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#1
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
10 mo's ago I bought an APC BX1500 UPS/Battery Backup Cost me $169.95 plus
tax Rated at 110 min backup time (proved to be 45 min). The first one was defective. Got a replacement. It died after 10 months's !!! APC didn't return my call for a service request !!! Only buy a battery backup that will give you about 5 - 10 minutes. You only want enough power reserve to be able to shut down your computer plus maybe 3 min more to be safe. Once it seems like power is back on and stable, turn your computer back on. To buy anything that has more backup time than a few minutes is NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! A battery backup costing about $40.00 or $50.00 bucks is about all that makes sense. If you want a UPS that will keep your system up for several hours or all day, you'll have to pay a fortune. These half way 60-240 min backups are in fact not even good for half that time and are nothing BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! Companies keep changing the model numbers so by the time problems happen, likely the UPS you bought will no longer be in stores - Your basic shell game ! |
#2
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
Dave wrote:
10 mo's ago I bought an APC BX1500 UPS/Battery Backup Cost me $169.95 plus tax That is a cheap UPS Rated at 110 min backup time (proved to be 45 min). The first one was defective. Got a replacement. It died after 10 months's !!! These are low cost items. APC didn't return my call for a service request !!! Autonomy (battery operation time) is normally *not* quoted at full load, but some fraction of it. I made the point on here only a week ago that low cost UPSs are often more hassle than they are worth. Only buy a battery backup that will give you about 5 - 10 minutes. You only want enough power reserve to be able to shut down your computer plus maybe 3 min more to be safe. Once it seems like power is back on and stable, turn your computer back on. To buy anything that has more backup time than a few minutes is NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! A battery backup costing about $40.00 or $50.00 bucks is about all that makes sense. Except that at that price point, quality will be poor. They are often less reliable than the mains supply they are supposed to be guarding you from. Given the choice of no USP or a $50 UPS I'd settle for no UPS. If you want a UPS that will keep your system up for several hours or all day, you'll have to pay a fortune. True. In fact diesel generators are really the only practical way for all day. I've had 5 hours on my UPS with a low-spec computer on it. But that UPS cost 20 x what you paid for your unit. It will not run from a standard 13A socket in the UK, but needs to be hardwired in to a 32A outlet. (since we have twice the voltage, the same current gives us twice the power, so that would need something like a 63 A connection in the US). These half way 60-240 min backups are in fact not even good for half that time and are nothing BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! Companies keep changing the model numbers so by the time problems happen, likely the UPS you bought will no longer be in stores - Your basic shell game ! --- Dave K MCSE. MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert. Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam. It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work for a couple of months only. Later set it manually. |
#3
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
I just purchased a UPS from newegg. It just lost it's rebate so it is
now 74.99 USD for 750 VA. It is a Powercom office UPS 750S and it seems okay, but the most I've had it offline intentionally was for about 50 seconds (can't stand the damn beeping). It is of course a standby UPS, but it's slowest switching time is still four times as fast as I need it. The biggest quirks that get me a Voltage 108 - 115 (This is within spec though) Battery level monitor in software (designed to show 100% when charged with power online) This UPS connects through a serial port so it does not waste a USB port (good news for me). Dave (from the UK) wrote: Dave wrote: 10 mo's ago I bought an APC BX1500 UPS/Battery Backup Cost me $169.95 plus tax That is a cheap UPS Rated at 110 min backup time (proved to be 45 min). The first one was defective. Got a replacement. It died after 10 months's !!! These are low cost items. APC didn't return my call for a service request !!! Autonomy (battery operation time) is normally *not* quoted at full load, but some fraction of it. I made the point on here only a week ago that low cost UPSs are often more hassle than they are worth. Only buy a battery backup that will give you about 5 - 10 minutes. You only want enough power reserve to be able to shut down your computer plus maybe 3 min more to be safe. Once it seems like power is back on and stable, turn your computer back on. To buy anything that has more backup time than a few minutes is NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! A battery backup costing about $40.00 or $50.00 bucks is about all that makes sense. Except that at that price point, quality will be poor. They are often less reliable than the mains supply they are supposed to be guarding you from. Given the choice of no USP or a $50 UPS I'd settle for no UPS. If you want a UPS that will keep your system up for several hours or all day, you'll have to pay a fortune. True. In fact diesel generators are really the only practical way for all day. I've had 5 hours on my UPS with a low-spec computer on it. But that UPS cost 20 x what you paid for your unit. It will not run from a standard 13A socket in the UK, but needs to be hardwired in to a 32A outlet. (since we have twice the voltage, the same current gives us twice the power, so that would need something like a 63 A connection in the US). These half way 60-240 min backups are in fact not even good for half that time and are nothing BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! Companies keep changing the model numbers so by the time problems happen, likely the UPS you bought will no longer be in stores - Your basic shell game ! --- Dave K MCSE. MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert. Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam. It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work for a couple of months only. Later set it manually. |
#4
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 17:32:49 +0100, "Dave (from the UK)"
wrote: If you want a UPS that will keep your system up for several hours or all day, you'll have to pay a fortune. True. In fact diesel generators are really the only practical way for all day. That's not quite true. I'm always on "backup power" because I live on an island, off the grid. I have a Trace DR series inverter and a bank of six Interstate L-16 deep-cycle batteries, about 750 amp hours @ 12vdc, of which only about 250 is really usable unless I want to shorten my battery life considerably. To charge my system, I use a Honda EU1000 generator, which I need to run for several hours each day when I am using my new computer 12 or more hours a day, which I have been doing lately. This is a special generator that works better than normal AC generators for charging batteries, because it is built with a DC generator and step-up inverter, which means the battery charger can use more of the AC wave cycle, instead of just grabbing the peaks. I can put up to 45 amps into my batteries with this small generator, as opposed to only about 25 with a larger Honda generator that uses a conventional dynamo. The square-wave ("modified sine wave") nature of the DR inverter is more efficient for power cubes and other units (such as computer PSUs) that convert AC to low-voltage DC. Again, it's because the converter can use more of the wave. I have yet to fry anything, although there are a few battery chargers for cordless drills, etc., that won't work on my inverter. Sound equipment hums, unless it too has an AC-to-DC converter in the circuitry, which will clean that out. For people who want to power computers rather than sound equipment, a true sine wave inverter is not a good technology... less efficient in converting power from DC, and less efficient in feeding power to the computer's PSU... but "true sine wave" is a big selling point for UPS's. UPS's are basically a sealed lead-acid battery and an inverter. I have had various cheap inverters, and my observation is that they all fail quickly if they are subjected to any kind of serious duty cycle. My Trace cost about $800 and is rated for a constant duty cycle. Trace inverters are the gold standard for serious applications. The thing about lead-acid batteries is, they can't be drawn down and allowed to stand without a charge. That will ruin them. Sulphate sludge forms. It coats the plates and insulates them, so the battery will no longer take or hold a charge. But with good care, good batteries will outlast their projected useful life of 5 to 7 years. If I wanted to make a reliable backup power system for use on the grid, I would buy the Trace inverter and a single deep-cycle marine battery for about $75. That would give anyone enough time to shut down, with a buffer to finish sending a couple of emails etc. BUT, I'm not sure about the switch between grid power and the inverter...the Trace will do it automatically, but it can be tricked by failing power, like a generator running out of gas. I always have to go out and pull the plug on my generator... if I let it run out of gas and sputter for awhile, my computer will lose power before the Trace kicks in. Charlie I've had 5 hours on my UPS with a low-spec computer on it. But that UPS cost 20 x what you paid for your unit. It will not run from a standard 13A socket in the UK, but needs to be hardwired in to a 32A outlet. (since we have twice the voltage, the same current gives us twice the power, so that would need something like a 63 A connection in the US). These half way 60-240 min backups are in fact not even good for half that time and are nothing BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! Companies keep changing the model numbers so by the time problems happen, likely the UPS you bought will no longer be in stores - Your basic shell game ! --- Dave K MCSE. MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert. Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam. It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work for a couple of months only. Later set it manually. |
#5
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
"Dave" wrote:
10 mo's ago I bought an APC BX1500 UPS/Battery Backup Cost me $169.95 plus tax Rated at 110 min backup time (proved to be 45 min). The first one was defective. Got a replacement. It died after 10 months's !!! APC didn't return my call for a service request !!! I had a Tripp Lite uninterruptible power supply that died. Only buy a battery backup that will give you about 5 - 10 minutes. You only want enough power reserve to be able to shut down your computer plus maybe 3 min more to be safe. Once it seems like power is back on and stable, turn your computer back on. To buy anything that has more backup time than a few minutes is NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! The key expression there is "Once it seems like power is back on and stable. A voltage regulator - line conditioner will make sure that your computer only turns off once during a brownout, and once it goes off it stays off. It won't let your computer spontaneously restart. That's all I need, to protect my hardware from being thrashed around by household voltage fluctuations. My computer work isn't important enough to have a minute by minute protection from blackouts that rarely occur and never occur when I'm doing something important. A cheap UPS is a waste. I would think that most programs professionals use have automatic save anyway. And the important thing here is protecting my hardware. A cheap UPS is not designed for frequent handling of brownouts. A line conditioner is made for handling brownouts. I was just window shopping for them last night. Unfortunately, I already bought a cheap APC LE1200 voltage regulator thingy. Apparently it works well, but I should have paid more for a better unit. And I would prefer more LEDs that show more information about line voltage status, maybe the Tripp Lite LC1200. The problem is probably that most non-technically inclined users don't understand the benefit of a voltage regulator, but they like the fun of a battery backup. I think that's why you don't hear much discussion about voltage regulators or find them readily available at your local stores. |
#6
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UPS's and battery Backups mostly a RipOff !!!
On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 20:39:06 GMT, John Doe
wrote: "Dave" wrote: 10 mo's ago I bought an APC BX1500 UPS/Battery Backup Cost me $169.95 plus tax Rated at 110 min backup time (proved to be 45 min). The first one was defective. Got a replacement. It died after 10 months's !!! APC didn't return my call for a service request !!! I had a Tripp Lite uninterruptible power supply that died. Only buy a battery backup that will give you about 5 - 10 minutes. You only want enough power reserve to be able to shut down your computer plus maybe 3 min more to be safe. Once it seems like power is back on and stable, turn your computer back on. To buy anything that has more backup time than a few minutes is NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF MONEY !!! The key expression there is "Once it seems like power is back on and stable. A voltage regulator - line conditioner will make sure that your computer only turns off once during a brownout, and once it Yes. Exactly. That is where my Trace inverters falls down on the job... when the voltage warbles. A dead reliable backup PSU, for someone who doesn't want to damage hardware or risk their system registry getting corrupted, would involve a line conditioner that would shut the power down at the first warble, a Trace DR inverter, and a deep-cycle battery. Then you'd be covered. Anything less, and it's a crap shoot. Charlie goes off it stays off. It won't let your computer spontaneously restart. That's all I need, to protect my hardware from being thrashed around by household voltage fluctuations. My computer work isn't important enough to have a minute by minute protection from blackouts that rarely occur and never occur when I'm doing something important. A cheap UPS is a waste. I would think that most programs professionals use have automatic save anyway. And the important thing here is protecting my hardware. A cheap UPS is not designed for frequent handling of brownouts. A line conditioner is made for handling brownouts. I was just window shopping for them last night. Unfortunately, I already bought a cheap APC LE1200 voltage regulator thingy. Apparently it works well, but I should have paid more for a better unit. And I would prefer more LEDs that show more information about line voltage status, maybe the Tripp Lite LC1200. The problem is probably that most non-technically inclined users don't understand the benefit of a voltage regulator, but they like the fun of a battery backup. I think that's why you don't hear much discussion about voltage regulators or find them readily available at your local stores. |
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