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Thread ID: 125439 2012-06-28 08:42:00 The ultimate UPS Test! Billy T (70) Press F1
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1284476 2012-06-28 08:42:00 Exciting times!

Over a 10 minute period last night we went through a severe sequence of deep sags, random outages and finally, several rapid off/on/off/on/off/on cycles finishing with a 2 hour blackout as the local transformer fuse on our supply phase started burning out big time, then died completely .

It wasn't too bad at first, just lights blinking etc then suddenly they went crazy and after 2-3 minutes of severe ups and downs with short blackouts, we had a total power outage . I was at my computer when it started and that didn't miss a beat, so my first thought was that the fluorescent light fitting in my office was failing .

The monitor blinked a couple of times, but that is on a less sophisticated UPS so I still wasn't sure what was going on at first, but anyway the power finally failed completely and I ended up sitting in the dark (apart from the screen), but the computer was rock solid and I had plenty of time to shut it down .

Boy am I glad I invested in the full-service sinewave UPS; those shenannigans would have seen my Raid array scrambled for sure, and as a minimum another rebuild would have been needed, but the frequency and severity of failures could very well have munted the data on both disks .

I reckon the transformer had been failing for some time because we've had lesser incidents on a regular basis for some months now, which is what spurred me to go get a proper UPS .

It paid for itself in just one night! :D

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :thumbs:
Billy T (70)
1284477 2012-06-28 09:11:00 Good forward planning. zqwerty (97)
1284478 2012-06-28 09:27:00 Having read Billy's 'story' , I am seriously considering getting an UPS. Is this (www.pbtech.co.nz) good enough to protect 2 PCs? bk T (215)
1284479 2012-06-28 10:45:00 nice Slankydudl (16687)
1284480 2012-06-28 11:02:00 That UPS BK t Would do for a basic UPS, BUT only 1 PC, (1 PC, 1 Monitor) adding two will will trip the overload. I have one like that, it rans the PC and LCD, adding a second pc instantly blows its overload.

Even a basic UPS can save PC lots of damage - been more than once we have had power cuts, sitting here in darkness with the computers still going. Long enough to go oh bugger - and shut them down normally. Then go around turning off eight of the buggers - they make a racket all going off at once, 4 inside, 4 in workshop.

We use mainly These APC's 700 (www.ascent.co.nz) or the APC 550 (www.ascent.co.nz)

Mine in the office (700) runs the PC, LCD, Router, 2 Switches, Speakers & phone Charger

They are more expensive, but work perfectly.
wainuitech (129)
1284481 2012-06-28 11:19:00 Wainu, how many PCs and Monitors are you connecting to the APC's 700 or APC 550? What's the battery life?

Am I right to say that when using an UPS it's not necessary to use a surge protector?
bk T (215)
1284482 2012-06-28 13:18:00 Am I right to say that when using an UPS it's not necessary to use a surge protector?

They say that, but a surge protector is cheap compared to a UPS so why not?
Agent_24 (57)
1284483 2012-06-28 21:17:00 Tbh how often does anyone have a power surge? Slankydudl (16687)
1284484 2012-06-28 21:31:00 Tbh how often does anyone have a power surge?

It can depend where you live.
In Mataura for instance, dead PSUs and/or PC components were common for those that didn't have a UPS or some protection.

The meatworks would cause brownouts when it powered up, then when power came back - dead PC hardware......happened a lot.
Most eventually invested in a UPS>
pctek (84)
1284485 2012-06-28 22:23:00 They say that, but a surge protector is cheap compared to a UPS so why not?

The cheap (under $150) surge protectors are useless, actually b8gger all use to anyone.
1101 (13337)
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