Some clarification:
The UPS's sold and operated here in the USA are not the same ones sold in foreign countries, so the answers given here by members from outside the US, can be very confusing.
I am an old APC Service Tech, since I worked on the APC UPS's here in a local Computer repair shop.
But that was some years ago and much improvement in the UPS's has been done since then. They have been greatly improved, in performance and have also come down in price. My first UPS, back in the early 90's, was only rated at 120va and cost me $149.95. And it would only run a desktop PC and CRT monitor for a few minutes, barely time enough to do a proper shutdown.
There are two distinct classes of UPS's, being the ones we buy at a local store for home use and those commercial UPS's that are usually sold directly by APC at a greatly increased cost.
So for the sake of this forum, and mostly HOME users, let us only discuss the US Models and generally under 1000 VA. It's just the nature of consumer electronics, that one day they will fail, because they are for the most part built out of 'Hobby Grade' components.
Within the Consumer Grade UPS's there are two distinct types, those with a software shutdown feature which requires the software to run on the PC, and those without that feature. The cable that joins the UPS to the PC is usually a standard USB Printer Cable, available in many stores. The software can usually be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
All consumer Grade UPS's are of the Square Wave output type, or NON Sinusoidal wave. That type of power is readily accepted by any electronic equipment that uses a modern Non-Analog power supply.
Some of the devices that I power with my own UPS's (all APC Brand) include my PC, monitor, printer, speakers, Digital LED TV, Cable Box, Modem, Router, and my Magic Jack VOIP device.
I also have a 2000 Watt Inverter that puts out a 120vac square wave, from a 12 volt battery. It will run all of my kitchen appliances, but it does make my toaster HUMMMMM!
It will NOT,however, run my refrigerator, because it has a Capacitor Start motor and that doesn't like a square wave. But it does run just fine with the output of my home Generator.
I once tried a Cyber Power UPS, but it gave false battery status reports and would not accept an exterior battery, like an APC will. So today it only backs up my telephone answering machine and one digital clock. When it finally dies, it will go out in the trash, like any other POC. Buying a Cyber Power UPS was a mistake that I will not repeat.
Buying more UPS than you need is just throwing money down a rat hole. My Main PC (desktop system) is connected to an APC Back UPS that I got at Walmart for $39.95. I think it was rated at 350va. The little Jell-Cell battery that comes with the UPS will only keep the UPS running for a few minutes, so, I removed the little OEM battery and replaced it with a 12vdc tractor battery w/250 CCA. I've only tested it once since doing the battery transplant, but during that live test, everything ran for three hours before the UPS ever even started to BEEP. After restoring line power, the UPS had the battery charged up to full power in about 12 hours.
I stopped the test before the UPS ever had the chance to shut down.
Here's that setup: Sometimes, this forum will not show my pictures.
In this pic, you can also see the Panamax Surge Protector that's plugged into the wall outlet.
I have two other APC UPS's, a 500va and a 600va. The bigest one provides back up power to my Cable box, LED 32" TV and a set of speakers, and even a LED Table Lamp. It uses two car batteries for its power source and can back up my TV for up to 8 hours.
So during a power failure, I have my PC, Cable TV and even Light, while my neighbors are in the dark.
If it appears that a power failure is going to be prolonged, like it was during Hurricane Irma (five days) I'll separate my home from the power line and fire up my Predator Generator, which can power up most of my home and well.
I was joking once, with an APC Engineer, and I commented, "I'd like an APC UPS that could run my whole house", and he responded "We have those!". I know they do, but I sure can't afford one!
I could probably buy a nice car for the price of a Whole House UPS, with both 120vac and 220vac outputs in full Sine Wave output.
My home generator might not put out a really CLEAN sine-wave, but it IS 60 cycle, 120vac/220vac, and will run my well pump and my refrigerator, that both have Capacitor-Start motors.
There is just NO good replacement for good backup power.
I hope you all have a very great 2018,
Cheers Mates!
TechnoMage
