I currently have a 600W UPS, but my desktop tower and two monitors get close to its maximum load. The UPS has already shut the computer down twice because of overload when both monitors were connected. Would it be safe to connect the tower to the 600W UPS and use a separate 360W UPS for the monitors? I'm mainly trying to reduce the load on the desktop's UPS rather than extend battery runtime. I also want protection during frequent lightning storms in my area.
3 Answers
Using a UPS can help with brief outages and power fluctuations, but it is not guaranteed protection against a direct lightning strike. For frequent storms, proper household grounding and a suitable whole-home surge protector are more important. Also check the UPS’s actual watt rating rather than relying only on its VA rating, and leave some headroom instead of running it near maximum load.
Yes, you can use separate UPS units for the computer and monitors. It should reduce the load on the 600W unit, although it won’t significantly increase runtime unless the monitor UPS has a substantial battery. Make sure each UPS is connected directly to a properly grounded wall outlet and not to another UPS.
I’m not really concerned about longer runtime. The main problem is that the computer has shut down twice when both monitors were connected because the UPS was overloaded.
You could put the monitors on the second UPS, but you may not need to keep both of them running during an outage. One monitor is usually enough to save your work and shut the computer down safely, which leaves more capacity for the tower.
I’m especially cautious because lightning has damaged appliances and modems near my home before. I’ll look into improving the grounding and surge protection rather than depending on the UPS alone.