Solved Is it OK to plug a surge strip into a UPS which also has surge protection?

Flashorn said:

I think most if not all UPS makers not only recommend it but, will void warranty if proven they
were used with an extension cord. That said, if the unit is not too expensive (because some are Very)
then a good extension, as Dru2 said ,like something you would use for outdoor electric tools.

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There are tons of things we do (some unavoidable) with items that would void warranties if proven, so... and vendors know this as well. As said, we all don't live in the perfect world where everything lines up the way we like so sometimes you have to make decisions.

In a perfect world, I wouldn't be using an extension cord. My world is not perfect and thus an extension cord is needed. In doing so, I've made sure the cord I use is suitable for the task at hand. That's me.

Anyway, the OP asked a question, and answers were given. My advice, as any advice given in a forum, is to take (use) at your own risk.

My two cents.

Dru2 said:

Anyway, the OP asked a question, and answers were given

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I totally agree and the answers are suggestions that the poster should take into consideration and then
research for the best possible outcome . This is why we come here. Most if not all of the members here
have at one time or another , come across something similar and thus can help so that , we can all have
some kind of idea on what comes next. Not to mention the education that one can glean from all the
years of experience most of you have to offer. Imagine if we had to pay for all that experience? Don't
answer that.

wiganken said:

Reading the APC article it only mentions surge protected strips so it may be okay to plug-in a non-surge protected extension lead and rely on the UPS built-in surge protection? Have I understood this correctly?

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Yup., That is exactly what it is saying.

wiganken said:

A UPS with bigger capacity would extend the 4-minute run time but how much capacity would be needed to extend this to a gauranteed 10 minutes? Logic might say 2 1/2 times larger but I am sure it is more complicated than that. Any electrical experts out there?

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Also depends upon what you need to run at any given moment.

I have 4 monitors on my desk, but only one is connected to the power strip that runs from the APC UPS I have for it - similarly, a few other things, notable printer, phone chargers, etc., are also not plugged into that. The desktop main power and a single monitor are. In the even of a power outage, I want to be able to use my machine just enough to power it off.

I've found that unless you're a power hungry user, or heavy gamer, a 1500 VAC UPS should be sufficient for a decent desktop with a monitor to run at least 7-8 minutes.

My trick, though, is that I have all of my networking in my basement, with it's own UPS, and my TVs and 2 of my mesh satellites also with their own smaller UPSs. Not having everything in one place and on one UPS makes it a lot simple (though definitely more expensive).

johnlgalt said:

I've found that unless you're a power hungry user, or heavy gamer, a 1500 VAC UPS should be sufficient for a decent desktop with a monitor to run at least 7-8 minutes.

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All this depends on many things regarding the actual UPS.

1. The battery capacity (your 1500W)
2. Depth of discharge of the battery/batteries, which vary depending on the battery type.
3. Power consumption of the inverter
4. Inverter efficiency

These all values can vary drastically between UPSes, and also between different loads.

For instance the inverter in the UPS OP mentions is only 50-60% efficient at full load, while at typical (32W) it's efficiency is 80%. Some UPS have way more efficient inverters (up to 95%) , but they also cost a lot more.

It also has a depth of discharge of 50% (because of LED-Acid battery), while some more high end ones can have 80%. More than that, the battery life will be degraded drastically between charges.

An UPS with 100Ah battery @12V, 80% DOD and 92% efficiency at 200W inverter load would last almost 4.5hours.

Makes sense. I go with APC for here in the states, and mine seems to work relatively fine with my system.