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Very important for the UPS to be an on-line model as there is no interruption delay when power goes off..they are more expensive and heavier. You can see the fan in the rear for cooling, plus they make a small amount of noise. A good make is APC, they also carry replacement batteries. Don't forget to plug a phone also in the UPS.
I've probably purchased a dozen of the CyberPower 1200-1400 or above over the years, and a half dozen APC and a dozen Belkin. Not all for my personal use naturally.
CyberPower is by far the best bang for the buck, quality, price, etc. I have four of them in my house, and as I write this, I have another Belkin UPS that has just died in the last week or two...
I've always bought CyberPower via Newegg. I currently own 4 of them in my house, 2 for my computers, and 2 for A/V equipment.
AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation) is a nice feature to have in a UPS. It cleans up small power fluctuations and tends to keep your computer more stable.
If your UPS is several years old it may just need a new battery. I've bought replacement UPS batteries from this site a few times and been happy with them:
For the 2 batteries in my Belkin 1500VA it cost about $35 + $15 shipping.
The replacement is simple, at least with the APC's and Belkins I've had, just pop off a plastic cover and swap the push-on wire connections to the new batteries.
In this part of the world where I live, the UPS is not just sufficient for power protection/supply requirements. The utility power supply from the grid is so poor that I abandoned the use of UPSs (on-line and AVR-inbuilt APC brand) a long time ago. The on-line APC brand with in-built AVR or protected with a separate AVR equipment is a recommended setup.
I now have a separate 5KVA AVR that protects a pure sine wave 48-Volt 3.5KVA Inverter/Charger equipment. I also have a 7KVA power generator set that supply power when the grid supply goes off (which is a very common occurrence in this part of the world where I live). The Inverter/Charger equipment, which is more advanced and efficient/effective than the UPS, distributes power to all my household electrical/electronic equipment. With its current 40Ah battery setup, it supplies continuous and pure power for five hours (in the event of complete long power outage). Higher capacity battery setup will increase the number of hours. I'm also planning to purchase additional Solar panels (I already have two) that will supply power to the Inver/Charger during complete failure of the grid supply and to replace the power generator set. I'm also re-installing the earthing-protection mechanism (to protect the building from lightening strikes caused by thunderstorm) for the building where I reside.
The cost of my power supply setup is enormous, but this is required for my computing/ICT/trading activities, and general home power needs. If I reside in a place such as the USA, the only equipment I'll not need in my above setup, is the power generator set; I'll concentrate on Solar energy setup.
It has been covered many times in the local press
but i am not sure it has reached the international press..
Political 'green' parties in Belgium have over the last 10 years advocated alternative energy sources
combined with a gradual shut down of nuclear power.. very noble..
the only problem is, when it is cold, dark and no wind, there is no alternative energy
and as energy as electricity is not easy to store and replay .. there is an issue
On top of this political miss-management, comes the fact that energy in Belgium is in
foreign hands, and those parties have been penalized several times, with random taxes
nobody wants to invest
Today the reality is that energy companies might not have enough production, during
peak consumption for this winter. In order to avoid a complete grid 'black out', politicians
came up with a plan, to uncouple certain zones. from 6 to 1, i am the happy citizen to be
in zone 5. any slightest issue : i win the prize : no electricity.
spoke to my local city people, they don't have yet a full analysis yet spoke to my
telco providers, i feel like i come from planet Mars (help desk is in the Netherlands, they
are not aware of local Belgian energy problems)
numerous calls and analysis, give me the situation : cable goes down when power goes
down (telenet), ADSL, VDSL, VDSL2 continues, even when street is without power
so i'll be on my backup line, when the grid goes down
i figured out, i want :
- UPS for my garage port
- outside automatic light (burglar distress + alarm power + outside cameras & NAS for image capture
- VDSL modem
- trading platform and basic wifi equipemnt
- central heating pump
- some external lights (just to show off to the neighbours ;-) i'm not in the dark
i have an VA (watt) meter, i received a couple years ago from the energy company
i will measure consumption on critical points
and try to size UPS equipment
i already noted
- green label for UPS (low energy consumption when grid is there
- quality of equipment (life cycle