UPS: uninterruptible power supply
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I have lots of the APC UPSs at my house. Each time the battery wears out (small battery supplying huge currents) I buy a new UPS right away. Costco has good prices for them. After I replace the battery in the retired one, it moves to protect some other thing in the house. There's now also a UPS on the TV+settop box, the router+modem, the expensive computerized sewing machine, the NAS, my wife's computer upstairs, and (most recently) a lamp in the family room.
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I have used APC UPSes for many years, on both sides of the Atlantic. Other than needing batteries replaced, I have only had two fail on me - one after almost 11 years of continuous use (it stopped charging the battery), and one after a couple of weeks' use (persistent error indication). I called APC's support up about the latter and, after I described the symptoms, they shipped me a new one out overnight express, with a prepaid shipping label to return the defective one in the same packaging. I did once buy a 'store-brand' UPS, and it died within 18 months. I have no experience with CyberPower. I have also certainly never seen a UPS fail in the exciting way described by the reviewers you quote.
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I just unplug them from the wall to test them but what ever. :)
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Yesterday we had 6 or 7 brown outs / electric flickers due to weather and then fix. My cable modem and wifi router (separate units) are powered on the same home circuit and got power-cycled 6 or 7 times also. It was really annoying and sent me on a search for a UPS. But as I read about UPS it seems as if they are all a bit dangerous. So many reviewers say that their units emitted sparks and/or fire and if they had not been home when it happened it would've been disastrous. What is your experience with this? Are these things safe? I was looking at APC ones but then also saw this one which seems good. CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1000VA/600W, 9 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower [^] Any experience with any of these? Thanks for any reccommendations.
Good UPSs don't fail with sparks that could start a fire. I've used a number of them over the years (APC, Belkin), and the only thing that seems to fail are the batteries, which wear out and need replacing from time to time. As for surge protectors, there are two kinds, the MOS ones, where the MOS part takes the hit, burning it out a little more each time, and series mode ones, which use a large inductor and don't wear out (they're also hard to find, heavy as snot, and expensive). BTW, a lot of shills copy their reviews onto many sites, so just because you see it on multiple sites, doesn't mean it isn't from a shill, nor even that it's true. It's not called the 'net of a million lies' for nothing :)
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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Yesterday we had 6 or 7 brown outs / electric flickers due to weather and then fix. My cable modem and wifi router (separate units) are powered on the same home circuit and got power-cycled 6 or 7 times also. It was really annoying and sent me on a search for a UPS. But as I read about UPS it seems as if they are all a bit dangerous. So many reviewers say that their units emitted sparks and/or fire and if they had not been home when it happened it would've been disastrous. What is your experience with this? Are these things safe? I was looking at APC ones but then also saw this one which seems good. CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1000VA/600W, 9 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower [^] Any experience with any of these? Thanks for any reccommendations.
I have APC units all over my house, we get a lot of thunderstorms in Louisiana and have never had a problem or moments worry. I had a couple of units' batteries requiring replacement, but a local battery shop handles all of my needs. Try not to overload them by using up every sing slot, and pay attention to the VA rating relative to the things you are plugging in.
Sparkless for years now.
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Good UPSs don't fail with sparks that could start a fire. I've used a number of them over the years (APC, Belkin), and the only thing that seems to fail are the batteries, which wear out and need replacing from time to time. As for surge protectors, there are two kinds, the MOS ones, where the MOS part takes the hit, burning it out a little more each time, and series mode ones, which use a large inductor and don't wear out (they're also hard to find, heavy as snot, and expensive). BTW, a lot of shills copy their reviews onto many sites, so just because you see it on multiple sites, doesn't mean it isn't from a shill, nor even that it's true. It's not called the 'net of a million lies' for nothing :)
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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I have APC units all over my house, we get a lot of thunderstorms in Louisiana and have never had a problem or moments worry. I had a couple of units' batteries requiring replacement, but a local battery shop handles all of my needs. Try not to overload them by using up every sing slot, and pay attention to the VA rating relative to the things you are plugging in.
Sparkless for years now.
Great info. Thanks for your input. I really appreciate the lounge here providing all this great feedback. I feel a lot better about buying one now. Although I think I am going to buy from a local store instead of internet so I hopefully escape any knock-offs.
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Good UPSs don't fail with sparks that could start a fire. I've used a number of them over the years (APC, Belkin), and the only thing that seems to fail are the batteries, which wear out and need replacing from time to time. As for surge protectors, there are two kinds, the MOS ones, where the MOS part takes the hit, burning it out a little more each time, and series mode ones, which use a large inductor and don't wear out (they're also hard to find, heavy as snot, and expensive). BTW, a lot of shills copy their reviews onto many sites, so just because you see it on multiple sites, doesn't mean it isn't from a shill, nor even that it's true. It's not called the 'net of a million lies' for nothing :)
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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Hey, my local library has the ebook copy of the Vernor Vinge book available and I just checked it out. Very cool to find good new reading material. Thanks again.:thumbsup:
Vinge's works are some of my favorites, with that series in particular being some of my favorites among his work. That particular series is really interesting for the aliens.. which are really alien.. but not. We're almost to the hexapodia moment.
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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Yesterday we had 6 or 7 brown outs / electric flickers due to weather and then fix. My cable modem and wifi router (separate units) are powered on the same home circuit and got power-cycled 6 or 7 times also. It was really annoying and sent me on a search for a UPS. But as I read about UPS it seems as if they are all a bit dangerous. So many reviewers say that their units emitted sparks and/or fire and if they had not been home when it happened it would've been disastrous. What is your experience with this? Are these things safe? I was looking at APC ones but then also saw this one which seems good. CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1000VA/600W, 9 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower [^] Any experience with any of these? Thanks for any reccommendations.
Advice I was given about UPS (by someone who worked for a UPS manufacturer --- I think APC, but I'm not sure). Never plug a surge suppresser into a UPS. UPSes have to convert DC to AC. The easiest way to do that is to create a stair-step wave instead of a proper sine wave. Surge suppressors see that as thousands of tiny surges per second that need to be suppressed. This could lead to overheating/sparks/fires. (Note, I was told this about 20 years ago, so UPSes and/or surge suppressors may have found a solution to this)
Truth, James
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Advice I was given about UPS (by someone who worked for a UPS manufacturer --- I think APC, but I'm not sure). Never plug a surge suppresser into a UPS. UPSes have to convert DC to AC. The easiest way to do that is to create a stair-step wave instead of a proper sine wave. Surge suppressors see that as thousands of tiny surges per second that need to be suppressed. This could lead to overheating/sparks/fires. (Note, I was told this about 20 years ago, so UPSes and/or surge suppressors may have found a solution to this)
Truth, James
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Vinge's works are some of my favorites, with that series in particular being some of my favorites among his work. That particular series is really interesting for the aliens.. which are really alien.. but not. We're almost to the hexapodia moment.
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
FYI - I read through the (long) prologue of Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and I also completed chapter 1. The prologue was tough because you can't tell what or who is the viewpoint character. I'm still guessing, but I'm guessing it is an AI from the way it was worded. That really was some tough reading, but interesting too. Now with chapter 1 we get the human viewpoint and that makes it a lot better. Chapter 1 was really good. I think now that I got past the tough prologue this is going to be an interesting story. If nothing else it is quite mysterious. Thanks again for the recommendation. :thumbsup: