[jgrayperry]

I have an APC UPS that has a battery due for replacement. It will cost $40 to replace the battery, or I could just buy a new UPS for around the same price. I also could forget about UPS and just get a good surge strip. Suggestions anyone? What do you use?

[exa]

I use a tripplite line conditioner with standard surge protector strips for my equipment. Power never really goes out here/dorm, but power quality is not always constant (often at an undervoltage at school).

[terrancew_hod]

I use an APC backup; There are occasional brown-outs and surges in Florida. Also hurricane season just started and the mid-day storms can be quite severe.

The backup has already kicked in 5 times already in the last month...

Terrance

[Macola]

Just be aware that the surge protection on typical backup/UPS units aren't worth squat. I discovered that after a lightning strike. If you're at all concerned about lightning strikes, get a good surge protector (around $30-40) and forget about the UPS. After all, you can always recover from a crash caused by improperly shutting down your Mac, but one little surge can fry your entire machine.

[schalliol]

I'm a bit nuts about power, actually. I don't see it quite that way, but most others do. Obviously power runs your machine and incorrect power can damage it. I used to sell machines to people and couldn't even keep track of how many lost machines or had them damaged do to power problems.

As a result, on any moderately priced machine I recommend a battery backup with line conditioner (will also have surge protection).

Beyond that there are a lot of things you can do if you like, such as environmental monitoring, web/snmp notification and remote shut-down/restart, etc.

I do recommend eBay or local second-hand areas since they are heavily marked down there, but watch out for bad batteries or hefty shipping charges. I'm also a die hard APC fan for computer power protection.

[jgrayperry]

I have decided that my APS was handy while I was in school, but I went with the Belkin Isolator surge protector. http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=100981
It has a high protection rating, line conditioning, and unlimited connected equipment warranty. Cost just over $50. I decided that I am more concerned about quality protection than battery backup, especially since I dont use the machine as a student or for my livlihood. thanks for the advice.

[schalliol]

Sags (brownouts), surges, noise, spikes, and blackouts are the main power problems.

Surge protectors only handle one or two of these. It's not commonly known that this is the most common power problem, accounting for 87% of all power disturbances according to a study by Bell Labs.

A sag can starve a computer of the power it needs to function, and cause frozen machines and unexpected system crashes which both result in lost or corrupted data. Sags also reduce the efficiency and life span of electrical equipment, particularly motors.

Battery backups can cover sags by switching to UPS load when necessary, but your most ideal situation is with conditioning, which will ensure that your machine always has power running in the appropriate voltage window.

Not to mention that there are a number of problems that can ocurr when the power returns after a blackout with being enough to start a machine but not keep it running or too much power, but not enough to be a surge.

I strongly recommend at least a UPS to at least help your system handle the shock of more of these power events, but find it in your best interest for a computer over $1000 to have a line conditioner as well. This will extend your computer's life. Furthermore you need to make sure that all input from your walls (cable modem, DSL adapter, modem, Ethernet) is covered if you live in an area that has thunderstorms. It is not fiction that lightning strikes do actually travel over these connections and damage the connected equipment. Again, I have seen many dozens of people who have had problems that are very clearly the result of power events, I assume there are countless more problems that appear as component just dying for no apparent reason. You might be lucky, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[scottiB]

Yep. I have one of these.

[GORDYmac]

APC BackUPS Pro 500. The translucent one, of course.

[Scotttheking]

This belongs in peripherals.
Moving it there.

BTW, I use some tripplite isobar ultra surge suppressors. They cost a lot ($50 or so each) but are able to take a direct lightning strike.
I'm getting some APC Smart UPS 1400s, or something similar, in the next few months.

[G4ME]

So Schalliol, what would you recomand for a Conditioner? I have a small APC 350W UPS that i only got because it was drit cheap 10 bucks after rebate. It can only hold my computer up for about a min with the monitor on but it was cheap.

The reason i ask about a conditioner is, at college we have horrible power, if the fridge kicks in there is a huge spike in my DD reciver that pisses the hell out of me when ever i am listening, and i listen to it a lot.

So what would you recomend and what kind of price are we talking about? $50-200?

[schalliol]

1. Can I get one for $10 too? I would love to have one for my TiVo that I would plug into my AV Sys' line conditioner.

2. Absolutly get a line conditioner. That noise you hear could be potentially damaging to the electronics. Line conditioners often show you the actual voltage input and you may find it varies a lot.

3. For your theater/receiver you can get a Panamax Max unit (either a 500 or 1000 would be good, look at their site to see which you think would be best). You can get a great Max 1000+ for $75 on eBay used or a bit more for a new one. It's meant for a/v and even is the right size (17" wide), has a switching port (allows you to plug it into your receiver to power on other items immedately when you turn on receiver or delay them).

4. Then I would probably get a Back-UPS Pro from APC or a Smart-UPS for you computer. Even if it doesn't have the best battery, I talked to an APC engineer and they thought that if you plugged the smaller UPS into the conditioning unit/larger UPS, it would be just fine and extend your runtime, though it would be most efficient to have just one.

[Zim]

Do a Google search for APC battery replacement. Our IT guy was throwing out an old one, I snagged it and got a replacement battery for $20.

Definitely saves me on the brown-outs and glitches.

Would I have spent $100 on a new one? Prob not. $20 to get an old one working again.. YES.

Mike

[marusin]

There is a TigerDirect (www.tigerdirect.com) near my house and they have a stack of APC 280's at $14.99 a piece. The batteries arent' teh best in them but for that price and to buy a new battery for it is a steal. If they weren't so dang heavy I'd buy up a ton and resell them on ebay!

I just bought one and am thinking about getting a couple more for my other machines (and the Tivo of course!)

[schalliol]

Hook them up serially like 10 in a row, you'll get some in efficiencies, but not even all of the electricity a nuke could generate down the line could hurt your machine and you'd have like 2800 VA