Uninterrupted Power Supply

[Taf]

It may down to the weather, or just a glitchy supply locally, but mains power has been dipping a lot recently.

And every dip resets my PC. The last one wiped out the registry!

So I was wondering about uninterrupted power supplies. Would one save me from these mains dips?

I'm not talking about keeping PC powered-up for long periods, but just enough time to ride out dips, or enough time to shut down the PC normally.

I believe a decent UPS effectively runs your computer like a laptop - it allows your computer to run off a battery and the mains charges the battery as long as the mains is on. So if the voltage wobbles or there is a power cut, things carry on as if nothing happened.

[Stuart]

A proper UPS will do as Chris says. It will also communicate with the computer so the computer can shut down safely if the UPS battery runs low.

UPS serve a number of functions - keeps power going in the event of a power cut; as above when the battery is nearly out it can command your computer to shutdown - and most can power it up again when power is restore and the battery has reached a certain percentage. Other features are smoothing out the power from spikes and brown outs.

Be careful when buying though - most home UPS have the standard BS1363 socket. If you plug a power adapter / brick into one of them you may not have enough space around the next socket to use it due to the overlap.

Your best off getting an industry standard UPS with IEC connectors - then you can plug in your PC PSU + monitors. If you need to plug in anything else just convert a 4-way socket with an IEC connector - just don't load it up to much.

[Matth]

A UPS saves you from dips, drops, or even complete outage - you need an appropriate power level, and to choose if you are going to protect JUST the PC (though for anything beyond "blip prevention", you would also need the monitor at least, in order to make a controlled shutdown.

Cheapest type - Offline UPS .. makes a rapid switch from filtered mains to battery power, fast enough that most things can ride the glitch.
Most expensive - Online UPS .. continuously float charges the battery while running the output through the inverter, so has no switchover, and the highest order of input to output filtering.

Intermediate - Line Interactive .. essentially an Offline type, with the additional capability to boost a present but low mains or buck a somewhat high mains voltage - while in boost/buck mode, it will typically be neither charging nor using the battery, but useful in cases where, say due to long power lines and uneven loads, the mains voltage is present but unstable, though modern active PFC power supplies with 110-240V no switch working are good at tolerating lows

all the nicads died in mine but it was cheap just to keep my projector from exploding in a power cut

A decent one with software will shut down your pc if need be, It will ride out dips ( as said )

[Taf]

Thanks for the great info!

I've got my eye on an APC Back-UPS 500, offline type with IEC connectors.

http://www.ebuyer.com/27850-apc-back...-surge-bk500ei

[Graham M]

Bear in mind with IEC connectors, if you want to connect anything other than a computer to it, you may require adapters/converters.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

all the nicads died in mine but it was cheap just to keep my projector from exploding in a power cut

A decent one with software will shut down your pc if need be, It will ride out dips ( as said )

I'll be honest and say that my only real experience with UPSs is dealing with systems (sometimes mission critical) at work, so they are all decent ones.

We tend to rely on UPSs as we are in grade 1 listed buildings, which apparently means the cost of installing generators and their associated changes to the electrical system goes up exponentially.

[qasdfdsaq]

Most UPSs I've come across run off lead-acids, which aren't cheap to replace but not expensive either.

A decent pair off Ebay can be had for £50 or less for a £200 UPS.