Cottage Grove has frequent power outages. Years ago, we unplugged every
pc/fax/copier/etc when a storm was coming. Drastic measures!
A typical outage in Cottage Grove lasts less than a second, and according to
the guy in charge of the Pacific Power office here, such outages are
usually caused by a critter getting vaporized between high tension lines.
A circuit breaker shuts the line for less than a second, but it's enough
to reset every vcr in town. The voltage here in Cottage Grove is also
somewhat erratic; we have been advised to buy appliances and bulbs rated
for 125 volts minimum.
I've been using "Cyberpower" battery backup devices for several years.
There are various models, the cheapest are as low as $25 at Fry's. I have
a half-dozen of the 320SL's and a heavy-duty model for my server. While
Linux isn't officially supported, I've been able to setup the serial port
monitoring software which has worked well for me. It records entries to
the syslog when a power failure occurs, and records messages about the
status of the unit.
I've been very impressed by the Cyberpower line of battery backup units--
they may not have all the features and support of some of the more
expensive APC units, but we've avoided lots of downtime and headaches.
Ralph
