I know this is more hardware related, so please let me know if I should move this post elsewhere.
I built my first server earlier this year, and put buying a UPS on the back burner. Unfortunately for me, this might have already been my biggest mistake since going down this rabbit hole. The rental I’ll be in for at least another 10 months has some questionable wiring (a lot of rooms/outlets wired to the same breaker), which I believe has created some electrical anomalies and possibly killed some of my computer components. The memory on my PC went first, and now the 7-month-old PSU on my server is toast.
Bear in mind, I am not an electrician, so I could be entirely wrong on why this has happened. Regardless, it's time I invest in a UPS. I have searched forums, blogs, YouTube, and cannot find consistent pros and cons for any of the big manufacturers. It seems like APC and CyberPower are the two big consumer grade manufacturers, which is probably what I should be looking at.
Here is what my server currently consists of:
| Type | Item | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i3-10100 | |
| CPU Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin | |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG B560M | |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 CL16 Memory | |
| Storage | Crucial P3 1 TB NVME SSD | X2 |
| Storage | Hitachi Ultrastar He12 12 TB HDD | |
| Storage | Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC520 12 TB HDD | X2 |
| Case | Fractal Design Define 7 | |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 550 | Replacement until I finish the RMA process on the dead power supply. |
| OS | Unraid | |
| Estimated Wattage | 238W | I have not tested this personally, but I will say the server is never really being stressed all that much. |
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Build your own just for fun. That's homelab style
I will not recommend it if you don't have enough experience.
Fire hazard.
Yeah no, line voltage will kill you if you don't know what you are doing, not to mention the fire hazard as was mentioned. The 12/24 volt used in computer systems much easier to mess around and not 'find out' other than maybe a fried component. Unless you are an electrician/ electrical engineer with proper training don't open/mess with Power Supply Unit (PSU) or UPS.
One mod anyone could do is swap their lead acid for a LiFePO4. You just need to make sure the same voltage,battery quantity (larger backups often have 2 batteries in a series) and the battery dimensions are the same. They should be drop in replacements and do last longer.
That being said, I myself, do have training and if you want to waste your time I probably would mod some UPS with a car battery for longer down time support. Watched a YouTube video of a person do it to find the pitfalls for me and the issue is heat as it's not expected to run off battery + inverter for longer than the smaller battery normally allows it maybe 5 minutes compared to like 1 hour, so several fans and heat sinks on critical components would be needed adding minor complexity and planning.