PCA Forums

Thank god nothing went kabunk. I was surfing the net, then ZZAP!!, the computer goes down. Quickly jumped to pull the wires (I know I know that wouldn't have helped it it got zapped already). Whew, what a close call. This is like a wakeup call for me to get some protection!!

What do you call those, power surge protector? Power spike protector? Something along those lines, with around say 20-30 minutes of backup power would be nice. Care to recommend and enlighten me on the topic? Thx.

Plucky

I remember a long time ago when I didn't have protection. She was late I was scared....oh, you mean another type of protection.

Try <a href="http://www.apc.com/solutions/desktop.cf ... e">here</a>

staples had some low end surge suppressor/backup units for 29.99 - enough juice to kee p you up and running for ~10 mins, but at least you stay up and running - around here, the power blips off at least once a day

For peace of mind I would go with APC, bought a Smart UPS 700VA about 4 years ago, never looked back.

Darkheart

To run a monitor and everything else you are going to need at least a 500 watt UPS,usually around 100 bucks. I think CompUSA had one for sale this weekend for about 90.


sethpa

I've got an older Compaq UPS running both computers in my house. Computers monitors and a bunch of other stuff plugged into it. Works great. Will keep everything powered up for abotu 45 min until it dies. I can hook up this one to the serial port and have it shut down windows if i wanted too but i'm too lazy to do so.. Had this thing for 5 years now and its still ticking strong. About once every 3 months i'll pull the plug and let the computers drain the batteries down then charge them back up.

Anyone here know a lot about lead acid batteries? I'm not sure but I thought I heard somewhere it wasn't a good idea to discharge those types of batteries and charge them up on a regular basis. Then again you've been doing it for about 5 years so I guess it can't be that bad.

I did a little bit of looking and found this...

http://www.ingenuityinc.com/ttssla.htm

Sealed lead-acid batteries generally will not tolerate repeated deep discharges. A 12 Volt battery should not be discharged below about 10.5 to 10.7 Volts (1.75 Volts per cell X 6 cells). If a battery is completely discharged, all of the reactive materials are converted and it may very difficult to reverse the chemical reaction.

I guess this wouldn't happen by letting the UPS discharge the battery as it should cut out before the battery was in danger.

Hasn't affected this UPS in any way. I've never checked the voltage on teh batteries never really though of doing it. But thats a handy piece of info to have. I know thoe NiCad rechargeables its best to run them dead so i just assumed doing it to a UPS couldn't hurt too much...

My recomendation is ....... spend as much money on a UPS as you possibly can. Unfortunately the more you spend the better they generally are. APC is a good brand.

Me personally am running an older AT&T industrial UPS but the batteries went kaput so I hooked up two cell tower backup batteries to it. My system lasts for about 5 hours.

Definitely invest in a UPS, for those nasty spikes, surges, split second outages, or one of those california backouts it is worth having. APC has software that comes with theirs that is call PowerChute which in the case of a power outage it will safely save everything and shut down automatically. Where I live we suffer from Maw Power surges and flickers, sometimes I think it is Bubba Ray flipping the wrong switch to turn the light on in the outhouse, but hey hope you all don't suffer from that.

i agree that APC is probably the best way to go; i highly recommend them to my clients. however, if you're a poor puke like me and need to watch every penny you have... it's time to look out for some good deals. i've found a pretty good one... Circuit City has 500VA IBM (rebadged Tripp Lite) UPSs for $100; which isn't anything special... but there are 2 $30 mail in rebates, taking the net cost down to $40 + tax. that's a great deal for a 500VA UPS, and a tripp lite at that...