UPS - uninterruptible power supplies

[nodle]

I am a firm believer in them. They are great to have and would recommend them to anyone wanting to protect their computers and equipment. But I hate to say it I am about done with them. Do they work yes. How often does the power go out? Rarely. But here is my biggest complaint. Their batteries only lasting 2-3 years and then going out. No cheap model you might as well buy a new once since the replacement batteries will be the price of a new one. About 3-4 years ago I bought an expensive model. Because of the size it actually takes two batteries. The replacement batteries are just too expensive even for that. So I started researching if I really need one. I read alout about joules ratings, UL listing etc. It was really interesting. So instead of dropping tons of money on another UPS I decided to buy a quality Surge protector. No they are not all made alike. I was under the same impression also. Then I can across the Tripp Lite isobar surge protector. This thing is a beast. All metal box. Old school. So what if my power goes out? I am more interested in protecting the equipment. I am just tired of having to spend money every few years. In the cost of all of those I could had bought tons of these.

 

[ndboarder]

I understand what you are saying, BUT I don't think I agree. The battery part is a pain, but really what device that runs on a battery (especially one that's plugged in 99% of the time) has a battery that lasts more than 2-3 years? PHones, laptops, etc if you don't occasionally let it run down and care for the battery it goes to shit. Even if you do try to take care of them, they go to shit.

Will a good surge protector protect your equipment from surges as much as a UPS? Yes it will

Are there difference in surge protectors? Yes there is, the cheap ones are basically just an electrical port hub (allowing you to plug in many devices) and offer little protection

What if the power goes out? Well, yeah not a huge deal. Your computer doesn't shut down properly, but not the end of the world. With a UPS you get a little bit of time where your PC or internet would still work (my media center, modem and router are on my UPS).

So, here's where the BUT comes into play. Does a surge protector protect your equipment from a brown out (low power)? No. Does a UPS? Yes. Brown outs are far more common than power outages. Maybe not in every location, but still this is the bigger reason I own a UPS than having additional run time off the battery or surge protection.

 

[ndboarder]

Maybe I should add that if everything you would plug into a UPS is a laptop, then a good surge protector would be fine, since during a brown out the additional voltage would come from the laptops battery...

 

[nodle]

I hear you on the brownouts. But I can't tell you how many APC units I have just sitting at the house. I think like 4 that I have thrown away now. Not including my large one. Mostly my router will sit on it which I could care less about. So I agree with you. But I hope you see what I mean about costs. I don't expect a battery to last forever but 5-10 years would be better. (maybe I should just wire up some deep cell marine batteries)?

 

[ndboarder]

I don't think battery technology exists that lasts 5-10 years though. I get the cost, but for the smaller APC units you can get them under $100. I think the small APC thing I have now was 60 or 70.

Not any worse than a consumer grade router. In my experience you are pretty lucky to get more than 3 years out of them before they go haywire, and a good one costs more than a UPS...

 

[nodle]

Here I am over researching again. Becoming paranoid. I know one nice thing about that Drobo is supposedly it's suppose to have a built in lifetime battery to protect your data.

Drobo 5N includes a battery that protects all data in memory, or cache, that is, data on its way to drives. When power spontaneously goes away, the battery keeps the Drobo alive long enough for the data to be written to non-volatile storage, ensuring that your important information is safe. The battery recharges itself and is designed to last for the life of the product. No worry anymore about the battery coming on and running out before power is restored. The Drobo 5N not only protect all data (metadata and user data) in memory, but after a power fail event, it will also write all of that data to non-volatile storage (an industrial-grade USB drive inside) and then turn off the battery.

 

[nodle]

By the way, this surge protector is a beast. This is the way they should be. I'm thinking about picking on up for my main computer too.

 

[nodle]

I tossed all the UPS that I had laying around think I will pick up another one of these for my main system too.

 

[nodle]

Plugged my new Surge protector in last night. Taking all the UPS out of my house and tossing them this weekend. Don't get me wrong UPS have their place, but they are not worth the cost/trouble for what I am using my stuff for.