Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS)

[Thor]

For Christmas, Inga got me a UPS. So far, I've had 20 "events" where the power dies off for a split second and then comes back. With power outages, what happens is the power / voltage actually drops off (lowers). Surge suppressors do NOT work in this instance. NOT having a UPS cost me a couple of motherboards, memory and some other technical work on all three of my desktops. All I can say is that IF one owns a desktop, a UPS is a necessity. So far, my computers haven't lost power even once since I've hooked everything up to the UPS. My phone, router and cable modem are also connected. While it doesn't give me a whole bunch of time to linger on the net, it does prevent arbitrary power offs. I've not had to do one OUNCE of technical work on my desktops since I've connected everything to the UPS.

[Doc]

Agreed, there is no substitute......I prefer Advanced Power Systems (APC), but they are a bit pricy....

doc

[cavegal]

We have one for the TV. We have lost 1 1/2 TV's. It is pricey but it is great. (I say 1/2 because we got it fixed)

[LC EFA]

I used to run a line filter type thing for my desktops - It corrected under, over and OOP conditions should it encounter them. Just no battery backup.

One of the projects for this year is to build a UPS/portable power box from truck batteries and associated hardware. This is for more than running a computer though. Ideally I want to run a couple of other devices from the same unit.

[Thor]

Today, with the high winds most of the day and the severe storms tonight, power went out/ browned out several times. My computers kept ticking. At one point, the monitor was the only "light" in the house.

Doc, I have an APS. It cost about $150 at Sam's Club. That's $150 well spent in the prevention of power problems. I didn't even have to shut anything down because the power was out for a minute of less. I NOW LOVE my APS UPS!!!

3 power events throughout the day and not a glitch nor a repair required on ANYTHING!!

[thundley4]

I have a pretty hefty UPS hooked up that supplies our two main computers. It's an APC 1500 voltamp unit. I also have a 15 watt halogen desk lamp powered from it.

[Thor]

I think that mine is only a 1250 watt backup. It's an NS 1250 by APS. What I do know is that I have two desktops with AMD processors (requires more cooling and therefore more power), a monitor, Cable modem, router and telephone connected. I have 9 minutes of reserve power if the power goes completely out. What I like best is that the momentary fluctuations/ brown outs/ drops no longer effect my network. A year ago, we experienced the same power problems and a brown out ruined two of my computers and killed the memory in another. It was costly (to me) to get them fixed even though I did the work myself.  Of course, I upgraded some stuff as I repaired the desktops, so that was an added expense. I might attempt to find a reasonably priced LED light for some augmentation, but my UPS does have its limits.

[thundley4]

Buy a string of white LED Christmas lights.

[kenth]

We have an APC 1500VA model, now going on ten years old. It still performs without a glitch, on the original battery. It was a bit expensive when we got it, but it has paid for itself many times over. We've gone through a few smaller APC units over the years, and while they last longer than other brands of the same class, they just don't hold up as well as the larger units. The batteries always seem to go quickly on the smaller units. Opti has made some decent UPS units.

[Chris_]

Today, with the high winds most of the day and the severe storms tonight, power went out/ browned out several times. My computers kept ticking. At one point, the monitor was the only "light" in the house.

Doc, I have an APS. It cost about $150 at Sam's Club. That's $150 well spent in the prevention of power problems. I didn't even have to shut anything down because the power was out for a minute of less. I NOW LOVE my APS UPS!!!

3 power events throughout the day and not a glitch nor a repair required on ANYTHING!!

Back when I was working building TV transmission sites, I used the larger rack mounted units for virtually all sensitive electronics in the system.......being next to large towerx, the sites were always taking lightning strikes, and intermittent power failures, the APC units ever failed to protect the equipment under the worst conditions.

One of the features that I liked about them (at least the ones that I used), was they had both an ethernet and serial output on them so that I could connect them to a monitoring computer, and set alarms for battery condition, discharge rate, and other parameters for maintenance purposes.  They typically came with their own monitoring software.

This is the unit that I usually used:

http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SMX1500RM2U&total_watts=50

doc

[DumbAss Tanker]

I'm a huge believer in them.  When I lived in south Jersey, PSE&G was terribly prone to short power outs of about a full second, and I lost more than one hard drive to the sonsabitches.  Line power is actually a lot more reliable here in the wilds of the rural Midwest, but nowadays everything at the computer stations in the house gets plugged into one. 

[Thor]

In all truthfulness, I've always believed in UPSes since I've learned about them. I just didn't need them when I lived in MN. The power was pretty reliable and outages were few and far between. I never had any computers fry themselves  due to power problems.  When I moved back to Texas, I discovered an entirely different story. The power fluctuates on-off-on out here almost daily this week and it's always for a second or less. Just enough to brown out & restart my computers. I look around the area and I can't find any probable cause. The electric company could care less. They get their money and that's ALL they're interested in.