[comp.periphs] Uninterruptable Power Supplies

bruce@mks.com (Bruce Payette) (01/18/90)

Hi, we are looking to acquire some sort of UPS to back up
our systems (various types of "super-micros" and IBM-PC type machines). 

I would like to hear what other people have to say about these devices. 
Does anyone have a particular system they would recommended? Any they 
would avoid? Does anyone know of any magazine articles reviewing various
systems? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 
-- 
--Bruce Payette, Mortice Kern Systems Inc., 35 King Street N., Waterloo, Ont.
Internet:  bruce@mks.com		UUCP:  ..!uunet!watmath!mks!bruce

kaufman@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (01/19/90)

In article <1990Jan18.142009.13810@mks.com> bruce@mks.com (Bruce Payette) writes:
>Hi, we are looking to acquire some sort of UPS to back up
>our systems (various types of "super-micros" and IBM-PC type machines). 

>I would like to hear what other people have to say about these devices. 
>Does anyone have a particular system they would recommended? Any they 
>would avoid? Does anyone know of any magazine articles reviewing various
>systems? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

I'm using a Best Products "Micro-Ferrups" 500 VA backup.  It is about twice
as expensive as a Tripp or equivalent, but has the following features, which
sold me...

  Ferroresonant transformer with a "derived ground" design to supress
  common-mode  noise.

  Sensing of power on the INPUT of the transformer, so the output has ZERO
  break.  Also, because of the transformer, output is Sine Wave.

  RS232 port to monitor the UPS and set the operating parameters (trip voltage,
  trip frequency, delay time until reverting to mains).  It can send a message
  to your computer so you can do an automatic shutdown when it's battery
  gets low.

I put my Mac and all my disks (500 MB total) on it, as well as my primary
monitor.  So far I have had several outages with no effect on the Mac.  I work
at home, and my computer represents revenue.  I was willing to spend a little
extra for the extra protection (price of 500 VA is ~$1000).  Also, my
environment (I live in the hills, far from the nearest substation) may be a
little worse than most.

Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu)