Should I buy a apc smart ups to replace the old back ups?

[ztx]

Now I'm using apc bx650ci-cn back ups for my freenas server and router, It works well. the purpose of using ups is when ac power loses, I can get serval minutes to shutdown. Last week, I noticed the ups switch to battery for a very short time then back, yesterday I got a hdd smart test failure message, one of my disk got a read failure error. maybe the ups didn't provide enough protection, Should I upgrade to better ups such as apc smart ups?

 

[subhuman]

It's up to you, but I don't expect that there's a correlation between the two. Replace that drive ASAP.

 

[ztx]

The disk is replaced.

I can't sure the disk failure is because the ups didn't provide enough protection, I have read that smart series have avr and filtering, Now I'm struggling to upgrade ups or buy a new disk.

 

[subhuman]

I can't sure the disk failure is because the ups didn't provide enough protection

Right. You can't be sure. The UPS may or may not be to blame, which is why I wrote above that it's up to you.

The reason I said I don't expect there to be a correlation is....
In order for a power problem to be to blame, a spike came in, made it by the UPS, through the power supply and damaged the HDD but no other components in the system.
Ok, it's possible. But not real high up on my list of likely scenarios.
On the other hand, hard drives fail, all over the world, every day.

 

[no_connection]

Offline UPS don't really have much protection since it's a relay directly to mains. With some small filtering stuff at best.

One thing to note, I have 4 APC SmartUPS 1500 and two of them fried the batteries. And by fried I mean dumping massive charge into damaged batteries, I thankfully noticed when it finally started beeping intermittently when batteries got really hot and probably went open circuit. The metal enclosure was almost too hot to touch. I had the other unit at home and it was hot as well but no errors. Think I got just in time.
Not gonna bash APC for one model but do get a good one with proper battery management. Also on-line UPS do loose some efficiency and have fans but they shuold keep voltage rock solid. I have good enough mains to keep mine in offline mode.

 

[ztx]

Maybe the spike is from ac power, but UPS didn't filter it, on line UPS can filter spikes, what about a line-interactive apc smart?

 

[no_connection]

Line-interactive is same as offline UPS meaning inverter is only working when it is on battery power. And usually switched by mechanical relay. Or solid state I guess.

 

[subhuman]

Maybe the spike is from ac power, but UPS didn't filter it, on line UPS can filter spikes, what about a line-interactive apc smart?

The model you have is rated at 274 joules of surge clamping per its spec sheet. If it received a spike in excess of that amount, it wouldn't still be functioning. Nor would any other electronic devices in your home that were plugged in at that time. (most spikes last under ten microseconds, to exceed 274J in that time period you're looking at minimum a spike of several thousand volts, possibly tens of thousands)
An on-line UPS is much better at handling sags in voltage, not necessarily better at suppressing spikes. A larger UPS is generally better at handling larger spikes. 1000VA models are usually rated 300-400J, 1500VA models are generally in the 400-600J range.

How far do you want to go down this rabbit hole?
Let's assume it was a spike that caused the HDD to fail:
Ok, the UPS didn't stop the spike, so it should be replaced.
The PSU didn't stop it either, so it also needs to be replaced.
Every device in your computer was connected to that power supply, and they were all subjected to the same spike. Everything is suspect and needs to be replaced. If a big enough spike came in that it damaged one HDD, you can't trust any other components that were subjected to that spike.

If you really want to get a new UPS, it's not a bad idea. There are better models than the one you have now. However, I am still sticking to my position that it's extremely unlikely that your HDD failure was caused by a power problem.

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

Where does lightning go? Any d*mn where it wants to go if the voltage is high enough. :)

I would say it is a cost/benefit analysis. The analogy I always used is with an armored car. If you shoot it with a rifle, the shot bounces off. If you shoot it with a howitzer, it blows up. You can get grounding rods, building entrance protectors, and super-duper high capacity online UPS(s). Is it worth it to you? Online type UPS models in my experience do protect better against voltage fades than off line ones, but the batteries do wear out sooner. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Constantin]

Location plays a big role here. The more remote, the more likely your power will be dirty due to line fluctuations as neighbors ACs come on, etc.

I have a site in ME where I installed a brick wall surge protector to protect the UPS from surges, the UPS in turn protects the heating system from brownouts. Should the power fail, the UPS keeps the heating system happy until the genset comes online. Other electronics up there have failed and/or degraded.

Between good grounding practices (incl. lightning protection on the house) and the brick wall, I have yet to find a better way to protect electronica.

MOVs are notorious in that they provide cheap effective protection while they last. However, since it’s usually impossible to gauge how used a MOV is, I would supplement with a brick wall in areas with bad power.

I am under no illusion that should lightning cause a direct hit here I will likely have a circuit or two blow out due to induction.

 

[no_connection]

but the batteries do wear out sooner

I would say it is the opposite from my experience. My online ups have battery management that both charge and discharge batteries to keep them happy at the right voltage, and they have lasted for maaaaany years. I don't know how old some of my batteries are but I do know I have run them for 6+ years, after they where taken out of service (got them for free).

On-line UPS does not mean batteries are loaded at all times when in normal operation, just that AC-DC-AC conversion takes place and no time is wasted turning on and switching to inverter. That is why they have fans since there is always a conversion loss.
This also means there is a lot more electronics actively in the way of lightning to blow up first.

In the case of lightning tho hitting mains is usually not the problem. Telephone or network however are vary much prone to damage.
I have had a harddrive go bad in my ESXi server after a lightning strike. Rest of machine is ok (at least it seems so). I still have to reinstall USB drive in it to see if that is the problem since it take like 5 tries to get it to boot. Still need to recover the data on that one.

 

[ztx]

Thank all! :)

I'll save the money for a HDD.