UPS Backups

J

JWKirkland

Any suggestions on a good UPS backup system?

I have a Dell Pent 4 machine with three 17 digital flatscreens...

Please help me with some suggestions.

Thanks in advance!
 
Jonathan,

An APC 650 UPS Pro is an excellent unit, I've had a couple of them for years and they've never let me down ( + saved my butt numerous times). One should be more than sufficient for your setup.
 
JWKirkland,

I have servers and trade machines on my network connected to UPS. The trade machine is a dual P4 Xeon with a 400W power supply connected to four 18" flat panels. There is also a backup machine on the (Tripplite) UPS.

I have used both APC and Tripplite UPS's. IMHO, the Tripplite's work as well or better than the APC's, and they are less expensive.

Baron's link above is a good read for understanding the size UPS you need given the amount of uptime and the VA rating of the equipment attached. It is important to keep in mind that these things are meant as a "grace period" to shut your machine down gracefully and not as a power generator with "unlimited" uptime. Most of these UPS posted here will work for about 5 to 10 minutes under half load. If you need much more than that, it gets really expensive.

Regards,

nitro
 
sorry so late responding to your question. hopefully, you haven't already bought a UPS. If not, check out the value of a Cyberpower unit:

www.cyberpowersystems.com

I also looked at APC and Belkin also, but neither one compared to the back-up time you get for the price you pay. Cyberpower was so much cheaper, I thought there must be a quality problem or some other catch. So, took plugged it in, charged it and tested it out running one monitor, a cable-modem and 500MHz PC. I opened several applications as well as all trading software. It took 15 minutes before it even started to lose max back-up time. Solid! esp, considering the price.
 
JW - hope you're receiving email posts to replies, cause this is a slow response (never scrolled down the home page to see Hardware category)

JW -- I recommend Windows 2000 to help you with this UPS solution. While the literature and documentation makes comments regarding orderly shutdown "unattended" experience dictates otherwise. Having to start the ubiquitious (hey, what does that mean anywhay?) Microsoft operating systems after an unorderly shutdown is harrowing... The file recovery system review time is unpredictable....

Win2K allows for configuration of "support for UPS", so that you can manually program in autoshut down within xx-minutes of being notified of an (interrupt) event. At the same time, the UPS sends a recognized (prearranged) interrupt (event) to the operating system by means of a "port", which trips an IRC (interrupt code) and a utility program (provided by the UPS mfgr) is triggered.

Going through these steps exposes just how all these providers propose to work with the most popular operating systems. Actually seeing it done, especially when "trading software and active open positions are at risk" is a whole 'nother thing. Hence, you will want to rest greater assurance upon the "insurance of an UPS" if they can either deliniate what I have just advised. If their tech support says:
.. "it should", or
.."it says it can", or
.."its supposed to"...

then change vendors.

Cheers
 
From my experience, there is a lot more to consider than how long the UPS will keep you running before you need to shut down.

Make sure the unit stabilizes the voltage output. Brownouts can kill a hard drive. If the voltage drops below the ability of the computer's power supply to compensate, the hard drive will spin at a slower speed. When it gets back to normal speed, it won't read properly.

Also, how well does it perform for surges? I had lightning strike my building once. The UPS (an APC unit) went down, but my system was safe.
 
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