I finally did it: After three years of dealing with power drop-outs ,The Friday before last I bought a UPS. Not knowing and not really wanting to check the power usage of everything in...

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

After three years of dealing with power drop-outs ,The Friday before last I bought a UPS.
Not knowing and not really wanting to check the power usage of everything in my office I bought a Cyber Power 1500V UPS with an output of 900watts Sine Wave output.
After charging the batteries 8 hours I connected my computer and all peripherals except my printer which I will do later. The I downloaded and installed the monitoring software.
SO far the "Power Panel" shows my max. draw at 230 watts with the backup drives running but not recording.

Connected :Not all are connected to the battery power, just the surge protection
27" iMac
27" Apple Thunderbolt Monitor
4: 2tb hard drives ( when backing up")
1: Satelite Modem
1: Phone signal booster
1: External CD/DVD
I don't know if the Sine wave feature is necessary or not but it only cost $20 more, and years ago my G5 Power Mac would not run on my generator ( modified sine wave).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yup! UPSs are great for glips and brownouts!
Gives one time to save data and do an orderly shutdown.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Longshadow wrote:

Yup! UPSs are great for glips and brownouts!
Gives one time to save data and do an orderly shutdown.

So far we don't have brown outs around here!!
Its a dropout for a sec or two or its just out!
And the ups shuts the computer down automatically
I forgot, I got a smaller one for the TV and the satellite box, it takes what seems like forever to reboot.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Manglesphoto wrote:

So far we don't have brown outs around here!!
Its a dropout for a sec or two or its just out!
And the ups shuts the computer down automatically
I forgot, I got a smaller one for the TV and the satellite box, it takes what seems like forever to reboot.

I thought about putting one on the cable box, modem, router, and by default, TV so the laptops can keep going, but nah... We'll survive without them. (Sometimes the cable line amp goes down also anyway. Seems it might be on a power feed near/with us.)
The main thing with the desktop is an orderly shutdown.
We occasionally have power shut off for hours for tree work in the area. Rare, but it happens. It's nice the power company warns us of scheduled outages.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Longshadow wrote:

I thought about putting one on the cable box, modem, router, and by default, TV so the laptops can keep going, but nah... We'll survive without them. (Sometimes the cable line amp goes down also anyway. Seems it might be on a power feed near/with us.)
The main thing with the desktop is an orderly shutdown.
We occasionally have power shut off for hours for tree work in the area. Rare, but it happens. It's nice the power company warns us of scheduled outages.

I think the power drops every time a bird lands on the wire!!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Manglesphoto wrote:

I think the power drops every time a bird lands on the wire!!

Fluctuations......

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Longshadow wrote:

Fluctuations......

Nah, I'm exaggerating, usually it's just high winds or somebody shakes a pole somewhere.
Usually the electric is only off just long enough for everything to shut off, then right back on.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Manglesphoto wrote:

Nah, I'm exaggerating, usually it's just high winds or somebody shakes a pole somewhere.
Usually the electric is only off just long enough for everything to shut off, then right back on.

But even a fraction of a second interruption is enough to make your computer quit in the middle of something you're doing.

Back up frequently or UPS (or both).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Manglesphoto wrote:

Nah, I'm exaggerating, usually it's just high winds or somebody shakes a pole somewhere.
Usually the electric is only off just long enough for everything to shut off, then right back on.

(I knew that.

)

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Longshadow wrote:

(I knew that.

)

LOL When I live near this area in the 70s it wouldn't have been an exaggeration!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Manglesphoto wrote:

LOL When I live near this area in the 70s it wouldn't have been an exaggeration!

We affectionately called the power company where I lived in Florida
Florida Flicker and Flash....

(Mostly due to the lightning though.)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Manglesphoto wrote:

After three years of dealing with power drop-outs ... (show quote)

I have two UPS units, one for the computer, printers etc. and one much bigger for my power lounge chair in the family room, one lamp and various chargers like e-reader, phone etc. that I use in the chair - My doctor says I have to sit with my feet above the level of my heart about half the day (fluid in leg problem) so I sleep in the chair also. No power = major problem if I need to get out of the chair while reclined (bathroom trip!!!! Very urgent). The wife tried my chair, and we then bought an even fancier one for the living room. She often falls asleep in that one herself and the TV just keeps playing through the night until she wakes and turns things off, or I get up to vist the bathroom and tip toe in to turn things off while she sleeps.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

robertjerl wrote:

I have two UPS units, one for the computer, printe... (show quote)

Turning the TV off would wake me up

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

With the power supply problems in South Africa where currently we lose power in scheduled two and four hour slots an alternative is essential. We run on 240/50 volts and I bought a 2.4Kw inverter. I have all TV, audio and computers connected to it. Last evening when the power went off at 6.00pm for four hours and we were watching TV and never noticed it had happened. The same when power returns and the inverter starts to charge up again. After four hours without power, there was still way over 75% power remaining in the inverter.

Mr. SONY Loc: LI, NY

robertjerl wrote:

I have two UPS units, one for the computer, printe... (show quote)

Nice to know I'm not the only one who for years has his recliner plugged into a UPS.
Electric, not manual.
I thought about that one day when I was reclined.
What would I do if the power went out!!!
I knew it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to get out of the chair.
Easy, UPS.
They do sell a few recliners with a battery backup incorporated into the recliner. Not many.