UPS that doesn't make noise when the power goes out?

November 9, 2022 5:03 AM

Looking for a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for our bedroom to keep our brown noise generator and heated mattress pad running during frequent brief power outages at night. Since the point of getting one is to allow us to sleep through outages, we need one that doesn't beep or buzz or otherwise make noise when the power goes out. Not something that can be silenced by pressing a mute button, but one that never starts making noise to begin with.
posted by Jacqueline to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: CyberPower makes decent UPSes, and they even have a FAQ about disabling the beep: https://help.race.com/en/articles/3406666-how-do-i-silence-cyberpower-ups-audible-alarm

Maybe just double-check any of their units that have the runtime capacity you need. I have one in my basement for the Internet machine, and it's mostly worked.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:26 AM on November 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I have a CyberPower ST425 in our bedroom to keep a fussy light alarm clock from needing to be reset any time the power hiccups. As per wenestvedt’s info above the beep can be disabled - I’ve done that and it only beeps if actually unplugged or the power button on the unit is pressed.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:40 AM on November 9, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks. Runtime capacity isn't a big concern for us because so far all the outages that have happened while we were awake were for less than a minute. But even a few seconds is long enough to switch off all the stuff that helps me stay asleep sleep.

Longer outages in this area are rare enough that I'm not worried about them impacting my sleep often enough to need to spend extra on extra capacity.

Basically we just need something that will quietly keep everything running during the very brief interruptions that seem to happen almost every week during winter.
posted by Jacqueline at 6:14 AM on November 9, 2022

Response by poster: Ordering a CyberPower ST425, thanks!
posted by Jacqueline at 6:16 AM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Note that in addition to the beep, there is another type of noise produced by some UPSes: a fan noise, when the unit is recharging after power comes back on. I don't know about the CyberPower ST425, but it might be worth testing as soon as you get it (and doing the testing in a quiet bedroom at night, not in a normal noisy daytime situation).

I have several of the APC BR1500G UPSes around the house, and while their beeps can be disabled, their fans are loud.
posted by StrawberryPie at 7:26 AM on November 9, 2022

Another data point - some of the LiFePO4 battery pack things support charge and run at the same time. (For example, the EcoFlow River 2 and other models - not an endorsement but literally just saw a review of one of these where that functionality was demonstrated.) These can be somewhat easier to wrangle and last longer than a traditional UPS, since they use a lithium battery than the UPS's gel cell (basically, lead acid) battery. (Bit moot if it's not going to move, though.)
posted by mrg at 8:19 AM on November 9, 2022

If the UPS supports connection to a computer via USB you can usually use the UPS manufacturer's software to configure the UPS to disable the alarm as well.
posted by Aleyn at 11:35 AM on November 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Regarding batteries, there are drop-in LiFePO4 replacements for the standard lead-acid types that go in older UPSes (and lots of other things). They work very well for me, with some caveats¹ .

1. The interaction between the UPS and battery logic isn't flawless, and if you run the battery completely flat you may have to disconnect and reconnect it to unbrick the UPS. This may not be an issue if you don't live in a place with frequent rolling blackouts.
posted by confluency at 6:02 AM on November 10, 2022