October 6, 2010

UPS and Downs

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

There was a power outage at my house last weekend. Three of my computers are on UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) systems. Two of them survived the blackout.

By doing the math, you can determine that one of the computers on the UPS, my new iMac in fact, went dark as soon as the lights did. That’s because UPSs can go bad.

I’ve been using UPSs on my computers for just about ever. I bought my first UPS back in the late 1980s. Back then I lost a hard drive due to a power outage. I thought: Never again.

The key to using a UPS is to be quick. If you’re around when the power goes out, then you simply turn off or shut down the computers. As long as you don’t plug in everything (I recommend only the console and monitor), the system should be alive for at least a few minutes, just to turn things off.

As the UPS gets older, the amount of time it can keep your computers alive diminishes. I remember one UPS I owned back in the 1990s. I thought it was doing great, and it was huge, but when the power went out, my PC lasted only about 10 seconds before poof.

During last weekend’s blackout, the iMac went off right away. I remember staring at the UPS, which still had its power light on, muttering, “Curse you!”

The other two computers immediately started the shutdown process, which is how I have them configured: A USB cable connects the PCs to the UPS. In the computers’ power management configuration, I have things set up so that the system shuts down after a minute of being battery-powered.

The obvious question is then how do you know that your UPS is still working and not merely an extra power brick through which you connect your computer to the wall?

I can tell you from my experience that the little lights or LED screen don’t help much.

The UPS systems I bought were on the order of two years old. That appears to be the proper time to retire the things. To make that time-line stick, I’ve used a Sharpie and labeled the purchase date on my new UPS. Hopefully, if I don’t turn completely daft over the next few months, I’ll remember to check that date and get a new UPS when the time comes.

The bottom line is, of course, to protect your computer investment. Fortunately, I didn’t lose anything on the iMac. But I would have been happier had the power failure occurred and the iMac, like the two PCs, would have peacefully shut itself down.

6 Comments

  1. A thunderclap is heard. The lights flicker and then go out. ROGER is left sitting in the dark, but his computer is still on. The UPS beeps once every few seconds. FELICIA rushes in.
    ——————–

    I really could use a UPS, since we have lots of one-second blackouts. The last one we had nearly knocked out all my server stuff out of commission.
    What brand would you recommend?

    Comment by linuxlove — October 6, 2010 @ 4:46 am

  2. The problem is that all small home/office UPS systems are made by one company out of China. Brand name doesn’t matter ’cause you’re getting the same thing, whether it’s APC or TripLite or whatever. I use TripLite because it’s available at CostCo for a discount. I’ve also used APC.

    Comment by admin — October 6, 2010 @ 7:48 am

  3. Dan- I live in Mexico where not only power outages very common, but the voltage varies so much it can ruin your computer if you dont have a nobreak. I agree with you that the batteries on those cheap computer store nobreaks only last about 3 years. But Im thinking that a lot of web servers and ISPs must have those large battery backups where the computers are always on battery, so its not a race to see if the UPS will pick up fast enough on a power outage. Ive even heard of businesses in third world countries that are backed up by car batteries, because they cant afford down time.

    Comment by BradC — October 7, 2010 @ 7:24 am

  4. A friend of mine works for one of the companies that provides those king-sized UPS systems for hospitals, ISPs, and others that can’t afford downtime. He was the one who told me how silly the tiny UPS systems are, but I still use them because nothing else is available.

    Oh, yeah, I could put my entire house on a battery-generator, but that would be too weird.

    You can also consider getting a laptop instead of a desktop PC. The laptop automatically switches to battery power, plus it’s a mobile computing device. Hook it up to a good line filter and for locations where the power situation is less-than-ideal, you have a good system.

    Comment by admin — October 7, 2010 @ 7:33 am

  5. You don’t have to buy a new UPS every time the thing goes bad right? I’d guess its just the battery that doesn’t hold a charge. And since most of them use 12 volt batteries, you could use an Optima Yellowtop car battery or something, which holds a good charge for pretty long and is designed for deep-cycling.

    The only problem would be the designed temperature limit on the UPS, I’m pretty sure they can’t handle supplying hours of continuous power.

    Comment by samus250 — October 8, 2010 @ 5:48 pm

  6. Interesting proposition, samus250. I’ve removed the batteries on the old UPS systems; the batteries must be disposed of properly and not thrown out. So I take them out of the unit and take them to the hazardous waste place in town.

    The batteries in the TripLite UPS I use don’t appear to be standard lantern batteries. They’re about the same size, but feature two flat terminals. They look more like motorcycle batteries. I’m not familiar with Optima Yellowtop batteries, so I don’t know if such a thing would work the same. But you are correct: If it were possible to get a new battery, it would certainly save money over replacing the entire UPS.

    Comment by admin — October 8, 2010 @ 5:59 pm

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