721 & UPS

[Bob Haller]

What size backup power supplies are being used for the 721? Around here our power companyt has constant drops and sags. I figure a UPS will help cover short outages and make for more reliable operations.

Ratings of these devices dont appear standard and designed to confuse the purchaser.
Any suggestions?

[scooper]

The 500 VA size you can find at most any office supply store should be more than sufficient for what you're asking. A 721 is a PC in what it does and power requirements, right ?

[zimm0who0net]

The 721 only consumes 65W of power. A 500VA UPS would be waaaay more than enough...

[P Smith]

"A 500VA UPS would be waaaay more than enough..."

Who says it's enough for 30 min blackout ?

[Bob Haller]

Yep these how big questions are the interesting one. Dont want to waste money on the other hand need one big enough for how long of a outage? I heard some UPS have a timer that shuts down even with little load and a fully charged battery.

I am converting to dish pro LNBs to get rid of my power hungry SW64. It works fine but still I dont like things that can be single point failures.

It along with some 4900s will be available shortly.

I am hedging my bets keeping a 500 with twin active for my DPs. on 2 slots only. Later I may get rid of them and go all dshpro as well/

[Bob Haller]

I bought a 500 tonight. Tomorrow once the battery is fully charged I will see how long it will run my 721.

Anyone ever put a car battery on a uPS? I would think this would dramatically increase the run time in a outage,.

[Matt]

Originally posted by scooper
The 500 VA size you can find at most any office supply store should be more than sufficient for what you're asking. A 721 is a PC in what it does and power requirements, right ?


Don't forget the load of the TV.


I have an APC SmartUPS 600 on my 501 and Mitsu 27" does just fine.

[Bob Haller]

I doubt I will put the TV on the UPS. I am more interested n protecting the 721 from reboots which according to the book take 4 minutes. Around here we have daily power glitches:(

[Bob Haller]

Matt whats your backup run time?

It would be cool to continue watching tv during a outage...

Although I would probably rather just protect the receiver for longer back up times...

Anyone ever add a car battery to a UPS for longer run times?

[Matt]

Originally posted by Bob Haller
Matt whats your backup run time?


I had it in my office with a larger load and was getting about 20-25min run time.

Originally posted by Bob Haller

Anyone ever add a car battery to a UPS for longer run times?

My guess is that once the battery was drained you would burn out the charging section once power was restored. I would be very carefull doing this.

[scooper]

I wouldn't do it at all.

One word about buying UPS's, typically, they have been sitting in storage for 6 months - 1 year before you buy them. So your first set of batteries in the UPS is going to have this smaller amount of life compared to if you got new batteries. I got this from a tech at the company that manufactured one of mine (my big one that I keep on the server and the networking gear). YMMV...

[Nick]

It is very cool to be watching TV during short power outages. Saves the bother of having to light candles. :D

One night, when power in my apt. complex went out for about 10 minutes, a neighbor knocked on the door asking why our power wasn't out. He had noticed the TV's screen light through the window. Another time, a dumber-than-dumb ATT cable "auditor" arbitrarily cut 8 of 16 lines (all unlabeled). The same neighbor knocked on the door asking if my cable was out. I told him again that I had sat. He still didn't get it.

The best benefits of having a UPS are better electrical isolation and not having the IRD reboot. If you want to watch TV during outages, buy the highest rating you can afford. You won't regret it.