Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid
Hi David,
thanks for the tip. I did that. Interesting but, like to "Curate's Egg " , it is only "good in parts ". [ Google that! Interesting bit of trivia].
The UPSs are Belkin 1400VA line interactive models. There is a Belkin Automatic Power Management software which is very much a network administrator's tool - scheduling, self-testing etc. But it does include a "load " figure but with no explanations. I ran it up on 2 systems, one a full i7 desktop with the Titan mount running and SX imaging train. System reported 9% load. The other was a low-power i7 Gigabyte Brix running an EQ8 with QSI imaging train. That one reported 6% load.
Since the 1400VA Belkin says it has an 840 watt output capacity, I am assuming for the moment that this is what the "load "refers to. The Gigabyte Brix for example only drawn 65 watts of juice at 19 VDC so that is starting to look about right.
So I am taking some comfort from those figures even though I'd like more explanation about the specifications of the UPS, that just isn't anywhere to be found.
I miss the days of printed User Manuals!
Peter
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Bit more info for you, checked with wife cos I wasn't 100% sure. Your Belkin UPs is only running at about 60% efficiency, very low. 840 watts output from 1400 kVA input is not great.
Newer and I guess a bit more expensive units run at better than 90%, some as high as 97%. 90% would give you about 1250 watts and a lot less heat.
If you are going off grid totally just go to battery and solar panel for your 12volt supply, far more efficient. If you require higher volts for a laptop then there are automotive voltage converters that use inverter circuits to give 240VAC to run the laptop when the battery gets a bit down. Auto shops have them.
A UPS requires a 240VAC input to charge the batteries which you will then convert back to 12 VDC mostly. Line interactive will not deal well with Solar panel 12-24 VDC > 240 VAC inverter input. Unstable and input voltages will give it a lot of grief.