Just spent the best $99 I've spent in a while. Heads up to computerites!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

I recently went with VOIP and had it brought home to me that during a storm when the power goes out, I have no phone.

I finally bought that "luxury" UPS (Uninteruptable Power Supply) at Costco for $99.00.

Hooked it up and found out I can have my DU for probably an hour and the phone for much longer. I'm going back tomorrow to buy one for the tele & sat.

If you are as bad a DU addict/Computer nut as I am, I think it's worth the money.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

1. Its a good investment BUT

I went through the same issue, only I ran into a snag...

The Cable repeaters in the neighborhood went out went the rest of the neighborhood lost power.

So even though my laptop, phone and cable router would continue to run, internet connectivity was still out.

Naturally this varies from house to house, but just something to be aware of.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. I'm lucky here. Everything's underground and I can only remember one

time in the last five years that my internet went down for more than a minute.

[Cos]

5. For reliability, stick with a landline

A UPS for your phone doesn't solve the problem. If power goes out, the network carrying your calls goes out too. Landlines have an entirely separate network from the power-and-Internet complex, and they're much more focused on uptime.

[China_cat]

29. That's why you keep a dialup backup.

[wakeme2008]

2. They also protect against lightening

And give you enough time to shutdown cleanly...

[benburch]

6. SOME protection.

Nothing (and I mean nothing) can protect you from a direct lightning strike.

Lightning rods help, though most people do not have them on their houses for reasons I cannot fathom.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. The UPS has a $200,000.00 guarantee against damage through

its box.

[NuttyFluffers]

23. i'd still get the lightning rod, though

:7

sure it's a large guarantee, but who wants to go through all that hassle when you can just get a rod to ground your home. thankfully lightning is a rarity where i am. oh, and (edit: removable) backup harddrives kick ass. the components may be replaced, but some data is priceless. save, save, save.

[benburch]

28. I have multple levels of hot and warm backup.

And every quarter I burn through a large stack of DVD-Rs as my ultimate insurance; A complete backup of all the important stuff.

[benburch]

3. I have three UPS systems here...

850VA, 900VA, and 1050VA.

But I still wouldn't count on them in an emergency!

I keep my POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) line JUST so I can call 911!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. I have a cell as well...

I feel pretty covered, but I hate paying the cellphone rates.

I spend about $7.00 a month for cell phone service, but longer calls can cost $0.25 a minute. I can talk to London for 3-4 cents a minute on my VOIP for $20.00 a month and anywhere in NA for the base.

[acmejack]

9. You can't go wrong.

What type of UPS did you buy? It can save you a lot of grief.

I have two 1000VA Interactive UPSs that provide nice clean power for my electronics. I really care about that more than the backup (until the backup capability is required, that is).

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. Tripp Lite...

I liked the filtering capabilities. It is also a 1000VA.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

14. Have you ever tried to make a claim if lightning has fried your

computer? I have and you can enjoy the protection it gives you and the backup power but don't depend on the guarantee if lightning does get through.

Made a claim when lightning wiped out my entire system about three years ago.

First up - a claim form that was 18 pages long. 18 pages. Included with this claim form I was to supply a detail house plan showing all wiring, outlets, breaker box, etc for the entire house - not just the office area. I, also, had to supply proof that the wiring had been updated if the house was older than 20 years (it hadn't). I literally needed an electrical engineer to complete the form.

Second - after completing the form the best I could, including copies of all sales receipts for equipment, etc. I got back a denial of the claim because - wait for it....the power surge/ battery backup equipment was over a year old so out of warranty - at the time it was a little over two years old. I asked them if they expected me to buy a new power surge/battery unit every year and they told me yes, if I want to have protection insurance for my equipment.

The brand? APC - spread the word.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Yikes!!!!!!!

[benburch]

19. They are all like that.

So I just use them for their real use; Backup power and protection against DISTANT surges.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

21. Thanks, Ben.

You have totally bummed me out about this now.

(Just kidding)

:toast:

[benburch]

24. I can be a damned downer, can't I?

You should hear me when I and being REALLY pessimistic.

"Vogon Poetry" is probably more fun to listen to than me when I am in a pessimistic streak.

[Elwood P Dowd]

25. My idiot repuke brother-in-law

purchased some expensive UPS devices with that million-dollar guarantee. I tried to tell him what would happen after a direct hit or what would happen when the unit was out of warranty. He wouldn't listen. He was a smart ass repuke engineer.

During a violent summer thunderstorm, he suffered a direct hit that melted the damn things and wiped out a computer, surround sound receiver, DVD player, printer, and who knows what else. He got not one dime. Now he knows to unplug everything when the shit is about to hit the fan.

[benburch]

27. The simple answer is mathematical.

How many Joules is that device rated to divert?

If it is less than one billion Joules, it will not handle a whole lightning bolt!

For example, one of the Tripp-Lite 1080VA UPS systems has a 480 Joule rating...

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. What brand is the UPS?

My old $79.00 APC UPS will only run my compter for a few minutes.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. It's a Tripp Lite 1000VA from Costco.

Says it will run a typical computer with a 17" LCd monitor for an hour. I have a higher powered than most computer with a 20" LCD so I imagine I won't get an hour.

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. You will probably get 15 minutes actual runtime.

Much less if you had a CRT. I get about 4-5 minutes with a CRT. After that, it's roll out the old generator. I also have a couple of extra batteries I hook up to an inverter to run my shortwave and portable B&W TV.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. That was the time frame of my test...

I hope I won't have to stretch it much past that ever.

I'm thinking of buying a generator that will kick in automatically, but the market is going to have to be a lot nicer to me before that happens.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. There is a way to figure this out

if you know how much current your setup is drawing along with your house voltage. If your rig is drawing 4 amps at 120 volts, then you're at 480VA, which is about 50% load on your UPS. Does Tripp Lite give you a runtime at 50%?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. I am NOT going to dig out an ammeter and split the power cord to find this

out!!!! (LOL).

It's too much damn work!

Lessee, It's a 400W power supply so that means a little less than 4 amps on the CPU at 120, the LCD is drawing a lot less but I don't know what.

I'd guess 30-40% of the rated runtime?

[Elwood P Dowd]

22. Just email Bush. He's a whizbang engineer.

He even explained his own version of Ohm's Political Law.

DAV + RVM = PFB. Or, Dumbass American Voters plus Rigged Voting Machines equals Power For Bushit

[HysteryDiagnosis]

17. Got any extra batteries lying around????

http://www.vectormfg.com/site2/frontpages/powerinverters.htm

[radwriter0555]

26. For $300 you could buy a gas powered generator that will run appliances

and basic electrics for hours.... not just for ONE hour.

You could survive, rather than just power your luxury items.

[DS1]

30. An hour with monitor too?

I'm highly skeptical of that applying to anything under 500 bucks. Save all your work and unplug the UPS from the wall and see how long it really lasts.

[benburch]

31. But don't do that too often.

Deeply discharging a battery is not usually good for it.