Does anybody use a UPS system? (uninterruptible power supply)

pima1234

pima1234

Fractal Fanatic
As the thread title says: Does anybody use a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system with your Axe FX at home?

We live in the country now, and are prone to losing power. (Last winter, before we had moved here, this area was actually without power for 10 days!!!) Even with a generator, there will still be downtime. Seems to me that a UPS is the best solution for me to use with the Axe FX now. I won't use one with my Atomic CLRs, but they will remain plugged into my good power conditioner of course.

So, I've read that the ones meant for computer systems don't have the noise filtering for use with home theater systems. I'm wondering if that applies to the Axe FX as well, or just the amp/powered speaker part.

Also, using a good UPS could help balance the power from a portable (gas powered) generator. Of course, a good automatic, whole house one would do that, but we don't have one (YET!).

Thanks.
 
I have an UPS on everything important, 2 computers and the axe-fx 2. Both are office store bought APS units. Cheap insurance, frankly. I haven't had any problems with noise since I started using an UPS on the Axe.
 
I use a big beefy APC unit I got off of ebay 6 or 7 years ago. Replace 2 motorcycle size batteries every 2 years. I come out of wall A/C, into APC unit, into 5 or 6 electric strips mounted on the back of my recording desk. Single path to ground. Studio line noise is dead silent.
 
Cool, which one?

mwd said:
I use a big beefy APC unit I got off of ebay 6 or 7 years ago. Replace 2 motorcycle size batteries every 2 years. I come out of wall A/C, into APC unit, into 5 or 6 electric strips mounted on the back of my recording desk. Single path to ground. Studio line noise is dead silent.
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It is the APC 1400. Got it from eBay may even be longer ago. Paid more for shipping than I did the unit because it came from a Canadian hospital. Cost me like 50 or 60 dollars then 75 dollars to get it here. Every 2 years I spend 100 bucks for new batteries. I can power guitar rig, 2 computers, monitors, TV and whatever for 15 or 20 minutes unplugged but what that's not why I got it. It will take dirty, unlevel voltage and use it to charge the batteries and deliver you clean, steady voltage. First time I plugged in after getting set up I had to double check that my gear was on. Dead silent. There are other things you can do to help insure you don't have ground loops like isolating your rack mounted gear with plastic washers in front and in back of the tab. Choosing a single path to ground, good shielding on guitars, etc.
 
I really need to check the ground on this house. I don't trust it, at least not until I can see that there's a good earth ground.

I paid a ton to have our previous house done right.

Thanks for the lead on that unit. Does it have immediately switching (clamping) and pure sine wave (not stepped approximation)?

Thanks again.
 
i have one on my computers, one on my gf's computers and a smaller one for my digital mixer. whenever i update firmware on my axe or mcc, i ALWAYS plug into one. my big one has a nice LCD display that lets me know it's working, but if i use any thing without a display, i test it first by unplugging it from the wall and making sure my devices are still powered on.

i just don't trust electricity ever.
 
I went with one of the CyberPower UPS models, not sure which one but it is 2U w/4 batteries. Intalled 3 years ago and it's going strong. No issues at all and it's proved its worth many times. My neighborhood experiences brown outs almost weekly. Actually, it's more like my street - the rest of the neighborhood is fine. Pisses me off.
 
zenkick said:
So you had problems with noise before purchasing your APC units?
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The only noise issues I ever had were solved by changing the 9vbattery in my EBMM Luke's EMG active system. To clarify, the UPS did not introduce any new noise issues for me.
 
I also use a small UPS..(switch mode / square wave out) typical Office supply unit. Works fine.
One might want to "load test" the batteries if they are around 2+ years old though.
Plug in an incandescent lamp (100 watt) into the unit, (unplug all other devices) pull the AC mains plug. Lamp should stay on for awhile.
Since there are so many different battery configs on these things, I wouldn't worry so much about amp hour ratings.
I just want to be sure to cover a brown out, or short commercial outage.
It gives me enough time to gracefully shutdown my gear.

Though I would chime in...I maintain telco battery plants...so I actually have a "battery conductance tester"...just too damned lazy to take the UPS apart..LOL!
 
So are pure sine wave and instantaneous switching/clamping not real important?

I'm actually considering a separate one for my CLRs, but at 500 watts each... that might be tough.

Thing is, the CLRs need to be shut off before powering down the Axe FX. I think they would be safe just running into the surge protection outlets, or still plugged into my Furman PL-Plus DMC. But, I wonder if using the CLRs with a UPS would help lower their noise floor.
 
While I'm at it, what are some good recommendations for home theater UPS (including LCD display, only 32")?

Thanks everyone!
 
pima1234 said:
So are pure sine wave and instantaneous switching/clamping not real important?

I'm actually considering a separate one for my CLRs, but at 500 watts each... that might be tough.

Thing is, the CLRs need to be shut off before powering down the Axe FX. I think they would be safe just running into the surge protection outlets, or still plugged into my Furman PL-Plus DMC. But, I wonder if using the CLRs with a UPS would help lower their noise floor.
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Doesn't matter (cheaper UPS)as long as the power supply is "switched mode"...older linear power supplies on power amps don't like square wave DC. You will have a pretty loud motor boating on the audio output.
Real time UPS's are quite expensive. The load is always on the inverter output (sine wave AC), not commercial power mains, the batteries are being float charged by the comm.power....make sense?
 
I use one at home and I just bought one for gigs. I haven't used it yet because it's needs an extra deep rack and I haven't received that yet. I decided to get one after we lost power about 10 times during a gig, and also because I just bought an X32 board, so I'll use it for both.
 
I read that most computer UPSs (ssss, ssss) are not advisable for use with home theater use, as they can apparently induce noise. Seems like these better, newer ones shouldn't have any issue with that.

I'll probably wind up with two of the Cyberpower ones. One for our home theater system (powered sub plugged into surge protector only) and one for my iMac and Axe FX (with the CLRs only plugged into the surge protector).

What do you guys think?
 
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