Will an APC Back-UPS work properly when fed by a SQUARE WAVE home inverter (Luminous Eco Watt Neo)? Trying to protect my PS5 from shutting off during power cuts.
Hey all, need some real-world experience here before I spend money on something that might not work as expected.
My setup / goal:
The technical concern I want validated: Square wave / modified sine wave AC doesn't have a clean, sharp zero-crossing point. Line-interactive UPS units (like this APC) sync their own output timing off the zero-crossing of whatever AC they're being fed. Some forum threads I found (DIY Solar Forum, All About Circuits) describe UPS units getting confused when fed modified/square sine wave — clicking sounds, failure to sync, in one case reported hardware damage (though that was with unbranded cheap inverters, not something like a Luminous).
What I'm asking:
- Has anyone actually run a line-interactive UPS (APC or otherwise) off a square wave home inverter's UPS-mode output? Did it work cleanly, or did you get clicking/sync issues/erratic behavior?
- Would I be better off getting a UPS with a wider/more tolerant input sync range, or is this overthinking a problem that doesn't really show up in practice?
For context, here's what an AI assistant (Claude) told me when I ran this by it, in case it's useful or someone wants to push back on it:
Your inverter is square wave, confirmed on Luminous’s site. UPS units sync best to clean sine wave, not square wave. One forum case reported UPS clicking/misbehaving in this situation. Not confirmed for your exact APC model — no direct source says it will fail. Only real test: plug it in during a power cut and watch for problems.
Basically it's telling me "there's a documented theoretical risk, but no one has confirmed it happens with your exact hardware combo — you'll have to test it yourself." Wanted to see if actual humans who've done this have a more concrete answer before I buy the APC.
Appreciate any insight on this.