Uninterruptable Power Supply for Home Theater

Lsolar on 20/07/2015 - 01:59

Looking for advice for a UPS for my home theatre.
Moved into a place with old wiring - any time the fridge / ac / lights are toggled on/off it causes the receiver and tv to drop power for a couple seconds - enough to briefly drop hdmi signal. Not just annoying, but bad for the electronics.

Need a UPS to provide steady power and prevent the drop outs - enough to power tv/receiver/xbox/dvd.

Equivalent UPS boxes seem very expensive here vs what can be ordered in North America - but haven't found any decent shipping prices from overseas.

Any advice on a decent but cheap option? would like to keep it around $120 to $140.
thanks

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

  • elusive on 20/07/2015 - 02:19
    +2

    ordered in North America

    First, you're gonna want to be careful about that - they're usually 120 V.

    would like to keep it around $120 to $140

    You don't have many options. You probably don't need a "smart" UPS (that can communicate with a PC for auto-shutdown, etc.). Check the rated power draw of your devices (should be on a label on the back) - they should be reasonably low as long as a CRT TV isn't involved. Should be in Watts. Multiply that by 125% for an approximate VA rating, and then add some extra for a safety margin. Unfortunately, the specifics depend on the power factor of your devices, and whether they do active PFC. That can be hard to tell, especially for non-PC devices.

    I'm guessing you'll be well under 500 W (heck, under 300 W probably..? except the Xbox), so a basic 700 VA UPS might do. If you can get the numbers, I can start recommending potential units - Cyberpower might be your best bet for a trusted brand at this price range, with their basic (and outdated) 600 VA model running about $80. You can go cheaper with unknown brands that should work, but who knows…

    Dunno how the constant switching will affect the battery, though. You might be better off with a replaceable battery (mine is going strong after three years, but it rarely switches). Also, if your devices can't cope with the switchover time of typical line-interactive UPSes you'll have to look at (much more expensive) online UPSes - but this is hard to tell without testing.

    • elusive on 20/07/2015 - 02:27

      Ok, no, your Xbox would only work with a high-end UPS. Xbox One is apparently ~75 W for watching videos and up to 1100 W peak for gaming - that quickly pushes you up to 2000 VA UPSes and something like $300-$400+. Though Cyberpower claims this will work with an Xbox… maybe not the One that apparently has much higher power consumption than older ones (see Google & news articles).

      • donnot on 22/07/2015 - 00:45
        +1

        Ok, no, your Xbox would only work with a high-end UPS. Xbox One is apparently ~75 W for watching videos and up to 1100 W peak for gaming

        Add an extra 0 by accident? The Xbox will only draw <150W - tested here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7528/the-xbox-one-mini-review-…

        Shows 120W under max load.

        • elusive on 22/07/2015 - 01:02

          That's odd…

          My apologies, looks like I probably (profanity) up somewhere (misread? mistyped? who knows… can't find the source now). That'll teach me not to research/answer this stuff at 2 AM :\

          Edit: oh, hey, OzB filters swearing? never knew that.

    • Randxyz123 on 20/07/2015 - 12:47

      First, you're gonna want to be careful about that - they're usually 120 V.

      THIS. I wouldn't order from the US. Firstly the exchange rate is absolute shitehouse at the moment so you probably will save nearly nothing with shipping and the exchange rate, the voltage is different over there so that could be a issue and finally you will likely have no warranty here.

      Maybe you should get a quote or 2 to look at the wiring? I'm just saying in Summer when it is much warmer with the AC going hard and if you wanted to watch tv/ play on your xbox it might be a better long term option.

      I don't think you'll be able to get a UPS for under $140

  • Davo1111 on 20/07/2015 - 06:33

    not sure about decent but msy sell them

  • cypher67 on 20/07/2015 - 09:12

    From what you are explaining, you just need the cheapest ok quality UPS you can find. You don't need a smart one to power down your devices and you only need it to last a few seconds. If you are renting id be complaining for safety reasons, even if you own it I cant imagine it a good thing for any of your devices.

  • Mikinoz on 20/07/2015 - 09:18

    I have been using one like below for almost 5 years, im in a simialr situation to you bad wiring etc. Its a good unit and the battery seems to hold up over the years.

    http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/belkin-surge-protection-w-batt…

  • Ramrunner on 20/07/2015 - 10:07
    +1

    Eaton are good, APC better if you have the dough, but as other have explained in either case you will not get away with $120-$140. Your wattage requirements will be far too high for this price range.

    You can get a power reader plug you put in the wall, then your power board in to that that will measure your wattage requirements for relatively cheap from Jaycar last time I looked (I have one here).

    Be aware also you'll need an on-line or true sine-wave generating UPS if you want perfect audio. The cheaper square-wave UPS units will probably cause some audio quality loss, as audio equipment is not designed to run of an estimated sine wave.

    In your case, I would STILL do it even at higher cost as I appreciate my A/V equipment life BUT if you OWN the place, mate, seriously, spend the grand or two and get it rewired. You'll be spending dollars fixing things all the time otherwise.

    Be aware that if you are at the "end of the line" (power line) rewiring may not do anything as your input voltage will be too low. This is another thing the gadget from Jaycar will measure and if the input voltage is too low, you have a case for your electricity provider.

  • solar on 20/07/2015 - 13:59

    Thanks for all the feedback. I should have provided a bit more info.
    I'm renting - it's a secondary place for a 6-month to 1-year timeframe while I am on contract away from home. But I have moved in a decent home theater because I like music and movies. Not crt but plasma - so still worse then led.
    I will contact the agent about the problem and see if it can be fixed - but it's a really old building so I don't know what they will do.
    I will do the maths on the power requirements. It's a 360 rather than XBox One and doesn't get too much use, so hopefully the requirements are lower.
    Took me a while to even realise that the dropouts were power related - thought my receiver's hdmi card had gone wonky.
    I usually prefer paying a bit more to get quality with long lifespan - but I'm not sure I'll need the UPS after I leave this place so I'm hesitent to spend much. But it is a solid mid-range theater system, so I want to protect it.

    • Randxyz123 on 20/07/2015 - 15:22

      Definitely contact the agent. No reason why you should have to put up with this.

    • Master Bates on 20/07/2015 - 15:57

      Maybe look into renting one… Not sure if it will be more cost effective (I generally find renting isn't) but it is another option. Also not sure if you're currently based in NSW or elsewhere, but the first result in a Google search was www.microrentals.com.au

      Maybe if you're persuasive and lucky, you can get the landlord to cover the cost of the rental.

    • cypher67 on 20/07/2015 - 18:35

      Lets be honest though, you main priority is not to be able to continue watching the TV in a blackout, its to provide power for a few seconds. So any UPS would be able to meet your needs, anything extra you spend on size and features is a waste

      • elusive on 20/07/2015 - 22:16

        If your power draw is higher than what a UPS is rated for, it'll cut out and might even be damaged. This also applies when mains power is fine. That's why you need to check peak power draw. I'm reasonably sure that the Xbox will have the greatest impact.

        How long a UPS can provide power for is only slightly related to its max load. And, yea, not critical for this purpose.

    • elusive on 20/07/2015 - 23:28

      Apparently you're looking at ~200W for the 360. And a 2008 50" plasma TV would've been 450W O_O

      Completely ignoring potential issues like active PFC (unlikely on such old hardware) and peak power surges, your absolute minimum is probably around the 1000VA mark. This is about as cheap as they get (For a known brand. Dodgy brand ~$10 cheaper.). If you want to spend more, you can take a look at 1500VA models, maybe pure-sine if you're paranoid and APC if you want something generally regarded as better quality.

      As someone above mentioned, line-interactive might not necessarily play nice with higher-end audio gear… but at this rate I think you'd probably be happier with something that at least doesn't shut off ;P

  • solar on 23/07/2015 - 22:22

    Thanks everyone for their input on this issue. I didn't want to leave this unresolved and hanging - although the solution is a bit embarrassing.
    I talked to the strata manager. They had an electrician coming in tomorrow for other work, so he will swing by my place, but I am going to cancel.
    After further investigation I have found that the HDMI drop out is only occurring when the signal is fed from my laptop. I stream from my laptop 99% of the time, and my brief trial with my dvd player also caused dropping out was caused by a scratched disk. I had quickly assumed the problem was the same - but with a good disk there is no issues.
    With the laptop driving the HDMI, there is no issue if running off battery, but if I plug into the wall outlet, then HDMI will drop out if there is any other power draw in the unit - even a light switch on a completely different circuit.
    However this drop out will only occur using the new HDMI cables I picked up from a well known discount computer parts shop. I've always bought decent HDMI cables in the past (nothing crazy, but paying a solid $10 to $15 or so each). I went with the cheapest ones this time - with no apparent shielding.
    The HDMI dropout only occurs if the laptop is plugged in and if I am using the cheap cables. I picked up some better cables with the recent Dick Smith bargain, and no more drop out. With the cheap cable and running off battery power, no drop out.
    So it looks like possible EM/RFI interference combined with some dirty power at the socket.
    The laptop is top end and less then one year old (and has never had issues prior to this) so I don't think it is the problem.
    The easy solution is replacing the HDMI cable. But I am a little concerned about what this outlet power is doing to the AC adapter/battery of my laptop. I might look for a super cheap-o UPS for it. I tried using an HPM Surge Protector with RFI interference protection but it didn't change any of the test outcomes.
    It's still weird that toggling a light switch that is on a different circuit and at the opposite end of the unit can cause this drop out.
    Again thanks to everybody who responded.

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