Late 2025, what UPS for home theater that is not vertical and has outlets pointing up?

[Sounderista]

My Cyberpower 1000 VA UPS that I bought in 2016 has been turning itself off too many times lately, so it's time to get a new one. But in my search for either APC or Cyberpower, I find it impossible to find one like mine, or even with a higher VA. Mine is the more "flat" kind (I'm sure there's a name for the format, I just don't know it), with all the outlets pointing up, which I always prefer to the usual tall ones with all the outlets in the back. And it has 12 outlets, which also seems hard to find these days.

Now, the closest one to mine is this one: https://a.co/d/i6ol4N6

It looks almost the same, but mine is 1000 VA. Problem is, the next model in their AVR line is the tall kind, and it has 10 outlets, and so do all the ones higher than 900 VA. I just don't get it. It's as if they want to make people break their backs fiddling around with cables that they can't see well, or having to pull out the whole thing and turn it around to see which is which. But while I can tolerate that for my computers, the one where the home theater components connect to HAS to be the short kind with all the outlets pointing up and easy to access.

APC is the same but worse. If I use their selector and choose the Performance Level, they're all tall with the outlets in the back.

Now, I don't want to waste time making a spreadsheet with all the components I'm going to plugin, looking up their VA or Watts requirements, adding them up, and selecting according to that. I want to buy a decent, not cheap no brand but also not $400+. Something below $200 would be nice. I just want to get one that is preferably above 1000 VA to use all the outlets, but obviously not 12 things powered on at the same time, but I have a few streaming boxes, a receiver with 7 speakers (the subwoofer is connected to another outlet), a 65" LG OLED TV set, 2 4K Blu-ray players and a 6 disc CD changer. The streaming boxes are always on, but the TV set is not, and the optical units depending on whether I'm listening to music on discs, but obviously 1 of the 3 will be on at a given time.

Any recommendations?

 

[amirm]

Not the question you asked , but why plug all of that into UPS? It is not like there is battery power to keep them going once AC fails. These things have no useful surge protection so you are better off just plugging them into a power strip. We have a generator that takes a minute to get started so I have a Cyberpower to keep the router going but that is it. As an aside, all of my Cyberpowers fail due to battery first and then eventually the whole unit. On the average, they only last 3 years or so. Alas, they are the only fanless rack mounted sine waves I have found.

 

[Devnull]

Why not just put some new batteries in the UPS you have?

 

[JeffS7444]

UPS batteries are typically off-the-shelf sealed lead acid (SLA) types, usually with F2 Faston terminals. Sometimes there will be multiples taped together, or installed in a carrier, but you can reuse the carrier and any jumper wires. As long as size, type and location of terminals, and voltage are similar, and amperage is fairly close, you are good to go, no need to buy Cyberpower brand. If you get 5 years of use out of the batteries, you are doing good.

And, at least in the USA, SLA battery dealers must also accept old batteries for recycling.

 

[Sounderista]

why plug all of that into UPS? It is not like there is battery power to keep them going once AC fails. These things have no useful surge protection

Well, mine has surge protection, like most UPSeseseses. I think 6 of the outlets have battery backup and the others don't. My reason for plugging in expensive electronics on UPSes was that the battery might provide a more stable power than just a surge protector strip. That's something I confirmed from multiple sources over the years, but to be fair, never with a qualified electrician.

It's not a bad idea, a decent surge protector would cost me a lot less and have all the outlets pointing upwards.

 

[Sounderista]

Why not just put some new batteries in the UPS you have?

I thought about it, but in my experience, doing that only extends the useful life a bit longer. I had an APC UPS that I bought the genuine battery for, and a couple of years later it stopped working. I think it's a matter of the internal components too, when electrical power goes through them, that's not the same as electronics circuits with just a few volts, it's a lot of power, and my guess is that it wears circuits off faster.

So I figured it's better to have a whole new thing. 9 year shelf life is ok with me. I think I had paid like $130 for it back in 2016.

Now, if I get a power surge protector, what's the recommendable joule capacity or whatever it's called? I'm thinking about this one: https://a.co/d/9MeamCp

 

[Devnull]

UPS batteries are typically off-the-shelf sealed lead acid (SLA) types, usually with F2 Faston terminals. Sometimes there will be multiples taped together, or installed in a carrier, but you can reuse the carrier and any jumper wires. As long as size, type and location of terminals, and voltage are similar, and amperage is fairly close, you are good to go, no need to buy Cyberpower brand. If you get 5 years of use out of the batteries, you are doing good.

And, at least in the USA, SLA battery dealers must also accept old batteries for recycling.

Exactly. The batteries should last longer but most UPSs have the float voltage set too high. They sacrifice battery life for run time. I've turned down the float voltage in my APC UPSs and tweaked the firmware so I get about 6 years out of a set of batteries.

Eaton is doing something interesting now, they don't float the batteries. They charge them and then they don't float them. Once they drop around 5% they charge them again. This, in theory, should add a couple years of battery life.

 

[dlaloum]

My Cyberpower 1000 VA UPS that I bought in 2016 has been turning itself off too many times lately, so it's time to get a new one. But in my search for either APC or Cyberpower, I find it impossible to find one like mine, or even with a higher VA. Mine is the more "flat" kind (I'm sure there's a name for the format, I just don't know it), with all the outlets pointing up, which I always prefer to the usual tall ones with all the outlets in the back. And it has 12 outlets, which also seems hard to find these days.

Now, the closest one to mine is this one: https://a.co/d/i6ol4N6

It looks almost the same, but mine is 1000 VA. Problem is, the next model in their AVR line is the tall kind, and it has 10 outlets, and so do all the ones higher than 900 VA. I just don't get it. It's as if they want to make people break their backs fiddling around with cables that they can't see well, or having to pull out the whole thing and turn it around to see which is which. But while I can tolerate that for my computers, the one where the home theater components connect to HAS to be the short kind with all the outlets pointing up and easy to access.

APC is the same but worse. If I use their selector and choose the Performance Level, they're all tall with the outlets in the back.

Now, I don't want to waste time making a spreadsheet with all the components I'm going to plugin, looking up their VA or Watts requirements, adding them up, and selecting according to that. I want to buy a decent, not cheap no brand but also not $400+. Something below $200 would be nice. I just want to get one that is preferably above 1000 VA to use all the outlets, but obviously not 12 things powered on at the same time, but I have a few streaming boxes, a receiver with 7 speakers (the subwoofer is connected to another outlet), a 65" LG OLED TV set, 2 4K Blu-ray players and a 6 disc CD changer. The streaming boxes are always on, but the TV set is not, and the optical units depending on whether I'm listening to music on discs, but obviously 1 of the 3 will be on at a given time.

Any recommendations?

My Cyberpower CP1350 started to play up a couple of months back...
It is about 4 or 5 years old, seemed like the electronics was fine, but the batteries had expired.

I went out and did a little research, then purchased LiFePo batteries to replace the Lead Acid AGM batteries that come standard....

This made the unit substantially lighter, gave it enhanced duration on battery - I have a feeling it has lower current load capacity... but that is not an issue for me.

It has a new lease on life - and the LiFePo batteries should be good for 10 years, as opposed to the 2 to 4 years typical of the standard AGM batteries
I expect that it will do just fine until at some point the electronics give up the ghost.... actual server load is around 130W max so circa 10% of its capacity, I'm hoping that will lead to a long service life!

Note: It is not attached to anything audio - it supports my homelab VM server/NAS, and router. (so indirectly it is part of my AV, as the AV library is on the NAS)

My Audio system is on the Solar Battery circuit, in case of an outage, key critical house circuits get powered by my house battery (10kwh)... originally the inclusion of the power points on which the AV sits was mere serendipity, an outcome of the way the house was wired.... but then isn't it an essential. service!?

My suggestion is to open it up, and replace the AGM's with LiFePo's

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

My Cyberpower CP1350 started to play up a couple of months back...
It is about 4 or 5 years old, seemed like the electronics was fine, but the batteries had expired.

I went out and did a little research, then purchased LiFePo batteries to replace the Lead Acid AGM batteries that come standard....

This made the unit substantially lighter, gave it enhanced duration on battery - I have a feeling it has lower current load capacity... but that is not an issue for me.

It has a new lease on life - and the LiFePo batteries should be good for 10 years, as opposed to the 2 to 4 years typical of the standard AGM batteries
I expect that it will do just fine until at some point the electronics give up the ghost.... actual server load is around 130W max so circa 10% of its capacity, I'm hoping that will lead to a long service life!

Note: It is not attached to anything audio - it supports my homelab VM server/NAS, and router. (so indirectly it is part of my AV, as the AV library is on the NAS)

My Audio system is on the Solar Battery circuit, in case of an outage, key critical house circuits get powered by my house battery (10kwh)... originally the inclusion of the power points on which the AV sits was mere serendipity, an outcome of the way the house was wired.... but then isn't it an essential. service!?

My suggestion is to open it up, and replace the AGM's with LiFePo's

You need to start a thread. We can use your expertise.

 

[dlaloum]

You need to start a thread. We can use your expertise.

No rocket science here... just check the battery format and capacity specs... (yes that took some time... and much googling) - then it was just a matter of unscrewing the case, carefully pulling out the existing batteries and putting in the new ones.

The only tricky bit is different manufacturers use different means of connecting together the batteries as a "pack"... the APC ones are more robust, the Cyberpower ones are basically an adhesive strip - that needs to be carefully removed from the old batteries and then applied to the new ones.... so a gentle but firm touch is needed to ensure the adhesive strip remains intact - as you need that to pull out the batteries.

Inside the LiFePo batteries are standard AA cell format rechargeable cells - so in theory (!) we could see a manufacturer put out a UPS into which you would simply plug in several dozen standard AA format LiFePo batteries.... which would simplify all our lives, and extend the life of UPS's ... but that may be wishfull thinking - the manufacturers make fantastic margins on replacement batteries!

 

[ban25]

You could look at the Unifi 2U rack mount UPS, though it is not often in stock online:

UniFi UPS 2U - Ubiquiti Store

UniFi managed 1.44kVA rackmount uninterruptible power supply with 4 backup and 4 surge outlets, a field replaceable battery, 216Wh, half load (500W) runtime of 8 minutes. Supports Graceful Shutdown for UNVR and UNAS, NUT compatibility for 3-party devices.

store.ui.com

Microcenter has decent stock generally.

 

[Devnull]

No rocket science here... just check the battery format and capacity specs... (yes that took some time... and much googling) - then it was just a matter of unscrewing the case, carefully pulling out the existing batteries and putting in the new ones.

There's more to it than that. You need to make sure the replacement batteries have a discharge rate equal to or greater than the original UPS batteries. Most, that I've looked at, Li batteries will discharge at 1C. This is a fraction of the discharge rate of an AGM battery. In your use case, assuming a 24V battery string with 10Ah batteries, it's maybe a 6 amp discharge current. But once you actually start using the UPS close to it's capacity the Li batteries protection circuit will kick in shutting them off. You've effectively capped your UPS to 250 watts.

 

[EJ3]

Not the question you asked , but why plug all of that into UPS? It is not like there is battery power to keep them going once AC fails. These things have no useful surge protection so you are better off just plugging them into a power strip. We have a generator that takes a minute to get started so I have a Cyberpower to keep the router going but that is it. As an aside, all of my Cyberpowers fail due to battery first and then eventually the whole unit. On the average, they only last 3 years or so. Alas, they are the only fanless rack mounted sine waves I have found.

My home has no receptacle rated at less than 20 amps (I don't know why, it came that way).
I have all of my stereo plugged into 2 separate 1350 Watt UPSes (with surge protection [each plugged into their own circuits]).
So that I can listen to music, news, whatever while the power is out. (I disconnect my subs to conserve power when I am under those conditions).
(My refrigerator is on one large UPS, my freezer is on another large UPS [each on their own circuit, in both cases, they will last 2 days {both from my design and experience with hurricanes here & typhoons in Saipan & Guam}]).
The upright freezer and the refrigerator are heavy but intermittent loads. (As long as you don't open the refrigerator/freezer doors a lot, they won't run often).
I also have a separate UPS in each room, connected to led table lamps. That is really nice in the bathrooms.
In the kitchen, I have one smaller UPS dedicated to the gas stoves ignitors and another, larger UPS dedicated to the kitchen's exhaust fans.
They are all charged by other emergency power (powered by natural gas) that I crank up from time to time for the purpose of charging the UPSes.
We are mostly generator noise free (because we are under deep tree cover, solar to keep things charged is not possible here).

 

[dlaloum]

There's more to it than that. You need to make sure the replacement batteries have a discharge rate equal to or greater than the original UPS batteries. Most, that I've looked at, Li batteries will discharge at 1C. This is a fraction of the discharge rate of an AGM battery. In your use case, assuming a 24V battery string with 10Ah batteries, it's maybe a 6 amp discharge current. But once you actually start using the UPS close to it's capacity the Li batteries protection circuit will kick in shutting them off. You've effectively capped your UPS to 250 watts.

Yes, which is why I stated that it has a lower than original current capacity...

The original rating for the unit is circa 800W...
My use of it never gets close to 250W... even though it has run a NAS with up to 14HDD's and 5 SSD's

Actual run time with the LiFePo's is longer than with the original AGM's - so in this configuration it has longer runtime but lower max output... a compromise that suits me very well, as I never needed its capacity rating! (and prefer to have an extended runtime instead!)

It also means the unit electronics are running well below their rated capacity - cruising along, proving a potentially increased lifetime for the entire unit.

 

[amirm]

Well, mine has surge protection, like most UPSeseseses. I think 6 of the outlets have battery backup and the others don't. My reason for plugging in expensive electronics on UPSes was that the battery might provide a more stable power than just a surge protector strip.

But they do not. In pass through mode, they just have standard MOV based surge protectors which if you are lucky are fuse protected. If not, they can blow themselves up after the MOV shorts out with a surge. In addition, all they do in the case of a surge, dump that into ground which will then travel through the rest of your house, looking for other bits to damage!

As to their UPS, it will only kick in if there is a power failure, not when there is a surge. You would need an online UPS which always regenerates power. These are much more expensive, will waste power and will have fans.

There is no reason at all to use a UPS in an audio system except for a server that has storage and runs an OS. The rest, don't need anything. Your audio gear if half decent, will have the same surge protector as above.

The best option for surge protection is one in your meter which the power company can install for cheap ($300 to $400 in US). Next best is one at your electrical breaker panel with very short connections to it (these are now code in some jurisdictions in US). These will provide some protection for the entire home. If a surge is strong enough though, it will blow these up like they are not there and your only recourse is repair/replacement using your home owners insurance (in US anyway).

 

[EJ3]

The best option for surge protection is one in your meter which the power company can install for cheap ($300 to $400 in US).

I was unaware of the in meter one. I will have to check that out.
My whole purpose for the USPs is to fix low voltage or no voltage situations (usually mine is 119V, some times 117V) But when a transformer on a pole near my home blows...
But surge protection (in the breaker box) is for exactly that: surge protection.
I like the idea of "in your meter".

 

[respice finem]

There is no reason at all to use a UPS in an audio system except for a server that has storage and runs an OS. The rest, don't need anything...

Another exception are IMHO devices like smart TVs, streamers - with their "silent" firmware updates. A power outage could "brick" them.

 

[Sounderista]

A lot of this stuff is a little over my head. But looking for surge protectors on Amazon, I came across one that I had bought for an old computer earlier this year, and I'm not using it much, so I started using it: https://a.co/d/0nYbD9j

4000 Joules has to be more than enough, right?

 

[Sounderista]

There is no reason at all to use a UPS in an audio system

I remembered the main reason why I use one. The power company where I live, Duke Energy, provides awful service, and when the power goes out, it almost never does it in a "clean" way. There's a mess of power going out, a second later it comes on again, then out, then comes back with half the power, then goes out again for good. That or some variation of that is usually the case. When it comes back, usually the same. Even during times of normal service, at least once a month, the power goes out for a second and comes back right away. That is not good at all for electronics. So having the most expensive ones connected to a UPS at least gives you the peace of mind that the device itself won't have to suffer the power hiccups I described.

 

[G|force]

@Amirm speaks the truth that the best and really only reliable 'surge protection' is one installed in your houses load center. (breaker box) Out there in a steel box, outside your home is where they belong.

A few years ago at my previous sub-rural residence, we had a storm that took out the utility. When the power came back on, it was at 98-106V for a few days. (!) Not good for the health of electric motors, and equipment that has a linear power supply won't run properly or at all with that low voltage.

Anyway, I have a Furman P1800AR that powers the very few pieces of my gear that have a linear PS. The Furman is a 1U rack mounted box that has a transformer with multiple taps that keep its output close to 120V with high or low input voltage. All of the other gear in my rig thankfully has a switching PS and works fine from 90-250V or so.

The Furman did have a couple MOV (metal oxide varistor) inside which I have removed. In fact I have removed all of the MOV that I can in all of my gear, as these miserable things will all fail sooner or later.
Maybe later is tomorrow or 50 years from now.

When they do fail, they usually fail closed (shorted). Why they are considered useful and not outright illegal is beyond me.