Hi, I am looking for some protection for my high-end computer and have a few questions. First I can't seem to find an APC UPS that has both surge protection + battery backup on the same outlet. What in the world are UPS makers thinking by only putting battery backup without surge protection on the same outlet? The picture below shows that you can either choose battery backup or surge protection but not both, whats the deal here I need both in one outlet. Thanks you





By systemlord at 2008-01-16



By systemlord at 2008-01-16

The battery ensures an equal flow of electricity not allowing or at least enough to affect the system. Of course you get 3 surge protectors as well as battery supported connections. Let someone better versed in electronics give you a more technical explanation

Yes can someone go into detail about this please? Confused I am.

I can tell you that as long as I've been using a UPS, couldn't even tell you, I've never had a computer affected by a power surge or outage, which will hopefully help put your mind at ease.

I got many small surges today when I was in the garage the lights kept dimming down getting dimmer then brighter over and over again. I guess thats what I get for living in a very heavy populated state, Southern California. Thank god for Active Power Factor Correction in our PSU's.

Curious, was the computer affected when it was plugged into the UPS?

if you are very paranoid, then plug the UPS to a surge protector (a ~$10 Belkin single outlet will do)
it will ensure you that the surge protector will take the place of your UPS in case a very large lightning strike hits the power lines near your home (thus increasing the chance of saving the life of your UPS)

edit:
wise choice in investing in a UPS BTW as I believe they help prolong the life of a PSU

The entire unit is a surge protector. Thus the outlets with battery backup also include surge protection.

The other outlets do not have battery backup, thus those outlets have surge protection only.

PS: I own the XS 900, the bigger brother to the unit that you are evaluating.

So with the system in my signature I should have at least ten minutes to power down my system before the battery wares down? I used a PSU calculator and my computer uses 350 watts @ 30amps, with this kind of power draw how long should I expect to run my computer with the UPS in the picture on my first post? Thanks.

I don't have a UPS yet, and after time these surges will wear down the reliability of all my computer components. I'm not paranoid I just want to protect my computer because these surges have already killed my 42" Toshiba LCD HDTV.

I am willing to bet half the "Blown PSUs" are spiked and surged that way(Not talking about cheap ass ones....but good ones...)...

The entire surge UPS is protected from surges. Just that half the outlets are not battery backed up....

Normally the rated surge is lower on the UPS then a power bar(Good ones again...not cheap ones...). In my case i have a Belkin PureAV surge protector.... 2655 joules sounds better then the 900 or what ever the UPS can take is....double protection for me

My UPS is a BX1200 from APC....But i wish i got the BX1500 for its external battery option.

Make sure you get the latest power chute software if its not included....

Also do not expect it to run you through long power outs...its protection and safe shut down....and as always its good for those little intermittent outages....

+1 This is stated in the manual.

The outlets with no battery backup are there so you can plug in non-essential things in there and not drain the battery during a black-out, such as printer, desk lamps, etc.

Also, with any expensive equipment in my house, I at least put surge supression on it. APC makes some nice power bars with surge supression for your cable input as well. All my TVs are plugged into one of these. These power bars are very cheap and are often on sale for about $20.

Surge protection built into the battery outlets = TRUE.

In fact, if it's an online UPS then the battery outputs have an extra surge suppressor that the protected-only outputs don't have, i.e. the battery.