UPS issues with bad power

A power strip with no surge protection is a waste of money unless allyou need are more outlets. Add surge protection and you have just that, surge protection. However a $15.00 surge protection power strip will give you just about your moneys worth of protection. the thing will trip if it senses a surge. A circuit breaker will do just about the same thing, and you still have to reset both.

UPS units inherently give surge protection, however, a UPS unit will kick in and take over powering the computer when it senses either high OR low voltage, therefore it gives you blackout and brownout protection. the new ones will then "properly" shut down the system if the abnormal condition persists for a set amount of time. In my opinion, that is cheap insurance for you system. A good UPS unit sells for under $100 these days and will almost totally protect a $1500 computer for however many years you use it. Hmmmmmmmmm Spend $100 now? or $1500 after the thunderstorm? Not much of a choice is it?

First, most of the UPS sensitivity can be adjusted. Setting a higher sensitivity will make the UPS compensable much faster if the current goes to high to too low thus always providing a good power quality to the equipments. For example, on a BackUPS RS the low level can be configured from 94V to 104V and the high level from 126V to 136V. An entry-level UPS such as the APC BackUPS ES will switch to battery mode as soon as the power goes out of the sensitivity range. On the other hand, a high-end UPS for workstation like the APC BackUPS RS has a feature called Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) that compensate at some extent without requiring the battery; this makes the battery last longer before needing to be replaced.

Second, most of the UPS have "Battery Protected" and "Surge only" outlets. Make sure that the computers are connected to the "Battery Protected". The "Surge only" outlets will only protect from parasites or surges like a thunder storm. They should be used for less important stuff like a desk lamp or devices with high demand peek such as a laser printer.

Third, the use of a power bar connected to the "Battery Protected" side should not have any impact as long as it is not overloading the UPS. Personnaly, I have a power bar connected to both my UPS.