[dba-Tech] UPS recommendations?

Hi Jon,
I sell a lot of UPSs. I personally have dealt with 5 brands. I have the APC
RS 1500 with extra battery pack for my network along with an older Triplite
model. Last year I put in a number of APCs, Triplite, Monster Power, and
Belkin units of various sizes.

I'm fairly disgusted with APC at this point. You pay top dollar for them
(because they are the big dogs in UPS) and the batteries do not seem to last
which is why I ended up getting the extra battery pack for my RS1500. It was
only a year and the main batteries had gone belly up. Previous to the RS1500
I had a different APC Smart UPS and the batteries went dead before 4 years
but cost so much to replace that I just bought the new unit. On the other
hand I've got one unit 750W on a client site that’s about 1 year old. I
checked the logs for it last week and it had handled 72 power events! Mostly
line noise but a few brown outs too. So it is holding up well. I used to use
them years ago in my former job and didn't have much problem with them
either, maybe I just get all the APC lemons in my office! I haven't been too
impressed with their customer support as of late.

My Triplite (they are one of the top UPS companies also) is 6 years old and
had to temporarily take over for it (which it isn't made for). But generally
the other smaller Triplites don't seem to hold up well. I've had a handful
go out due to power events. That is their job but it seems they get damaged
easier than the others. My supplier warned me that they do not honor their
warranties well but I have not had to deal with that so I have no personal
experience with their customer support

The Monster Power units were smaller ones that I got lot of them for a one
shot, good deal and passed on to my clients for their PCs. They have done
real well. One failed within a couple of weeks and they replaced it for
free. The replacement blew out a few weeks ago from a major power event. It
is in the home of one of the employees where I set all the other units up.
Its kind of a country home with poor power so the fact that one went bad and
the other blew already is real indicative of anything being wrong with them
per say. And, that's a UPSs job - sacrificing themselves for the sake of the
equipment! The majority of them are on a small network (all PCs have one)
where the power supply is very poor due to the florescent lights being old -
they buzz all the time and they're unwilling to replace them - its an awful
place to work. The UPS units have an alarm that I can't turn off (some
models allow that) and it chirps about every 10-20 minutes. At first the
staff called and said there was something wrong with them until I explained
it. They have been working under those conditions for about 2 years. Their
customer support was good.

I have been impressed with the Belkin units, which I originally were wary
of. My supplier recommended them and after some discussion, took his word on
it I have an entire small business running on them for a year now and
haven't had a single incident. All the PCs have a IIRC 650W unit and the
server has a bigger one that give it a half hour runtime in a power outage.
One of the things my supplier (who is also a consultant - he runs a couple
of businesses) said was that their customer support is good, I have dealt
with it personally though.

The monitoring/auto-shutdown software for all of them are similar and come
with the units.  Also some of the better units have AVR (automatic voltage
regulation). The Belkin units and some of the APC units I have out there do.

I never thought I'd say this but at this point I'd recommend the Belkin
units. Make sure you get one bigger with more Wattage output than what you
think you need. And study up on "Joules" a bit before proceeding.

HTH
John B.

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jon Tydda
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 6:55 AM
To: Dba-Tech (E-mail)
Subject: [dba-Tech] UPS recommendations?

Got home last night to find that my ADSL modem/router was toast... This is
the third one I've had to replace due to power cuts etc, and the Electric
company say that they're not responsible for any damage caused. At over £70
a throw, buying new DG834GT's is getting to be an expensive hobby.
 
So I'm thinking of investing in a UPS once the new router has arrived. I
don't really know what I'm looking for in a UPS as the only ones I've seen
are the huge ones at work that sit in the bottom of the racks. Ideally I'd
like something smaller and less obtrusive as it has to go in the living room
at home. Does anyone have any recommendations?
 
Thanks
 
 
Jon


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