APC UPS Back

manager Tue, 05/03/2011 - 08:47

Pure sine wave

Consumer versions of UPS for home computers now come in two different types.  Most of the current and older ones use a modified sine wave which will work fine with computers and most equipment except the new high effeciency computer power supplies.  The other type uses a pure sine wave, this is required for the new energy effecient power supplies in some computers.

Consumer UPS have a power effecientcy of .6 that means a 1000 VA UPS will supply 600 watts of power.  Many will not charge from a protable generator.  A data center UPS would likely have a power effeciency of .9 that mean a 100VA UPS woudl supply 900 watts of power.

How long will a UPS power my computer?

Power band for a brand new consumer UPS, you should figure to get about 60% of what is listed here in this graph for a 780 Watt 1250 VA UPS

UPS power graph

How do I convert amps to watts?

The conversion of Amps to Watts is governed by the equation: Watts = Amps x Volts

For example 1 amp * 110 volts = 110 watts.

A 12 volt battery with 500 cold cranking amps = 6000 watts of power.