UPS: Is a stepped approximation of a sinewave a concern?

Interesting question, although the NAS will not see an approximated sine wave except at the input to its PSU. One could offer the view that even the mains suuply is an approximated sine wave with the likely amounts of interference on the mains.

Will they allow you a home trial on the power regenerator?

If so ...then the question can answer itself as to if it sounds good or not

Nick from Suffolk posted:

Interesting question, although the NAS will not see an approximated sine wave except at the input to its PSU. One could offer the view that even the mains suuply is an approximated sine wave with the likely amounts of interference on the mains.

That’s true enough Nick. I once had a friend of mine put an oscilloscope on my mains and the topmost peak of the wave was being hammered dead flat by some kind of spuriae and that despite the HiFi being on a dedicated supply. All my transformers hum like hornets and have hence been banished to an adjacent room with the Burndies etc coming back through a hole in the wall to the brain stack.

Think a small APC unit will provide not a pseudo sinewave, unless the mains power is unavailable. In normal conditions, it will provide the mains voltage directly to output.

kevin J Carden posted:

Question for someone with more tech background than me please. I’m thinking of getting an APC uninterruptible power supply to feed my NAS in order to protect it from surges, power cuts etc. Reading up, it all looks good, but should I worry about the fact that the wave form is a synthesised sinewave instead of an ‘analog’ form, or am I making a duff comparison here. Any potential effect on the end effect on my music? My Audiophilia Nervosa is playing me up something chronic Doc!

Fear not Kevin,  your NAS & an APC (UPS) will get on just famously,  a marriage made in heaven.     The normal UPS output power is direct from mains - via an isolation transformer & C&D mode chokes - so is simply straight through mains power.  In power-out (battery) conditions the UPS output power is not a pure sine wave as such but its perfectly OK for supplying the SMPS that supplies DC to the NAS.  

My APC (UPS) supplies NAS & also phone & broadband,   the NAS is USB linked to the APC & is programmed to start to shut down when APC signals that its gone to battery,  the APC keeps supplying phone & broadband to give us the time to finish up a phone call & most important save any work on the laptop(s),  after which we get about 45 minutes before the battery level shuts down the APC.

Thanks Mike. Now I get it! That makes sense of course now..

can I ask which APC you’re using?

kevin J Carden posted:

can I ask which APC you’re using?

APC Back-UPS 350            350 gives a clue to the power (VA) it can handle,   more than plenty for my NAS & two other SMPS's 

Thanks again Mike. I will investigate. Having just splashed out c.£300 on a DrayTek Router I should also put that on the APC when I get it. Phone makes sense too. 

Just before Christmas one of my Zyxel switches blew its internal power supply on start up after a power cut during the night. I guess it would be sensible to protect those as well.

Yes,  I should have mentioned I have my Cisco SG110D switch on the UPS as well.