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This segment is always so confusing to me. Is a simulated sine wave UPS bad?
In most cases, no, unless you have something extremely sensitive, such as medical equipment or certain analog audio equipment. In general, I just get the cheapest UPS with a brand I can trust to not catch fire. If they have a warranty for the protected equipment, that means that they stand behind the product. The quality of the surge suppression is generally much more important than the battery backup.
Sine wave is like you would expect, sin(x), smooth curves. Simulated sine wave is like a sine wave with a bunch of steps, and looks like a bunch of square waves stacked on top of each other. If you're pushing it through a power supply, it gets converted to DC anyway and doesn't really make a difference, and simulated sine wave is cheaper. Some power supplies may run a tiny bit hotter on battery, which impacts longevity, but with how often the power goes out for most people, it's insignificant.
The other thing you're looking for in a UPS is line interactive vs. online vs. standby. Standby has a relay with a switch over time, but it's just a few milliseconds. Again, the power supply will smooth it out. Standby is also cheaper. Online is basically AC to DC through the battery, back to AC, so if the power goes out, it is already using the battery, so there is zero cut-over time. Line interactive is a bit of a middle ground and is the most common type.
Apologies to anyone technical for some oversimplifications.
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Sine wave is like you would expect, sin(x), smooth curves. Simulated sine wave is like a sine wave with a bunch of steps, and looks like a bunch of square waves stacked on top of each other. If you're pushing it through a power supply, it gets converted to DC anyway and doesn't really make a difference, and simulated sine wave is cheaper. Some power supplies may run a tiny bit hotter on battery, which impacts longevity, but with how often the power goes out for most people, it's insignificant.
The other thing you're looking for in a UPS is line interactive vs. online vs. standby. Standby has a relay with a switch over time, but it's just a few milliseconds. Again, the power supply will smooth it out. Standby is also cheaper. Online is basically AC to DC through the battery, back to AC, so if the power goes out, it is already using the battery, so there is zero cut-over time. Line interactive is a bit of a middle ground and is the most common type.
Apologies to anyone technical for some oversimplifications.
Leave a Comment