moderate +1, informative :)
thanks Dave, that was excellent info for us non electrical engineers :)
In your experience, do you have the sense, that the quality of city power varies quite a bit between various areas in the city? I've sometimes wondered about that.
...Niels
Dave Watkins wrote:
Hi All,
Concerning UPS's and surge protectors.......
I will only use line interactive UPS's in my shop or with my clients. The protection offered by this type of UPS is far superior to the standard battery backup. I've included a link to APC's white paper detailing the different types of UPS's available. Basically they provide filtered, conditioned and regulated power via the battery and avoid a direct connection to the city grid choosing to run things through the battery instead. Battery life is shortened slightly but that is a small price IMHO.
ftp://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNM3Y_R5_EN.pdf
Concerning the use of surge protectors in most cases you get what you pay for. It's as simple as that. Just for fun one day I hooked a battery charger to a surge protector and placed a rheostat in line between the surge protector and a 220 V power supply. I was surprised to see the range that they would accept without tripping. That increase or decrease in voltage, known as sags or surges, can cause as much damage to today's modern systems and the data on them. Today's systems are more delicate due to the smaller voltages required to operate. During a discussion with the City of Calgary's Electrical Dept I was told that the voltage provided by the City can vary by as much as 15% from 110V. I was also surprised to find out that this variance is "normal" according to the City and within the contract we all have accepted by using their power. Most surge protectors do not have the circuitry within to react fast enough to these surges or sags. Another consideration is the speed which a surge protector will kick in, sometimes called the clamping voltage. With many of the cheaper units the damage has been done before the protector realizes there has been a spike.
Sag - slow decrease in supplied voltage Surge - slow increase in supplied voltage Spike - rapid increase in supplied voltage Drop - sudden loss of supply voltage
For what it's worth, I've used plenty of APC's products in the past and they seem to work well. I have had to replace a few units under warranty that failed AFTER they were hit with a spike in all but one case there was no damage to the attached equipment and in the one case where a motherboard was fried APC paid for a replacement board without any hassles. They were quite happy to ask a few questions and cut a cheque for the new board while at the same time sending out the replacement UPS.
Rider computers on 32nd Ave NE frequently have used UPS's and most have good batteries in them. They will usually test them and mark the usage in minutes. Replacement batteries can be purchased from Battery World if needed.
Hope this helps someone......
Cheers,
Dave Watkins
Abacus Technologies 403-701-5746
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