[niccolo]

Batteries have a shelf life whether you're using them or not. I have two old APC 1400RMNET units, they're over 15 years old still working. The fans just come on when power is lost or charging. There's an alarm that comes on too so the fan noise is mute at that point. You'll be shutting down PJ anyway. Then I have a small one battery APC CS 500 for AVR and stuff. 3 backup and 3 surge ports.

Interesting that the fan comes on while charging--and as the batteries degrade, I suppose that happens more frequently.

 

[tomtastic]

The worst thing to degrade batteries is heat, have to keep them cool. Studies have shown that car batteries actually last longer in the northern states than in the south. You know they always talk about cold weather hurting batteries, well it can if not properly charged, but heat is actually worse.

They could also come on if ambient temp. reaches certain point. But I don't think I'm anywhere near it. It's quieter than my 24 port hub so I'm not worried about it. I'm just glad to upgrade servers. Had an old Xserve in rack and the fans on that were quite loud. Loudest thing now down in basement is AC/furnace when that comes on.

 

[niccolo]

The worst thing to degrade batteries is heat, have to keep them cool. Studies have shown that car batteries actually last longer in the northern states than in the south. You know they always talk about cold weather hurting batteries, well it can if not properly charged, but heat is actually worse.

They could also come on if ambient temp. reaches certain point. But I don't think I'm anywhere near it. It's quieter than my 24 port hub so I'm not worried about it. I'm just glad to upgrade servers. Had an old Xserve in rack and the fans on that were quite loud. Loudest thing now down in basement is AC/furnace when that comes on.

Makes sense. Honestly, it seems like it might make the most sense to put the UPS on a power strip with an off-switch. That way it would only be used when the projector was being used, which is presumably a tiny fraction of the time. That in turn would massively extend the life of the UPS. One alternative, I suppose, is that some UPSs may effectively turn themselves off when they detect no power draw?

 

[Rick H.]

Thanks! My thinking was that only the projector would be plugged in, but you're right, if other equipment gets plugged in then it would need to be next to the rack.

I tried to find a db spec for the Cyberpower units that Costco sells but couldn't find it. But in regular operation, why would any db be produced? I suppose if the way these work is that the batteries are providing power, and continually being recharged, then maybe a fan needs to continually run to cool the batteries?

Running a pair of Cyberpower UPS (CyberPower CPS1500AVR) here, and the noise is noticeable in a quiet room. My solution (two houses now) is to run Romex to outlets in the target locations, to a 4x4 box near where the UPS units sit. That 4x4 transitions to rubber cord, which get plugged into the UPS to energize the circuits in my desk, networking closet, etc. My guess is that all automatic voltage regulating UPS (the good ones) will produce at least some level of noise. Keep in mind that these things are conditioning a lot of power (with my units, near 1KW each) in normal mains usage. The fans also kick on if you end up discharging/charging the battery significantly. The cheap contact closure UPS units don't really do much of anything until they cut over; I have seen those run near silent, but they provide limited benefit as well.

 

[Rick H.]

Makes sense. Honestly, it seems like it might make the most sense to put the UPS on a power strip with an off-switch.

So, this would let you turn off the incoming power to the device designed to supply short term power during power interruptions? Not exactly helpful, IMO. If you really want this, you might want to get a unit that has a sturdy power switch on the UPS itself (by UPS standards - not like they expect 20 button cycles a day....), and just expect to replace that switch when it gives out.

 

[niccolo]

So, this would let you turn off the incoming power to the device designed to supply short term power during power interruptions? Not exactly helpful, IMO. If you really want this, you might want to get a unit that has a sturdy power switch on the UPS itself (by UPS standards - not like they expect 20 button cycles a day....), and just expect to replace that switch when it gives out.

You're right, I wasn't thinking straight, the power would need to be turned off at the unit. And on the one hand it wouldn't be in use 99 percent of the time and seems like it could be switched off, but on the other hand that raises the question of whether it would be adequately charged when it was turned on, if it hadn't been used in a few days, or longer.

 

[niccolo]

Running a pair of Cyberpower UPS (CyberPower CPS1500AVR) here, and the noise is noticeable in a quiet room. My solution (two houses now) is to run Romex to outlets in the target locations, to a 4x4 box near where the UPS units sit. That 4x4 transitions to rubber cord, which get plugged into the UPS to energize the circuits in my desk, networking closet, etc. My guess is that all automatic voltage regulating UPS (the good ones) will produce at least some level of noise. Keep in mind that these things are conditioning a lot of power (with my units, near 1KW each) in normal mains usage. The fans also kick on if you end up discharging/charging the battery significantly. The cheap contact closure UPS units don't really do much of anything until they cut over; I have seen those run near silent, but they provide limited benefit as well.

Hmmm, I'm going to have to decide whether to wire the outlet that would accommodate a UPS in the home theater/music room (where the other equipment will be) or in a neighboring closet. Either is actually easy. My thinking was to use something cheap to give myself a few minutes to power the projector down properly following a power outage. And I was thinking more about giving myself the option to use something.