[iacas]

I'm in favor of a UPS on a machine like the TiVo. A small brownout that lasts a second will cost you ten minutes of recording time.

But UPSes go bad, too. I think I have a bad one on my TV currently. Every so often, the two battery-powered parts (the HR20 and the TV) turn off, then immediately turn back on. This is a recent event and only the two items plugged into the the battery-backup slots exhibit this behavior (the DVD player, the Wii, the receiver) do not.

So now I have to figure out a way to reach behind the television to pull a heavy UPS out. It will not be easy and will likely take an hour to do properly.

Your UPS will go bad (every year or so) and you'll have to replace it.

 

[PoitNarf]

Your UPS will go bad (every year or so) and you'll have to replace it.

That shouldn't be the case with a UPS, at least not the ones we use at work for our servers (granted those are much higher capacity than a typical home use unit). The biggest problem I've seen with UPS devices is that sometimes the battery needs to be recalibrated so the UPS itself knows how much backup power it has to work with.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

If you have a "TV" into the the UPS...

It is probably drastically draining the life out of that battery.

Unless you have a DLP that you want to keep the "fans" running or something.... I highly discourage a TV or AMP being in the Battery side of a UPS

 

[carlsbad_bolt_fan]

I'm in favor of a UPS on a machine like the TiVo. A small brownout that lasts a second will cost you ten minutes of recording time.

But UPSes go bad, too. I think I have a bad one on my TV currently. Every so often, the two battery-powered parts (the HR20 and the TV) turn off, then immediately turn back on. This is a recent event and only the two items plugged into the the battery-backup slots exhibit this behavior (the DVD player, the Wii, the receiver) do not.

So now I have to figure out a way to reach behind the television to pull a heavy UPS out. It will not be easy and will likely take an hour to do properly.

Your UPS will go bad (every year or so) and you'll have to replace it.

Your UPS might be failing, but...

Some UPSes react stangely to voltage dips and spikes. I've had a couple that would repeatedly click over to battery, then back to main power. I use a APC UPS and they all come with software that allows you to contol the sensitivity of the UPS to minor drops in the main power. Once I set the UPS to "medium" sensitivity, the repeated back-forth problems stopped. You might want to see if that is the case with yours.

 

[houskamp]

the smaller the ups's battery the quicker it will need a new one

 

[iacas]

If you have a "TV" into the the UPS... It is probably drastically draining the life out of that battery.

It's a rear-projection 60" LCD. It has a fan, yes.

Some UPSes react stangely to voltage dips and spikes. I've had a couple that would repeatedly click over to battery, then back to main power. I use a APC UPS and they all come with software that allows you to contol the sensitivity of the UPS to minor drops in the main power. Once I set the UPS to "medium" sensitivity, the repeated back-forth problems stopped. You might want to see if that is the case with yours.

Maybe, but the thing is a year or two old, which is about the life expectancy, I believe.

That shouldn't be the case with a UPS, at least not the ones we use at work for our servers (granted those are much higher capacity than a typical home use unit). The biggest problem I've seen with UPS devices is that sometimes the battery needs to be recalibrated so the UPS itself knows how much backup power it has to work with.

'Twas about a $125 UPS originally purchased a year or two ago. It's been idle for a few months since I replaced it in the office. It provided about ten minutes of power to the HR20 a few weeks ago when we lost power for hours. The TV was off at the time.

The ten minutes tells me it really isn't holding much of a charge at all.

 

[St8kout]

I've got everything that's electronic plugged into four different UPS units and I've never had a problem other than the batteries getting old and needing replacement when they will only power the UPS for about 30 seconds.

After summer brownouts ruined my 27" Toshiba some 8 years ago I bought an APC BackUPS 500 for my then new 36" Sony Wega. The same UPS now powers my Samsung HLR5688W+H10+DVD+Channel Master antenna amp. Changed the battery once two years ago. Never had a problem with it.

My newest UPS is a Belkin 900VA that protects my Harman Kardon 635 A/V receiver and powered Velodyne 10" subwoofer. It's about 1 year old and has never been a problem.

A few more Cyberpower units protect my laptop/modem and Xbox 360. Cheap as they are, they still work just fine. (knock on wood)

 

[iacas]

I've got everything that's electronic plugged into four different UPS units and I've never had a problem other than the batteries getting old and needing replacement when they will only power the UPS for about 30 seconds.

Good for you?

I'll probably re-test again tomorrow, but I simulated a little "brownout" today by slowly wiggling the cord (the only thing I can easily reach) out of the wall slowly until I'd just reached the edge of where power would go through. The TV and HR20 shut themselves off - everything else kept going.

Seems that the battery has gone dead. The UPS tries to switch to the battery when it detects a brownout or temporary fade, but the battery doesn't supply much power, so blammo: it goes down. The brownout isn't significant enough to actually turn off the other equipment, so...

Looks like I'll be trying to fish out a UPS from behind the set tomorrow morning.

 

[St8kout]

Sometimes you can find the ups batteries on sale at Radio Shack for about $12, otherwise look online. You might need to take a look at the battery to make sure of the dimensions, but most are a standard ups size. 12V 7AH.

 

[Nick]

I have just ordered this 830W/1500VA UPS for my desk. It will power, protect and
voltage-regulate a 23" LCD HDTV, laptop, cable box, modem, sound system,
DVD player and a digital clock. Some might say 1500VA is 'overkill', but I
prefer to think of it as 'headroom' which will serve to prolong the life of the UPS.

I am also considering this 750W1285 VA UPS for my modest HT. I happen to like
the nifty display which will asthetically balance the cool-blue LEDs of my powered
sub-woofer.

 

[thumperr]

APC - quotes a 3 year life expectancy for their Batteries. This is their Personal edition management software, with an automated timer.

 

[St8kout]

I have just ordered this for my desk. It will power, protect and
voltage-regulate a 23" LCD HDTV, laptop, cable box, modem, sound system,
DVD player and a digital clock. Some might say 1500VA is 'overkill', but I
prefer to think of it as 'headroom' which will serve to prolong the life of the UPS.

I am also considering this for my modest HT. I happen to like
the nifty display which will asthetically balance the cool-blue LEDs of my powered
sub-woofer.

I originally thought about buying one big UPS for everything instead of multiple smaller ones to spread the load around, until I realized that it puts everything on one circuit of the house wiring. With four UPS units mine in spread between two circuit breakers. So you might keep the total load of your system in mind when you plug into that one circuit.

On a side note, the one big disadvantage of UPS units are those d*mn power-failure alarms - very disturbing when it happens around 3AM, even for a few seconds. After several noctural rem-interrupting episodes, I turned off the alarm in those that had that feature, and removed the alarm from those that didn't. It's a little button shaped piece smaller than a dime soldered into the circuit board, but they sure are loud.

 

[compac]

Hey Earl, Why would the drain be big if a HD TV (ours draws ~ 135 watts) vs. PC w/ flat screen and accessories?

Watts are watts, ? Thought ups would just keep its charge as it levels off any spikes dips...

We have our Dlp and hummm "HR20" on the ups. Our power flickers weekly in our neighbor..

If you have a "TV" into the the UPS...

It is probably drastically draining the life out of that battery.

Unless you have a DLP that you want to keep the "fans" running or something.... I highly discourage a TV or AMP being in the Battery side of a UPS

 

[compac]

Hey ttt

 

[Cap'n Preshoot]

I have just ordered this 830W/1500VA UPS for my desk. It will power, protect and
voltage-regulate a 23" LCD HDTV, laptop, cable box, modem, sound system,
DVD player and a digital clock. Some might say 1500VA is 'overkill', but I
prefer to think of it as 'headroom' which will serve to prolong the life of the UPS.

I am also considering this 750W1285 VA UPS for my modest HT. I happen to like
the nifty display which will asthetically balance the cool-blue LEDs of my powered
sub-woofer.

The SIZE of your UPS is NOT overkill, though frankly I've been somewhat unimpressed with most of the recent flock of UPS' (and batteries) coming out of China.

More money, yes, but American-Made and much better brown-out protection and buck-n-boost capability is the TrippLite Omnismart 1400. The TrippLite will also synch-up with most home standby generator systems. I cannot speak for Belkin, but none of the APC models like the AC coming out of your home or standby generator. The APCs will sit there and "thump" loudly at 10-sec or so intervals, quickly making them "persona-non-grata" during times your generator is running.

By the way, an UPS is not designed to "keep you going" because they all have lead-acid batteries in them. The very design of a lead-acid battery makes it ill-suited for any deep-cycle application. Compare to your car battery.... deep-cycle your car battery a few times (run it all the way down) and you will find yousrself soon replacing it. Lead-acid batteries do not like to be deep-cycled. An UPS is ideal to get you through brownouts and momentary power bumps, but if the power goes off and stays off, my advice would be to do an orderly shutdown then power off your UPS as well. Your batteries will thank you by giving many years of faithful service.

 

[iacas]

By the way, an UPS is not designed to "keep you going" because they all have lead-acid batteries in them. The very design of a lead-acid battery makes it ill-suited for any deep-cycle application. Compare to your car battery.... deep-cycle your car battery a few times (run it all the way down) and you will find yousrself soon replacing it. Lead-acid batteries do not like to be deep-cycled. An UPS is ideal to get you through brownouts and momentary power bumps, but if the power goes off and stays off, my advice would be to do an orderly shutdown then power off your UPS as well. Your batteries will thank you by giving many years of faithful service.

Exactly. My UPS was fine for a few days until our power went out for an extended period of time. Hoping the power would come back on at any moment, and because the HR20 was recording (Las Vegas, two hours), I let it go. The TV was off. It lasted about 15 minutes and then died.

Ever since that day, the slightest power dip would cause the UPS to try to kick over to battery. There was little or no battery left, so the HR20 and TV would die. Other devices just plugged into the surge-protection powered through the brownout or sag just fine.

Replaced the UPS and all has been well since. UPS are to allow a gentle shutdown, not to power your devices for extended periods of time.

 

[Cap'n Preshoot]

Exactly. My UPS was fine for a few days until our power went out for an extended period of time. Hoping the power would come back on at any moment, and because the HR20 was recording (Las Vegas, two hours), I let it go. The TV was off. It lasted about 15 minutes and then died.

Ever since that day, the slightest power dip would cause the UPS to try to kick over to battery. There was little or no battery left, so the HR20 and TV would die. Other devices just plugged into the surge-protection powered through the brownout or sag just fine.

Replaced the UPS and all has been well since. UPS are to allow a gentle shutdown, not to power your devices for extended periods of time.

Precisely my point. While a UPS is a swell idea, if you're looking for something to "keep you going" when the lights go out for longer than a few minutes, that "something" is called a Generator.

 

[compac]

So, who has a Generator Set-up...

Any recomendations
How much for the extras to connect the whole house or just run extentions for main items?

Are the costs worth it, how to judge?

 

[carl6]

Depending on how often you loose power, and for how long, you can consider anything from a small standalone generator to a big unit wired into your house with automatic changeover. The costs would range from maybe a couple of hundred bucks to tens of thousands.

For a standalone generator and a couple of extension cords, you could keep the critical stuff going for a day or two - freezer, fridge, etc., and probably run a light or two, small tv, etc.

If you want something that connects to the house wiring, then you need an electrician to install an isolation/changeover switch, and you need a big enough generator to run the whole house. Even with manual start and manual changeover, you are probably looking at $5000 or more.

If you want something that starts automatically and switches over automatically, then you can expect even more cost.

Regardless of which route you choose (if any) make darned sure you know how much power your going to need to power the devices you want to keep running. Do not overload a generator. Also, do not ever connect a generator to your house wiring without an approved isolation/cutover switch.

Carl