What kinds of surge protectors/APC's do you guys use?

[The VCR King]

Where I live in ohio, I get a lot of storms and during storms and even light rain, all my lights will flicker lightly or my electric will go out then instantly come back on... the electric in my neighborhood isnt exactly great and I know it's not doing my PC any good (not that it has enough issues anyways ). Right now I have it on a Belkin Surgemaster power strip but I know that isn't enough.

What kind of APC's do you guys run on here? Isn't an APC basically just a huge power inverter?

 

[voyagerfan99]

Isn't an APC basically just a huge power inverter?

No. APC is a brand of UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply, also known as a battery-backup).

A UPS can definitely help with power surges and brown-outs, and provide equipment with more constant and clean power. Battery time is dependent on how much money you spend and how long you want the system to run on battery.

I have a generic APC Smart UPS, but it's only connected to my server so that my VM's don't all just go pooey when the power goes out. I get about 5-8 minutes of run time on battery with it, so it gives me time to log into the host and shut down all the VM's.

 

[beers]

My lab downstairs has one of these:
https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups/pfc-sinewave/cp1500pfclcd

Has been pretty sturdy over the last 3 years or so, keeping my RAID fileserver, core switch, edge router and WLC up. Run time at ~350w seems to be around 15 mins or so.

 

[The VCR King]

No. APC is a brand of UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply, also known as a battery-backup).

A UPS can definitely help with power surges and brown-outs, and provide equipment with more constant and clean power. Battery time is dependent on how much money you spend and how long you want the system to run on battery.

I have a generic APC Smart UPS, but it's only connected to my server so that my VM's don't all just go pooey when the power goes out. I get about 5-8 minutes of run time on battery with it, so it gives me time to log into the host and shut down all the VM's.

Oh okay. I thought they were called APCs. My grandpa used to work for a local school district and he has all sorts of old computer crap he's gotten from them. He has at least 20 of the old beige APC's laying around in his garage. Are the batteries in those replacable, because if they are, I might ask Grandpa if I can snatch one of those for myself...

 

[voyagerfan99]

Are the batteries in those replacable, because if they are, I might ask Grandpa if I can snatch one of those for myself...

They are, but if its beige, they're not very good. You'd be better off getting something new.

 

[Intel_man]

Battery tech has gone a long way since the "beige" days.

 

[The VCR King]

They are, but if its beige, they're not very good. You'd be better off getting something new.

No problem. Would it still be okay if I used a "beige brick" until I got a good newer one or would it be better to just not use one at all?

 

[voyagerfan99]

You do whatever you want.

 

[beers]

No problem. Would it still be okay if I used a "beige brick" until I got a good newer one or would it be better to just not use one at all?

Depending on the PSU and it having Active PFC, you might see issues when it flips onto battery if it's not a 'pure sine' type of unit.

 

[The VCR King]

Depending on the PSU and it having Active PFC, you might see issues when it flips onto battery if it's not a 'pure sine' type of unit.

Oh ok then, I'd rather not risk it.

 

[beers]

Oh ok then, I'd rather not risk it.

I wouldn't say there's much risk, it just has a chance of not working during that transition.

I'd save they money you would use on batteries to just put toward the 'real PC parts' fund instead.

 

[Okedokey]

Depending on the PSU and it having Active PFC, you might see issues when it flips onto battery if it's not a 'pure sine' type of unit.

How will active PFC be important in a DC load?

 

[Geoff]

Don't bother replacing the batteries in that 20 year old unit, just get a new UPS.

We picked up two new Schneider Electric UPS racks such as these:

 

[beers]

How will active PFC be important in a DC load?

The waveform out of the inverter in the UPS, which converts the battery's DC output into AC, takes a different shape. It's not uncommon for units with active PFC to fail to function once the unit flips over to battery and begins producing the modified sine wave noted below.

Here's a decent read:
http://www.vicorpower.com/documents/application_notes/an1_active-pfc.pdf

 

[Okedokey]

Yeah, there is no way in the world that power factor control is an issue in ones home PC. Even with the small AC to DC rectification, the problem is almost nonexistent unless you have a seriously cheap PSU and the switch time is very slow.