Just coming across the video, and you cover a lot of great info. The one point I didn't see covered is this: - The VA / Watt rating is only the output capacity of the inverter, NOT the battery capacity - The battery capacity is very difficult to find, but if you dig enough, you can find something like: Battery Size: 12V/9Ah To get the 100% efficient estimated run time, you would multiply the V by Ah, to get Watt Hours, then divide by your load: 12 v * 9 Ah = 108 Watt Hours This means, that while a 1500 VA / 1000 W CyperPower PFC can run 1000 watts of output, the run time will be VERY low: 108 Watt Hours / 1000 Watts = 0.108 Hours ( or 6.48 minutes ) However, this value is for a 100% efficient inverter, which doesn't exist. Looking further into the CP1500PFC specs, it does list the run time: At full load: only 2.5 minutes! At half load ( 500 watts / 750 VA ): 10 minutes. While the capacity does commonly track a bit to the VA/Watt rating, a higher VA/W rating does not always mean higher Battery Capacity. Dig deep into the specs, and figure out your estimated run time to prevent serious disappointment, and buy the right run-time, the first time. If you want more geekery on the difference between VA and Watts, do a search for 'power factor' or 'apparent power' and 'reactive power'. Hope this helps someone :)
I run 3 APC 1500's. One for the NAS, An ext drive for NAS backup, Modem, Router & Switch. One for the PC while supporting external drives & fans. One for my Desktop employing the monitor, desklamps, and ,minor accessories such as phone chargers. All are managed and monitored via software. This balances a Net result of about 3 hours of total high power usage. Smaller items can be taken offline, such as desklamps, external drives, etc. thereby increasing the time. One time I had a power failure and didn't even know it until I went to the fridge. All 3 switched with absolutely no delay or hiccups. Lovin' it !
I think I have one of those bought second hand (APC Back-UPS pro 1500) got new batteries in it, since then it works perfectly, only woke me up once I'm the middle of the night, it kicked off, and i keep it in my bedroom. But the NAS and the wifi network stayed up. Great stuff!
An observation from personal experience: Where I live, we experience a power outage only once every several years so I have been rather lax about buying a UPS. Well, we had a power outage due to a house fire in the neighbourhood. When the power came back on, the Synology ran as if nothing at all happened. On the other hand, the QNAP had several corrupted apps. They appeared to be still installed but would not run. And could not be uninstalled. I had to go the the App Center, download the apps, and then reinstall them.
You did another video about 6 months to a year ago that I saw shortly after I bought a ups only to find out it wasn’t on the Synology tested and list. I appreciate the work you do and if I had looked for videos first I wouldn’t have an incompatibility issue. I only looked for videos afterwards because I was having issues with my Synology recognizing how much battery remains. I don’t have the option to let it run till the battery is low and shut down cuz it thinks the battery is low after like an hour when I have over half left according to the display on the ups. So I just set it to shut down after 30 mins and then restart after power comes back online. Thankfully that part works well. After all there’s no reason I really need to run my nas for an extended period on battery. The primary reason I bought a ups was to protect it from data loss in a power outage. So as long as I have enough power to shutdown properly I’m happy.
I used APC for what seems to be two decades for large scale events, office and home use as they were the only game in town. However service was not good in my country so when something went wrong you basically had to buy a new one. Also trying to work out what the various beeps meant when something went wrong, or muting it, was simply arcane. Switched 3 years ago to using Cyber power with a visual display. WOW. I am in love. Had to replace one under warranty and it was a simple exchange. Also, a tip I don't see covered here yet, is that you only need the UPS to communicate with ONE of your Synology's as the others that are connected to the same UPS on the same network, are able to be set up to use your main Synology to tell them when the power is down, and then shut down easily. So I have some old dumb UPS units that will see out their lives being a simple battery with out them communicating to their respective devices as the main Cyperpower is able to do so via my main Synology. I wish the Windows Servers I used to use were this intelligent.
Boy do I agree with you on the APC. I have a ton of them lying around. I had switched to Cyber replacing a bunch of the APC. After a few months, I have had nothing but problems with ALL of them. The one I have connected to my Synology server has been nothing but a pain in the A@@. With all of the Cybers, the battery backup does not work. I have called and written them with ALL THE ISSUES and have basically been told to pull out the battery. Leave it out for a day and put it back in. If that doesn't work buy a new system. These are different models also. My NAS is the only thing connected to 1 of my cyber backups. About every 3rd day it would just go offline. Yes, turning OFF my NAS NOT SHUTTING IT DOWN! I reconnected the NAS to an APC backup and just left the Cyber plugged in to see what it would do. Sure enough, it shut itself off. About 5 minutes later it turned back on. NOTHING PLUGGED INTO IT! I've been experiencing the same thing with my other Cybers. I DO have a LARGE fortune in BACKUPS sitting around. Does anyone have any FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE AND USAGE OF OTHER BRANDS? I am done with both Cyber and APC. I am currently running EACH device on its own Backup because I can't trust one to run two things. LOL what do you do what a SH*% LOAD of CRAP Backups?
@@DavidStokes-j6t Late reply and no first hand experience, but in my country the brand EATON has a decent reputation. From my understanding, they took over the Merlin-Gerin line of UPS which Schneider Electric had to sell upon buying APC.
*@NASCompares* one thing that you did not mention, most of those NAS units (unless you run a huge massive 8 bay unit or something similar) are drawing so little power (less than 60-70W) that most proper UPS units are too over-powered for them, correct me if I am wrong, but if I have an APC UPS with a rating of 1600VA and I connect to it a NAS unit which only draws 60W, the UPS will fail to correctly function, let me know if I have got anything wrong on it but that is from my general knowledge. and those low-end UPS units (that look like a fat extension cord) are built so purely that I will not trust them for anything more sensitive than a router
When will the backup UPS guys get smart and sell a high capacity DC UPS? One that can support 12V and 19V outputs so we're not charging DC batteries and then converting it back to AC just to power DC devices???
Thank you for your video and it is very insightful. I would like share my experience in using UPS to protect my NAS and get your comments as well. My overall experience in using UPS to protect NAS in a home is not very positive. I had a bad experience on power trip before. So I bought an APC EasyUPS BVX700LUI-MS UPS to protect my Synology DS210J, 2-Bay NAS drive. I thought this is no brain things, since my NAS power consumption is very low, I bought a cheapest APC UPS I could find 3 years ago. After 3 years, I had number of the issues/observations with this UPS -- 1) It is running very hot. my unit consumes about 18W of power, with no load and fully charged battery. There are 3 types of UPS -- standby, line-interactive and online. Except standby, they all have active electronic circuit running constantly, to generate a lot of heat. My unit is line-interactive type to protect over and under voltage of the AC power. I am not sure whether it is necessary, as my Synology's power supply can accept AC voltage from 110V to 240V. 2) UPS battery life is shorter than you expected. My unit has battery life 2~3 years in its datasheet, and replacement of lead-acid battery might not be as cheap as you think. My UPS unit's replacement battery (APCRBC110) cost about $100 in Amazon, more than the price I paid for the entire new APC UPS BVX700LUI-MS! Given a such short life, your UPS runtime may not be what you think as you measured with a fresh, new battery. After one or two years, your battery may be on the way of dying, your runtime can get shorter and shorter over the course of 3~5 years time. 3) cheaper UPS is not always consumer friendly, besides total cost of the ownership, (battery replacement, higher power consumption etc). It usually uses a LED and sound to tell you the status of your UPS. in the case of my UPS unit, it emits a very loud, constant sound when the battery is detected to be dead. It could be very annoying when you place it at home, especially if this happens in the middle of night. My unit is supposed to to battery test every 14 days. 4) The UPS may fail to detect a dead battery when the load is too low. My house had a power trip few days ago and the UPS immediately cut off all prower, provided almost zero backup time. I had a dead battery inside without any advanced warning. I did further investigation, and realized that it is because the load of my UPS is simply too low -- one 2-bay Synology drive with one HDD installed, one Buffalo NAS with two HDD, a network switch, a Wi-fi router with a 700VA/360W UPS! I tested my UPS with a 60W light bulb as load, it immediately give me a warning message when I turned the unit on. My APC UPS clearly lacks of more sophisticated method to detect the end life of a battery. 5) lastly, if you are using UPS at home to protect your NAS, without a business-like setting, such like data center, operators and tools to monitor equipment 24x7, then you'd better to buy a UPS with a communication interface directly connected to your UPS, and it can shut down your NAS automatically during AC power outage, after a predefined time. Because for the home use, you may not always at home when power outage happens. Although this does not happen to me yet, I am still very much regretted not buy one with the built-in communication interface. Overall, I don't think the current UPS products in the market are friendly to the average consumers for home uses. APC website provides a plenty of the information on their products, but others are not. You may only get to know whether they are good or not after you actually buy and use them for a while.
Thanks for your insightful, detailed feedback. Certainly, using a higher-tier of UPS with a USB connection cable would alleviate some of the issues you pointed. Alas, as you said, it will still be difficult and expensive to use these devices in a home setting...
Nice video, very informative again! PS: I would recommend to put the text in-between segments a wee bit longer please, I often have to rewind and pause to read.. I noticed that indeed often only the VA-value is provided and I think/believe because those UPS have a selectable(!) output-voltage? (irrespective from the input line-voltage) Plus you will need the V and A values for your wiring, circuit-breakers and such. And not forgetting power factor/reactive loads etc. BTW., if you do not have enough plug-points, some UPS manufacturers do have "special" UPS Power Strips. Of course always do pay attention to the ratings! Very, very important note: If you go for a UPS, pay attention if it supports SNMP out of the box or you need a (smart) optional network-controller. (= additional costs) Nowadays many UPS do have an ethernet-connection out of the box but that is often cloud-based only (yeah, go figure) and not for your local network integration unless you use their own App.
One consideration with a UPS is cable management... because it makes cable management a massive pain in the ass. With a standing desk that can lift up and down, you would normally just clip a surge protector power strip to the back of the desk and plug everything into that, easy peasy. But with a UPS on the floor, you can't really do that. Your only real options are to find exactly the right length power cables so you can run them neatly to the UPS but with enough slack for the desk to go up and down, or just never take the desk up. I went with the latter option out of laziness, so my desk is a rat's nest of cables underneath. Most devices having wall warts, external power supplies, etc instead of internal power supplies and ATX power cables REALLY doesn't help. The dream is to have the house wired for ethernet with a network rack and a server rack, so then you can just use rack mounted UPSes for most things and only need a floor UPS for big ticket items like desktop PCs, but that's a lot of expense.
One long cord from the UPS to an external power strip should do the trick. Let the power strip do all the work behind your desk to service all devices. The strip will also have multiple USB power ports to eat up those wall warts. A little thought should go a long way. Draw a few simple schematics while experimenting. Have fun !
@@US_Joe I was explicitly told by APC I couldn't do this without voiding warranty and support. If it was a rack mounted UPS I could do this with a PDU, but they also said I couldn't use a PDU with the one I have. I should mention that my desktop has a 1200 W PSU in my desktop. Granted, It's not likely to use more than 800 W, and probably not more than 600 W most of the time, but still.
@@praetorxyn APC needs to sell. Trust me - I am a legit electrical eng. My aproach however is all or nothing at all. You will lose the control of individual outlets of the UPS, which can be controlled at the extension device which may have individual switches and USB ports. It will work - there is nothing wonky about it. Guide your self to a 15A tolerance.
@@US_Joe Is there not a limitation on each outlet? I figured the load I'd put on a single one would overload it anyway, but APC wouldn't give me a straight answer. Still, research online seems to say not to plug a surge protector into a UPS, even if it might work for pure sine wave. I have used a couple of travel power strips without surge protection to plug in low power stuff like the router etc though.
Utube won't let me post an Amazon link. Google Tripp Lite 6 Outlet Under-Monitor Isobar Surge Protector Power Strip, 2 USB, 8ft Cord, Tel/Modem/Fax Protection, RJ11, 100,000 Insurance (MT-6PLUS) I use these for ea UPS station. Front lighted switches for the outlets, plus front usb power ports, & a monitor stand to boot!
You also should look at the power - time graphic where you can find out how long a UPS can deliver the power you need continiously. I always use a time from 10 till 15 min for the needed power. I even can tell you there are Brands who can deliverr a lot of power, BUT only for less then a few minutes ! To find out how many Power (Watts) you use continiously, there are small wallsocket devices you can buy to measure the power you use for 1 or more devices from 0ne wallsockett.
A minor point if I can. Sometimes the transitions / dissolves are too quick to read the point before you start talking to it. I found myself a couple of times rewinding the video or pausing it, so I had the context for your comments.
EXTREMELY HELPFUL! I needed this as I am looking for a PSU to help preserve my NAS in the case of a high volt situation (I had one and it destroyed my previous APC PSU but it saved my PC, TV).
Good one 👍I've got 1 upright 600VA/360W Riello UPS covering 3 light weight servers and network gear (wifi using PoE). One is primary and if there's a power cut, it'll tell 2 of the servers to turn off, before turning itself off. Smart! Most of the time it's running at 30% usage (1 server+network gear), when everything is on it runs at 80%, but that's rare (once every 2 weeks perhaps).
Thanks for the very thorough and useful info. One question I would love to see covered is how to use 1 UPS for multiple NAS devices and have them all able to communicate with the UPS for power management features? Let's say I have 3 synology NAS devices and 1 UPS, can I connect all 3 via USB hub or is there a different/better/proper way to set this up?
Robbie, Thanks again for good overall info & at 23 min mark specific UPS ideas for different size NAS, PC, etc. Also at 20 min mark the concept of having multiple UPS units is good advice, too.
Very nice and complete video; thanks! But, as an user living in Brazil, I'm still a little bit confused concerning the "smart" area of an UPS; how can I be sure that a specific UPS model supports the functionality of powering off my QNAP 2-bay NAS when my home lacks of power and the UPS goes working on its battery? If the UPS has an USB port is it possible that it supports that function? Could you please help me out identifying if an UPS has or has not the needed functionality? Thank you so much! Cheers!
What about pure sign wave vs modified. I’ve seen the wave readings of some cheap UPSs which look outright sketchy. Can’t that cause damage over time if there a lot of power outages? Or are most NAS PSU’s pretty tolerant of garbage quality modified sign wave?
Would the ecoflow river 2 work as a ups? "It can be an emergency power source (EPS), which will have the same result as UPS for most electronics. Here's the difference. When your RIVER Pro is plugged into the wall, anything plugged into it gets power from the grid, not its battery. If power from the grid stops, RIVER Pro automatically switches to its battery supply mode within 30 milliseconds. That means anything connected will not have power for 30 milliseconds, which may mean sensitive electronics like desktop computers and data servers turn off. Test your devices individually to see if they need UPS to stay powered.". I'm looking for an affordable lifepo4 solution.
Hi Sir, Just wondering - I took your advice and bought a UPS, now I'm wondering where to put it (and therefore, also my NAS). Should I be looking for a place that is safe in case it ever caught fire? Or am I being ridiculous??
Hi... well... your recommendations at the end are a bit confusing, because you mix the clients with the NAS when considering the Wattage... i have a Synology DS1821+ and i bought a Eaton 1600VA for it and my network hardware (Ubiquiti USG and Switch and also the internet provider router).... NO PCs connected there...
Not really informative video. Let me explain... What we're interested on when buying UPS, are two things: 1. How much power UPS can deliver -although that's covered in this video, it's basically only told what we can see from specs anyway. For example, what does 950VA mean? In electricity VA is voltage multiplied by current (V x A) and result is power (W). So it "appears" that 950VA UPS should be capable to deliver 950W. Obviously that's not the case, because specs says it can deliver max 520W and so in this case VA means nothing -is just a product label (bigger number means "more"). 2. How long can UPS supply specified max (or lower) power? -this very important question isn't covered in video at all. So for example, if we connect PC (~300W), monitor (~40W) and NAS (~20W) to 950VA UPS, how long will system run? The answer is... Inside 950VA UPS is usually a 12V 9Ah battery and such battery can deliver max 12V x 9Ah =108W/h. We should keep in mind that this is only theoretically possible. In reality (battery losses, voltage conversion losses) resulting power (efficiency) is only about 50W/h -not that much, huh? So, how long will our 360W system run on our UPS? 50W x 60minutes / 360W = ~8minutes -if battery is new and fully loaded.
At this point I'm just debating on going with an Ecoflow or BluYetti lithium battery powered generator that has a UPS mode and just using that instead of having to deal with replacement batteries and just having the option to recharge another way seems clutch.
Consider the maximum transfer time that your connected equipment can handle. For example, a good online UPS will achieve tranfer times well below 10ms while battery stations with EPS offer transfer times above 10ms. There are specific models which are better than others, you can find reviews comparing their transfer times, but none of them can match the performance of a good online UPS. An effective solution may be placing a smaller online UPS (enough VAs but small battery) between the battery station and the protected equipment. It all depends on your specific use case.
Good guide. I've recently installed a UPS for my Synology and I was shocked how many times it kicked in over just 1 month! Quick question, will it be better to use the UPS to turn on/off the NAS or use WOL? Could you make a tutorial on how to set these two options up?
Hi, so if I plug only one 4 bay NAS to the UPS I'm fine with the recommendation UPS for a 2 bay NAS - correct? I really don't wanna plug anything else to the UPS than the 4 bay NAS...
What UPS to use just for 4 bay NAS and router for central Europe market? There should be a minimum power draw for UPS to work properly, so I need something that would work just for 923+ and RT2600. Any recommendations? And what about the differences and significance of pure sine wave vs stepped sine wave for NAS usage. Thnx
Hi, I am planning to buy the ups on 30:16 SMT3000RMI2U on the left. I am worried that it won't be detected on the QNAP nas since I couldn't find it on any compatiblty list. Is it compatible with the QNAP NAS?
Just wondering, for a bigger setup, wouldn't it be better off getting one of those high capacity portable power unit. Like Bluetti and Ecoflow? Not sure if they have a passthrough option. Just wondering.
I'm getting ready to build next year. I'm looking at multiple NAS's, switches, servers, etc. for our businesses. My plan is to have a large UPS that can handle the load of the entire rack. However, it's real job is only to hold it long enough for the emergency generator to kick in. That's the same model we use for patient monitoring equipment closets at the hospitals I support. When you have to have 24/7/365 uptime, that is the way to go. Bluetti has solutions that can act as a larger UPS if you want. Not the way I would go for several reasons. The solution will work, but like a UPS, you are draining the battery the second it engages. The system I looked at operated as both an off grid solar charged unit, as well as a on grid backup. Like a UPS, you are on borrowed time. You'd have to spec your system to hold you for how ever many hours you want. That gets expensive for a solution that is only short term. I expect off grid users with large systems use power saving strategies to make the most of their available power. The real idea of a UPS is to either allow a proper system shutdown without power loss with some work time available to finish up tasks, or hold a system until a generator can kick in. If you are in an area with frequent brownouts, or short term black outs, it could keep you going, but if you have longer blackouts, it isn't going to help. Generators with UPS support for switchover are the way to go if you really want to not worry about it. If you have gas (natural gas, propane, etc.) service, you are set. If you have a tank, you just have to ensure that it is filled periodically. Either way, you could run a generator for days, even weeks with a large enough supply, which would be the way to go if you wanted to guard against long term blackouts during a weather event. A cheaper alternative is to use a gasoline or diesel generator that you can keep fueled up, but you need to keep an eye on it and refuel as needed. Also, they are not designed for constant running for days on end, but depending on your need could be quite sufficient. Unless you have off grid solar, wind, etc. to keep your batteries charged, any battery solution is a temporary solution to power outages. I say off grid as on grid solar will stop producing if the power is disconnected as a safety precaution.
You use the definition VA (Volt Ampere or correctly Voltage multiplied with the Current) when you have a device like a transformer/UPS etc where you do not know the power factor of the load there will be added to the device. Why the VA is only an assumption of the max load of the transformer/UPS etc. with the power factor of 1. That is why you cannot say 1VA = 1W unless you define the load as 100% resistive and there for 1. -I do not know the power factor of a NAS but would expect it is not 1.
Just to share my experience I deeply regret buying an APC UPS (Bz1500Xlbi). I literally thrown it on the trash last week, after only 11 months it wasn't sustaining its own batteries for no longer than 8~10 seconds with only one single router. If the NAS (920+) was attached to it was almost instantly. Even worse than not using UPS at all since the NAS starts its shutdown process but gets interrupted.
Any specific evidence you can share? Been using one for a few years now and it’s been great for me. It has reliably supported my Unifi network and Synology NAS through many power outages.
Hey, RUclips advice here: if you want your video to get watched, then an "Easy Guide" should be under 5 minutes long. Perhaps make a second channel for the short Easy videos and keep the long form stuff separate.
Just coming across the video, and you cover a lot of great info. The one point I didn't see covered is this:
- The VA / Watt rating is only the output capacity of the inverter, NOT the battery capacity
- The battery capacity is very difficult to find, but if you dig enough, you can find something like:
Battery Size: 12V/9Ah
To get the 100% efficient estimated run time, you would multiply the V by Ah, to get Watt Hours, then divide by your load:
12 v * 9 Ah = 108 Watt Hours
This means, that while a 1500 VA / 1000 W CyperPower PFC can run 1000 watts of output, the run time will be VERY low:
108 Watt Hours / 1000 Watts = 0.108 Hours ( or 6.48 minutes )
However, this value is for a 100% efficient inverter, which doesn't exist. Looking further into the CP1500PFC specs, it does list the run time:
At full load: only 2.5 minutes!
At half load ( 500 watts / 750 VA ): 10 minutes.
While the capacity does commonly track a bit to the VA/Watt rating, a higher VA/W rating does not always mean higher Battery Capacity. Dig deep into the specs, and figure out your estimated run time to prevent serious disappointment, and buy the right run-time, the first time.
If you want more geekery on the difference between VA and Watts, do a search for 'power factor' or 'apparent power' and 'reactive power'.
Hope this helps someone :)
I run 3 APC 1500's. One for the NAS, An ext drive for NAS backup, Modem, Router & Switch. One for the PC while supporting external drives & fans. One for my Desktop employing the monitor, desklamps, and ,minor accessories such as phone chargers. All are managed and monitored via software. This balances a Net result of about 3 hours of total high power usage. Smaller items can be taken offline, such as desklamps, external drives, etc. thereby increasing the time. One time I had a power failure and didn't even know it until I went to the fridge. All 3 switched with absolutely no delay or hiccups. Lovin' it !
I think I have one of those bought second hand (APC Back-UPS pro 1500) got new batteries in it, since then it works perfectly, only woke me up once I'm the middle of the night, it kicked off, and i keep it in my bedroom. But the NAS and the wifi network stayed up. Great stuff!
That's awesome.
Very good video. However I wouldn't bother facroring in or connecting a laptop into a UPS as they come with one built in..
An observation from personal experience: Where I live, we experience a power outage only once every several years so I have been rather lax about buying a UPS. Well, we had a power outage due to a house fire in the neighbourhood. When the power came back on, the Synology ran as if nothing at all happened. On the other hand, the QNAP had several corrupted apps. They appeared to be still installed but would not run. And could not be uninstalled. I had to go the the App Center, download the apps, and then reinstall them.
You did another video about 6 months to a year ago that I saw shortly after I bought a ups only to find out it wasn’t on the Synology tested and list. I appreciate the work you do and if I had looked for videos first I wouldn’t have an incompatibility issue. I only looked for videos afterwards because I was having issues with my Synology recognizing how much battery remains. I don’t have the option to let it run till the battery is low and shut down cuz it thinks the battery is low after like an hour when I have over half left according to the display on the ups. So I just set it to shut down after 30 mins and then restart after power comes back online. Thankfully that part works well. After all there’s no reason I really need to run my nas for an extended period on battery. The primary reason I bought a ups was to protect it from data loss in a power outage. So as long as I have enough power to shutdown properly I’m happy.
I used APC for what seems to be two decades for large scale events, office and home use as they were the only game in town. However service was not good in my country so when something went wrong you basically had to buy a new one. Also trying to work out what the various beeps meant when something went wrong, or muting it, was simply arcane. Switched 3 years ago to using Cyber power with a visual display. WOW. I am in love. Had to replace one under warranty and it was a simple exchange. Also, a tip I don't see covered here yet, is that you only need the UPS to communicate with ONE of your Synology's as the others that are connected to the same UPS on the same network, are able to be set up to use your main Synology to tell them when the power is down, and then shut down easily. So I have some old dumb UPS units that will see out their lives being a simple battery with out them communicating to their respective devices as the main Cyperpower is able to do so via my main Synology. I wish the Windows Servers I used to use were this intelligent.
Boy do I agree with you on the APC. I have a ton of them lying around. I had switched to Cyber replacing a bunch of the APC. After a few months, I have had nothing but problems with ALL of them. The one I have connected to my Synology server has been nothing but a pain in the A@@. With all of the Cybers, the battery backup does not work. I have called and written them with ALL THE ISSUES and have basically been told to pull out the battery. Leave it out for a day and put it back in. If that doesn't work buy a new system. These are different models also.
My NAS is the only thing connected to 1 of my cyber backups. About every 3rd day it would just go offline. Yes, turning OFF my NAS NOT SHUTTING IT DOWN! I reconnected the NAS to an APC backup and just left the Cyber plugged in to see what it would do. Sure enough, it shut itself off. About 5 minutes later it turned back on. NOTHING PLUGGED INTO IT! I've been experiencing the same thing with my other Cybers. I DO have a LARGE fortune in BACKUPS sitting around.
Does anyone have any FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE AND USAGE OF OTHER BRANDS? I am done with both Cyber and APC.
I am currently running EACH device on its own Backup because I can't trust one to run two things.
LOL what do you do what a SH*% LOAD of CRAP Backups?
@@DavidStokes-j6t Late reply and no first hand experience, but in my country the brand EATON has a decent reputation. From my understanding, they took over the Merlin-Gerin line of UPS which Schneider Electric had to sell upon buying APC.
Perfect!
My fully loaded DS923+ just arrived and I was researching for the last two days for a good UPS. Very informative. Thanks!
*@NASCompares* one thing that you did not mention, most of those NAS units (unless you run a huge massive 8 bay unit or something similar) are drawing so little power (less than 60-70W) that most proper UPS units are too over-powered for them, correct me if I am wrong, but if I have an APC UPS with a rating of 1600VA and I connect to it a NAS unit which only draws 60W, the UPS will fail to correctly function, let me know if I have got anything wrong on it but that is from my general knowledge. and those low-end UPS units (that look like a fat extension cord) are built so purely that I will not trust them for anything more sensitive than a router
When will the backup UPS guys get smart and sell a high capacity DC UPS? One that can support 12V and 19V outputs so we're not charging DC batteries and then converting it back to AC just to power DC devices???
I just had a power trip yesterday and I’m looking through UPS, now I see your video. Thanks.
Thank you for your video and it is very insightful. I would like share my experience in using UPS to protect my NAS and get your comments as well. My overall experience in using UPS to protect NAS in a home is not very positive. I had a bad experience on power trip before. So I bought an APC EasyUPS BVX700LUI-MS UPS to protect my Synology DS210J, 2-Bay NAS drive. I thought this is no brain things, since my NAS power consumption is very low, I bought a cheapest APC UPS I could find 3 years ago. After 3 years, I had number of the issues/observations with this UPS -- 1) It is running very hot. my unit consumes about 18W of power, with no load and fully charged battery. There are 3 types of UPS -- standby, line-interactive and online. Except standby, they all have active electronic circuit running constantly, to generate a lot of heat. My unit is line-interactive type to protect over and under voltage of the AC power. I am not sure whether it is necessary, as my Synology's power supply can accept AC voltage from 110V to 240V. 2) UPS battery life is shorter than you expected. My unit has battery life 2~3 years in its datasheet, and replacement of lead-acid battery might not be as cheap as you think. My UPS unit's replacement battery (APCRBC110) cost about $100 in Amazon, more than the price I paid for the entire new APC UPS BVX700LUI-MS! Given a such short life, your UPS runtime may not be what you think as you measured with a fresh, new battery. After one or two years, your battery may be on the way of dying, your runtime can get shorter and shorter over the course of 3~5 years time. 3) cheaper UPS is not always consumer friendly, besides total cost of the ownership, (battery replacement, higher power consumption etc). It usually uses a LED and sound to tell you the status of your UPS. in the case of my UPS unit, it emits a very loud, constant sound when the battery is detected to be dead. It could be very annoying when you place it at home, especially if this happens in the middle of night. My unit is supposed to to battery test every 14 days. 4) The UPS may fail to detect a dead battery when the load is too low. My house had a power trip few days ago and the UPS immediately cut off all prower, provided almost zero backup time. I had a dead battery inside without any advanced warning. I did further investigation, and realized that it is because the load of my UPS is simply too low -- one 2-bay Synology drive with one HDD installed, one Buffalo NAS with two HDD, a network switch, a Wi-fi router with a 700VA/360W UPS! I tested my UPS with a 60W light bulb as load, it immediately give me a warning message when I turned the unit on. My APC UPS clearly lacks of more sophisticated method to detect the end life of a battery. 5) lastly, if you are using UPS at home to protect your NAS, without a business-like setting, such like data center, operators and tools to monitor equipment 24x7, then you'd better to buy a UPS with a communication interface directly connected to your UPS, and it can shut down your NAS automatically during AC power outage, after a predefined time. Because for the home use, you may not always at home when power outage happens. Although this does not happen to me yet, I am still very much regretted not buy one with the built-in communication interface. Overall, I don't think the current UPS products in the market are friendly to the average consumers for home uses. APC website provides a plenty of the information on their products, but others are not. You may only get to know whether they are good or not after you actually buy and use them for a while.
Thanks for your insightful, detailed feedback. Certainly, using a higher-tier of UPS with a USB connection cable would alleviate some of the issues you pointed. Alas, as you said, it will still be difficult and expensive to use these devices in a home setting...
Nice video, very informative again!
PS: I would recommend to put the text in-between segments a wee bit longer please, I often have to rewind and pause to read..
I noticed that indeed often only the VA-value is provided and I think/believe because those UPS have a selectable(!) output-voltage? (irrespective from the input line-voltage) Plus you will need the V and A values for your wiring, circuit-breakers and such. And not forgetting power factor/reactive loads etc.
BTW., if you do not have enough plug-points, some UPS manufacturers do have "special" UPS Power Strips. Of course always do pay attention to the ratings!
Very, very important note: If you go for a UPS, pay attention if it supports SNMP out of the box or you need a (smart) optional network-controller. (= additional costs) Nowadays many UPS do have an ethernet-connection out of the box but that is often cloud-based only (yeah, go figure) and not for your local network integration unless you use their own App.
Surge current can trip a ups on transfer so remember 30 percent over maximum draw and you will be safe. Experience pays.
One consideration with a UPS is cable management... because it makes cable management a massive pain in the ass.
With a standing desk that can lift up and down, you would normally just clip a surge protector power strip to the back of the desk and plug everything into that, easy peasy. But with a UPS on the floor, you can't really do that. Your only real options are to find exactly the right length power cables so you can run them neatly to the UPS but with enough slack for the desk to go up and down, or just never take the desk up.
I went with the latter option out of laziness, so my desk is a rat's nest of cables underneath. Most devices having wall warts, external power supplies, etc instead of internal power supplies and ATX power cables REALLY doesn't help.
The dream is to have the house wired for ethernet with a network rack and a server rack, so then you can just use rack mounted UPSes for most things and only need a floor UPS for big ticket items like desktop PCs, but that's a lot of expense.
One long cord from the UPS to an external power strip should do the trick. Let the power strip do all the work behind your desk to service all devices. The strip will also have multiple USB power ports to eat up those wall warts. A little thought should go a long way. Draw a few simple schematics while experimenting. Have fun !
@@US_Joe I was explicitly told by APC I couldn't do this without voiding warranty and support. If it was a rack mounted UPS I could do this with a PDU, but they also said I couldn't use a PDU with the one I have.
I should mention that my desktop has a 1200 W PSU in my desktop. Granted, It's not likely to use more than 800 W, and probably not more than 600 W most of the time, but still.
@@praetorxyn APC needs to sell. Trust me - I am a legit electrical eng. My aproach however is all or nothing at all. You will lose the control of individual outlets of the UPS, which can be controlled at the extension device which may have individual switches and USB ports. It will work - there is nothing wonky about it. Guide your self to a 15A tolerance.
@@US_Joe Is there not a limitation on each outlet? I figured the load I'd put on a single one would overload it anyway, but APC wouldn't give me a straight answer.
Still, research online seems to say not to plug a surge protector into a UPS, even if it might work for pure sine wave. I have used a couple of travel power strips without surge protection to plug in low power stuff like the router etc though.
Utube won't let me post an Amazon link.
Google Tripp Lite 6 Outlet Under-Monitor Isobar Surge Protector Power Strip, 2 USB, 8ft Cord, Tel/Modem/Fax Protection, RJ11, 100,000 Insurance (MT-6PLUS)
I use these for ea UPS station. Front lighted switches for the outlets, plus front usb power ports, & a monitor stand to boot!
You also should look at the power - time graphic where you can find out how long a UPS can deliver the power you need continiously. I always use a time from 10 till 15 min for the needed power.
I even can tell you there are Brands who can deliverr a lot of power, BUT only for less then a few minutes !
To find out how many Power (Watts) you use continiously, there are small wallsocket devices you can buy to measure the power you use for 1 or more devices from 0ne wallsockett.
A minor point if I can.
Sometimes the transitions / dissolves are too quick to read the point before you start talking to it.
I found myself a couple of times rewinding the video or pausing it, so I had the context for your comments.
EXTREMELY HELPFUL! I needed this as I am looking for a PSU to help preserve my NAS in the case of a high volt situation (I had one and it destroyed my previous APC PSU but it saved my PC, TV).
Good one 👍I've got 1 upright 600VA/360W Riello UPS covering 3 light weight servers and network gear (wifi using PoE). One is primary and if there's a power cut, it'll tell 2 of the servers to turn off, before turning itself off. Smart! Most of the time it's running at 30% usage (1 server+network gear), when everything is on it runs at 80%, but that's rare (once every 2 weeks perhaps).
Thanks for the very thorough and useful info. One question I would love to see covered is how to use 1 UPS for multiple NAS devices and have them all able to communicate with the UPS for power management features? Let's say I have 3 synology NAS devices and 1 UPS, can I connect all 3 via USB hub or is there a different/better/proper way to set this up?
Robbie, Thanks again for good overall info & at 23 min mark specific UPS ideas for different size NAS, PC, etc. Also at 20 min mark the concept of having multiple UPS units is good advice, too.
I have 3 APCs home and I couldn't be happier. The only thing that I think needs improving is the ancient windows application.
Very nice and complete video; thanks! But, as an user living in Brazil, I'm still a little bit confused concerning the "smart" area of an UPS; how can I be sure that a specific UPS model supports the functionality of powering off my QNAP 2-bay NAS when my home lacks of power and the UPS goes working on its battery? If the UPS has an USB port is it possible that it supports that function? Could you please help me out identifying if an UPS has or has not the needed functionality? Thank you so much! Cheers!
What about pure sign wave vs modified. I’ve seen the wave readings of some cheap UPSs which look outright sketchy. Can’t that cause damage over time if there a lot of power outages? Or are most NAS PSU’s pretty tolerant of garbage quality modified sign wave?
Most modern psus can work with all kinds of input and that should not be a problem.
Would the ecoflow river 2 work as a ups? "It can be an emergency power source (EPS), which will have the same result as UPS for most electronics. Here's the difference. When your RIVER Pro is plugged into the wall, anything plugged into it gets power from the grid, not its battery. If power from the grid stops, RIVER Pro automatically switches to its battery supply mode within 30 milliseconds. That means anything connected will not have power for 30 milliseconds, which may mean sensitive electronics like desktop computers and data servers turn off. Test your devices individually to see if they need UPS to stay powered.". I'm looking for an affordable lifepo4 solution.
How to Auto Shutdown 2 pc ? because usb port just communicating with one pc !
Hi Sir,
Just wondering - I took your advice and bought a UPS, now I'm wondering where to put it (and therefore, also my NAS). Should I be looking for a place that is safe in case it ever caught fire? Or am I being ridiculous??
Hi... well... your recommendations at the end are a bit confusing, because you mix the clients with the NAS when considering the Wattage... i have a Synology DS1821+ and i bought a Eaton 1600VA for it and my network hardware (Ubiquiti USG and Switch and also the internet provider router).... NO PCs connected there...
Your channel is just so darn good. Thank you so much
I appreciate the reviews. On your site, can you specify which are manageable too?
Not really informative video. Let me explain...
What we're interested on when buying UPS, are two things:
1. How much power UPS can deliver
-although that's covered in this video, it's basically only told what we can see from specs anyway. For example, what does 950VA mean? In electricity VA is voltage multiplied by current (V x A) and result is power (W). So it "appears" that 950VA UPS should be capable to deliver 950W. Obviously that's not the case, because specs says it can deliver max 520W and so in this case VA means nothing -is just a product label (bigger number means "more").
2. How long can UPS supply specified max (or lower) power?
-this very important question isn't covered in video at all. So for example, if we connect PC (~300W), monitor (~40W) and NAS (~20W) to 950VA UPS, how long will system run? The answer is... Inside 950VA UPS is usually a 12V 9Ah battery and such battery can deliver max 12V x 9Ah =108W/h. We should keep in mind that this is only theoretically possible. In reality (battery losses, voltage conversion losses) resulting power (efficiency) is only about 50W/h -not that much, huh? So, how long will our 360W system run on our UPS? 50W x 60minutes / 360W = ~8minutes -if battery is new and fully loaded.
"Early Doors"? What does that mean?
At this point I'm just debating on going with an Ecoflow or BluYetti lithium battery powered generator that has a UPS mode and just using that instead of having to deal with replacement batteries and just having the option to recharge another way seems clutch.
Consider the maximum transfer time that your connected equipment can handle. For example, a good online UPS will achieve tranfer times well below 10ms while battery stations with EPS offer transfer times above 10ms. There are specific models which are better than others, you can find reviews comparing their transfer times, but none of them can match the performance of a good online UPS.
An effective solution may be placing a smaller online UPS (enough VAs but small battery) between the battery station and the protected equipment. It all depends on your specific use case.
Good guide. I've recently installed a UPS for my Synology and I was shocked how many times it kicked in over just 1 month! Quick question, will it be better to use the UPS to turn on/off the NAS or use WOL? Could you make a tutorial on how to set these two options up?
Where do you sort UPS with USB alarm for automatic NAS shutdown?
At 10:21 you talk about some features that a UPS should have, could you name them please?
Thank you for your advice great work.
Hi, so if I plug only one 4 bay NAS to the UPS I'm fine with the recommendation UPS for a 2 bay NAS - correct? I really don't wanna plug anything else to the UPS than the 4 bay NAS...
might be worth taking an electrical engineering course to help your explanation
What UPS to use just for 4 bay NAS and router for central Europe market? There should be a minimum power draw for UPS to work properly, so I need something that would work just for 923+ and RT2600. Any recommendations? And what about the differences and significance of pure sine wave vs stepped sine wave for NAS usage.
Thnx
Also I saw that you recommended Pure Sine models - perhaps expand in the next video or in the pinned comment why this is preferred.
Don't bother paying extra for a pure sine wave ups for your nas. Sine wave ups is only relevant for AC equipment such as transformers and motors.
@@Redneckrampage *really* depends on the devices. I had a Tivo Edge that got fried by the non-pure output of the BE600M1.
Hi, I am planning to buy the ups on 30:16 SMT3000RMI2U on the left. I am worried that it won't be detected on the QNAP nas since I couldn't find it on any compatiblty list. Is it compatible with the QNAP NAS?
Як налаштувати від одного UPS APC RS 800 Synology 918+ i Qnap TS-210?
apcupsd goes well with apc the best one
Amazing, a UPS for NAS guide one month after I bought a UPS
In my defense... You never told me you were buying one!
Alexa has your number
@@nascompares Yeah, but in his defense he did tell Santa.
Remember, battery packs have a limited safe ‘shelf life’. Even premium brands can expand/catch fire if stored poorly
I am in UK and just want a UPS for my 923+ NAS, I want it to cope with a power outage of say 4 or 5 hours, what would you recommend please?
Look up how long does a certain size battery last under certain amount of load.
This was great. Thanks!
Did I miss something. Seems like he is confusing VA and battery capacity
Just wondering, for a bigger setup, wouldn't it be better off getting one of those high capacity portable power unit. Like Bluetti and Ecoflow? Not sure if they have a passthrough option. Just wondering.
I'm getting ready to build next year. I'm looking at multiple NAS's, switches, servers, etc. for our businesses. My plan is to have a large UPS that can handle the load of the entire rack. However, it's real job is only to hold it long enough for the emergency generator to kick in. That's the same model we use for patient monitoring equipment closets at the hospitals I support. When you have to have 24/7/365 uptime, that is the way to go.
Bluetti has solutions that can act as a larger UPS if you want. Not the way I would go for several reasons. The solution will work, but like a UPS, you are draining the battery the second it engages. The system I looked at operated as both an off grid solar charged unit, as well as a on grid backup. Like a UPS, you are on borrowed time. You'd have to spec your system to hold you for how ever many hours you want. That gets expensive for a solution that is only short term. I expect off grid users with large systems use power saving strategies to make the most of their available power.
The real idea of a UPS is to either allow a proper system shutdown without power loss with some work time available to finish up tasks, or hold a system until a generator can kick in. If you are in an area with frequent brownouts, or short term black outs, it could keep you going, but if you have longer blackouts, it isn't going to help. Generators with UPS support for switchover are the way to go if you really want to not worry about it. If you have gas (natural gas, propane, etc.) service, you are set. If you have a tank, you just have to ensure that it is filled periodically. Either way, you could run a generator for days, even weeks with a large enough supply, which would be the way to go if you wanted to guard against long term blackouts during a weather event.
A cheaper alternative is to use a gasoline or diesel generator that you can keep fueled up, but you need to keep an eye on it and refuel as needed. Also, they are not designed for constant running for days on end, but depending on your need could be quite sufficient.
Unless you have off grid solar, wind, etc. to keep your batteries charged, any battery solution is a temporary solution to power outages. I say off grid as on grid solar will stop producing if the power is disconnected as a safety precaution.
I use the 1000w pfc cyberpower for my refrigerator and freezer chest.
VA is Volt Amps (technically Amperes) not Voltage Amps. 1 VA is 1 W.
Only if the power factor is 1
You use the definition VA (Volt Ampere or correctly Voltage multiplied with the Current) when you have a device like a transformer/UPS etc where you do not know the power factor of the load there will be added to the device. Why the VA is only an assumption of the max load of the transformer/UPS etc. with the power factor of 1.
That is why you cannot say 1VA = 1W unless you define the load as 100% resistive and there for 1. -I do not know the power factor of a NAS but would expect it is not 1.
Thank you, this was very helpful for me.
Just to share my experience I deeply regret buying an APC UPS (Bz1500Xlbi). I literally thrown it on the trash last week, after only 11 months it wasn't sustaining its own batteries for no longer than 8~10 seconds with only one single router. If the NAS (920+) was attached to it was almost instantly. Even worse than not using UPS at all since the NAS starts its shutdown process but gets interrupted.
Long video. Does anyone has summary of his suggestions?
Build your own do much longer run timr wich i do 😂😂😂😂i have power 🔋 station i build can charge 12 cell phone 2 💻 👨💻
Apc or Eaton only company's to use. Period. Everything else is Walmart crap
Russia- Ukraine conflict?
Avoid Cyberpower UPS.....that brand is a complete joke and a fire hazard.
Any specific evidence you can share? Been using one for a few years now and it’s been great for me. It has reliably supported my Unifi network and Synology NAS through many power outages.
Hey, RUclips advice here: if you want your video to get watched, then an "Easy Guide" should be under 5 minutes long. Perhaps make a second channel for the short Easy videos and keep the long form stuff separate.
Terrible advice.
so, what’s your advice, then?