We are getting an increasing number of power cuts - not only of long durations, but sometimes just brief on-off-on spikes. I am thinking of getting a UPS to protect my system. Does anybody have a recommendation, or things to look out for?
I have an APS (American Power Supply) it’s a few years old, on its 2nd battery & rated at 350 watts.
Apart from powering the NAS & managing it’s safe shutdown, I’ve also wired it to my SMPS power strip that feeds house phone & BT wireless hub. This means I don’t loose the internet and have time to continue with & save any computer work, also to finish or make phone calls during the duration of the power cut.
Thanks. My difficulty is that the NAS, Naim, router, and various PCs are all in very different parts of the house. I think I would have to protect them individually with multiple UPS unless I can ask an electrician to fit something upstream as it were (which sounds to be what you have done?).
UPS that you can fit upstream is extremely expensive, so much better to have several small UPS, each where ever you need it.
But you will find that availability of units is poor and the prices are high following all the discussion about 3 hour power cuts during the winter. I bought one on Amazon a week or two back, it was out of stock but did come into stock again about a fortnight later. They honoured their original price but I see they now want £70 more than I paid for the exact same unit, just a few days later.
Auto switching home battery is what you’re after. For example a Tesla Wall is rated at 10kw and can be chained together. But I use that only as an example. At first they were fine. Then Tesla disabled auto cut in unless you bought it with Tesla solar pabels. Finally, they stopped selling it on it’s own entirely to people without Tesla panels.
I digress. There are several home batteries on the market. They charge up during off peak. Cut in at peak rate or during power cuts. They sit outside on the shaded side of the house and go before your consumer unit.
The primary use for a UPS is protecting the NAS, giving a safe managed shutdown to prevent total loss of HDD. This is what 99% of people on this forum only use them for, my previous post was intended to show what I have done in addition to ‘normal’ applications.
Having your wireless hub (router) powered by UPS can be useful to give you some time to save work, but its not critical.
Do you mean PC ?? (mains powered tower/monitor/keyboard) Most people use laptops which are battery powered so do not need UPS
I would not consider powering Naim units from UPS, too many potential power load problems. To say nothing about the SQ impact, what use is a powerline after going through a UPS.
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We go to lengths, installing dedicated circuits and buying expensive power cords and distro units. Putting a UPS in the circuit seems totally antithetical. I’d not want to listen to my system where all its AC power went through a consumer UPS.
- The solutions mentioned above – whole-house batteries, and in my case a whole-house generator – are not instantaneous. Your Naim system will lose power and gain it back within seconds, but it’s not as if your hi fi will see seamless power.
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Some interesting takes, thank you for all of them.
My main concern is with the speakers more than anything. Sharp transients caused by the brief outages can produce some horrible sounds. I understand the issue with the NAS but so far it has proved remarkably resilient, and in any event if it was badly damaged we’re not talking about a major expense compared with very expensive speakers.
Some of the more extensive suggestions sound great if they work for you, but there are unique aspects to my house (very old, listed building) that make them impractical.
And yes, I am that backward that I primarily use an old-fashioned tower PC!
If noisy speaker sounds on a power outage is your concern, a UPS won’t help.
But I doubt it would damage the speakers anyhow.
A loss of power to NAS when reading/writing can corrupt all the data on the disc’s & damage the NAS itself.
It’s not simply “noisy” - I get a short, very sharp, loud “crack” when the Naim loses power which is then momentarily restored. This even happens if I am not playing music and the volume is turned right down.
I get something similar, but not at the level you seem to be describing.
What amps do you have.
Old stuff: NAC202 NAP200, with a Hi-Cap
I am very happy with the Cyberpower BR700ELCD
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