Power Strip, AC Filtering, Or UPS?

[chetland]

I have that same APC UPS. My understanding is that non-sinusoidal, harmonically distorted power can be a little bit harder on the power supplies of your gear. But the APC only outputs this "dirtier" power when it's running on its battery, which presumably won't be often. In normal operation, it's passing the regular power from your wall.

[dynomike]

I have that same APC UPS. My understanding is that non-sinusoidal, harmonically distorted power can be a little bit harder on the power supplies of your gear. But the APC only outputs this "dirtier" power when it's running on its battery, which presumably won't be often. In normal operation, it's passing the regular power from your wall.

Isn't it always outputting from the battery, with the battery acting as a buffer? Hence, when the power goes out, it doesn't have to switch to battery... "uninterrupted" ?

I've heard that an impure power signal is a problem for some laptop power supplies but I've never had a problem with a desktop pc running off a UPS. However sometimes you should be aware that the UPS actually makes audible noise itself.

[chetland]

Isn't it always outputting from the battery, with the battery acting as a buffer? Hence, when the power goes out, it doesn't have to switch to battery... "uninterrupted" ?

Not according to APC's support site:

When these units are on-line, they pass through the sine wave coming from the utility power. These models include:
APC PowerCell, Back-UPS, Back-UPS Office, Back-UPS Pro, Back-UPS LS, Back-UPS VS, Back-UPS ES, Back-UPS CS, Back-UPS XS, Back-UPS RS, Smart-UPS V/S, Smart-UPS 420, Smart-UPS 620, and PowerStack.

Also got this from Googling "how does a ups work":

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question28.htm

Enjoy.