Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

That's not my experience. Modern power supplies in desktop PCs either don't work or trip up non Pure Sine wave UPSs. I don't know the technical specifics but it has to do with Active PFC on power supplies.



I've used square wave UPSs on my PCs for as long as I can remember with power supplies from varying manufacturers, I have never had a problem. I have heard this before but I suspect it's either a myth or it only was ever a problem with very rare combinations of poorly-made UPSs and poorly-made power supplies.


I was forced to change UPS relatively recently (a few years ago) because the cheap but not bargain-basement PSU on my computer didn't work with the non-sine-wave output of my UPS. Call them poorly-made if you like, but either I got unlucky or they're fairly common.

Power supplies tend not to advertise their compatibility with non-sinewave power, but UPSes will certainly make it clear if they produce sinewave output. So the safe option is to get the UPS which gives the PSU what it's expecting.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: