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Battery Backup or Surge Protector?

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confusing a surge protector with a UPS is what the plug strip marketeers want.

Hehe... indeed, how many people have a UPS plugged into a surge suppressor...

They serve different ends - each has a purpose.
 
Maybe it is called inrush. Compressors do not like to be started and stopped lot quickly.
around here, these sub-second glitches happen when lightning strikes the inter-city ties many miles away, and when the power company has to switch somthing that glitches the region. Just a few times a year. Weather is benign to the max here!

More often, I get a breaker that trips when the housekeeper uses the Big Guy vacuum cleaner and too many other things are also on that breaker. I need to move my UPS to an outlet on a different breaker. My UPS is in the garage and there are two circuits out there.
 
Well considering the rest of the house won't be on a battery backup, I am pretty sure I would know that power is out if I am awake due to the lights being out.
Why must anyone know? Most power failures occur when asleep or not home. It is easy to know. For example, a microwave clock (and other appliances) must be reset. If power goes out, what does everyone do? Nothing. Wait for power to come back on.

Some disconnect motorized appliances (ie air conditioner, furnace) that might be at risk. Electronics are unharmed by power restoration. In fact, that slowly increasing voltage is ideal for electronics.

You decided to protect data (with a UPS). To ignore transient (appliance hardware) protection. UPS does not protect hardware. Does nothing for surges (ie when thousands of volts spike on 120 volt mains).
 
You decided to protect data (with a UPS)

That's the best argument for a UPS. When properly configured and supported by the device OS, it gives the device enough time to do a clean shutdown...

My QNAP NAS box takes about 4 minutes to do a shutdown...
 
That's the best argument for a UPS. When properly configured and supported by the device OS, it gives the device enough time to do a clean shutdown...
To be clear. Clean shutdown does nothing for hardware. Clean shutdown is time for unsaved data to be saved. Neither 'already saved data' nor hardware is not at risk.
 
The main reason for me to use an UPS is to protect data not hardware. Hardware protection is a side benefit and built-in to my UPS.

With these clean shutdowns mentioned above I assume it does this automatically so if you are not home it will still happen.
 
You decided to protect data (with a UPS). To ignore transient (appliance hardware) protection. UPS does not protect hardware. Does nothing for surges (ie when thousands of volts spike on 120 volt mains).

My APC Smart UPS is suppose to burn out with a surge and protect the hardware behind it. But I have never tested it so I can't say for certain it will work.
 
Why must anyone know? Most power failures occur when asleep or not home. It is easy to know. For example, a microwave clock (and other appliances) must be reset. If power goes out, what does everyone do? Nothing. Wait for power to come back on.

Some disconnect motorized appliances (ie air conditioner, furnace) that might be at risk. Electronics are unharmed by power restoration. In fact, that slowly increasing voltage is ideal for electronics.

You decided to protect data (with a UPS). To ignore transient (appliance hardware) protection. UPS does not protect hardware. Does nothing for surges (ie when thousands of volts spike on 120 volt mains).

Clarifying the second sentence "Electronics are unharmed by power restoration.". In many instances, yes, i.e., when the power company throws the switch. But bad storms or downed power lines can cause lots of transients that come and go for. Sometimes power is restored for just a few seconds. Glitches like these are one value in having computers/NASes on UPS.

I don't agree with the last sentence. And I note that in my long life, the only time I've seen high voltage spikes is from nearyby lightning strikes.

For me, it's about protecting the integrity of my hard disks, though I have lots of automated backups in use.
 
Clarifying the second sentence "Electronics are unharmed by power restoration.". In many instances, yes, i.e., when the power company throws the switch. But bad storms or downed power lines can cause lots of transients that come and go for. .
Two completely different anomalies are discusses as one. A blackout caused by a bad storm or power line is mistakenly called a surge. A blackout may occur later due to other surge damaged items. A blackout, electrically, is a completely different and following event. Those two events are averted by completely different devices.

No blackout or power restoration harms electronics. However a completely different anomaly may precede a blackout. Damage caused by what happened before that blackout. Unfortunately many only use observation. Mistakenly assume a blackout caused damage that actually existed BEFORE that blackout started.

A high current (and resulting high voltage) has no relationship to low or no voltage. Completely different anomalies averted by completely different hardware. A UPS is for a no voltage blackout. It does nothing for the another high current transient that typically does damage.

If disk integrity is an objective, then a 'whole house' solution is desperately needed. UPS does nothing useful to protect disk hardware. Blackouts do not harm disks.
 
My APC Smart UPS is suppose to burn out with a surge and protect the hardware behind it.
A UPS reacts in maybe 10 milliseconds. It does not burn out. It disconnects by making a millimeters gap. That is long after damage has occurred.

For example, destructive surges are done in microseconds. Things that burn out or trip take milliseconds or seconds. A disconnect is AFTER damage has happened - so that a fire does not threaten human life.

For that protection, a fuse is much better than a UPS. Neither claim to protect hardware from damage.

If a UPS did hardware protection, then a UPS specification number quantifies that protection. None posted because no such number or claim exists.

Anything that protects from a surge by disconnecting is a scam. To disconnect, switch contacts must move (open) at supersonic speeds. It will not happen.
 
I've seen harm done when the power comes back on - where the voltage is quite low for a second or two due to the inrush of current among thousands of homes. Motors and some other things don't like the low voltage.

"Blackout" - seems ill-defined. Brief loss of power? Sub-second? Minutes? Hours, due to intentional action by the power company when they claim to lack the ability to serve 100% of their customers, so the "shed load" but removing power for a time, to different regions. In some parts of the world, this is routine and scheduled.

Then we have "brownout" which could mean very low voltage for a long duration. These are dangerous.

Well, semantics.
 
I've seen harm done when the power comes back on - where the voltage is quite low for a second or two due to the inrush of current among thousands of homes. Motors and some other things don't like the low voltage.
Power restoration causes a surge. Those who think subjectively *assume* a surge is a high voltage. Power restoration is a slowly 'increasing to normal' voltage as a large (surge) current powers on appliances. That 'surge' is only potentially harmful to motorized appliances - due to low voltage.

Blackout means a complete loss of voltage. As opposed to a brownout or sag that is a lower voltage. Time is a relevant factor as defined by standards. Those standards for electronics define all blackouts and brownouts as non-destructive. The expression for all low voltages is "No Damage Region".

A careful distinction exists between motorized and electronic appliances.

AC utility must maintain voltages to protect motorized appliances. If voltage drops too low, then an AC utility cuts off power - to protect motorized appliances. Electronics are perfectly happy even when that voltage is lower. For electronics, two conditions exist: normal (even when low) voltage, or blackout.

Many see damage on power restoration. Then *assume* a blackout caused damage. A transient that preceded and probably created the blackout would cause damage. Low voltage does not damage electronics. But a destructive transient that preceded a blackout would.

UPS protects data. A properly earthed 'whole house' solution protects from transients that might damage any household appliances.
 
With double your experience as a hardware engineer (long predating PCs), properly designed computers (even home PC and older technologies) have circuits that detect "voltage too low". Then its power controller responds accordingly.

Servers have additional protection to make software lockups impossible. An IC that does that costs tens of pennies. Is routine in servers and in real-time hardware. If your hardware does not do that, then defective hardware was selected.

The OP asked about a surge protector or battery backup for hardware protection. Those are for two completely different and unrelated anomalies. UPS does not provide hardware protection. Low voltage does not damage properly designed electronics. UPS is temporary and 'dirty' power so that unsaved data can be saved. It does nothing for hardware protection - a completely different topic..

What the heck relevance is a hardware engineer to sensitive electronics? Versus someone who is immersed in sensitive electronics 24x7x365?

"defective hardware was selected"? I don't deal with motherboard of the month club home built cloners, we do nothing but higher end tier-1 brand business level equipment. not entry level $999 dollar servers but typically servers like HP Proliant ML/DL 350 and above models, or Dell servers in the 400 series and above...starting in the several thousand dollar range and often going up into 5 digit pricetags.

I've seen way too many situations where "brown outs" or dips led to higher rate of equipment failure, and lockups/blue screens on computers. FYI...those are not "software only" problems. Lockups and blue screens can be caused by hardware problems, including faulty/unclean power.

"Power controller responding accordingly"...again, as I mentioned above, too many "consumer level network products" are el cheapo super cheap, which..common sense dictates equates lower quality hardware components. I'm not talking about 2 thousand dollar HP ProCurve switches with lifetime warranties, I'm talking the <100 dollar junk that dominates the residential market. Which I could fill a dumptruck with from the volume of those units I've tossed out, because cheaply made stuff is just_that_much_more_fragile.

And FYI, when battery UPS units are talked about in the IT world....they are models which ARE also surge protection units. The surge protectors built into those are much better quality than the ones found in those 9 dollar surge strips most people get at the large brick 'n mortar cheap china product stores like targetless or wallyworld.

And...yeah, even big clunky home appliances, now that more and more are going "computerized", are having reliabilty/longevity issues which are related to power (or lack of nice clean power).
http://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...nces-Unprotected-Brownouts-Power-Disturbances

Here is an interesting dialogue about computer power supplies, brown outs, discussing Intels ATX Power Supply standards,
http://superuser.com/questions/113113/why-are-brownouts-so-harmful
*snip* "They need to draw more current to compensate for the lower supply voltage, which is very stressful for transistors, wires, diodes, etc."

TechRepublic is a well respected IT resource.
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-ways-to-protect-systems-from-electrical-catastrophes/
*snip* "Both sags and surges adversely affect PC and server electrical components and can lead to subsequent failures and data loss."

"sags"...I mix-match that term with "brown outs"...but the term "sag" is more appropriate when it comes to computers and networks..as a "sag" tends to be brief, where "brown out" tends to be longer and more of a neighborhood section of the grid issue. But either way..a "drop" in proper power is that needs to be addressed.
 
Buying parts on 'tiers' is selection from the 'hardware of the month' club. 'Tiers' exist because so many do not know what electronic does; what features are relevant. Even numbers create anguish. Hardware engineers view actual facts - ie spec numbers and datasheets - to know what is robust, what is pathetic, what is overpriced, and what can and cannot cause damage. Low voltage does not damage electronics. Low voltage is potentially harmful to motorized appliances.

If low voltage causes damage, then that 'at risk' part was listed long ago - when challenged. Due to insufficient hardware knowledge, he cannot define any part at risk.

Many observe an incandescent bulb fail during power on. That proves that power cycling is destructive to light bulbs? Conclusion must be true. It was seen! Conclusion is based only in observation - also called junk science. The fewer and informed (ie hardware engineers) first learn how things work. Only then can observation contribute to facts based in reality.

Reality: light bulbs are damaged by hours of operation and voltage (temperature). Power cycling (and observation) is irrelevant. A completely different and valid conclusion exist when one uses principles taught in junior high science. Everyone was taught this.

To have a fact means a hypothesis, based in the well understood science, is combined with experimental evidence. Conclusions based only in observation have no valid hypothesis. Random observation is not experimental evidence. Conclusions from observation are classic junk science reasoning - violate even what was taught in school science.

Many 'experts' only know using observation - classic junk science reasoning. Often are so hardware naive as to need 'tiers' to guess what hardware must do.

If low voltage is destructive, then the informed can say what part is at risk. YeOldStonecar does not because he cannot. Junk science and 'tiers' replace fundamental electronic knowledge. At minimum, one reads datasheet to know which part is harmed by low voltage. No parts in a computer are harmed by low voltage. No parts as in *none*. An informed hardware engineer would know that. Others educated by junk science, wild speculation, hearsay, and random observation would not know that. Latter promote the 'low voltage causes damage' myth. A myth especially popular among computer users who are hardware inept.

View some parts. For example some of the earliest and less robust computer semiconductors:
http://pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets/208/108514_DS.pdf
Voltage can be anywhere from 20 volts down to a negative 0.5 volts. As required by internationl design standards before PCs existed - all low voltages are not destructive.

All electronics work just fine in a wide range of voltages. If voltage is too low, electronics simply power off. As was required long before PCs existed. Only the technically informed would know that. Junk science rationalization is common when observation creates urban myths. When observation is a replacement for conclusions based in science - as even taught in junior high science.

If low voltages (sags or brownouts) cause electronic hardware damage, then power off is also destructive. Sags occur with each power off as voltages slowly drop to zero. Any layman can understand that. Destructive low voltage myths must even ignore that fact.

If using responsible reasoning, then cite the electronic part (include its datasheet) that fails on low voltage. Good luck. Wild speculation means facts and numbers were ignored. Wild speculation has no hypothesis based in well defined science - with numbers.
 
Westom needs help
Good. Please identify the part destroyed by low voltage. Help me out. Post the datasheet that shows damage from a low voltage. You won't. You cannot. Technical ignorance explains a cheapshot that only wastes bandwidth.
 
low voltage or low current doesnt damage, it is actually high voltage/ high current that damages components. When a high powered devices turns on it causes other devices to flicker for a temporary lack of power. Brown outs are caused by lack of power in which the energy has to come from somewhere (such as oxygen providing electrons) so it only affects conductors which is where the name comes from. When there isnt enough power you dont get more amps to cover for the lower voltage. When conductors are oxidised their resistance increases which is what causes problems in older homes and also increases electricity usage and which is what damages devices from their internal wiring oxidising and acting as a resistor.

Spikes/micro surges are caused when you turn on something new which is a rush of electricity trying to balance things (a bit like air going into a vacuum). Spikes only damage components that are susceptible to high voltages if they are very sensitive otherwise they only very very slowly damage components susceptible to high voltages. Some devices are made to handle this and it is very trivial as long as there are capacitors around that can handle changes. Surges are also caused by a lot of other things too.

Not all UPS or surge protectors provide protections. You need to look at the spec sheet of a UPS/ surge protector to see if it has a function or protection. Different countries supplies different electricity specs and have different issues so dont think only about electricity in the US. A lot in this thread mentioned a UPS acting as a filter or to stabilise electricity but that is untrue because only some UPS act like capacitors while others seperate the battery and mechanically/electronically switch to the battery when the mains goes down so they dont act as a capacitor and leave a very tiny gap of no power but unlike a brown out it provides no power for a very short time but since computers have capacitors and LED screens nothing seems to happen. Just like SNB there are websites that dedicate to testing surge protectors and UPS. You cant protect against everything but you can reduce the impact of things and prevent your things from exploding or dying on you. Part of getting protection is also to prevent yourself from getting hurt as well so its not just device longetivity. Some UPS dont provide any protection and are only to switch from mains (which is connected directly with no filters) to the battery a bit like how a surge protector for a house works which is to break from mains and switch to earth. Again i will say many times, do research, read spec sheets, and dont assume a device does everything.

modern hard drives are also designed to prevent loss of data incase of sudden loss of power.

Just be open minded and do research. Even something as simple as drinking water can be fatal when you have too much or too little. Its a bit like the argument for an actuary for living life like normal even with all the risks from something very unlikely.
 
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When a high powered devices turns on it causes other devices to flicker for a temporary lack of power. Brown outs are caused by lack of power in which the energy has to come from somewhere (such as oxygen providing electrons) so it only affects conductors which is where the name comes from. When there isnt enough power you dont get more amps to cover for the lower voltage.
Wow. These subjective claims are "Far out". Yes an undersized conductor can oxidize. (Oxidizing does not provide more amps.) So we properly size conductors so that even the largest current demand is well below what is required.

Anyone making electrical recommendations should know this stuff. For example, seven 100 watt light bulb powered from a 15 amp circuit initially demand more than 40 amps. According to his reasoning, damage has happened. Of course not. We dumb this stuff down to keep it simple to the naive. A 15 amp circuit can provide well over 60 amps for short periods without any damage.

What happens when a 1 amp computer needs more current because voltage dropped? It might demand 1.1 amps - on a 15 or 20 amp circuit that can also provide much higher currents even for hours.

Anyone can read spec sheets. A 15 amp circuit breaker can provide maybe 20 amps for over two hours before it decided to trip. Not because that is dangerous. Because the dangerous ampere number is much higher. We oversize everything so that those urban myths do not happen.

Informed homeowner knows that dimming lights when a major appliance power cycles indicates a wiring problem. In most cases, a problem is due to conditions that do not threaten human life. Some common reasons are backstab connections to receptacles and wire nuts applies without first twisting those wires together. Dimming, in most cases only indicates a less quality wiring job. It does not happen in properly wired homes. But in rare cases, dimming also indicates a major human safety issue.

So many words that only hype subjective and mythical fears. Low voltage does not cause electronics damage. So many urban myths encouraged to sell products that are near zero - ineffective. Now we have mythical damage from power on transients - also made by not providing facts with numbers. Fear is so easy to promote when hearsay and speculation are declared facts.

BTW, sudden power loss is what all disk drives see. As was also true when disk drives used motor oil to move its heads. No disk drive need be told to prepare for power loss. Every disk drive repositions heads and other tasks only AFTER its DC voltages suddenly start dropping. Anyone who knows computers knows this. All power offs are unexpected to every drive - so that even blackouts and brownouts do not cause disk drive damage.

He should have known that before posting. But he also thought dimming lights were acceptable.
 
@westom
I dont think you read what i wrote properly. I said "components" in the context of computers and electronics. The oxidisation of conductors is when theres not enough but it doesnt mean that oxygen provides all the energy, its just that there is a voltage but no charge to fill it so it encourages oxidisation. (show me some physics facts that say otherwise). a low voltage damages electronics when the conductors oxidise and become a resistor which changes the voltage received which in the digital world is a massive problem in communication as the components have a preset voltage range. For example using an incorrect voltage on arduino would either cause damage or errors in values being communicated. I use arduino as an example because it is inexpensive if you want to test this out(some tutorials that related to complicated arduino setups involving 1 port and multiple components where timing is cruicial such as a button array from a single pin). people have had fun shorting out arduinos. If you read computer forums about using 1KW or higher PSUs when 1st gen iseries came out you will find some complaining about some PSUs that caused brownouts on the motherboard that spoilt it because the PSU couldnt provide enough power. Those motherboards were the high end and some could fit 2 CPUs and overclock them as well aside from the multiple power hungry high end GPUs they had on it as well. On a low wattage PC brown outs take a lot lot longer to effect it.

If the light dims when something power cycles it doesnt always indicate a wiring problem. For example try running a circuit from a generator instead of the mains, when you add load to it a connected light bulb dimms for less than a second as the generator increases in speed to provide the needed energy. This problem isnt as bad when connected to the mains unless you are in a city where the power supply is already at it's peak. http://diy.stackexchange.com/questi...s-from-dimming-when-major-appliances-start-up as an example. As i said dont only think about things that happen in the US. Some places around the world do not have enough electricity, you can look around for other examples but inrush current is only dangerous to SENSITIVE components which is what i mentioned already. LIGHT BULBS are NOT SENSITIVE but COMPUTERS ARE. Computers even include networking equipment. (again show me physics facts that show a momentary dimming of lights is from bad wiring only and not a sudden large but quick load somewhere else)

regarding oversizing, i wouldnt called it an urban myth. It is well known that someone in australia died because of using an improper USB charger which uses a switching circuit instead of diodes and capacitors to change AC to DC. When the charger shorted the circuits didnt break and there werent fuses to melt so the surge not as strong but longer than lightning wasnt stopped before the charger. I remember when using faulty electrics that if i switched it on or an inrush current too high that the circuit would break which actually prevented sparking or fires (such as an extension getting hit by water or a faulty PSU hit by water which is similar to the case in australia but the current was stopped).

@westom again did you even read what i wrote? I said "MODERN" hard drives. Please provide us with facts and links to your claims. In a few posts in this thread i provided tests, links and facts. The specs are there because they tell how it performs and should include more details such as for circuit breakers it should show the voltage and delay before switching. In a fuse theres a current limit and delay before it melts and even though you think people are being over protective but if it prevents a death more than without from millions it still helps. For example when you buy a CPU do you only buy a CPU with just enough power to run at 100% all the time or do you buy a CPU that doesnt run full and lets you do more with it later on? When a hard drive says to prevent data loss during sudden power loss it means that the operations currently in its buffer gets finished and written before the drive shuts down (this is clearly and moderately being bragged by manufacturers after capacity and performance but it is also a fact).
 

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