Finally going to test my UPS life...

[Greatwhite]

I got a letter from Ottawa Hydro, letting me know of some maintenance that is going to be happening on Saturday.  No power from 1 to 4PM.  I will be plugging my powerheads ONLY into my UPS to keep some flow going.  Will see if it lasts the full 3hrs or not.

Given the low draw from powerheads, I'm fairly confident that it will last...

[Cheebs]

Cool, definitely let us know how it turns out!!

[Greatwhite]

So yesterday - as scheduled, Hydro Ottawa cut the power for 3hrs.  I had two Tunze 6045's plugged into my UPS, waiting.  I checked every 30 minutes, and for the 3hrs that the power was out, my powerheads were running.  I don't know how long they would have run if the power was out for a longer time, but I'm happy with 3hrs.

They have very low power consumption, so I am not surprised that I was able to last 3hrs.  I may test later on to see how long I can run my sump, heater, powerheads, and maybe 1/2 lighting...

[vic622]

I didn't think you'd have any problem with the UPS having enough power to last for 3hrs (although it's good to have confirmation) ...

I'm far more impressed that Hydro was able to keep to their schedule 

[Greatwhite]

i didn't think I'd have problems getting 3hrs of powerhead usage either, but some people had complained about only getting 20 minutes (or just enough time to save what they're doing and shut down their computer) as opposed to the 3-4hr advertised time.

BUT - a proper test will be to plug everything into it and see how long it lasts (or how long I can endure the beeping)

[bt]

but some people had complained about only getting 20 minutes (or just enough time to save what they're doing and shut down their computer)

Really, that's what they're designed for.  The most I could ever get out of my UPS with my computer was about 25 minutes.

Of course, a pair of 7w power heads is a far cry from a computer with a 500w power supply (Though probably around a 400-450w draw) and a monitor.

[magnosis]

Really, that's what they're designed for.  The most I could ever get out of my UPS with my computer was about 25 minutes.

Of course, a pair of 7w power heads is a far cry from a computer with a 500w power supply (Though probably around a 400-450w draw) and a monitor.

My 20% overclocked i7, with 2 SSDs + 2 raptor drives + 2 wd drives, a GeForce 460, 8 retardedly powerful fans, an LCD monitor, router, modem and phone all together barely draw 180w when idling. 

Of course, it wouldn't be advisable to play a game while running on the UPS but even then, I've seen it draw no more than 380w of peak power.

You will rarely ever get a computer utilizing 100% cpu, 100% gpu *and* spinning all disk drives all at the same time, unless its a server maybe...

So, as per specs, a UPS providing 20 minutes of uptime is rated at max output of the UPS.  In real life situation you should get way more out of that UPS unless the battery is starting to die.  And that is usually the case;  cheaper UPS don't cost much because they use crappy batteries.  A brand new unit should definitely last you longer than 20 minutes.

Just my 2 cents.  All I'm saying is that your UPS should keep two 7w powerheads running for DAYS.