Amperage, Voltage & Wattage

let me start saying in telecommunications business. have been on 30 years if count army. currently, provision , install routers in customer locations, among other tasks. each , every router install gets own ups, unless customer has entire room, or rack protected. let me have had quite few electronics classes. , taught some. didn't stop me doing stupid.

 

we install 550a apc brand ups @ work.  @ costco, 500a house. have quite few. have been doing years. used live in texas , florida. both have terrible lightening , quite have brown outs , power outages. ups saves me various problems.

 

so, going tell embarrassing story on myself, on off chance keeps else suffering.

 

on saturday using premiere pro export 30 minute video using vimeo 1080p preset. heard case fan kick in , opened resource monitor. wow! cool!  12 cpu graphs showed 100% of capacity. premiere pro using on 21g of ram. have never had more 4g before. cool! delighted. screaming along. hard drive working hard media stored, raid0 reasonably quick - hit max , then.

 

my wife came in , asked question. thought, "what heck? hurt? steal few cpu cycles , open browser moment, answer , husband."

 

i opened chrome, started type question , "poof!". no power. black screen. no fan noise. no power light on brand new pc!!! nothing. oh! my! god!!

 

what do? tried turning on. nope. waited couple of minutes. turned on died in second.  ok, figured overheated. or power supply faulty. in case, terribly wrong. waited 2 hours, turned on, , continued using pc - didn't try particular export again.

 

i drafted e-mail eric @ adk asking assistance. proceeded use pc weekend, exported short video, nothing run flat out more minute or two. not 90 minutes need export particular video again.

 

so, eric gets in work , gets around e-mail reasonably quick. gives me call requested. relate story though read e-mail, hoping provide more information.

 

eric proceeds calmly ask have pc plugged into. proudly ups of course. asks brand , model. ok, i'll bite. crawl under desk , tell him 550a apc. turn on , read label. 550a , 330 watts. wait minute! 330 watts? eric installed 850 watt power supply in new pc.  holy moley!

 

eric quite polite. refrained laughing @ me. nice guy. because beating myself pretty was. didn't need to. in fact, have been beating myself day. did remind me tested pc @ 100% of capacity when built , heat should not problem @ full capacity cooling system installed.

 

a little research indicates 1500a ups can handle 900 watts @ 120 volts, while can handle 1000 watts. these things expensive, way! figure ordering 1500a ups costco might way go. check of stores around here first. avoid plugging pc directly wall. of course, solve immediate problem, can't bring myself it.

 

so, if find upgrading, don't forget check ups. in meantime, grateful wasn't new pc. problem between keyboard , chair.

 

-- steven

steven,

 

thanks sharing experiences. think many people falling same trap.

 

i advise people have @ extreme power supply calculator pro v2.5 when want know kind of psu need, great thing calculator gives suggested ups rating. in case suggests 2200 va. can find screenshot system here planning & building nle system under tab 'disks, psu' in first topic.

 

luckily electricity net here quite reliable. own ups server, apc, has battery replaced brown outs. once in 5 years, think cost of ups workstation, expensive enough taste, more luxury question pure necessity. wooden poles , above ground electricity cables , extreme weather more susceptible power outages here, advise , story worthwhile.

 

ps. depending on reliability of electricity net , availability of backup generator, may want @ additional batteries in ups extend run time.

 

notice difference between lines , b in run time simple addition of battery. admitted, logarithmic scale, still.

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