Generator or Inverter?
I'm shopping the "used" market (Craigslist) for a generator or inverter. I'm finding that often, sellers don't know what they have. And, more often I don't know how to distinguish between an inverter ...
Forum Discussion
Computer power supplies really don't care much about how pure the sine wave is. They're all switching power supplies, so they roughly rectify it into high-voltage DC and then use a chopper circuit and a high-frequency transformer to get the various low voltages required by the computer circuitry.
Many modern computer and other switching power supplies are also not at very sensitive to voltage or frequency differences, as quite often they're designed to work without modification from any mains power supply in the world. That means they need to accept anywhere from nominal 100V to 240V at either 50 or 60 Hz.
Note that this says nothing about how persnickety the UPS may be. It's entirely possible that the UPS was not liking something besides the waveform about your generator power, such as the frequency or the fact that the neutral and ground were not bonded together (assuming it wasn't hooked into the house electrical system via a transfer switch arrangement).
Many modern computer and other switching power supplies are also not at very sensitive to voltage or frequency differences, as quite often they're designed to work without modification from any mains power supply in the world. That means they need to accept anywhere from nominal 100V to 240V at either 50 or 60 Hz.
Note that this says nothing about how persnickety the UPS may be. It's entirely possible that the UPS was not liking something besides the waveform about your generator power, such as the frequency or the fact that the neutral and ground were not bonded together (assuming it wasn't hooked into the house electrical system via a transfer switch arrangement).
