Power Problems - Spike Protection vs. UPS

[SnowWhite]

I have realized though incredible good luck that the better UPS s that 
you can get don't cost a few hundred bucks.  After seeing many postings 
of how long a system will run on the UPS alone I must say that;

-any UPS is better than none

-if your UPS will only run your system for 5-10 minutes you have cheap 
junk that will only do half the job - so don't expect too much from it, 
it certainly will not swallow a good surge and you cannot leave your 
system on when you are out. If the power goes out for 20 minutes your 
system is down.

-if you get the chance to get an industrial strength system at a 
reasonable cost -get it.

I have a very low end industrial UPS (Powerware Prestige EXT 1000). Go 
to
  http://www.powerware.com/
to check it out along with many documents on UPS s.  I got this thing 
for $300 used but it costs $1200+ new. My system will run more than an 
hour (G4, Monitor, Router, DSL modem, Zip drive, Printer, Scanner).  I 
have run it all during power outages to get final copy out to 
printhouse -believe me, it runs alot longer than the commercial crap 
available for home use and when I go away for a day I do not have to 
worry about a power outage killing my computer.

My second computer, downstairs, has a cheap UPS and it runs for about 
8-10 minutes with the power out. It was a 500, but that number is a 
joke. This system has a computer (G4 Cube) and an Apple LCD monitor and 
that's it.

One other thing to understand is that APC and other companies are 
targeting home users. What they produce for home markets often breaks 
soon after warrantee - where as equiptment built for industrial use 
often survive many years longer than they were meant to.  If you 
purchase used, never get a home unit, always wait until you find an 
industrial unit.

Bottom line is you get what you pay for. A couple hundred bucks -you 
get junk, a couple thousand -you get security.  For us with little 
money, look for companies that move offices (moving/storage companies) 
as a specialty.  They are hard to find because they are the kind of 
company that seldom advertises, usually work with word of mouth 
refferals.  They often have equiptment that needs to be sold - 
including juicy industrial UPS packs -some as big as a filing cabinet 
and smaller.  Often they will go cheap because no one wants them.  Also 
auctions of office equiptment are not a bad place to look.  Good luck.

jj


On Tuesday, July 1, 2003, at 08:46  AM, Power Macintosh G4 List wrote:

> Power Problems - Spike Protection vs. UPS
> Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2003 12:06:55 -0500
> Message-ID: <005a01c33f2a$033f9220$957ba8c0 at brian>
>
> This is a good post.
>
> I've always spec'ed APC units for my clients, and I've heard that Best 
> =
> Power
> units are even better. I've also heard that TrippLite units are =
> worthless.
>
> Opinions, anyone?
>
>
> Brian Conner