Stupid APC Battery Back-up Problem

[Jarhead0331]

I bought an APC battery back-up unit awhile ago and it sat in its box in the corner of my office for a few months. The other day, we had a brief blackout and my new rig had a rough shutdown (right after I had just completed a successful, but very stressful mission in XCOM Long War Mod, of course).  Anyway, out came the battery back-up and everything seemed to be working fine.  Tonight, I loaded up DCS and once I got in mission, the battery indicator alarm began screaming! Once I exited the mission, the alarm shut off.  I tried unplugging everything, except for the computer power chord, from the battery side of the unit, instead plugging everything into the surge side. This seemed to help slightly, but in the end, the alarm started sounding again. This seems to only happen when I run a high performance application. Not sure if its the increased strain on the CPU, maybe additional fans kicking on?

Any ideas how to get around this, other than buying a more powerful battery unit? It never occurred to me that this could potentially be an issue.  By the way, the battery back-up wasn't so cheap. I'm pretty sure it was close to $100, if not more.

[Huw the Poo]

I don't know anything about this kind of hardware, but one thought occurs to me: is the unit actually rated to handle your rig?  I would guess that better units can handle stronger rigs, and if yours can't, it's incorrectly assuming there's a surge on the line instead of your PC under load.

[mirth]

I think Huw is on the right track. Sounds like the UPS can't handle the load.

http://www.apc.com/site/support/us/en/faq/?page=content&country=ITB&lang=en&locale=en_US&id=FA158827&redirect=true

I don't think there's a way around it other than a bigger unit. APC has a selector than can help determine what you need

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/

[Jarhead0331]

Damn it. I bought the stupid thing for nothing.

Thanks guys.

[eyebiter]

Most of those apc backup units have two sets of power outlets - one side draws on the battery, the other is just a surge protected power strip. 

Plug the printer, monitor, and other peripherals into the area that doesn't draw on the backup battery, see if that helps.

[Nefaro]

Sounds like the extra power draw, when your PC ramps up during more intense programs such as games, is pulling too many amps for it to keep up with.

The biggest power increase is usually due to the video card.  Their power usage increases much more than other components, when being used for gaming & 3D stuff.  They're basically another extra little computer-within-a-computer since they have their own processor, high-performance RAM, chipset, etc.

[Jarhead0331]

Most of those apc backup units have two sets of power outlets - one side draws on the battery, the other is just a surge protected power strip. 

Plug the printer, monitor, and other peripherals into the area that doesn't draw on the backup battery, see if that helps.

Already tried that as indicated above. No dice.  :-\