generally represent a conservative
estimate of total draw of the equipment when it is in its most power-hungry
configuration. Typical device configurations may be less demanding.

Note: Method 1 is by far the best, method 2 and 3 are secondary, method 4 is usually
overkill, but pretty safe. In a pinch, obtaining a UPS whose VA rating is equal or greater
than the sum of all listed electrical load ratings is pretty safe. Don't forget to include
headroom for expansion!

04.03

Q: Hmmm... seems like this can be a tough thing to determine.

A: Yeah, it can be. It's also very important. Remember, if you get a UPS that's too big,
then you've overpaid, but your equipment can survive a longer outage. If you get a UPS
that's too small, your equipment might not be protected. Therefore, I recommend that you
be conservative in buying these things. Unfortunately, this costs money.

04.04

Q: What else should I consider?

A: It would be nice to know how long your site's typical power outages are. In some
places, with nice weather and a flaky power grid, the power is almost never out for more
than 5 minutes, but this could happen quite frequently. In this case, you may as well use a
UPS with a VA rating close to your equipment rating with no extra batteries. If your area
has longer outages, in the half hour or hour range, as is often the case in thunderstorm
country, you can either buy UPSes with multiples of the VA rating of the equipment,
since oversizing a VA rating for a UPS has the effect of lengthening the amount of time
your equipment can stay up in case of a power outage, or you can buy additional battery
units for a smaller UPS. You can probably get away with doing simple math to determine
how much longer a larger UPS will keep your equipment running, but I recommend
running a few tests before committing to a large purchase order. Also, your UPS vendor
will almost certainly be glad to help you size the equipment you need. If all else fails and
you guess wrong, or move equipment to a location with different power status, you may
be really, really glad if you bought a UPS that can be expanded with additional battery
units.

04.05

Q: How about I use one of these UPS thingies for a laser printer?

A: Generally, this is not a good idea. If you ever measured the current draw of a laser
printer during startup (and during printing) you'd likely be stunned at what it pulls. UPS
manufacturers generally recommend that you not do this. Some UPSes are available that
are specifically inteded for use with laser printers, but most don't. At the very least, don't
do this unless you have carefully sized your equipment and your UPS vendor has
committed to supporting this particular configuration.

04.06

Q: So, what sorts of UPS sizes do you use on your equipment?

A: BIG DISCLAIMER. I disclaim everything about these figures. At best, they are very,
very rough. Heck, I may be lying. Don't trust them. Here they are anyway.

Most PC ATX power supplies these days seem to be running in the 300 W range. A
typical CRT monitor tends to draw about 1 Amp (~120 W), an LCD monitor of the same
size a bit less. Peripherals like speakers and small networking equipment tend to draw
little power. Figuring on 450 VA for a typical desktop computer setup is pretty
conservative. For a single machine plus small associated networking equipment (for
example, a DSL/Cable modem/router, wireless access point, etc.), buying a 600 VA UPS
is often pretty reasonable. Buying a bigger UPS will allow you to protect more equipment
going forward.

Another word of warning, don't assume that power requirements scale with compute
power and number of peripherals, ESPECIALLY if they are different architectures.
Sometimes older equipment is less efficient and draws more power than more recent
gear. This is espeically true with things like monitors, disks, etc.. On the other hand, as
compute power increases, often power consumption does too. The current crop of
Pentium 4s draws much more power than, say, an old 386 did. This can be seen in the
fact that contemporary PC power supplies are usually more powerful than the same
devices were a few years ago. The big lesson to learn is that there's no replacement for
direct measurement.

05:
TOPIC: Specific manufacturer's information.
05.01

Q: What vendors are there and what do they produce?

A: Here is a very incomplete list, based only on what I know. Please give me information
to expand it. I make no claims as to the accuracy of this information. It is mostly based on
personal recommendations and vendor propaganda.

05.02 UPS Hardware (and software) manufacturers:

In earlier versions of this document, I gave contact information and a brief (usually a bit
out of date) product listing of all the major UPS vendors I could find. Now, with nearly
all of this information on line, it makes more sense just to provide a link to the web pages
of the companies and list what sort of general market they're in. I think this is actually
more useful and is certainly less likely to drift out of date. Note, I'm including
information only on manufacturers, not retailers.

American Power APC is the largest manufacturer of small UPSes (<2000 VA)
Conversion and has a whole line of UPS systems (mostly line interactive),
software, and power system accessories which can be
purchased directly from them or via many retail outlets
around the United States and overseas.
Belkin Belkin makes a lot of computer connectivity products,
including UPSes.
Clary Corporation Clary sells UPS products and specializes in emergency,
military, and life support systems. They also sell management
software and accessories.
Controlled Power Controlled Power produces UPS systems, power conditioners,
Company voltage regulators and transformers. Equipment can be
ordered direct.
Eaton Powerware Eaton Powerware includes the product line that was formerly
Best Power, Inc.. They produce many types of UPS systems.
more advanced line interactive systems, and ferroresonant
line interactive systems as well as software, PDUs, and power
system accessories.
Emerson Electronics Emerson is a big electronics conglomerate. It's claim to fame
in the UPS world is that it's the parent company to Liebert.
Energy Technologies, Energy Technologies provides power devices (including
Inc. UPSes) for physically demanding customers, including
military and vehicle uses. Most if their UPS systems seem to
fall in the 600 to 6000 VA range.
Exide Electronics One of the bigger players in the data center sized UPS system
industry, Exide also makes more modest sized on-line and
line interactive systems. Exide products can be purchased
direct or from their distributors.
Gamatronic Electronic I'm told these guys are the largest UPS manufacturer in Israel
Industris, Ltd. and the Middle East. Their product line runs the gammut from
1000 VA to 150 kVA systems.
General Electric
Yup, GE makes UPSes from 300 VA up to MVA systems.
Industrial Systems
IntelliPower, Inc. Intellipower sells on-line UPS systems and management
software.
Liebert A subsidiary of Emerson Electronics (see above), Liebert is
probably the largest manufacturer of large (10 kVA +) UPS
systems. Also well known for their other data center products
including power distribution units and HVAC products. They
 also make smaller UPS systems (300 VA on up), but these are
not nearly as popular.
MGE UPS Systems MGE UPS Systems sells UPS systems from 300 VA to the
very large and additional power equipment.
Mitsubishi Electric Mitsubishi Electric Automation seems to specialize in larger
Automation (> 5 kVA) UPSes, but they make them as small as 1 kVA.
Oneac Oneac sells line interactive and online UPS systems with
software in the US and UK. They were acquired by the
Chloride Group (see Chloride Power, below) in 1998.
OPTI-UPS OPTI-UPS makes standby, line-interactive, and online UPS
systems ranging from 375 VA to 8000 VA.
Philtek Philtek makes inverters and other similar power system
components.
SL Waber SL Waber sells mostly UPS systems including the Tripp Lite
brand name as well as a wide assortment of surge suppression
and other power accessories.
Toshiba Toshiba sells a lot of things, including UPSes. They sell
online UPSes from 1400 VA to the 300 kVA range. One of
Toshiba's product lines are UPSes specially designed to
automatically configure themselves to work with both US (60
Hz) and European (50 Hz) power.
P3 International P3 International makes a number of cool consumer
electronics devices, but as far as this document is concerned,
the most interesting is an easy-to-use and relatively
inexpensive power monitoring device called "Kill A Watt".
When you can't or don't want to use a good break-out cable
and ammeter, this device is a good choice for measuring
power consumption.
Power Innovations Power Innovations sells online UPS systems ranging from
International, Inc. 500 VA to 400 kVA.
Chloride Power Chloride Power is a relative newcomer to the U.S. market but
has much more experience and is better known in Europe. For
the US market Chloride produces online UPS from the 700
VA to 3000 kVA range, and what look like they might be
standby systems from 300 VA to 650 VA.

There are a lot of companies in this space, and there's no way that I can list all of them. I
try to include most of the best known companies along with a few niche players that
might be of interest to the readers of this document. Let me know if there are important
companies that I haven't included.

06:
TOPIC: Bibliography
There are many good references and review articles on UPS information. Some of the
best sources can be found in vendor information. There is great reference material woven
into their propaganda. Some other good sources are:
 "The Dranetz Field Handbook for Power Quality Analysis",
1991, Dranetz Technologies, 1000 New Durham Rd., Edison, NJ 08818, 1-908-
287-3680.
 "National Electrical Code Handbook",
1993, National Fire Protection Association, One Batterymarch Park, P.O. Box
9101, Quincy, MA 02269, 1-617-770-3000.
 "Grounding and Shielding in Facilities",
1990, by Ralph Morrison and Warren H. Lewis, John Wiley & Sons, New York,
ISBN 0-471-83807-1.
 "Battling Power Problems",
by Alan Frank, LAN Magazine, October 1994, pp 65-72, Miller Freeman, Inc..
 "UPS Chart",
by the LAN staff, LAN Magazine, October 1994, pp 74-84, Miller Freeman, Inc..
 Hewlett-Packard has a White Paper on selecting a UPS. You may be able to get
them to send it to you. A shortened version appeared as an article in the January 9,
1995 issue of Electronic Engineering Times.

One critical source of information on power protection is the IEEE "color book" series,
especially the following:

 The Emerald Book, IEEE Recommeded Practice for Powering and Grounding
Electronic Equipment, Std. 1100-1999, 1999.
 The Gold Book, IEEE Recommended Practice for the Design of Reliable
Industrial and Commercial Power Systems, Std. 493-1997, 1997.
 The Green Book, IEEE Recommended Practice for Grounding of Industrial and
Commercial Power Systems, Std. 241-1990, 1990.

07:
TOPIC: Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Charles Rhoades (Charles.W.Rhoades_AT_jpl.nasa.gov) for his
sage remarks on an early draft of this document. Thanks also to Don Deal
(Don.Deal_AT_oit.gatech.edu) for a great many valuable suggestions and that great
section on the types of UPS units.

The following people have all made valuable contributions to this document:

Scott Pinkerton, spinkert_AT_t4rta-gw.den.mmc.com

Morris Galloway Jr., mmgall_AT_presby.edu
David E A Wilson, david_AT_cs.uow.edu.au
Edward Hartnett, ejh_AT_larry.gsfc.nasa.gov
Joe Moss, joe_AT_morton.rain.com
Kurt Hillig, khillig_AT_chem.lsa.umich.edu
Robert D. Freeman, rdf_AT_thermo.chem.okstate.edu
 Jochen Bern, bern_AT_kleopatra.Uni-Trier.DE
Dave Gruhn, dgruhn_AT_fuzzy.eskimo.com
Steve Welch, smw_AT_columbine.cgd.ucar.edu
Ron Tansky, ron.t_AT_bix.com
Andrew J. Templin, nosilla_AT_ohionet.org
Chuck Bennett, chuck_AT_benatong.com
M.V.S. Ramanath, ram_AT_sclara.qms.com
Max Hailperin, max_AT_kolmogorov.gac.edu
Larry Moss, moss_AT_cvs.rochester.edu

Please note that I take full blame for any errors or omissions.

This document Copyright Nick Christenson, 1994-2001, 2004-2005, All Rights

Reserved.

What is UPS?

UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. Basically, a UPS product is a battery that
can provide power to connected equipment (for various amounts of time depending on
model) in the event of power problems or outages.

TOP

What does a UPS product do?

When utility power fails, the UPS product will automatically turn on and begin to provide
battery backup power to equipment plugged into it. The UPS product also protects the
equipment from all power surges whether they are created internally or externally. As
added protection, all UPS products carry insurance for attached equipment ranging from
$30,000 to $400,000 (per UPS installation), in the unlikely event any attached equipment
is damaged from a spike or surge in power. The UPS is also programmable so it can shut
your equipment off and protect it from any damage that could result from a power outage
whether you are present or not. As added protection, our UPS products carry
manufacturer's connected equipment warranties to repair or replace your attached
electronics in the unlikely event they are damaged by a spike or surge in power.

TOP

What equipment and appliances can I use UPS for?

You can plug almost any equipment into your UPS. Some examples include lamps,
portable phone stands, computers, televisions, stereos, fish tanks, fax machines, cash
registers, and phone systems with up to 30 outside lines. Do remember that UPS products
cannot start motors or run large appliances like sump pumps, furnaces, air conditioners,
refrigerators and other major appliances because they require more power than a UPS
battery can provide.

TOP
How do I know what size UPS system I need and how long will it provide back-up
power?

The safest way to determine what you can plug into your UPS is to take the total number
of amps* used by the equipment you wish to attach and multiply by 120VA. For
example, an average computer, modem and monitor uses approximately 3 amps (3 x
120VA = 360VA). So, choose a UPS product that provides at least 360VA amp
protection. In this example the SYC650BB would be fine. Read in more detail about
sizing...

As for back-up power, small units like the SYC650BB will run for about 12-20 minutes.
The SYC650BB will run cash registers, lamps, portable phone stands, it will shut off
computers safely it will take care of most small electrical items for about 12-20 minutes.
To extend your run time, simply choose one of our larger UPS models.

*Note: You can usually find the amps on the product somewhere, usually where the
wattage and serial number are located. If not, check your manufacturer's literature which
usually has a technical specifications page with the information on it.

TOP

What affects the actual number of back-up minutes I can expect from a UPS
product?

A range of minutes for expected back-up power are applied to each UPS. The actual
number of minutes you'll get depends on how many items are connected to the UPS and
how much "draw" they're requiring from the UPS. For example, a computer with a
Pentium II processor would require a smaller amount of power from the UPS and would
get more back-up power minutes than a computer with a faster Pentium IV processor.

TOP

What does "line interactive" mean?

UPS products with a line interactive feature have an advanced form of microprocessor-
based UPS interconnection between normal power and battery power that provides for
improved power monitoring and filtering, cleaner switching and much improved battery
life.