HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe)
power outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Adrian

On Nov 21, 8:44*pm, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe)
power outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Adrian

As your run time needs are so short, the only real issue is the power
output capability of the UPS


NT

Since your runtime requirements are small, the issue is VA rating.

Look on Ebay Ireland for refurbished APC SmartUPS 600 or 1000, just
make sure the batteries with it are new.
You can always sell at nearly the price you paid when the problem is
fixed.

"Adrian Brentnall" wrote in message
...
HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe) power
outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..


I run a PCs and two Belkin UPS. They work fine doing a similar job to the
one you need. My weather station runs on a laptop which in effect provides
backup for that part. The ADSL router and wireless access run off their own
UPS. If you are buying secondhand beware that the batteries may be
knackered. Feel free to contact me off group if you wish.

Peter Crosland

Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe)
power outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..

Any suggestions ?

I have similar problems, excellently solved with a recon UPS unit from ebay.
You might need a couple, but small & cheap.

Would unreservedly recommend the seller
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/ups-trader/

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:28:26 +0000, Steve Walker wrote:

I have similar problems, excellently solved with a recon UPS unit from
ebay. You might need a couple, but small & cheap.

Would unreservedly recommend the seller
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/ups-trader/

That's not Andy Whitfield, is it? Used to be on uk.adverts.computer...

If so, yes, he knows his stuff. Gave me great service.

Replacement batteries - if needed - I like www.mdsbattery.co.uk

Occasionally Amazon have batteries at a good price - and zero shipping!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Adrian Brentnall
saying something like:

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

'Cos they're made in Naas, or somewhere.

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?

I've been using an APC 1000VA unit for years, bought after intermittent
power outages seriously wrecked a PC. It's been marvellous, saving such
a thing happening again and only now is the battery showing signs of
needing replacement, after 7 or 8 years.

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:50:43 -0800 (PST), NT wrote:

As your run time needs are so short, the only real issue is the power
output capability of the UPS

Always assuming that the auto recloser always resets. The one in the
11kv line that feeds us does *unless* it trips 3 times in less than a
minute or something like that. If does get too many trips in a period
it latches off and has to be manually reset, hopefully after the
fault has been found and cleared.

Having the connected PC's shutdown gracefully on power failure (or a
minute or two after) is sensible. Not sure how one would arrange that
with a USB UPS connected to a window box. I think there is only a NUT
client for doze.

As for the REC "looking into it", yeah sure they are... 5 clicks is a
nice short walk. Walk the line and see if there are any bits of tree
within a couple of feet of the line (think wind blowing a twig
against it). It's the wrong time of year for tree growth though,
that's normally a late spring early summer problem and a single bit
of fresh tree doesn't normally create more than a few outages as it
gets blown up and killed when it touches the line. A bigger older bit
of tree will last longer of course.

--
Cheers
Dave.

NT wrote:
On Nov 21, 8:44 pm, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe)
power outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Adrian

As your run time needs are so short, the only real issue is the power
output capability of the UPS


NT

So it's a matter of reading the ratings labels on the back of the kit..?
All the ofice screens are lcd, so I guess that helps with power
consumption.

When I mentioned UPS's about the house, it was suggested that backing up
the power to the Sky+ box would also be a Good Thing.....
So I guess it's a matter of deciding whether to go with one or two BIG
boxes or a scattering of smaller units....

Thanks

HI Dave

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:50:43 -0800 (PST), NT wrote:

As your run time needs are so short, the only real issue is the power
output capability of the UPS

Always assuming that the auto recloser always resets. The one in the
11kv line that feeds us does *unless* it trips 3 times in less than a
minute or something like that. If does get too many trips in a period
it latches off and has to be manually reset, hopefully after the
fault has been found and cleared.

Well - I know that last night was a bit wild out here (understatement!)
but the mains tripped out three or four times between 7:30 and 9:30 -
varying lengths of time - longest being about 10 mins


Having the connected PC's shutdown gracefully on power failure (or a
minute or two after) is sensible. Not sure how one would arrange that
with a USB UPS connected to a window box. I think there is only a NUT
client for doze.

Yes - it would be advantageous. Is that what the serial / usb connection
is all about - the box tells the PC to shut down in a tidy fashion ?


As for the REC "looking into it", yeah sure they are... 5 clicks is a
nice short walk. Walk the line and see if there are any bits of tree
within a couple of feet of the line (think wind blowing a twig
against it). It's the wrong time of year for tree growth though,
that's normally a late spring early summer problem and a single bit
of fresh tree doesn't normally create more than a few outages as it
gets blown up and killed when it touches the line. A bigger older bit
of tree will last longer of course.


Speaking to the engineer the other day - he reckoned that there was
'something' that was tripping the circuit - and the data recording stuff
was registering a fault current of 80A (at 11kv!) just before the thing
tripped out. He commented that bits of tree don;t last all that long in
that situation - but didn't say that he'd found the fault....

We're on the end of a wire - two of us sharing a poletop transformer -
and I suspect that the mains isn't all that clean, as various bits of
electrickery have failed in the last 3 years...

Ah well - we do have a great view ! g

Adrian

js.b1 wrote:
Since your runtime requirements are small, the issue is VA rating.

Look on Ebay Ireland for refurbished APC SmartUPS 600 or 1000, just
make sure the batteries with it are new.
You can always sell at nearly the price you paid when the problem is
fixed.

Thanks. The only Irish-based one I can see at the moment is a 1500VA -
start price 1 euro - buy it now 400 euro - lots of phtots but no mention
of battery condx.

HI Peter

Peter Crosland wrote:
"Adrian Brentnall" wrote in message
...
HI Folks
We seem to be getting more & more short duration (5 seconds, maybe) power
outages (local Electricty folks looking into it -
but apparently it's somewhere on a 5km stretch of cabling
between here & the village - and, as it's self-resetting,
it's difficult to trace / fix).

So - thinking UPS for the 3 pc's here.
The two in the office are entry-level Dells, and could (perhaps) be fed
from the same UPS box ??
The one outside spends most of its time uploading data from the weather
station up to the web - and is probably too far away
to share the office UPS..

So - looking at CPC's website (only because they offer very reasonable
carriage rates to this part of Ireland) - there's a bewildering array
of units....

Any recommendations from what's on offer ?
personal experiences - ones to avoid..?

To be honest - it's probably less of a long-term UPS
that's needed - more of a 'keep the PCs running til the mains trips back
in' device..


I run a PCs and two Belkin UPS. They work fine doing a similar job to the
one you need. My weather station runs on a laptop which in effect provides
backup for that part. The ADSL router and wireless access run off their own
UPS. If you are buying secondhand beware that the batteries may be
knackered. Feel free to contact me off group if you wish.


Thanks - that was my initial idea - one UPS per box
CPC have the 600va Belkin at 32 uk pounds + vat
- which seems very cheap - I could afford three of those and solve
all the backup problems!

I'm always nervous of 'buying cheap' - but I guess for my application
this might do the trick...

On 22/11/09 05:10, John Rumm wrote:

I always for for APC units. They seem well made work well enough for me.

I have two APC units (one bought second hand, one scrounged) the
electronics are positively stone age, I regard this is a good thing.

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:53:51 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

So it's a matter of reading the ratings labels on the back of the kit..?
All the ofice screens are lcd, so I guess that helps with power
consumption.

As said before, they're rated in VA and not in watts. You therefore need
a UPS with a VA rating about 20-25% greater than the max watts you will
draw. I'd personally oversize it quite a lot to get increased run time.

I use APC kit here and it's been fine. Not perfect, but there we are.

The APC Smart-UPS range is a little more expensive, but it handles low
and high volts. At specified points, it'll kick in and provide the
*correct* voltage - useful if something on the network goes awry and
starts supplying 260 volts or 200 volts!

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:33 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Thanks - that was my initial idea - one UPS per box CPC have the 600va
Belkin at 32 uk pounds + vat

NO! NO! NO!

a) It's Belkin - seriously
b) You get what you pay for here....and that's not a lot.

Think of the cost of the kit you're trusting to it..



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:02:10 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

On 22/11/09 05:10, John Rumm wrote:

I always for for APC units. They seem well made work well enough for
me.

I have two APC units (one bought second hand, one scrounged) the
electronics are positively stone age, I regard this is a good thing.

Yes, I have older models as they monitor through serial ports rather than
USB. I have a SmartUPS 1400, a SmartUPS 1500 and a SmartUPS 700 (the last
one runs the whole central rack).


--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

"Adrian Brentnall" wrote in message
...

Thanks - that was my initial idea - one UPS per box
CPC have the 600va Belkin at 32 uk pounds + vat
- which seems very cheap - I could afford three of those and solve
all the backup problems!

I'm always nervous of 'buying cheap' - but I guess for my application
this might do the trick...

There are only two issues with really cheap UPS boxes..

they don't usually have monitor ports so they can't tell the computer to
start shutdown.

The batteries are only big enough to shut the computer down once or twice in
quick succession (before the batteries have recharged).

Neither has any effect on what you want to cure.

IME the best have network monitoring and are line interactive but I don't
see how that would benefit you.

In article , Bob Eager
writes

That's not Andy Whitfield, is it? Used to be on uk.adverts.computer...

Not sure.

If so, yes, he knows his stuff. Gave me great service.

Indeed. Andy is a good egg.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

In article , Bob Eager
writes

NO! NO! NO!

a) It's Belkin - seriously
b) You get what you pay for here....and that's not a lot.


Agreed.

To the OP: get APC. SmartUPS if you find a model you can afford. 3
basic APC UPSes will cost you 300 euro. How much is your data worth?

It may or may not matter to you, but APC support is in Ireland.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

On 22/11/09 10:34, Bob Eager wrote:

The APC Smart-UPS range is a little more expensive, but it handles low
and high volts. At specified points, it'll kick in and provide the
*correct* voltage -

My supply voltage tends to be at the high end, my UPSs spend about 8
hours a day here in "trim" mode (both UPSs agree, but I've never
measured with a decent multimeter, I have a mains disturbance recorder
somewhere but it's decades out of calibration)

http://adslpipe.co.uk/pics/ups_weekly.png

On 22/11/09 10:35, Bob Eager wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:33 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Belkin

NO! NO! NO!

While we're warning people off from low end UPSes can I add the MGE
Ellipse range (now owned by Eaton who are otherwise good).

Batteries fail on all UPSes eventually, but on the Ellipse seems
designed so when this happens the UPS fails in a off state rather than a
bypass mode, even manual button pushing doesnt help, this is not good
when a customer has 20 of them powering equipment in remote locations.

In article , Andy
Burns writes

My supply voltage tends to be at the high end,

It is rather (250.78V average). The upper limit is 253V, so your
utility company may be reluctant to get involved. Do you get lots of
lightbulbs popping?

--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:55:37 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

My supply voltage tends to be at the high end, my UPSs spend about 8
hours a day here in "trim" mode

When I first got my UPS it instantly went into trim mode I thought it
was fault until I measured the supply voltage. I then logged the
voltage for a while then rang the REC, they came round agreed the
high voltage and adjusted the taping on our transformer. The
frequency of incandescent light bulbs going pop dropped from one a
month to one a year or longer.

From your plot 254v is above the upper tolerance of 230v +10% or
253v. Complain and get that average down to at least 240v, you
actuall have a pretty stable suppy at +/- 4v, ours is nearer +/- 10v.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 22/11/09 11:43, Mike Tomlinson wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

My supply voltage tends to be at the high end,

It is rather (250.78V average). The upper limit is 253V, so your
utility company may be reluctant to get involved.

Yeah, I figured for 1 or 2 volts above the limit part of the time I'd be
****ing in the wind, sub-station is only about 50yds away, maybe others
further away complained about low voltage?

Do you get lots of lightbulbs popping?

whisperNo, I mainly use CFLs./whisper

Bob Eager wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:02:10 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

On 22/11/09 05:10, John Rumm wrote:

I always for for APC units. They seem well made work well enough for
me.
I have two APC units (one bought second hand, one scrounged) the
electronics are positively stone age, I regard this is a good thing.

Yes, I have older models as they monitor through serial ports rather than
USB. I have a SmartUPS 1400, a SmartUPS 1500 and a SmartUPS 700 (the last
one runs the whole central rack).


I support all the good things said about APC. My first UPS was an APC
and its still going strong after many years (not sure how many). Others
have failed after a time (a Belkin one stands out).

The most recent one I bought sparked internally and failed immediately.
So APC is not perfect. However their support service is second to none
and I now have a working one. They even reply to emails (no I'm not
making that up!) Its an RS800, and a quad core PC and monitor uses 108
of the 540 watt it can provide, with an estimated 40 minutes of time in
the battery.

Peter Scott

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:00:36 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Well - I know that last night was a bit wild out here (understatement!)
but the mains tripped out three or four times between 7:30 and 9:30 -
varying lengths of time - longest being about 10 mins

I was going to ask if it was related to the weather. Seems as if it
is due to movement of the wires and/or stuff close to the lines. It
might be a failling insulator but once they have a track over them
they tend to stay "failed".

Yes - it would be advantageous. Is that what the serial / usb connection
is all about - the box tells the PC to shut down in a tidy fashion ?

Yes, you have a bit of software on the connected PC that monitors the
UPS and shuts the PC down when given criteria are met. Other PC's
also supported by that UPS should also shutdown but not sure how you
do that in a windoze enviroment.

Speaking to the engineer the other day - he reckoned that there was
'something' that was tripping the circuit - and the data recording stuff
was registering a fault current of 80A (at 11kv!) just before the thing
tripped out.

Only about the same as the load presented by 800 odd homes but makes
a bit of a bang when disipated all on one place. Presumably by "fault
current" he meant 80A going to ground rather than 80A of load.

He commented that bits of tree don;t last all that long in that
situation - but didn't say that he'd found the fault....

They normally don't at least not fresh growth or small twigs say up
to an inch in dia it just explodes. Bigger drier bits may last a lot
longer.

We're on the end of a wire - two of us sharing a poletop transformer -
and I suspect that the mains isn't all that clean, as various bits of
electrickery have failed in the last 3 years...

We have around 1/2 km of single phase 11kv spur to "our" pole
transformer. The three phase 11kv to the spur is about 4km long. Get
a decent UPS and you'll be able to log the supply voltage. That may
well be quite enlightening.

Ah well - we do have a great view ! g

So do we.


--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:00:36 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Well - I know that last night was a bit wild out here (understatement!)
but the mains tripped out three or four times between 7:30 and 9:30 -
varying lengths of time - longest being about 10 mins

I was going to ask if it was related to the weather. Seems as if it
is due to movement of the wires and/or stuff close to the lines. It
might be a failling insulator but once they have a track over them
they tend to stay "failed".

Yes - just wish they'd get thier finger out & find whatever it is that's
failing....


Yes - it would be advantageous. Is that what the serial / usb connection
is all about - the box tells the PC to shut down in a tidy fashion ?

Yes, you have a bit of software on the connected PC that monitors the
UPS and shuts the PC down when given criteria are met. Other PC's
also supported by that UPS should also shutdown but not sure how you
do that in a windoze enviroment.

Ah - OK....
Are you saying that the ups could handle the graceful shutdown of one
win (XP) pc? - 'cos that might be all that's needed..

Maybe run a ups for my office machine and the outside weather station
one - my wife's tidier than I am and so her machine tends to be shut
down to a win desktop when she's not at it...


Speaking to the engineer the other day - he reckoned that there was
'something' that was tripping the circuit - and the data recording stuff
was registering a fault current of 80A (at 11kv!) just before the thing
tripped out.

Only about the same as the load presented by 800 odd homes but makes
a bit of a bang when disipated all on one place. Presumably by "fault
current" he meant 80A going to ground rather than 80A of load.

Apparently so


He commented that bits of tree don;t last all that long in that
situation - but didn't say that he'd found the fault....

They normally don't at least not fresh growth or small twigs say up
to an inch in dia it just explodes. Bigger drier bits may last a lot
longer.

I guess walking the line is the only solution..?
Mind you - after the gales we've had and are forecast to have in the
enxt couple of days, they may be rather occupied with 'hard' faults


We're on the end of a wire - two of us sharing a poletop transformer -
and I suspect that the mains isn't all that clean, as various bits of
electrickery have failed in the last 3 years...

We have around 1/2 km of single phase 11kv spur to "our" pole
transformer. The three phase 11kv to the spur is about 4km long. Get
a decent UPS and you'll be able to log the supply voltage. That may
well be quite enlightening.

Perhaps I can sell ESB the data g
It's something I've been meaning to log - outside in the studio I use
110v soldering irons for stained glass work - and some days the iron
does seem 'hotter' than others.... - might be down to supplty volts...


Ah well - we do have a great view ! g

So do we.

On days when you can actually see it -
recently it's been a bonus to see the front gate!
Still - we're not flooded!

Adrian

HI Bob

Bob Eager wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:06:33 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Thanks - that was my initial idea - one UPS per box CPC have the 600va
Belkin at 32 uk pounds + vat

NO! NO! NO!

a) It's Belkin - seriously
b) You get what you pay for here....and that's not a lot.

Think of the cost of the kit you're trusting to it..


I take it you're not a Belkin fan then ? g

In ascending order of cost - CPC have

(Belkin)
Powercom
Trust
Mustek
Liebert
APC
and then we're up around the 100-quid+VAT-mark

I had a liebert many moons ago - wasn't all that great
and their customer support were very snotty!

Any opinions on the above makes ?
Thanks

Adrian Brentnall gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

Any opinions on the above makes ?

As with the many, many others - APC. Every time.

On 22/11/09 14:36, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Are you saying that the ups could handle the graceful shutdown of one
win (XP) pc? - 'cos that might be all that's needed..

Yes, XP itself includes basic UPS software (in control panel, power
settings) that will talk to a SMARTUPS and automatically shut it down.

You can install more sophisticated software from APC themselves (though
they've started charging for some of this now) that lets you use an
agent to shutdown several machines other than the one that has the
serial/USB connection.

Alternatively there is opensource software called NUT which will allow
remote monitoring/shutdown of multiple computers (linux or windows) but
maybe overkill for most users.

HI Mike

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
In article , Bob Eager
writes

NO! NO! NO!

a) It's Belkin - seriously
b) You get what you pay for here....and that's not a lot.


Agreed.

To the OP: get APC. SmartUPS if you find a model you can afford. 3
basic APC UPSes will cost you 300 euro. How much is your data worth?

Good question!


It may or may not matter to you, but APC support is in Ireland.


Might be handy....
Back at cpc I see this range
http://cpc.farnell.com/apc/bk650ei/u...apc/dp/CS14752

but they claim a backup time of 4 or 2 minutes -
or 45 / 25 seconds on full load (barely long enough for windows to shut
down) Can this be a typo by the chimps at CPC - or is this for real?

Adrian

On 22/11/09 14:43, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

In ascending order of cost - CPC have

(Belkin)
Powercom
Trust
Mustek
Liebert
APC

Any opinions on the above makes ?

I'd scrub everything other than the Liebert and APC.

HI Bob

Bob Eager wrote:
On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:28:26 +0000, Steve Walker wrote:

I have similar problems, excellently solved with a recon UPS unit from
ebay. You might need a couple, but small & cheap.

Would unreservedly recommend the seller
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/ups-trader/

That's not Andy Whitfield, is it? Used to be on uk.adverts.computer...

If so, yes, he knows his stuff. Gave me great service.

Replacement batteries - if needed - I like www.mdsbattery.co.uk

Occasionally Amazon have batteries at a good price - and zero shipping!



My only 'loyalty' to CPC is a morbid curiousity to see how badly they
can package the next order, and a grudging respect for the fact that
their shipping costs are very reasonable...

You'd think that Ireland was just round the corner from Outer Mongolia -
the rates some online outfits want to charge!

Adrian

On 22/11/09 14:47, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

http://cpc.farnell.com/apc/bk650ei/u...apc/dp/CS14752

but they claim a backup time of 4 or 2 minutes

The APC page for the BackUPS CS 650VA gives

35 minutes for 100W/160VA load
15 minutes for 200W/320VA load
8 minutes for 300W/480VA load
5 minutes for 400W/640VA load

Adrian Brentnall gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

but they claim a backup time of 4 or 2 minutes - or 45 / 25 seconds on
full load (barely long enough for windows to shut down) Can this be a
typo by the chimps at CPC - or is this for real?

It's utterly believable - but bear in mind that you really don't want to
be running any UPS at full load. Better, by far, to over-spec, albeit
with an increased purchase cost. The protection will be better, the
batteries will last longer.

Adrian Brentnall gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

You'd think that Ireland was just round the corner from Outer Mongolia -
the rates some online outfits want to charge!

shrug International shipping...

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:47:12 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Might be handy....
Back at cpc I see this range
http://cpc.farnell.com/apc/bk650ei/u...apc/dp/CS14752

but they claim a backup time of 4 or 2 minutes - or 45 / 25 seconds on
full load (barely long enough for windows to shut down) Can this be a
typo by the chimps at CPC - or is this for real?

Think you'll find there is a single (full load) figure quoted, e.g. 4
mins 45 secs, or 2 mins 25 secs.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:49:13 +0000, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

My only 'loyalty' to CPC is a morbid curiousity to see how badly they
can package the next order, and a grudging respect for the fact that
their shipping costs are very reasonable...

LOL! Couldn't agree more....

I would try Andy Whitfield for a good used UPS. Get a SmartUPS if you can
run to it, as it'll protect things a little more (if the supply is
unreliable, there may be overvoltage bits). I found that he's on
linkedin, so here's his page, with a contact link:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andy-whitfield/9/9a9/167

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
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On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:48:58 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

I'd scrub everything other than the Liebert and APC.

AOL

--
Cheers
Dave.

Hi Andy

Andy Burns wrote:
On 22/11/09 14:36, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

Are you saying that the ups could handle the graceful shutdown of one
win (XP) pc? - 'cos that might be all that's needed..

Yes, XP itself includes basic UPS software (in control panel, power
settings) that will talk to a SMARTUPS and automatically shut it down.

Ah - thanks !


You can install more sophisticated software from APC themselves (though
they've started charging for some of this now) that lets you use an
agent to shutdown several machines other than the one that has the
serial/USB connection.

Alternatively there is opensource software called NUT which will allow
remote monitoring/shutdown of multiple computers (linux or windows) but
maybe overkill for most users.


Simple == Good!
Thanks
Adrian