<p>Unless your getting a sizable flywheel system, spend the $ on a good ups with power conditioning. Brown outs cauae data loss! I agree wirh Bob. APC and Triplite are worth the cost. Look for AVR, automatic voltage regulation.<br>
I installed a 15kW natural gas generator with automatic relay. It powers most of my house when the mains are down. $3k with self-install.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On May 22, 2012 12:11 AM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>Hi Bob,<br>
<br>
Based on your recommendations as well as Mike H's and Wolf's , I'm looking more into the UPS options. That may be the best solution for a sub $ 300 price tag. However, taking the APC Backups Pro 1500 as an example, the surge protection rating is only 354 joules. That sounds insanely low. That doesn't inspire my confidence at all using the thing as a surge protection device. APC's free standing premium surge protectors in the $ 50 range have ratings of 2000 - 3000 joules. Perhaps I should use a free standing surge protector then connect the UPS to that.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">Bob Toxen <transam@VerySecureLinux.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<pre style="white-space:pre-wrap;word-wrap:break-word;font-family:sans-serif">On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 08:36:00PM -0400, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:<br>> Hi guys,<br><br>> I need some electrical power advice. It's possible you will give me<br>
> the answer and I won't be able to afford it, but I'd like to know what<br>> you think.<br><br>> Counting my wife's machine, my computer table has 4 laptops, 1 desktop,<br>> 2 monitors, and miscellaneous hubs, speakers, phones, etc.<br>
Short best recommendation: buy a 1000W or 1500W APC of TripLite UPS.<br>Leave it plugged in to the wall during storms. Turn off the monitors<br>if the lights go out (except to shut down systems if the power stays<br>out for more than 5 minutes, in which case it will be out for a while).<br>
<br>I've had an excellent 17 years of experience with APC, including a storm<br>that fried other non-APC protected equipment (an electronically<br>controlled ceiling fan). I know a few others have a bad opinion of APC<br>
and recommend TripLite. Don't even think of buying any other brand<br>than APC or TripLite.<br><br>The good brands are designed so that on a direct (or near) lightning hit<br>that circuits between the wall and your computers burn out, breaking the<br>
path to your computers to protect the computers. Realistically, a<br>direct hit is extremely unlikely and can fry even unconnected<br>electronics due to induced currents, arcing, and such. (How many times<br>has your house been hit by lightning before?)<br>
<br>It's more critical to also run phone and cable lines (if you get cable<br>Internet) through a UPS/Surge Protector's filters.<br><br>If you really want to be protected against a direct lightning strike<br>(talking about a motor-generator setup), you first need to insure<br>
several inches to a foot separation between any cables "outside" of the<br>UPS/Surge Protector filters, e.g., extension cords and anything being<br>protected to protect against an arc.<br><br>Consider lighting rods installed on your roof (maybe $2000-3000 or so)<br>
if you're really worried.<br><br>My "Smart" APC 1500 (a year old) displays how many minutes it should<br>keep equipment running given current power usage. Mine says 120 minutes<br>for 4 towers and a laptop and one monitor.<br>
<br><br>Remember that laptops use roughly 40-100W, hubs tiny amounts, blanked<br>monitors not too much, and towers (guessing) 200-500W for high-end ones.<br>Use an AC ammeter or wattmeter to measure for sure. The running power<br>
often is 25-50% of what the data plate claims as a maximum.<br><br><br>If you want even more protection, instead of a motor-generator, spend<br>$1000 for a Yamaha 2 KW generator (fairly quiet) or roughly $1500-2000 for<br>
a Honda really quiet generator and switch the UPS plug to the generator<br>when it is storming. I used a relay for an automatic switch but that<br>risks a lighting strike arcing across the relay's 0.1 inch contact gap.<br>
I assume that the UPSs will work.<br><br>In any case, frequent OFF SITE backups are a must.<br><br>> Sincerely,<br>> <br>> Ron<br><br>Bob Toxen<br><a href="mailto:bob@verysecurelinux.com" target="_blank">bob@verysecurelinux.com</a> [Please use for email to me]<br>
<a href="http://www.verysecurelinux.com" target="_blank">http://www.verysecurelinux.com</a> [Network&Linux security consulting]<br><a href="http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com" target="_blank">http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com</a> [My book:"Real World Linux Security 2/e"]<br>
Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 1990.<br>Quality spam and virus filters.<br><br>"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring<br>them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond where<br>
the shadows lie...and the Eye is everwatching"<br>-- The Silicon Valley Tarot Henrique Holschuh with ... Bob<br></pre></blockquote></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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