Battery back-up suggestions

[bigben06]

I'm looking for help in selecting UPS units. Any suggestions or recommendations, on model or mfg, would be appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[skatertech]

A little more info would be helpful, ie system specs (including ps rating), what size montor, usage type, etc.

APC is known for higher quality products, however some cheaper brands work just as well. I can't really reccomend a specific product without knowing your needs.

/edit/

Here's a pretty good UPS selector, if you could answer some of it's questions on this forum it would let us help you better

 

[powerMarkymark]

At APC.com they have a page that lets you set the specs of your system and then it suggests three different UPS solutions for your system. Give it a try.

HTH

Mark

 

[Miramonti]

get a cheap APC backup unit, take out the tiny battery and buy and hookup a large 12v sealed lead acid battery, the kind used in wheel chairs. It will last for many hours, all for less than $100.

 

[bex0rs]

I'm happy with my APC 700VA SmartUPS I bought off ebay for $120 shipped. It was refurbished, but the seller put in brand new batteries and cleaned up the casing so it looked brand new when I received it. The outside LEDs indicate my Dual 1200MP system with 17" LCD are putting about 40% load on the unit - but I haven't had a power outage more than 30 seconds yet so I haven't had a chance to see how long it would keep my system up. I would recommend browsing ebay for refurbised APC UPSs with new batteries, since buying this kind stuff new/retail is very expensive.

~bex0rs

 

[MWink]

I highly recommend APC UPS's. I like the Back-UPS Pro series. A Back-UPS Pro 650 should be enough for almost any reasonable system.

get a cheap APC backup unit, take out the tiny battery and buy and hookup a large 12v sealed lead acid battery, the kind used in wheel chairs. It will last for many hours, all for less than $100.

I STRONGLY recommend you do NOT do that. I can almost guarantee something (either the UPS, the battery, or your computer) will get damaged if you do that.

 

[andrey]

I'm using APC Back-UPS CS 500VA and for my computer (Sony 19" monitor, P4-2.53, 15k SCSI + IDE hard drive, check out my signature for all the details ) I get about 10 minutes of running time, which is pretty reasonable.

The neat thing about Back-UPS CS is that it comes with special USB cable, and once the power is out, right before the battery drained, Back-UPS will automatically save all your work in various applications and will put your computer into hibernate mode, and you don't even have to be there there. It can also send you e-mail or SMS to your cell phone or pager when that happens.

One more feature which I love about my APC BackUPS is that it has 6 outlets (3 for battery + 3 surge protectors), so I can connect my computer, monitor and alarm (he he) to the first three, and at the same time connect printer, cable modem and speakers to another three.

Last, but certainly not least, APC uses the similar kind of battery (RBC2) for most of its UPS units, so finding the battery when it needs to be replaced is extremely easy and cheap.

I hope this helps,
--Andrey

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: MWink
I highly recommend APC UPS's. I like the Back-UPS Pro series. A Back-UPS Pro 650 should be enough for almost any reasonable system.

get a cheap APC backup unit, take out the tiny battery and buy and hookup a large 12v sealed lead acid battery, the kind used in wheel chairs. It will last for many hours, all for less than $100.

I STRONGLY recommend you do NOT do that. I can almost guarantee something (either the UPS, the battery, or your computer) will get damaged if you do that.

These are basically the same batteries that come with UPS's. I have used it for almost 2 years and never had a problem and an engineer friend has been doing it for years.

Just don't put two UPS's on one battery and protect your battery and its leads carefully from exposure to everything else so there's no risk of knocking it over or touching/shorting the terminals.

You want sealed lead acid batteries, although I have car batteries which are not sealed, and works fine but is less desireable. The downside here is they can spill and they give off some gas when recharging. Its very little tho, especially because they are recharged so infrequently, and when they are, its usually not much because most people will never have an extended power outage, muchless want to leave everything on when they do. They also require checking the water, but either case, get sealed batteries instead.

 

[andrey]

Originally posted by: jjsole
Just don't put two UPS's on one battery and protect your battery and its leads carefully from exposure to everything else so there's no risk of knocking it over or touching/shorting the terminals.

You want sealed lead acid batteries, although I have car batteries which are not sealed, and works fine but is less desireable. The downside here is they can spill and they give off some gas when recharging. Its very little tho, especially because they are recharged so infrequently, and when they are, its usually not much because most people will never have an extended power outage, muchless want to leave everything on when they do. They also require checking the water, but either case, get sealed batteries instead.

Let me guess, you probably don't have your computer's case cover on either? Hey, after all, even motherboard can be on the table, as long as it doesn't touch any metal parts, right? And while we're at it, why don't we put car battery next to that motherboard, just to make sure nothing gets damaged.

 

[HalfCrazy]

I'm using a <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=76&pcount=&Product_Id=123024&Section.Section_Path=%2FRoot%2FPowerProtection%2FUPSDesktopUsage%2F">Belkin Universal UPS 800VA
</a> with my XP1700+, 80gig WD, 20gig WD, 15" KDS Monitor. You can see the full spec's of the system by using the link in my sig. The UPS will last for around 20 minutes and thats even with me surfing the net.

[edit] I bought it for like $60 bucks and it was brand new.

 

[Distinguished]

I use an APC Back-UPS ES 350VA. It is a low end UPS but it provides surge protection, USB connection with shutdown software (like the APC Back-UPS CS 500VA Andry described above), and provides a few minutes of backup power. I got it mainly to handle sags and the occasional 1-2 second power interruptions. The battery will keep the system going long enough for the shutdown feature to take care of things in the event of an extended blackout. I don?t run the monitor off the battery side, just the surge protection side.

I just recently got this at OfficeMax, regularly $39.99, on sale for $24.99, plus a mail in rebate for $15.00. So my final cost will be around $10.00 Not a bad deal at all.