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All,

Happy Friday! Hope everyone is having a great week!

I am looking at the best battery backup/UPS options for our network room. I have 8 servers that will need to be powered, some stand along and a lot of virtual ones.

I need at least 30amp power supply, that can carry up to 2,000 watts for at least 15 minutes. Any suggestions? Brands and whatnot?

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I like the Eaton 9PX series for mid/small sized rack-mount situations.
With a single battery pack you can probably get about 20 minutes - and you can add several other battery packs on if you need the extra run time.

@Eaton

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Thanks for sharing your recommendation, Peter.

Admir, here’s the Eaton 9PX 3 kVA UPS with a 30-amp input plug. The 9PX3000RT with delivers 8 minutes at 2000 watts of load. If you add one battery module , you get 34 minutes. ( Full runtimes here. )

There’s also the 9PX3000RTN which is the same model but bundled with a network card. N = network card. We’re pretty clever around here.

9PX Spiceworks reviews for reference: https://community.spiceworks.com/products/48923-eaton-9px-ups

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My apologies I forgot to include the part where I am on a budget here. I’d like something shy of up to $2,000 and probably no more than $2,300. The one you guys are suggesting is a bit too much out of my price range. It also needs to be network capable.

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For your servers if you have 2 power supplies in them then use 2 UPS’s. This will allow the servers to continue to run if one UPS goes offline for some reason. If budget is your concern then maybe look at using some smaller ones and have less equipment connected to each one.

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The Eaton 5PX is going to be closer to your budget. Keep in mind that the prices you’re seeing are list so I’d request a quote from your VAR or wherever you get your stuff.

5PX3000RT2U will give you about 6 minutes at 2000 watts. Add a battery pack and it goes to almost 30 minutes. Full runtimes .

5PX Spiceworks reviews: https://community.spiceworks.com/products/41096-eaton-5px-ups?source=Selector_161

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Does it have to work as intended? You might want to extend your budget slightly. UPSs aren’t something that you want to go cheap on just to fit a budget.

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I know, I think i have some wiggle room, I agree going cheap with battery backup could be more costly than extending the budget a bit.

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Another vote for Eaton, it does sound like the 9PX is going to be the best option but if budget wont cover it, Mike’s suggestion of the 5PX is another idea but as you say, going cheap can really put you in a hard spot. I got my 9PX units in the 3K rang which is above your budget but worth every dollar IMHO. Add extended battery packs are a really cheap way to extend runtime, you just have to pony up for the main unit.

@mikedecamp

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I currently have a couple of 5PX2200s with the network card and they have been treating me very well, but I don’t drive them quite as hard as Crotech plans.

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Thanks TechKnight, your answers have been very valuable.

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If you have servers with dual power supplies then you should really have 2 UPS’s.

You could get two Tripp Lite SMART3000CRMXL supplies for a little over your budget.

One unit is supposed to run for 10 minutes at 2000 Watts. With 2 units runtime jumps up to close to 30 minutes.

If you want to look at used, I did find this:

You could get 2 of these for well under that price. I have used units from this place before, but for critical infrastructure I have always used new.

http://www.upsforless.com/sum3000rmxl2uref.aspx

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We have a similar size server room and requirements as you. Here’s what we used:

https://www.tripplite.com/web-management-accessory-card-smartpro-smartonline-ups-systems~TLNETCARD

https://www.tripplite.com/Environmental-Monitoring-Sensor-Temperature-Humidity-Contact-Closure-Inputs-TLNETCARD~TLNETEM

(get two of each, obviously)

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Hi AJ,

It looks like you have received some helpful ideas. APC has several options in the 3,000 VA range. I am assuming rack mount is what you are seeking, however, please let me know if a tower style is preferable. The best UPS solution I can suggest for 2,000 watts load and a desired runtime of at least 15 minutes with your budget in mind as well as the Network Management Card you require would be our SMX3000LVNC and one SMX120BP external battery pack. The SMX3000LVNC ships with an AP9631 network management card with environmental monitoring pre-installed so you would be able to access the unit via a web browser, SNMP, ftp or Telnet. You would also have temperature monitoring and if you wished to monitor humidity, there is an optional temperature and humidity sensor you could purchase for the AP9631 Network Management card. The SMX3000LVNC on its own would provide approximately 10 minutes of runtime for a load of 2000 watts. The SMX3000LVNC and one SMX120BP external battery pack would provide approximately 45 minutes of runtime at a load of 2,000 watts. I have linked the SMX3000LVNC and the SMX120BP external battery pack below for you to look at:

I did also want to mention that the only company in North America that is an APC Authorized repair center is CoastTec. If you decide that a refurbished unit is how you want to go with this setup, you may wish to contact CoastTec and see what they have to offer. They offer a one year warranty on their refurbished units. They also sell refurbished network management cards. I have linked CoastTec’s website below for you if you would like to explore that option:

https://coasttec.com/shop/

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance in finding you an APC UPS solution.

Patricia