Hardware - UPS clubex - 03.09.2006, 12:00 Uhr Titel: UPS
Perhaps it's not strictly a Kanotix question but...
Where I live (UK) we often have brief power failures which
are enough cause my machine to shutdown.
Can any one suggest a good, cheap UPS system sufficient
for one maybe two machines.?
Edit: I should have added that the UPS would merely be
used to protect the machine(s) not to maintain use.
h2 - 03.09.2006, 17:21 Uhr Titel: RE: UPS
Any battery backup will do as long as it has enough watts deliverable to maintain your system safely.
With modern hardware, this basically excludes 'cheap' UPS automatically, since cheap tends to equal low watts. 300 is the minimum for a modern box, with low power monitor like lcd.
But they aren't that expensive either. APC is standard and is from my experience reliable.
Key thing to remember is: don't plugin anything into the actual battery powered outlets that does not absolutely have to be attached, that means for practical purposes the computer and the monitor. Maybe also the router if that's crtical. But nothing else.
Also, keep in mind that cheap as in price will directly translate to cheap as in battery durability. A UPS that costs you say 40 euros with cheap batteries that do not last even half the life of a better UPS is clearly not a better deal than a decent name brand UPS that costs 70 euros but lasts 3 times longer.
slh - 03.09.2006, 17:36 Uhr Titel: RE: UPS
Depending on your needs, a notebook might match it best, because a good UPS is expensive and doesn't last more than 5-10 minutes.
h2 - 03.09.2006, 17:44 Uhr Titel: RE: UPS
5-10 minutes is enough to shut down and protect the system from brief flickers of lost or seriously bumpy power, which are the most dangerous fluctations I've come across. I have very very bad power in my building too, and I lost a computer because I wasn't using a UPS, very expensive mistake.
It's the flickers and fluctuations that the stuff really protects you from though, I hear mine click on fairly often, just a for a second, literally. That's the stuff that really kills your box over time.
When I told some computer people this, they couldn't believe I'd been running my computer without a UPS in the first place. The real irony of that was that I wouldn't dream of running a client computer without a ups, but my main networking client lives in an area that has constant power outages and power dips and fluctuations.
But a notebook does achieve the same end result.
By the way, not to enter into larger questions, but as power supplies worldwide become increasingly problematic, this protection will become less and less an option, and more and more an absolute necessity.
clubex - 03.09.2006, 21:03 Uhr Titel:
I only require a UPS which can (a) protect against the brief
power outages (ie. which are long enough to cause system
failure) and (b) to allow me enough time to do a proper
shutdown when a long term outage occurs.
I agree with h2. These power outages, both brief and long
term, are becoming increasingly frequent.
We've had many system crashing outages throughout this
year (one this morning) and one during the Christmas period
which took the electricity supplier 10hrs to fix (caused by
a transformer cable burnout suggesting. poor maintanance or
under estimating area loadage).
I live in a rural area and people who have lived here longer
than I say that over the last 2-3 years outages have become
quite common.
h2 - 03.09.2006, 21:31 Uhr Titel:
And they will only get worse, there is almost no doubt about that issue any longer. It's easy to see where I live because in summer, more and more, the electric grid simply cannot handle the load all these new houses, full airconditioned, put on the system. So $70 is a good investment I'd say, not sure what that costs in Britain, shouldn't be a lot more APC stuff is very standard, and easy to find, most office supply stores, all online hardware retailers, etc will have them. Just go for the highest wattage you can afford.
By the way, from what I'm seeing here, and from how my machine died, the real killer is not the power outages, which tend to be very rare, but the brownouts, where the power drops in voltage briefly, you can see this symptom when lights either flicker or dim, then brighten. Your sensitive computer does not like that situation at all.
clubex - 04.09.2006, 01:09 Uhr Titel:
H2: I agree with all you say.
Our rural village consists of approx 300 homes and so I
suspect we are the first to suffer when the cities demand
increases. I also suspect we are very low on the priority
list for the maintenance of the physical infrastructure.
It goes without saying that we are also too small to have
much clout when we complain to our electricity supplier.
I too can only see matters getting worse.
kb0hae - 04.09.2006, 07:47 Uhr Titel:
I have a 350VA APC ups here. It has a cable to connect to the computer si that if you install their software, it will close down the software, and shut down the computer if the power is down for more than a minute or so (I think...maybe you can set the time factor). Is there a way for this feature to work in Linux?
BTW, I found out the hard way about cheap UPSs. I went through 2 Cyberpower USPs in less than a year...Finally got smart and bought an APC about 2 years ago. The Cyberpower USPs had a 12v 3amp-hour battery. The APC has a 12v 7 amp-hour battery for what is supposedly the same size UPS. I still have the batteries from the Cyberpower UPSs...use them for powering my UHF mobile (2 meter Amateur radio) during power outages.
We have frequent short outages here...most lokley from trees too close to (or grown around ) the power lines. Seems to happen most when we have windy weather.
It has always amazed me that someone will spend $500.00 or more on a PC, but not spend $70.00 to protect the PC. I guess most people don't realize that they need a UPS until their PC is trashed by a power brownout or spike.
The greed of the power industries is the biggest problem today. It causes them to operate with the smallest amount of maintenance and repaire possible, along with the bare minimum. of extra capacity for an area.
I notice that prices keep going up, but service and reliability go down as time goes by. Makes me want to invest in my own solar or wind(or a combination of the 2) power system!
spottyrover - 05.09.2006, 15:06 Uhr Titel:
I have an apc cs 500 which has a cable from it which plugs into the usb socket
I am curious if I can use this and how?
dave
eislon - 02.11.2006, 05:42 Uhr Titel:
Is there a way to see/communicate with certain UPS under linux? I know that with Novell/Windows there is software to see things , status battery and so on?
p500xl - 02.11.2006, 08:30 Uhr Titel:
Zitat:
Is there a way to see/communicate with certain UPS under linux?