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Post by bonesnapdeez on Aug 22, 2022 10:21:33 GMT -5
Yeah I'm not on the UPS train either though I've considered getting one for my pellet stove.
I just unplug. I'm home most of the time, for better or for worse. Of course, if I'm going on vacation I'll unplug everything prior to leaving.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 22, 2022 18:19:29 GMT -5
I used to use them back in the '00s. But I stopped because I got tired of their batteries wearing out. UPS units have internal rechargeable batteries that degrade over time, effectively losing their charge capacity from day one. I know this is a factor of the hardware itself, but for me it was like planned obsolescence. It was aggravating to have a UPS lose half its charge capacity only after a year or so, then eventually start emitting the beep of death. (It's true that metal oxide varistors in surge protectors wear out too, but that takes far longer in comparison.) I see them as an investment. ~$80 for the types I get and ~5 years? Seems worth it to me. I finally just replaced one of my oldest ones that had to have been 5 years old or longer. Instead of a new battery I just upgraded to a higher VA unit.
Guess I've just been lucky. I know APC is the higher quality brand, but so far CyberPower's been good to me.
I think if I went back to a normal dinky surge protector for my PC's, it'd feel like walking out in public with no pants...
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Post by Ziggy on Aug 27, 2022 7:37:46 GMT -5
Back in the day, I had lightening damage a dial up modem through the phone line. The computer was plugged into a surge protector, but back then you didn't see surge protectors that had RJ or coaxial on them. They either didn't exist yet, or were super rare. Some years ago, there was one year that I kept losing power for seconds at a time. But it was happening multiple times a day. It messed up a floppy disk drive in a computer. I doubt it was a surge because nothing else in the computer was harmed (also, it had surge protection). I'm thinking the drive was just in a bad mechanical state to have lost power because it only made grinding noises after that. Just a PSA about surge protectors: They don't last forever! Typically, a surge protector has a metal oxide varistor that absorbs any extra voltage, but it will eventually die. They have a rating, in joules, and once they absorb that many joules they no longer offer any protection. Effectively, a surge protector becomes an ordinary power strip at that point. Apparently an average bolt of lightening is around a billion joules, while a typical surge protector is rated in the thousands, so I guess you just have to cross your fingers and hope that a surge from a lightening strike wont exceed the joules that your surge protector is rated for (or what it has left). I saw all the links that Ex posted, not sure if any of them cover this as well, but here are two articles I like to post when this topic is brought up. www.howtogeek.com/212375/why-and-when-you-need-to-replace-your-surge-protector/blog.tripplite.com/what-are-surge-protector-joules-and-how-many-do-i-needOne of my plugins doesn't like something about the redirect of those hyperlinks from this forum, but I get the gist of what they are by the URL. But what exactly is the scenario for a devastating surge from a lightening strike? During a storm, you can have fluctuations in power that you're typically safe from with a good surge protector. So what is the cause of a massive surge? Lightening striking an above ground power line? Or a nearby sub-station or something like that? So, for those that rely on surge protectors... How often do you change yours? Some surge protectors have LED indicators for this, but you can't really trust that. For an example, what if your surge protector was rated for 4,000 joules but you've had it for many years? The protection left might be well below 1,000 but the LED light could still be on. I'll admit that I rely on surge protectors, but I don't change them out as often as I should.
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