UPS Time Limit?

P

psaila

Member
I would like to know if there is a time limit to use a UPS? Is it safe to keep a computer and a TFT connected to a four year old UPS?
 
Depends on how much it's been used over those four years, and how much current draw your rig uses. The batteries do need to be replaced after a while. Mine is about that old, and in the beginning, I was supposed to get up to 15 minutes of uptime. Now? I'm lucky to get 20 seconds; just barely enough to shut my PC down.
A UPS isn't supposed to be used to keep you running until the power comes back on (except for a few seconds), but to enable you to shut your system down safely to prevent data loss in the event of a prolonged power failure.
There is also the possibility that the surge suppressors inside the unit are useless; over time, repeated absorption of spikes on power lines slowly kill the varistors, eventually rendering them useless when you'd need them most!
Tom
 
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Only if the varistors inside are shot from absorbing too many power line spikes. If they are, then the spikes get transferred to the PC and monitor.
If you're talking about running off a nearly-dead battery, it wouldn't matter if the UPS were old or new; the PC and monitor don't know how old the UPS is... they just see a nearly-dead battery.
Tom
 
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Im not quite sure if this helps, but when i turn my computer on only using the UPS, once my monitor powers up my computer lights dim greatly, and i think they caused my hard drive to crash and it needed to be reformatted.
 
CRT monitors suck up tons of juice, often more than the computer in the case! I'm not surprised that happens at all.
Tom
 
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