[rescue] WTB/Advice: UPSs

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Fri, Apr 05, 2002 at 03:56:16PM -0500, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> (but a spike protector alone won't cost that much -- maybe a protected
> line isolator would though....)

Here the cheapest APC Back-UPS are the same price as the cheapest spike 
protectors.  $29.95 for either.
 
> I think good clean power that might sometimes fail is better (i.e. leads
> to more reliable equipment operation, and maybe longer life) than
> failing over to yucky square-wave power, esp. when there's not any line
> isolation and voltage regulation in a plain APC Back-UPS.

I don't really know what line isolation means.
 
> >  What if the Back-UPS cost less than
> > a normal quality spike protector?
> 
> Then I'd either buy both, or upgrade all the way to a "real" UPS (which
> includes a spike protector) with a similar combined price (eg. a used one!).

I have yet to come across a reasonably priced Smart-UPS locally.
 
> However since all my APC and BEST units are second-hand I'm not sure how
> well their warranties would work.  It would have to be one hell of a
> strike to knock out the BEST units though -- it's almost infinitely more
> likely that such a strike would also affect either the telephone or
> cable lines and jump across my modems and into my router and ethernet.

I have insured spike protectors on the phone line going to the DSL modem and
any regular modems.  I also have such a unit on the hub mounted in the ceiling
of the guest room.  I take no chances (mainly because I'm too lazy to unplug
stuff during storms).
 
> I'd probably try to claim on my household insurance anyway -- much
> easier than trying to argue with APC and/or Powerware that their gear
> was responsible for leaking the spike even if it's also just a
> smoldering pile of junk after the fact....

Same here, although I don't relish the idea of arguing over why my home office
has such an array of business grade gear.
 
> I have multiple low-grade lightning arrestors on the telephone line (one
> in front of the ADSL filter) and in front of the dial-out modems, but
> the cable modem is only protected by whatever Rogers installed, and
> that's not much (they didn't even ground the distribution box on the
> side of the house, and I don't think there's a ground on the splitter
> box on the pole either).

I have a lightning arrestor on the phone line coming into the house, but I 
don't really know much about how good it is (it came with the house).  I
have a second arrestor.  Would there be any benifit to putting them in 
series?  The house once had a lot of phone lines.  They were removed before
we moved in.  We then had two phone lines installed, but removed one when we
got DSL.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd