Need help choosing a UPS? Try the UPS Selector from APC
When power is interrupted, or fluctuates outside safe levels, a UPS will instantly provide clean battery backup power for plugged-in, sensitive equipment. Enter your specific protection needs to quickly find a customized UPS solution.
How does the UPS Selector Work?
The UPS Selector determines the power draw of your equipment by interviewing you about your system and then drawing upon an extensive database of actual power measurements for equipment and peripherals. In addition, the UPS Selector has a database for actual power consumption of computer components such as processors and disk drives. This allows the UPS Selector to determine your load power requirement. The UPS Selector requests your preferences for run time, room for growth, and specific features you want. The UPS Selector has a mathematical model of every APC UPS that describes the product limitations and the run time of the UPS vs load. Using all of this information the UPS Selector can solve for the APC products that best match your requirements. The UPS Selector is even smart enough to assemble combinations of APC products including battery packs and other accessories to match your needs.
Does the UPS Selector recommend the lowest cost solution?
The UPS Selector attempts to determine the lowest cost solution when there are multiple options matching your requirements. It then provides other alternatives, which often differ by providing either slightly more features, more power, or more run time than your stated requirement.
Why does the UPS Selector indicate a lower power rating than the nameplate of my equipment?
Equipment nameplate ratings are never lower but often higher than the actual power drawn by electronic equipment. Nameplate ratings are required by regulatory agencies such as the EC or UL and are required to represent a power or current rating which the equipment will never exceed. As a result, manufacturers often are extremely conservative and place high nameplate ratings on equipment. It is not uncommon for the nameplate rating of computer equipment to be over two times the actual power draw. The UPS Selector power ratings are more accurate than nameplate ratings because they come from a database of actual power measurements for systems and configuration options.
Why does the UPS Selector suggest a longer run time than I have determined from past APC product literature?
There are three reasons why the UPS Selector indicates longer run time. First, past APC literature had less accurate information regarding equipment power draw and consistently overstated the power draw of load equipment. Second, many types of computer equipment consume less power than they did a few years ago so typical systems run longer. Third, APC products of the same or similar model run longer than a few years ago because continuous improvements in battery technology are yielding batteries with greater energy output in the same case size. Run time tables for typical applications as provided in APC product literature and manuals are much less accurate than the values provided by the UPS Selector.
How can the UPS Selector say my PC draws 60 Watts when I know it has a 110 Watt power supply in it?
The power supply rating of your computer is the maximum power it can supply. The actual power it is called upon to supply is set by the components inside your computer like the motherboard, accessory cards, and disk drives. Manufacturers always oversize the supply because A) it runs cooler, B) it lasts longer, and C) they need to be conservative since they don't have any contol over what you can put into the expansion slots. Therefore it is very common that a computer will only draw half of the rated value of the power supply.
What if I want to see more solution options for my system?
Back up from the recommendations to the preferences section and change your desired run time or your margin for future expansion, then re-submit. This is very likely to result in different recommendations and is a quite effective way to find other options you may wish to consider.
About APC
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