[Road Rage]

I already have everything on surge protection but I'm wondering if there's a need for a UPS on the HR20. I never had one on my old SAT-T60 as it handled power outages just fine but I have no idea how an HR20 will act.

While on this subject, my LCD has cooling fans, if the power goes out and the those fans can't run like normal you think it's worth putting the LCD on UPS for that purpose as well, or am I just way overthinking all this.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

"Need" no... it doesn't "need" one.

Put as one that has used DVR's for 6+ years...
I now have small UPS on all my DVR's and my computers.

Just to handle small brown outs, and short power losses....
Just one time... and the $25 or so is worth it.

A lot of people have purchased larger UPS for their LCD and DLPs just for that purpose.
As a side note... I wish those TV's would have some sort of 2nd plug... so you can use just a small UPS, to power those fans and not the entire unit....

 

[Road Rage]

any idea of the wattage an HR20 requires?

 

[tzphotos.com]

any idea of the wattage an HR20 requires?

It should be printed on a label near the power plug. If it says only amps just multiply that by the voltage listed and you will get the wattage.

For example 10A/110V is 1100 Watts.(not the real number for a HR20)

Tom

 

[St Louis Cardinals Fan]

I run a 500 watt ups (AVR) system on my HR20 and TV. I figure it's cheap insurance.

 

[Road Rage]

It should be printed on a label near the power plug. If it says only amps just multiply that by the voltage listed and you will get the wattage.

For example 10A/110V is 1100 Watts.(not the real number for a HR20)

Tom

My sticker just has 120V~60Hz next to the power cord but I'll look again when I get home, maybe it's printed somewhere else.

I can get a good price on an APC with 330w. My TV pulls 230w so I'm hoping the HR20 can live within the remaining 100w. D*'s website has no mention of it either.

 

[Neil Derryberry]

I doubt it pulls more than an amp or so.. any off-the-shelf ups should be fine. I'd worry if you were trying to run your whole HT off of the ups.. you might need to really look at sizing then.

 

[Road Rage]

I doubt it pulls more than an amp or so.. any off-the-shelf ups should be fine. I'd worry if you were trying to run your whole HT off of the ups.. you might need to really look at sizing then.

I just want the cooling fans to be powered if a hot LCD suddenly loses power and DVR to keep spinning for a bit. But I'm noticing that any name brand with AVR is a little more pricey, but well withing reasonable cost. I found an older thread where someone put a watt meter on an HR20 so I think I have all the numbers I need now.

 

[nFavor]

After loosing power and having shows not recorded, I put my Tivo (and now my HR20) on a UPS. 1000VA is easily overkill since it runs for over 3 hours, but it's what I happened to have laying around.

I'd reccomend getting a name brand UPS since the batteries will eventually go bad and there are plenty of 3rd parties that supply batteries for name brand UPS'.

1000VA on the 50" plasma. That's another story all together...

 

[Jomanscool2]

I have a UPS on my HR20, and thats it. I hace my LCD connected to the surge-only outlet on my UPS. Regarding the fans for the LCD/DLP, almost all of them are designed so that they can be unpowered and still cool down. Think of it like your computer. If its on, and the fan stops working, it just shuts down immediately. No more electronic actions are being processed once it shuts down, so it is just expelling the heat. Same with LCDs/DLPs in a power outage. No power = no additional heat = self cooling.

 

[crockett]

I'm in the UPS not needed camp. Personally, I think it's a bunch of malarkey generated by salesmen who sell UPS's.

However I have considered a UPS for my DVR just to protect against a lost recording and if I find a really cheap one I'm sure I'll do it some day.

But as far as equipment protection goes I'm not buying it. I've been heavily involved with PCs (and let's face it the HR20 is essentailly a PC) my entire life both personally and at at work and really just don't see how a UPS affords me any protection.

We have literally hundreds of PCs at work, commercial, residential, and OEM specific with no operater interface (similar to a DVR) and the only ones that have UPS's are the ones where up to the minute data backup is critical.

If anyone felt UPS's were necessary for component protection we'd have them in a heart beat but no one feels this way. We go through numerous power outages a year at my plant.

 

[Staszek]

Probably doesnt need one, but I have a fairly large UPS backing up my entire home theater system, not as much for the DVR though but for the RPTV so the bulbs dont get fd up.

Its also nice when there is a power outage to sit there and still be able to watch everything in surround for another 2 hours

UPS are so cheap now you might as well. Cost me less for my UPS then it did for the monster line conditioner.

 

[nFavor]

I'm in the UPS not needed camp. If anyone felt UPS's were necessary for component protection we'd have them in a heart beat but no one feels this way.

I say it's a necessary component simply because a split second power dip can cause you to loose several minutes of a recording(due to the long startup times). I had this happen a few times and was upset enough to use a UPS.

 

[Meklos]

I'm in the UPS not needed camp. Personally, I think it's a bunch of malarkey generated by salesmen who sell UPS's.

However I have considered a UPS for my DVR just to protect against a lost recording and if I find a really cheap one I'm sure I'll do it some day.

But as far as equipment protection goes I'm not buying it. I've been heavily involved with PCs (and let's face it the HR20 is essentailly a PC) my entire life both personally and at at work and really just don't see how a UPS affords me any protection.

We have literally hundreds of PCs at work, commercial, residential, and OEM specific with no operater interface (similar to a DVR) and the only ones that have UPS's are the ones where up to the minute data backup is critical.

If anyone felt UPS's were necessary for component protection we'd have them in a heart beat but no one feels this way. We go through numerous power outages a year at my plant.

IMHO you've gotten very lucky. I put a UPS on all my major systems, just because during a storm here, lines tend to hit each other. A UPS doesn't just protect against outages, it also (usually - depending on model) protects against surges and brownouts / voltage drops. This is where I see more problems than anywhere, especially surges during/after a storm.

I can't tell you how many power supplies I've seen toasted due to surges, and usually it takes out the motherboard (and other components) at the same time.

 

[Stevesdigi]

I live in Florida with all kinds of brown outs and surges - and that's not even the ones we get during the t-storms. I have always had a UPS on all of my computers and one in the living room to handle the DVR. I don't plug the 50" plasma into a UPS backup outlet but it is plugged into a surge protected outlet on the UPS. Without this steady power the DVR would be doing restarts 10 times a day in the summer and probably 1 to 2 times a day the rest of the year. It is cheap insurance!

If you look at my picture on the left you can just see the top of my APS tower style UPS to the right of the TV.

 

[ExUltimateTV]

I'm no expert on this, but I believe there is more to buying a UPS than the obvious sizing calculations, and there are even many grades of "AVR" (automatic voltage regulation).

A good read are APC's white papers: http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNM3Y_R5_EN.pdf and http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-5WKLPK_R0_EN.pdf

Be aware that most consumer UPS are sold for home computer use. Home computers typically use switching type power supplies, which don't care about the waveform shape. The HR20 is probably powered like a PC, but if you're also intending to protect your A/V receiver or plasma TV, you might want to invest more dollars to get a true sinusoidal output (I don't know which units really care and which don't). APC makes units specifically aimed at A/V use, and they are specced as producing a "true sinusoidal output."

Note that just having an "AVR" designation may not be getting you what you think. APC's lower end AVR units have boost only features (90 volts becomes 103), while their higher end stuff has both boost and trim. And then there are things like output voltage distortion, etc. etc.

It's one thing to filter the power, another to condition it, and yet another to supply it from a battery. Personally, I ended up getting a Tripp Lite dual online system for my A/V system, but I also needed to condition my backup generator's power. The dual online system protects my equipment, and let's me run it off the generator (which has really dirty power) for extended outtages.

 

[dervari]

As a side note... I wish those TV's would have some sort of 2nd plug... so you can use just a small UPS, to power those fans and not the entire unit....

Or even a small 12v battery built in to run the fan for a few minutes.

 

[deebeeeff]

I'm no expert on this, but I believe there is more to buying a UPS than the obvious sizing calculations, and there are even many grades of "AVR" (automatic voltage regulation).

A good read are APC's white papers: http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNM3Y_R5_EN.pdf and http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-5WKLPK_R0_EN.pdf

Be aware that most consumer UPS are sold for home computer use. Home computers typically use switching type power supplies, which don't care about the waveform shape. The HR20 is probably powered like a PC, but if you're also intending to protect your A/V receiver or plasma TV, you might want to invest more dollars to get a true sinusoidal output (I don't know which units really care and which don't). APC makes units specifically aimed at A/V use, and they are specced as producing a "true sinusoidal output."

Note that just having an "AVR" designation may not be getting you what you think. APC's lower end AVR units have boost only features (90 volts becomes 103), while their higher end stuff has both boost and trim. And then there are things like output voltage distortion, etc. etc.

It's one thing to filter the power, another to condition it, and yet another to supply it from a battery. Personally, I ended up getting a Tripp Lite dual online system for my A/V system, but I also needed to condition my backup generator's power. The dual online system protects my equipment, and let's me run it off the generator (which has really dirty power) for extended outtages.

Uhh, you fail to mention what happens if a TV is connected to a UPS w/o a "true sinusoidal output".

 

[hasan]

Uhh, you fail to mention what happens if a TV is connected to a UPS w/o a "true sinusoidal output".

Been doing it for years with APC UPSs...no problems...including running it for over an hour. Again, these are pretty modern ups's, with some waveform conditioning, but by no means could they be considered sine wave. They are probably somewhat better than standard "square wave like" el-cheapo inverters...and I would not run any of my expensive equipment on a 39 dollar inverter.

I've never damaged a TV with an APC UPS, small or large volt-ampere rating.

 

[deebeeeff]

Been doing it for years with APC UPSs...no problems...including running it for over an hour. Again, these are pretty modern ups's, with some waveform conditioning, but by no means could they be considered sine wave. They are probably somewhat better than standard "square wave like" el-cheapo inverters...and I would not run any of my expensive equipment on a 39 dollar inverter.

I've never damaged a TV with an APC UPS, small or large volt-ampere rating.

So a new 1300VA 780 watt APC UPS should do the trick long enough for the fans to cool down the TV, eh?