Maaki wrote: > > Thanks for the valuable info. Interesting that you suggest putting > surge suppressors in series though. I used to link surge suppressors > that way, thinking it would provide additional levels of protection, > but someone told me it was a bad practice to plug one surge > suppressor into another. I never could understand the logic, but then > I really don't understand electricity.
don't feel bad, no one understands everything, that's why it's important to ask. i always ask people who know when i don't. many ups systems won't like a surge strip plugged into them, so you shouldn't do that. however there's no problem plugging one surge strip into another. i do and many recommend it in areas like florida that are prone to large spikes. the noise filters have an additive effect, which is good. the surge suppression is improved as if one fails the other still works, and the first one will take most of the surge while the second or later ones clean it up further, since surge arrestors aren't perfect, i.e. they don't completely absorb a given surge. my ups has noise and surge suppression, and i plug it into a noise/voltage suppresser that's plugged into another noise filter/surge suppresser so i have 3 levels. probably overkill, but cheap insurance. we've had very bad power in the past (it actually finally improved after a recent outage, apparently the weak equipment finally failed completely or was noticed! yay!) with several outages a year, some not during storms so i was fairly concerned. i also can't afford to replace equipment so protection from the unlikely is more important. and we do get some pretty good lightning on occasion. good surge suppressers also have fuses in them which blow if there is a very large surge providing further isolation (though you lose power, but that's better than a surge) and reducing the likely hood of a mov exploding due to a massive overload. the mov's have to dissipate the energy of the surge so large ones produce a lot of heat in them, the fuse helps limit this and provides another limiting effect. the fuse blowing also suggest the unit should not be trusted any more, i.e. it's hard to replace the fuses and you shouldn't unless you also replace the mov's, i.e. throw it out when the fuse blows unless you are a techie. the same goes for surge arrestors for phone lines, cable lines, etc. i have 2 levels on my modem, and we've had a surge arrestor on a phone line fail shorted which indicates it was a huge surge (most likely a power cable shorted to the phone line underground). > All I'm interested in, is protecting my new 20 " iMac G3 and other > equipment from hardware damage due to problems with the electrical > supply. So the extra expense of the "online" versions may not be > necessary. Is that true? online systems are only practical where the power quality is really, really bad. usually very rural areas or rural areas of underdeveloped countries. the other time they make sense is for critical systems like banking computers for instance that must always be available and some large server farms. nearly any ups should be fine for your' use if it has an adequate power rating (and don't plug a laser printer into it unless it's a huge ups, laser printers draw a lot of power). i have a 1KVA ups that handles multiple computers and monitors, the room lights, and a tv set with no problems (it's nice to have the lights on it!). > I was looking at some refurbished APC units, that are listed at good > prices on the APC website. There were so many models, I was having > trouble deciding between them.Trying to make sense of the various > specifications is overwhelming. It's all beyond my level of > comprehension. look at price, and if you need it the automatic shut down software. i really recomend the ncr units at meci.com unless you need automatic shutdown. my 1KVA unit is an ncr, true sine wave (which means it handles motors and other "difficult" loads well, basically over kill but included). it was much less than a smaller "new" unit and it's worked for 3 years through several power losses. ----- -- Why are republicans afraid of the U.N. observing our elections? Do U.S. citizens deserve less than those of other countries? <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6505.htm> In many states citizens still have the option of using a paper ballot, if they ask. I urge all voters to demand the right to vot on paper and create an auditable election. There is something fundamentally wrong when voting machines are designed to not provide any physical record of votes. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
