UPS advice

[TerryC]

I have three UPSs. All of them beep incessantly while the power is out. Why is that? I can't for the life of me understand why the manufacturers think it's a good thing to have annoying beeps while the house is otherwise dead silent because of a power outage. Should there be some way to stop the beeping without shutting them down totally? Can anyone recommend a good 500VA UPS that doesn't beep? TIA

[MarkA]

Because if you're working on the computer when the power goes out it's to warn you so you have time to shutdown.

PS, if you're getting a UPS, get an on-line one. It's soooo much better (and more expensive) than an off-line one.

[cdru]

I have three UPSs. All of them beep incessantly while the power is out. Why is that? I can't for the life of me understand why the manufacturers think it's a good thing to have annoying beeps while the house is otherwise dead silent because of a power outage. Should there be some way to stop the beeping without shutting them down totally? Can anyone recommend a good 500VA UPS that doesn't beep? TIABecause if a breaker trips or a cable comes unplugged, you may not have any idea that it has switched over to the battery. UPSes don't last a long time so it's possible that you could lose work if the battery runs out and you haven't shut down properly.

If your UPS came with software, you might be able to configure it so that it only beeps after a certain amount of battery is left. Check your documentation.

[Bogy]

As Mark noted, UPS's are not designed to work for a long time. Unless it is a very short power outage they are designed to let you have a chance to shut down. The beeping on mine gets more "urgent" as it comes closer to shutting down.

If you are going to replace yours make sure that you pay attention to how long they are estimated to provide power for the equipment connected to it. I need to replace both mine and my wife's with more powerful units because since we bought ours we have upgraded computers and especially monitors, going from 15" monitors to 19". We used to have 5 to 10 minutes of power. Now we have about 30 seconds. :(

[MarkA]

Get LCD monitors next time Bogy, you'll get longer on the UPS AND you'll get fewer headaches. It's win-win :)

[TerryC]

I just got an LCD monitor and I'm almost looking forward to the next power outage. LOL

Thanks for the info guys.

[Bogy]

Get LCD monitors next time Bogy, you'll get longer on the UPS AND you'll get fewer headaches. It's win-win :)
I've got 2 19's and a 20". I can't afford to replace them with LCD's. Unless I end up at one of the churches I'm looking at that will give me a 20 grand raise. :)

[TerryC]

My 17 inch LCD has the same viewing area as a 19 inch CRT, so you don't have to buy a screen as big as you may think you do.

[Bogy]

But you do have to buy them, and right now new monitors to replace monitors that are working just fine are not the highest priority in the budget.

[THX]

Depending on how much you want to spend I would recommend an APC Back-UPS RS 1000 or 1500. The 1500 will allow you to connect a battery expansion pack for even greater runtime. Also, the beeping is disabled by default from the factory. You can also load software on a laptop and connect to the UPS via a USB connection and configure the UPS parameters.

I've got my entire home theater connected to a Back-UPS 1500 with battery expansion pack and it will run it for a solid 45 minutes before running out of power.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=836045/search=apc%20back%20ups%201000

[Mike123abc]

LCDs are coming down in price pretty fast, $199 is the new "special" sale point of 17" ones (about the same as 19" CRTs). I picked up 3 of the $199 17"ers since Thanksgiving sales. I have one 21 inch CRT left... The only problem I have is how to get rid of it after I replace it with an LCD... Guess that is a project for next year...

On the UPS front, I turned off the alarms on my UPSes. There is usually a dip switch on them somewhere that will do it.

[chaddux]

LCDs are coming down in price pretty fast, $199 is the new "special" sale point of 17" ones (about the same as 19" CRTs). I picked up 3 of the $199 17"ers since Thanksgiving sales. I have one 21 inch CRT left... The only problem I have is how to get rid of it after I replace it with an LCD... Guess that is a project for next year...

On the UPS front, I turned off the alarms on my UPSes. There is usually a dip switch on them somewhere that will do it.

Depending on what you have, the automatic shutdown software can disable the alarms. My APC backup's software has several customization features.

[TerryC]

I have one 21 inch CRT left... The only problem I have is how to get rid of it after I replace it with an LCD... Guess that is a project for next year...If you don't give it to someone who wants it, make sure you give it to someone who refurbishes computers or recycles computer parts. I volunteer at a non-profit organization that refurbishes donated computers and I understand CRTs are terrible things to put in landfills.