Surge Suppression vs Battery Backup

[Octavio]

I wonder if any one knows anything about this:

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

My APC comes both with battery jacks (of course) and also with surge
suppressor outlets only without battery backup benefit.

I just wonder if the monitor flat screen should be hooked to the "battery"
outlet, or to the "surge suppressor" outlet only?

Please advise.

 

[peter]

The idea of a battery backup is that it lets you save your work in case of a
power failure in the middle of something important.
Will you be able to save your work if you can NOT see the screen???
or does the logic escape you??
peter

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

The idea behind battery backup is that the user has time to close down
operations without losing something.. you will need the monitor for this
operation..

I wonder if any one knows anything about this:

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

My APC comes both with battery jacks (of course) and also with surge
suppressor outlets only without battery backup benefit.

I just wonder if the monitor flat screen should be hooked to the "battery"
outlet, or to the "surge suppressor" outlet only?

Please advise.

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[Mike]

I wonder if any one knows anything about this:

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

Well, if it's an Ink Jet printer it would be OK to connect it to the
battery outlet. But a laser printer probably not, because they
generally draw a lot of power.

Of course this only applies if the printer is normally turned on all the
time. I only turn my printers on when I'm actually going to print, so
in that case it would make little difference. I don't have my printers
connected to the UPS anyway.

The monitor should absolutely be connected. What's the point of the
computer running on the UPS if you can't use it because you can't power
on the monitor?

Personally, I have my cable modem, hub and wireless router connected
also. It's a big 1400 VA UPS, so everything is covered.

Mike

 

[Ed Forsythe]

So, you can't answer a reasonable question without a snide remark? You mommy
is coming, better shut down! ;-)

 

[Christopher R. Lee]

*Never* connect a laser printer to the UPS. There is more to it than watts
of power; the waveform of a UPS is not usually a good sinusoid, and there
are power factor and harmonic considerations.

In case the latest printers are better in this respect, it may be worth
reading the instructions.

The main use of UPSs is, in practice, to stop your system crashing when
there is a brief power outage. This ofthen happens in country areas, but
probably hardly ever if you live in a town in a country that's rich enough
to have spohisticated power utilities.

Some UPSs come with a cable and software to shut down your computer cleanly
if the mains power is off for more than a few seconds. Mine uses an RS232
cable, which is great... And anyway the software is always about a year out
of date and incompatible with the OS you are forced to buy by The Powers
That Be.

Regards

 

[Octavio]

Thanks to you all for your help and advise..

 

[ray]

I wonder if any one knows anything about this:

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

My APC comes both with battery jacks (of course) and also with surge
suppressor outlets only without battery backup benefit.

I just wonder if the monitor flat screen should be hooked to the "battery"
outlet, or to the "surge suppressor" outlet only?

Please advise.

Depends a little on what you plan to accomplish and the capacity of your
UPS. Anything plugged into the UPS side will consume battery resources
when the power goes out. Anything plugged into the surge suppressor side
will die when the power dies. If your intent is to keep computing when the
power is out or to manually shut down, then you would need the monitor. If
you plan automatic shutdown, then you would not need it. Currently I have
only cpu's plugged in the the UPS side - my operating assumption is that
most outages are of short duration, so I only need to keep the cpu running
rather than have power cut to the cpu. When we have a longer outage, I
shut down manually.

 

[Tim Judd]

I wonder if any one knows anything about this:

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a
surge suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be
hooked to a APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power
outage).

My APC comes both with battery jacks (of course) and also with surge
suppressor outlets only without battery backup benefit.

I just wonder if the monitor flat screen should be hooked to the
"battery" outlet, or to the "surge suppressor" outlet only?

Please advise.

after reading all posts...

i also hook my crt monitor up to the ups. 2 towers, 1 KVM set. If i
need to conserve that much power, I simply hit the power button on the
montior, so it doesn't draw power from the UPS. If I need the monitor
on, I can turn it on.

Having the monitor on the UPS is nice, and you can avoid the battery
load/drain by simply turning the monitor off.

HTH.

 

[w_tom]

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

It is called a 'computer grade' UPS. When in battery backup mode, UPS
electricity can be so 'dirty' as to even harm small electric motors -
such as in some printers.

This 120 volt UPS, for example, outputs two 200 volt square waves
with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square waves.
Manufacturer calls this a modified sine wave. This is 'clean'
electricity? Clean enough for computers because computers have robust
internal protection. (Same internal protection that also requires
direct lightning strikes to be earthed before entering the building.)
That same UPS electricity may harm other appliances such as small
electric motors. But not harm computers that are so robust.

Notice how 'dirty' electricity is from a typical UPS. Why is that
electricity not harmful to computers? Because computers are some of
the most robust consumers of AC electric. Same electricity (in
battery backup mode) may be harmful to other appliances. Manufacturer
would prefer you don't know this since myth purveyors promote a UPS as
if it outputs 'cleaner' electricity. When not in battery backup
mode, the computer, et al is connected directly to AC mains. So where
is this protection?

Well protection exists. But not for type of surges that typically
cause electronics damage. Manufacturer just forgets to list the
various types of surges and numbers for that protection. Instead,
manufacture of a cheap UPS only says enough so that others will
'assume' it protects from all types of surges.

 

[w_tom]

Some time ago I read somewhere that the printer shall be hooked to a surge
suppressor but not to a battery backup (i.e., it should not be hooked to a
APC battery outlet to use the battery in case of a power outage).

It is called a 'computer grade' UPS. When in battery backup mode,
UPS electricity can be so 'dirty' as to even harm small electric
motors - such as in some printers.

This 120 volt UPS, for example, outputs two 200 volt square waves
with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square waves.
Manufacturer calls this a modified sine wave. This is 'clean'
electricity? Clean enough for computers because computers have robust
internal protection. (Same internal protection that also requires
direct lightning strikes to be earthed before entering the building.)
That same UPS electricity may harm other appliances such as small
electric motors. But not harm computers that are so robust.

Notice how 'dirty' electricity is from a typical UPS. Why is that
electricity not harmful to computers? Because computers are some of
the most robust consumers of AC electric. Same electricity (in
battery backup mode) may be harmful to other appliances. Manufacturer
would prefer you don't know this since myth purveyors promote a UPS as
if it outputs 'cleaner' electricity. When not in battery backup
mode, the computer, et al is connected directly to AC mains. So where
is this protection?

Well protection exists. But not for type of surges that typically
cause electronics damage. Manufacturer just forgets to list the
various types of surges and numbers for that protection. Instead,
manufacture of a cheap UPS only says enough so that others will
'assume' it protects from all types of surges.

 

[bud--]

When not in battery backup
mode, the computer, et al is connected directly to AC mains. So where
is this protection?

Well protection exists. But not for type of surges that typically
cause electronics damage. Manufacturer just forgets to list the
various types of surges and numbers for that protection. Instead,
manufacture of a cheap UPS only says enough so that others will
'assume' it protects from all types of surges.

Plug-in suppressors have MOVs (protection elements) from hot to
ground, hot to neutral, neutral to ground. That covers all possible
surge modes.

A guide on surges and surge protection from the IEEE at:
http://omegaps.com/Lightning Guide_FINALpublishedversion_May051.pdf
and another from the NIST at:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/practiceguides/surgesfnl.pdf
both say plug-in suppressors are effective. UPSs may or may provide
the same protection.

Read the guides for excellent information on surges and surge
protection. (The IEEE guide requires a little technical background.)