Add power output in watts in UPS reporting

Feature Requests
1

Problem/Justification
Currently UPS reporting shows UPS load as percentage which is nice but doesnt really tells us the actual power output in watts.

Impact
Adding power output in watts for example by using ups.realpower variable or by calculating it from ups.load. This would allow users to more easily understand how much electricity their UPS outputs and how much the connected devices consume.

User Story
User could easily see power output in watts in reporting section which would tell them how much electricity their connected devices consume.
Maybe then even widget with power output could be added to main page.
Docs: A.4. Variables

2

The UPS cannot tell you that. It knows (hopefully) how much power it delivers to connected devices. But that is the output and not the consumption from the socket.

By definition you will need an external device to measure how much power the UPS draws.

3

You are right. I will edit the post. Either way I think power output in watts would be nice.

1 Like
4

I don’t see why you need an external device to measure input power, yes it is probably more precise but technically you could have this feature built into a UPS.

I don’t know if mine does have this feature or if the data is supplied as a data variable.

5

In theory you are correct. But I am pretty certain that none of the UPSes that are relevant for home or SMB use have this capability.

6

From what I’ve seen, it’s very typical for SOHO UPSes to have built-in power meters that you can access through the serial/USB interface. It might not be on the very cheapest models, but the ones with small displays typically have this feature.

However, this won’t tell you how much power the UPS itself is consuming, and UPSes have a significant power loss. I’d recommend getting a “smart plug” and using that to measure your total power consumption.

1 Like
7

UPS power conversion efficiency is not high. For power backup UPS, its power efficiency may reach more than 95%, but for most small online double conversion UPS, its efficiency may be less than 80% at high and low loads. Considering that the power factor of many UPS is not high, there is also the calculation of active power and reactive power…

UPS usually reports two data, one is voltage and the other is load ratio. Except for some more expensive enterprise UPS, few UPS will report current and power data. My guess is this:

  1. Most UPS have current sensors or are equipped with power meters, otherwise the load ratio cannot be calculated.

  2. Due to the low power factor of UPS, the maximum load of a 1000VA UPS is usually around 600-800 watts.

  3. Many UPS users do not understand this and always subconsciously think that the maximum load of a 1000VA UPS is 1000W, which leads to the risk of overload.

  4. Manufacturers directly mark the load ratio to better protect UPS and equipment (because there is no need to educate users), so they deliberately hide the current and power data (which will also slightly reduce costs).

  5. Some enterprise-level UPS maintenance personnel have sufficient knowledge, so these high-end UPS will provide more detailed data.

  6. The no-load power consumption of an online double-conversion UPS may be 30W. When the load is 30W, its power efficiency is only 50%. For home users, this is a possible usage scenario, and manufacturers do not want users to pay too much attention to this, so as not to lose potential users who are sensitive to energy consumption. Therefore, they also have the motivation to hide power-related parameters.