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Wayne Larmon | profile | all galleries >> Individual Photo Sessions >> demos >> AC line waveforms, real and simulated tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

AC line waveforms, real and simulated

The first picture shows the waveform of 120 volts AC, as delivered by the power company. The second picture shows the "Stepped approximation to a sinewave" that an APC SU420NET produces when running on battery.

The second example is an APC Back-UPS XS 1300LCD. The first waveform is AC line voltage passed through. The second wave form is the 1300LCD running on batteries, with no load. The third 1300LCD image is running on batteries, with 289 watts load (four 100 watt incandescent light bulbs.)

The third example is from an APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET. The first waveform is AC line voltage. The second waveform is the SU1000NET running on batteries, with about 97 watts load (Dell SC440 server.)
APC Smart-UPS 420 SU420NET
APC Smart-UPS 420 SU420NET		 AC line voltage
AC line voltage		 APC Smart-UPS 420 SU420NET UPS on battery.
APC Smart-UPS 420 SU420NET UPS on battery.		 APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD No load
APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD No load
AC line voltage waveform
AC line voltage waveform		 APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. No load
APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. No load		 APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. 289 watts load
APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. 289 watts load		 APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. 289 watts load
APC Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD on battery. 289 watts load
APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET
APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET		 APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET On AC
APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET On AC		 APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET On battery
APC Smart-UPS 1000 SU1000NET On battery

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Orcinus24x5 11-Oct-2017 04:34
Computers (and anything else that uses a switch-mode power supply) don't care what the waveform looks like on incoming power. The very first thing any switch-mode power supply does is rectify the incoming voltage to DC, and filter it with (usually a pair of) large capacitors.
Guest 08-Jan-2012 12:33
Yeah!, Thank you so very much!..With modern Gaming Computers, that Square Guess at a Sinewave just aint going to work!!!
G3412 22-Jun-2010 23:12
Thanks for posting this! I appreciate your time and energy to allow others that do not have an O-scope to see the difference between stepped and pure sine wave outputs! :)
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