Query on APC Smart UPS

[beep]

Hi square_wave,

I was looking at the same APC O/L UPS model.
What kind of indications does it have? I mean do we know what the exact output voltage / current / frequency is? Other manufacturers like Microtek, Su-kam etc provide an LCD panel for this info.
Can we be 100% sure that the output is what it is said to be? Is that important. Your personal experience will help.

Thanks,
B

 

[Kittu]

Talk to Bob on this number 9845197603 and explain your requirements. He will be able to suggest you a good solution.

 

[ukr]

Hi square_wave,

I was looking at the same APC O/L UPS model.
What kind of indications does it have? I mean do we know what the exact output voltage / current / frequency is? Other manufacturers like Microtek, Su-kam etc provide an LCD panel for this info.
Can we be 100% sure that the output is what it is said to be? Is that important. Your personal experience will help.

Thanks,
B

@Beep: You could have a look at Emerson Liebert GXT MT+ UPS. It is true double conversion online UPS and has an LCD display where info like input voltage, output voltage, input frequency, output frequency, load percentage, battery charge status etc are displayed. You could also mute the beep sound when the power is down.

 

[beep]

Thanks guys....

i got myself a APC 2KVA O/L UPS....and iam happy with it

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

My Back-UPS1500 (not Smart) blew up a few days ago.

Well, not that dramatic, bus there was a bang and sparks came out the back. We got the engineer from a local stockist to come the same day, who diagnosed a burnt out control board. Warranty long since over: parts replacement 15 to 20 days. They had only a Back-UPS1000 in stock (actually plenty for me) so I bought that at around 8,000, and asked him to repair the 1500 anyway (quote 4,000).

A Smart-UPS to give me the same backup time, apparently, would set me back 30,000 or so :sad: :sad: :sad: --- so that is out of the question. My engineer did say that the Smart-UPS is a completely different level of quality.

Main reason for mentioning the new Back-UPS1000 here, is, in case anyone is thinking of cutting costs and using this with a hifi... it is very noisy when running on battery. The fan makes quite a din.

 

[deepakgang]

Does Emerson has a pure sine wave online UPS? I need an online UPS as I intend to connect my computer as well to this.

also @Thad - I know you have many UK stuff, so how do you manage to use the Indian style socket at the UPS? Can it be customized?

Thanks

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Emerson has everything ... used to work with a room-sized 3-phase Emerson in London. Would you believe that, having paid god-knows-what for it, the company refused to pay for replacing the batteries as required, and the thing was de-commissioned the day smoke came out of it and thrown away, to be replaced with a much cheaper APC

The simplest way to deal with foreign plugs is just to rewire. British domestic kit, by law these days, comes with a moulded-on plug, so it means chop-and throw-away plug, strip back, and attach Indian plug.

However, all my non-Indian-sourced hifi and computer equipment has British plugs (come to think of it, my PC PSU, bought in India, came with a UK plug!) and I am happy to leave it that way. I use British 4- or 6-way strips, with Indian plugs on the end of their leads. So, sometimes I buy local stuff with Indian plugs, and replace with British!

Behind my desk I have a "power board" with three British 6-way strips screwed to it. All have Indian 5-amp plugs. Two give APC battery-backup-protected power and one goes to the APC's 'regulated only' supply.

Singapore uses the British flat- and the Indian round-pin plugs, so it is a great place to buy adapters, power strips, etc. They are better made than the Indian ones and, Singapore being the place it is, probably controlled by even stricter laws than the British stuff! Also, I've been to Singapore several times recently, but not back to UK in over two years.

 

[Kittu]

Most emerson liebert models above 1kv need external battery. :indifferent14:
They are online 24/7 , do we need such type for the hi-fi gear? Not like we are running a data center here. Unless they offer some sort of extreme power conditioning that will improve the sound quality (if at all). I don't see a point investing in such. A smart UPS will do just fine.Even the smart UPS fan noise is quite audible.

 

[deepakgang]

I will try to find out if the UPS can get a British socket. I rather change the UPS than rewiring all my devices.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

From my web browsing, it looks as if the APC Smart range comes with IEC (?) connectors, ie the kind that you have on a PC.

I hate wiring those things. I haven't done it for over a decade, but, last time I looked, there is no space inside the body for any excess, and the cutting and striping has to be done to exactly the right lengths or it won't all fit together.

Rewiring a few plugs may be a hassle, but you won't have to do it very often!

 

[deepakgang]

Yes it does looks like APC have IEC connectors. Ill check once Im back in Bangalore next month.

 

[mandeep]

Thanks guys....

i got myself a APC 2KVA O/L UPS....and iam happy with it

whats the quoted and negotiated final price at which u bought this UPS.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Main reason for mentioning the new Back-UPS1000 here, is, in case anyone is thinking of cutting costs and using this with a hifi... it is very noisy when running on battery. The fan makes quite a din.

Looks like the noise was cause by a faulty fan which failed during a power cut today. Quite often there is a power outage on just one or two phases, so I am use to some things on and others off. I didn't worry at not hearing the UPS noise while the lights were still off. Luckily I had the UPS-supported desk lamp on which showed the voltage to be wavering. The UPS is on the other side of the table, and I found it not showing LEDs, not responding to the switch, and getting hot to the touch and smelling of burnt-out circuit. I quickly disconnected the external battery, but the heat was still increasing. Maybe this was just the time taken to conduct the heat to the case, but I was not happy until I got the internal battery disconnected and it took me a few minutes to do that.

We called the engineer from the company that supplied it, and he delivered a fresh unit within a couple of hours. Good service from the supplier!

 

[sonosphere]

I use this for the music system.

APC SURT2000XLI

The biggest difference is in the "sound". Protection is a bonus.

Hi all,
On some days, the AC mains poor quality makes my stereo setup sound awful. Considering similar feedback as square_wave's post above, I am planning to buy 1 KVA UPS i.e APC's SRC1000UXIND (see details here >> Buy APC Smart-UPS RC 1000VA 230V No Batteries - Technical Specifications and Information | APC)

The UPS mentioned in square_wave's post has 2 KVA capacity. Whereas I have considered 1 KVA capacity to save cost.

I plan to give pure sine-wave power to amp (only) using APC's SRC1000UXIND. My amp is Adcom GFA 545 MkII (see details here >> ADCOM GFA-545 II Review). This is a 100 w RMS per channel amp. Its power consumption given in manual is 725 VA(max) and 325 VA @ 100 w with 8 Ohms speaker.

Request experienced members to respond to this query:
Do you think 1 KVA UPS would be sufficient to support the power consumption of this amp? What would be suitable capacity of UPS to power this amp?

Thanks in advance,

 

[square_wave]

Technically it should work unless the amp needs more than 750 VA instantaneous loads during impedance dips in the speakers.

I have seen the 2kva being used with ridiculously heavy loads but do not have experience with the 1KVA so take my advice with this caveat.

 

[baijuxavior]

I don't have APC, but my Liebert 1KVA UPS handles HTPC, PJ and AVR easily.

 

[sonosphere]

Hi All,
I've taken the plunge and installed APC's 1 KVA UPS (SRC1000UXIND) and am very happy with the fact that it brought about noticeable difference across all qualities of SQ. Pardon me for repeating the cliche... it seems to have lifted a veal from the speakers. There's a caveat though, the fan noise (approx 40 dB at 1m) from UPS spoiled my fun at low volumes. Those interested in details may read on..

Before the time of installation I checked the SQ of system with a variety of songs, and found that AC mains were quite clean since the SQ was good. I would have been happy if this UPS would've maintained the same clean sound after installation... but to my surprise, after the UPS was connected to amp it sounded as if I upgraded a component in my system. (I also added DAC and PC to UPS since I found the amp was using only 20% power even when cranked up to approx 95 dB at 1 mtr)

In image above, the load is 26% when the amp + PC + DAC is connected and music is moderately loud (90dB approx). However when I switch on the amp there is sudden surge-load to 65% for fraction of a second.

Somewhere else in a thread reg effect of clean power to amp, it was contested that such clean power can't increase bass impact. However I definitely felt the bass had improved. I could hear bass lines and kick-drum bass with more clarity than before. I guess the clarity also gave impression of more punch /heft to bass. The improvement is more noticeable on recordings of old songs or badly converted mp3's compared to other good recordings for e.g Diana Krall CD's.

To address the fan noise I am planning to shift UPS to another part of flat hoping that not more than 20 db noise will find its way back in living room. I find it quirky that the fan runs even if I switch off all components... today is 3rd day of running and as per reports on web it runs 24/7 on fan. This may be part of APC's over-protective design, but I find it annoying.

Regards,
Sonosphere

I use this for the music system.

APC SURT2000XLI

The biggest difference is in the "sound". Protection is a bonus.

Hi all,
On some days, the AC mains poor quality makes my stereo setup sound awful. Considering similar feedback as square_wave's post above, I am planning to buy 1 KVA UPS i.e APC's SRC1000UXIND (see details here >> Buy APC Smart-UPS RC 1000VA 230V No Batteries - Technical Specifications and Information | APC)

The UPS mentioned in square_wave's post has 2 KVA capacity. Whereas I have considered 1 KVA capacity to save cost.

I plan to give pure sine-wave power to amp (only) using APC's SRC1000UXIND. My amp is Adcom GFA 545 MkII (see details here >> ADCOM GFA-545 II Review). This is a 100 w RMS per channel amp. Its power consumption given in manual is 725 VA(max) and 325 VA @ 100 w with 8 Ohms speaker.

Request experienced members to respond to this query:
Do you think 1 KVA UPS would be sufficient to support the power consumption of this amp? What would be suitable capacity of UPS to power this amp?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I know that my UPS batteries need replacing, because I am getting half-hour instead of two-hour backup, but I thought I had a much more serious problem...

I had noticed that my desk lamp was flickering occasionally, so I changed the CFL bulb.

I then noticed that it still flickered, and I was getting crackling on my audio. I turned off the audio equipment in case of ill effect, plugged in the desk light to a non-UPS supply, confirming that there was noting wrong with either bulb, and thought about looking for purchase date for UPS to see if it was still under warranty.

Yesterday evening, my display was blanking every couple of minutes. I put the lamp back on the UPS socket to see if this, too, was power supply. It was. It was not only flickering now, but going off for a full half second.

I reflected that the computer was not rebooting, and even the most resilient SMPS would not cope with this power irregularity. There are three extension strips from the UPS, two battery-protected, and one just regulated. If only some equipment is affected, it must be a wiring problem on one strip.

Getting under the desk with the UPS, I found one plug sparking. Inside the plug, the terminal had almost come away from the pin. Could have caused a fire!

All is well now.

(And why is it that electrical and plumbing emergencies always happen at night, when one is tired ...or, of course, just before leaving for airport and one can't even get a bath before going!)