Thread: Ups

Originally Posted by Howetzer

Well I think it is well known that surge protectors are for shit.

So how many think that a UPS device is worth the money?

Also. Any electricians out there....would a GFI switch work the same or similar as a UPS?

Thanks all.
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Surge protectors have saved my butt before. I had a squirrel that chewed though the neutral wire coming into my house, that allowed voltages to fluctuate between 50 and 175 on the 110 line. The surege protector blew up instead of my electronics. Everything that had a protector on it lived, everything else died
Cheap surge protectors do not protect well against impulse surges, those lasting only a short time. You need to buy a pretty good one to do that +$100 range.

UPS provides an extra level of isolation and makes a good surge protector. Surges blow up the primary side of the UPS. Personally, I don't use one since nothing I do is of high enough priority that frequent saves are not enough.

GFI is totally different and offer no surge protection. What they detect is a small current between the hot side and ground, something in the milliamp range. So, unless you are standing with your hair dryer in the bathtub it offers no protection.

Thanks Seek!
In regards to surge protectors. I was more concerned with brown outs, which I heard may be even worse at times. That is unless it does fry your machine like in your case.

With all the above ground wiring the weather often is providing us with trees shorting the lines and giving us these brown outs. -- low surges.

I hope the squirrel got zapped too.

I do often do my hair while on DV. But no water. so I am good it seems.

I would recommend a UPS. It's never a problem to be too safe and I have one myself. The battery backup is rather helpful when I want to shut down cleanly during a power outage.

Thanks!