UPS recomendations

Hi all,

I want to get a UPS to protect a set of machines running on a home
network. I have eight plugs that I currently use, a couple of these
could be unprotected (i.e, go off safely with a power cut). It would
be nice to have the machines shut down cleanly, there are two
especially I want this for, one running Linux and one running W2k3.
It would also be nice to see remotely the health of the battery and
any other issues within the unit.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Andrew.
--
Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.


Andrew Hodgson

The APC ones work well in my experience. My last one has been running for
six years.

Peter Crosland

On 06/02/2005 Peter Crosland wrote:

> The APC ones work well in my experience. My last one has been running
> for six years.
>
> Peter Crosland


I have 2 x Belkin Universal 1200VA. The advantage to me was they take
standard 13A plugs. I am in a village where overhead cables cause power
flickers in high winds and they protect me from that very well.

Had a problem with one last week, the USB connector was loose, called
Belkin, replacement delivered within 48 hours.


--
Jeff Gaines
Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.3

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:50:17 +0000, Andrew Hodgson <(E-Mail Removed)>
strung together this:

>I want to get a UPS to protect a set of machines running on a home
>network.
.........
>It would also be nice to see remotely the health of the battery and
>any other issues within the unit.
>
I've always used APC, <http://www.apcc.com>, and never had any
trouble. I've used most of their UPS's from 350VA to 4KVA for various
commercial applications and they've all run faultlessly since
installed. They also come with the PowerChute remote diagnostics suite
and some of the larger UPS's can be networked.

Belkin are a bit home use, I would never use Belkin for anything of a
professional nature, it's like buying my routers from PC World, just
not the done thing.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

Peter Crosland <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> The APC ones work well in my experience. My last one has been running for
> six years.
>
.... but how many times in that six years has it had to 'do its thing'?

--
Chris Green

"Andrew Hodgson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all,
>
> I want to get a UPS to protect a set of machines running on a home
> network. I have eight plugs that I currently use, a couple of these
> could be unprotected (i.e, go off safely with a power cut). It would
> be nice to have the machines shut down cleanly, there are two
> especially I want this for, one running Linux and one running W2k3.
> It would also be nice to see remotely the health of the battery and
> any other issues within the unit.
>
> Any ideas?
> Thanks,
> Andrew.
> --
> Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
> My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.

I would find out the following, how do you know when the back-up battery is
dead? I've seen the following on an APC system (can't tell you whether
others are the same)...

- Back-up battery silently died
- The way to "check" the battery is with a scheduled "battery test"
- A "battery test" switches to battery power and checks all is well.
- The battery is dead so as soon as the "check" happens, everything keels
over!

Also, some APCs require you power off to replace a dead battery. OK if you
don't mind but useless for a high-availability system.

Also, APCs have a single serial connection for "Power-Chute" which won't
shut down more than a single PC. The add-on "more serials ports" board is
very expensive. You might find alternatives that can support more than a
single PC shutdown.

Paul DS.

>> The APC ones work well in my experience. My last one has been running for
>> six years.
>>
> ... but how many times in that six years has it had to 'do its thing'?
>


I live in a rural area served by overhead powerlines that has frequent brief
cuts on a daily basis. My APC UPS has worked faultlessly during this time
and has shut my system down safely when longer cuts have occurred. I had no
hesitation in buying a new one recently because I needed a higher capacity
model. The old one is still going strong elsewhere.

Peter Crosland

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 13:14:04 -0000, "Paul D.Smith"
<(E-Mail Removed)> strung together this:

>Also, APCs have a single serial connection for "Power-Chute" which won't
>shut down more than a single PC. The add-on "more serials ports" board is
>very expensive. You might find alternatives that can support more than a
>single PC shutdown.
>
Depends which model you go for, some of the models come with a network
port as standard. I can't remember which from memory, but the OP says
"a set of machines" so I assume he will be needing a higher specced
unit.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject