Re: [tlug] Uninterrupted power supply unit recommendations

[Simon Gibson <simon.gibson@example.com>]

A UPS is a good investment imho.

I would recommend going secondhand, but replacing the battery as they 
are the part that wears out. If you can test them in store it is best - 
plug in to mains, and unplug and check the battery monitor levels. They 
are very heavy too, so you will need to think about how to get it home.

Most of the APC UPS's have a serial connector that you can use to set up 
monitoring via SNMP.

For 3 PC's, you should be able to pick up a decent case in Akihabara for 
around 4000 yen (iirc) and a new battery on amazon.co.jp for 6000 yen. I 
have an APC 750 at home, seems to do the trick.

For around 20,000 yen you could get a new one:

http://cyber.apc.co.jp/p-BR550G-JP.html?scode=BR550G-JP

Sounds expensive, but much cheaper than replacing 3 desktops, monitors etc.

On 08/31/2010 01:11 PM, Dave M G wrote:
> TLUG,
>
> I think my last computer was fried because of a power surge. I can't
> prove it in a court of law, but given the nature of the cascading
> hardware failures, that's where I'd place my bet. You know how Japanese
> apartments are - their electrical wiring isn't exactly thorough.
>
> I'd like to get a UPS system to both weather power outages, as well as
> provide some actual protection against surges. I have those power bars
> that claim they have surge protectors, but from what I understand, they
> protect against power surges the same way cardboard protects you from
> bullets.
>
> When walking through Akihabara, I saw some UPS things in a bargain bin,
> going for a thousand yen each. I looked at them and realized I know
> absolutely nothing about UPS systems. I have absolutely no idea if a
> thousand yen is an indicator of uselessness, or if that's what UPS
> systems go for. I remember I worked in a company years ago that had all
> our workstations hooked up to UPS units, and I'm sure they were tens of
> thousands of yen.
>
> I have three desktop computers that I want to protect. Can anyone give
> me some tips or suggestions on what I should look for in a UPS, and how
> much I should expect to spend?
>
> Any advice or comments would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time!