HCHTech
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Ok, I kind of fell down a rabbit hole on this little project, because I found myself with an uncharacteristic excess of free time today coupled with my own curiosity.
So this is a common-enough issue, "what size UPS should I get for a particular job?" In today's version of this question, I had a generic discussion with the client about size vs. cost vs. runtime, and landed on the statement "It really depends on how much runtime you want." Some time passed, and they came back later with the statement, "We'd like a guaranteed runtime of 30 minutes." This is for a network equipment stack, not for computers.
Ok so I thought I'd dig in and really make an attempt at understanding the load and requirements here, so I could intelligently answer the question, showing my work for proof. Here's how I got there - please poke holes where necessary:
1. UPS "capacity" is invariably shown in Volt-Amps. e.g. 500VA or 1000VA.
2. I found this website that stated for runtime, a rule of thumb is "The formula commonly used is 10 times the capacity of the battery (in ampere hours) divided by the load on the device (in watts)." giving you estimated minutes of runtime for a specific load.
3. So, step one, convert Volt-Amps (VA) into Ampere hours (Ah). For 2-phase power, the formula for this is VA / (Line Voltage x 2). So at 110v line voltage (I'm in the states), a 500VA UPS provides 2.253 Ah (500 / (110 x 2)).
4. Next, measure the total UPS load in watts. Here comes the "Watts = Volts x Amps" formula. Getting the input numbers for this is trickier than I thought since I'm not onsite, but Google is my friend. I have the following equipment in the network stack:
a. HP OfficeConnect 1950 48-port switch. I found a spec page that showed 110v input at .5A, or 55W. I later found another site showing 54W maximum power consumption, so that tracks.
b. Sonicwall TZ400 - This has a power brick which outputs 12 V @ 3A, so an easy one at 36W. Note this is FIOS internet, and we're taking ethernet directly from the ONT, so no modem in the mix.
c. Comtrend POE switch for IP phones (this is tricky since load depends on what phones and how many) I found specs for the switch excluding POE load which showed 110v input at .35A = 38.5W. Let's round this to 39 to get rid of the decimal.
d. They have 7 POE phones connected to the Comtrend switch, which are POE at 24V & .2A = 4.8W ea. x 7 = 34W.
e. Unifi US-8-150 POE switch for the 3 access points. Specs on this note "20W maximum power consumption excluding POE, 150W including POE". So 20W for the switch itself
f. 3 Unifi AC Pro access points. These spec at 9W ea. They are 48V POE, so that means .1875A ea. for extra credit. 9W x 3 = 27W total
So.... in total, I've got a maximum load of 55 + 36 + 39 + 34 + 20 + 27 = 211W load.
5. If I get a 750VA UPS, that converts to 3.41 Ampere Hours, and the rule of thumb from step 2 gives us (3.41 x 10) / 211 = .162 hours or 9.7 minutes.
That's nowhere near the 30-minute goal. It looks like a 2200VA UPS would be necessary. That's (10Ah x 10) / 211 = .474 hours or 28 minutes.
Note that all of these calculations assume 100% efficiency, which is never the case, so I imagine the more practical answer would be "Plus X%".
I have a feeling the client is going to relax their 30 minute requirement once I tell them how much a 2200VA UPS is going to cost.
Other than that, though - did I get the math right? Is there an easier way or rule-of-thumb that I'm missing?
So this is a common-enough issue, "what size UPS should I get for a particular job?" In today's version of this question, I had a generic discussion with the client about size vs. cost vs. runtime, and landed on the statement "It really depends on how much runtime you want." Some time passed, and they came back later with the statement, "We'd like a guaranteed runtime of 30 minutes." This is for a network equipment stack, not for computers.
Ok so I thought I'd dig in and really make an attempt at understanding the load and requirements here, so I could intelligently answer the question, showing my work for proof. Here's how I got there - please poke holes where necessary:
1. UPS "capacity" is invariably shown in Volt-Amps. e.g. 500VA or 1000VA.
2. I found this website that stated for runtime, a rule of thumb is "The formula commonly used is 10 times the capacity of the battery (in ampere hours) divided by the load on the device (in watts)." giving you estimated minutes of runtime for a specific load.
3. So, step one, convert Volt-Amps (VA) into Ampere hours (Ah). For 2-phase power, the formula for this is VA / (Line Voltage x 2). So at 110v line voltage (I'm in the states), a 500VA UPS provides 2.253 Ah (500 / (110 x 2)).
4. Next, measure the total UPS load in watts. Here comes the "Watts = Volts x Amps" formula. Getting the input numbers for this is trickier than I thought since I'm not onsite, but Google is my friend. I have the following equipment in the network stack:
a. HP OfficeConnect 1950 48-port switch. I found a spec page that showed 110v input at .5A, or 55W. I later found another site showing 54W maximum power consumption, so that tracks.
b. Sonicwall TZ400 - This has a power brick which outputs 12 V @ 3A, so an easy one at 36W. Note this is FIOS internet, and we're taking ethernet directly from the ONT, so no modem in the mix.
c. Comtrend POE switch for IP phones (this is tricky since load depends on what phones and how many) I found specs for the switch excluding POE load which showed 110v input at .35A = 38.5W. Let's round this to 39 to get rid of the decimal.
d. They have 7 POE phones connected to the Comtrend switch, which are POE at 24V & .2A = 4.8W ea. x 7 = 34W.
e. Unifi US-8-150 POE switch for the 3 access points. Specs on this note "20W maximum power consumption excluding POE, 150W including POE". So 20W for the switch itself
f. 3 Unifi AC Pro access points. These spec at 9W ea. They are 48V POE, so that means .1875A ea. for extra credit. 9W x 3 = 27W total
So.... in total, I've got a maximum load of 55 + 36 + 39 + 34 + 20 + 27 = 211W load.
5. If I get a 750VA UPS, that converts to 3.41 Ampere Hours, and the rule of thumb from step 2 gives us (3.41 x 10) / 211 = .162 hours or 9.7 minutes.
That's nowhere near the 30-minute goal. It looks like a 2200VA UPS would be necessary. That's (10Ah x 10) / 211 = .474 hours or 28 minutes.
Note that all of these calculations assume 100% efficiency, which is never the case, so I imagine the more practical answer would be "Plus X%".
I have a feeling the client is going to relax their 30 minute requirement once I tell them how much a 2200VA UPS is going to cost.
Other than that, though - did I get the math right? Is there an easier way or rule-of-thumb that I'm missing?