Computer newbies: Do you have to use the UPS for computer
no debate
by bhyndthe8ball - 11/2/08 1:30 AM In reply to: no by GENE8There is no debate when it comes to using a UPS for sensitive electronics. This is one place you do NOT compromise with a surge protector, whether it be a $5,000 surge protector/line conditioner, or a $5 one. The price of a UPS is well worth the investment if you care about your hardware enough to survive a catastrophic surge. Most surge protectors with Joule ratings on them only survive one surge and when a steady neutral drop hits your surge protector, it will not clamp at a low enough voltage to protect your equipment from the steady offset in voltage in excess of 230 volts coming down your surge protector relentlessly. I have seen how surge protectors of ALL kinds with clamping voltages as low as 330 volts fail to protect against a neutral drop. And neutral drops/neighborhood unbalanced loads happen alot more than you can imagine. I have tags here from the local hydro utlities on tons of electronics piled up here with warranty/who covers what when the local hydro utility equipment fail or when load balancing measurements are not done on the transformer powering 12 to 24 houses off a measly undersized transformer where people once had 40 to 60 ampere main services who upgraded and all the fridges and motors got loaded onto one of the two HOT legs running down the neighborhood 120/240 volt grid.
Necessary? Maybe not.
by albizzia - 8/23/08 5:12 PM In reply to: Do you have to use the UPS for computer by gwingeeIt is not absolutely necessary to use a UPS, it is just nice to have that reassurance that the document you've been sweating over won't suddenly dissappear with an unexpected power outage.
My UPSes have paid for themselves when power failures struck and I was in the middle of a major job with a deadline. Once, I was almost done printing a critical report, but since the inkjet printer was also on UPS, I managed to finish the print job, save everything, and get that report out on time - the customers appreciate that.
Of course, if your computer is used just for games, web browzing, personal e-mail, and other not-so-critical-to-your-life things, then a UPS is a luxury and really isn't needed, an unexpected power failure just means having to reboot and start the games again.
As for the annoying beep, all UPSes have a switch to manually power down, just make sure the computer is shut down first. A few UPS units have a separate switch or software setting to shut off that annoying beep.
Abso-freakin-lutely
by JayArrTee - 8/23/08 7:53 PM In reply to: Necessary? Maybe not. by albizziaIt is absolutely necessary to have a UPS on any computer you want to keep data safe on. You may or may not do regular data backups but you wont soon forget the sour taste of losing all your pictures to a power drop. A computer with 3 hard drives connected to a cheap APC died before it could shut down properly. One of the drives was corrupted and the computer crashed randomly.
Since the above mentioned incident I purchased a refurbished APC1400VA UPS for $200 with a new battery back in 2004. The unit retailed new for $900. It was manufactured in 1995. A month ago we had a horrible storm and the thing blew but the computer stayed safe. I have since opened it up and realized that only a few components were damaged. I replaced them and the unit is up and running good as ever. My point is that if you are going to buy a UPS then buy a good one. Even one 13 years old can do a perfectly fine job protecting your investment and taking the hit itself. I am not saying you need a beefy corporate server grade one like I got (on every computer I have now) but you need something good enough to last AT LEAST 5 minutes so everything you have can shut down safely. If you spend $1000+ on a computer you can at least put 10% of that into a half decent UPS to protect it.
You should worry more about second long power dips than you should with spikes. I have the power drop out quite frequently here in PA for only a second but it is enough to reboot a computer and cause possible hard drive damage.
Most APC and Belkin UPSs have options to disable the buzzer in the software if your computer is running. If not you can do slight modifications like others have mentioned.
Be very VERY careful messing around inside a UPS. Be VERY VERY careful not to short out the battery. After you remove the terminals you should use a resistor (or a flash light bulb) over the battery terminals to draw out any extra power. Also remember to bleed off power in the capacitors. (big can looking things) Dont go poking around unless you know what you are doing! You really can kill yourself.
Lastly, if a lightning strike hits your lines directly I wouldn't be surprised if all your UPS or surge protectors turn into instant roman candles as the components inside are arc welded solid.
Go to the pros...
by jpprice47 - 8/24/08 9:30 AM In reply to: Do you have to use the UPS for computer by gwingeeAfter many years of trial and error, I have found that APC are the "go to" guys for UPS and power conditioning. Their units are programmable so that you do not have to listen to alarms.
I wanted to know what I should get?
by PcTestCard.com - 11/2/08 8:49 PM In reply to: Do you have to use the UPS for computer by gwingeeUPS(Uninterruptable Power Supply) got a battery built in and allows you to operate your PC when the power goes off. So you got time to save your data and shut down your PC.
The Surge protector is a device to prevent the overload electric current like the lightning to damage your PC, but it cannot store any battery powered electricity to allow you more time to use PC when there is a power shortage.
Beeps sounds is the alarm to tell you that there is power cut on the main to the PC, it beeps faster when the battery is running low on the UPS.
May be you can cut the speaker inside the UPS to prevent it from give you the alarm beep sound, this may require the special skill in doing so.
Hope this helps!
Bill
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