Hello, I live in a third world country and for some ungodly reason my house can only handle a few appliances powered on all at the same time.
I have lost 3 motheboards (just motherboards thank god) in a span of 5 years the last one (in pic) shorted out
I was advised by an electrician to not use my PC if the water heater or the induction cooker was on as these two draws so much power, I understand that power fluctuations can damage pc components
my question is, if I buy a UPS, will that help protect my PC from any surges or fluctuations that may occur?
(Ive already removed the water heater from my house as I can live without it)
26 Comments
It probably can, but it’s not a guarantee.
I personally haven’t seen such failures due to power fluctuations on motherboards, mostly on PSUs.
https://preview.redd.it/rv5898wi5uoc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcc9fbf5c8d1cb1d420b1e861d2cd2533ea8ce49
they can to some extent. probably wise to find one that provides active protection. as in, one that constantly charges the battery and draw from it when the mains dips, surges, or goes out. they cost more though. normal UPSes don’t draw from the battery till it’s needed and just keep it topped off till it is. those will generally just provide surge protection when the battery isn’t needed.
a surge protector may be all that’s needed but those and a UPS need a functioning ground system to work properly.
I think your house needs to be rewired if that’s all it takes to overload a circuit.
I’m not a USP expert, but it should help.
I have a CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS. It will switch to battery power when Power dips too low or gets to high.
You should probably get a Line-Interactive USP ($$), or a Double-Conversion UPS ups ($$$$), if your power is really that bad.
[https://tripplite.eaton.com/products/ups-types](https://tripplite.eaton.com/products/ups-types)
[https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/blog/buying-guides/choosing-a-ups/](https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/blog/buying-guides/choosing-a-ups/)
I’d definetely suggest an UPS in that case. Just be sure to get a ONLINE ups. Other types like line-interactive or offline ups systems don’t protect you from surges.
An online UPS is basically always running and completely decoupling the input and output.
OP really decided gaming is more important than hot water.
Use a UPS
i used extension cables with surge protection
That’s the PSU job though…
A few things.
Have an electrician check the grounding on your home. This sounds like you have a grounding issue. Most homes should have a solid copper ground pole driven 12ft into the ground and connected to the main electrical panel of the home.
Buy a power conditioner (they look like surge protectors but better) https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PGP–black-lion-audio-pg-p-portable-power-conditioner
Buy a UPS. Doesn’t matter the brand, some countries (South America) call them No-Breaks
The power conditioner will level out the power spikes in the house. The UPS will backup power if there is an outage. So connect the UPS to the power conditioner and the power conditioner to your wall outlet.
If you dont condition the power before the UPS you can kill a cheap UPS. If you are in a 3rd world country, good quality items might be hard to get. Even a power conditioner might be hard to get. First thing is to call an electrician to check if the main panel and grounding is good.
Why UPS? Shoudnt you be getting a better PSU?
Get a surge protector, UPS, and an electrician to check your house
A nice UPS have not only have surge suppression built in but can help smooth out the incoming power. Be sure to get one with true sine wave, it’s much easier on your PSU than a squared off wave. All of my electronics are grounded and run off one of a few different UPS I have. The only downside is having to buy new batteries for the UPS’s every five or so years. However having time to gently shut down my machines as well as being able to just keep posting when the power is flickering but not going out.
On my ups half the outlets offer surge protection. If surges are the problem a power strip with surge protection will do. The ups is a battery, which gives you time to save whatever you are doing in the event of loss of power.
A decent PSU and Motherboards these days come with OCP (over current protection) and the caps should not explode like OP had, it’s either cheap PSU or low quality motherboard and maybe bit of OC that might have damaged the board. It’s less likely a power surge to destroy PC’s like that these days.
OP please post your full system specs so that we might find the root cause of the issue and it’s easy to suggest something depending on that.
Always never skimp/cheapout on a good PSU and of decent enough capacity over 650w preferably, as it will last you a long time and will keep rest of your PC components safe in long run.
Do the lights in your home get dimmer in one part and brighter in the other when the washer and such are on at the sane time?
Monster power used to make that device. Look for a pure sine wave surge protector.
So are we all ignoring the fact that they got rid of a whole ass water heater for their PC? Lol
yes, I have UPS and problems stopped
In Africa I use a voltage stabilizer=>small UPS ( so I can switch off the pc if load shedding starts))=>PC/Screen/modem/TV.
did you keep using the same PSU? that should not be happening and even if spikes in your mains voltage occurred the PSU should not pass those through to the dc output
You want a surge protector. Most ups come with surge protection built in, but a ups does a different job to a surge protector.
When that happens to a board , always replace psu as well.
P.s like others have said the psu is your last line of defence, i will always get the best psu i can. And that psu model you have is bad news , check out the psu tier list and get something A grade or higher 👍
Buy online ups that mean double conversion AC to DC and back to AC
So years ago when I was a young one in Italy we had to use a 1000W transformer to play N64. It was the only transformer we had so I had to be careful to only use it when only 1 other appliance in the house was running at a time.
If say the washer, vacuum, and this transformer were on it would trip the main breaker.
What you’re seeing however is not a breaker trip it’s an over voltage condition due to dirty power.
My guess is your area uses diesel generators or has poor transmission lines to you. I saw this type of thing on comm gear when deployed to Iraq and we’d switch between local and generator supply. Local was still generator but from the region and would periodically flux during the day causing us to switch to our generators occasionally.
You’ll definitely want a pure sine wave UPS, but at 208 or 240 they won’t be cheap if you’re rig is over 500W. You’ll maybe get 30 seconds to 5min battery on a larger model that fits your needs.
Be sure to place the UPS off the floor by an inch of you’re area is prone to critters/bugs or humidity because they can get into the UPS and fry it too.
The term “debugging” comes from that exact problem of bugs on the components of old punch card systems in the begining years of computing.
Happy gaming and good luck!
I say yes. Moved into a college dorm and had the microwave and PC on the same outlet. First few times someone used the microwave nothing bad happened, but one day my psu just tanked it. Was in Boston so I was able to buy a new PSU and pick up a UPS. Ever since then I could hear it kick in whenever someone use the microwave.
Also I think that the APC program stated the the wall voltage was somewhere like 117v instead of 120v. Haven’t had any incidents after buying the UPS and it’s come in handy at home too.
Yes, most decent UPS will also have a voltage regulator that should protect against brown-outs or surges. I have had my share of PC hardware dying from random electrical mishaps and have used UPS’es for over a decade now, never losing a single component to same shit anymore.
Definitely well worth the purchase as a good UPS will last years on end and the batteries can be replaceable most of the time.