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:
Simple == Good! Thanks Adrian
Thanks for that - contacted him via eBay
- unless I'm misreading it, linkedin want me to pay them so's I can email Andy - which ain't going to happen !
Adrian
Some notes on usage.
- UPS can trim/boost by switching tappings on the internal transformer or by switching to battery. Switching to battery too often will reduce battery life if you live in a rural location. The former doesn't seem to go down too well either if hours a day since the transformer windings might be based on a set percentage usage.
- PCs use SMPS which handle a huge voltage range, so UPS trim/boost is less critical - continuity of power is since holdup time is about 80ms (not long).
Cheap UPS do not have trim/boost by transformer, they just switch to battery reducing its life, battery may not even be replaceable (some old Belkin were like that?).
UPS are not perfect, they are very high energy units.
- Belkin. Failure takes your equipment with them. The insurance is mostly worthless.
- APC BackUPS. Not great, can fail with a right shower of sparks, can fail by intermittent voltage stuttering (will not do equipment much good!).
- APC SmartUPS. Failed with a shower of sparks. They do not like spending forever on transformer trim/boost if on high VA loadings. Failure does not usually take equipment with them.
Do not fit bigger batteries on small UPS - the charger is often thermally sized based on battery size :-) Personally I keep UPS on a concrete slab, but I've handled 100s and know the odd one can fail.
Try Amazon on UPS, you may find something good with free shipping etc.
Too small an UPS is false economy, a few auto-shutdowns and the battery is dead. In this instance it can be useful to turn off auto- restart otherwise you can quickly end up with no UPS.
An alternative - backup laptop. Used Thinkpad X60 on Ebay is =A3185 with some factory warranty, titanium case, XP-Pro, weighs 3lb, good display (somewhere between gloss & matt), 1024 4:3 for office use, exceptional keyboard, trackpoint for speed, very reliable, 4hrs on 50% dead battery, 8hrs on =A335 new, no optical inbuilt (USB), Core Solo fine because HD 5400rpm or 7200rpm. Thinkpad warranty is with the machine so transfers automatically unlike Dell. Others are T60, T61, T43 - just ensure Intel graphics chip re ATI & nVidia problems.
UPS require batteries eventually, price them out before buying.
Take an off-tune AM radio with ya.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Liquorice" saying something like:
That's where APC's software gets a bit clunky. It happily copes with shutting down one, but adding more is a pita. I've tried the old PowerChute that came with the UPS, I've used the newer versions and frankly they all suck at it. Luckily, W2K and XP cope well with sudden shutdowns, so I left a PC or two to crash if necessary. No matter, my next configuration will do away with two or three PCs running and only one will be on full time, so that setup works ok.
In article , Adrian Brentnall writes
Yeah, it's for real. That's a Back-UPS model (excuse me while I vomit.)
You'll do a lot better on Ebay - look for 750VA as a minimum, or consider a larger UPS (min 1500VA) and run the two PCs you have close to each other on one UPS.
As a guide, I ran a tricked-out PC on a SmartUPS 600 and that was only just able to cope when the pc was going full pelt. In the end I desoldered the piezo warning buzzer to quiet the ups when it began whinging about overload.
In article , Andy Burns writes
Kinda optimistic, I'd suggest. Experience tells me you can usually depend on 50% of the figure given by the runtime calculator on the APC website, especially once the batteries are more than a year or so old.
We (at work) have just had to replace two (four actually, one pair in each) battery cartridges in two SmartUPS 5000VA boxes. 320 quid + vat each. The UPSes are only about two years old. I think what's done for the batteries is that they were left in the UPSes without any external power for several months - these batteries don't like being run flat.
Tried a warranty claim with APC but they weren't having any of it.
Didn't realise that - sorry! How did you find him on eBay - is he the one mentioned earlier, because I wasn't sure?
I wouldn't rely on them for those times, especially after a couple of years.
For my home use I like the UPSs to have decent runtime, so I have a
2200VA and a 1400VA, for work it's generally only required to cover the gap between mains failing and generators kicking-in, or doing an immediate clean shutdown.They don't like getting hot either, I usually buy replacement batteries from a local wholesaler, rather than paying through the nose for official APC replacement packs, also saves a *lot* on delivery by collecting them
I'm about 10 years out of date with powerchute now, but it used to be regarded in a very low light in the unix world back then. It was often responsible for more system outages than the poor mains was before you bought a UPS, not to mention security vunlerabilities which they never seemed to fix (or even understand).
In the end, I settled for having it just log the mains voltage and UPS internal status, but not shutdown the server. The server just died if the battery ran out. In the case of Solaris, that was harmless providing the system wasn't very busy at the time (and with ZFS nowadays, it's harmless even if the system is busy).
In message , Adrian Brentnall writes
Ha yes - the ueber professionals at experimental packing
It's an artform, they way they do it! Still think the time they send me a wooden reel of nice fat UHF coax in the same cardboard box as a hundred or so cello-packed DIL ICs represents a peak in their stupidity - but yuo never know what they might come up with next!
Bless!
Adrian
Must have been an apprentice
I remember 6 light bulbs and 12 x 500g reels of solder for example
I have now resorted to 'defensive ordering'. That is, trying to ensure that I order only non-lethal combinations of items...! Easier with the 20 quid free postage orders at weekends, although I guess that doesn't help you.
or lots of glass dust and two rolls of solder.... ;-)
NUT works fine on Solaris.
Assume batteries completely shot unless it says otherwise. Battery life in the APC units is very short too. Anything over 3 years and you're doing very well. Capacity drops linearly over time, so if run time is important, you will have to replace even more frequently, or well-overprovision from the start. (They aren't all designed as user-replacable items either, particularly in the smaller units.)
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