Back-UPS garbage? (was: Quick survey -- UPSs on slave nodes?)

[alvin at Maggie.Linux-Consulting.com]

hi ya drew

On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, Drew Raines wrote:

> <alvin at Maggie.Linux-Consulting.com> writes:
> 
> > $40 el cheapo APC for each node...
> 
> I assume you're referring to the ``Back-UPS'' line.  The only thing
> I've found those to be able to support on battery power is my clock
> radio, which I could more easily protect with a 9-volt.

yupp them junk...

but there are also other equivalents at the same price range
that actually works ... sustaining for about 15-20 minutes
( just got tested in the last power outage during the big storms
( a month ago 

all my dead ups are those APC stuff various versions/wattages
 
> Has any one of you actually used these to sustain a PC for any
> measurable length of time?  I'm not sure at what market this junk
> is aimed, perhaps suckers.

definitely... "marketed for suckers"  (was one of um too, many times over)
	( but is still a good surge protector )

you cant give me an APC anymore and expect a critical server
to be plugged into it and expect it to stay up during power outage
	( can you can see the graveyard of dead apc's )

more importantly... yes... definitely add a ups to each and every
node/PC/workstation/servers... 

last same thunderstorm that took out SanFrancisco also knocked out
a bunch of ups ( fried um w/ lightening ) .. good thing it was his/their
network/PCs and not ours..  but the $2,000-$3000
servers worked fine when one got over the panic of it all

c ya
alvin

shutting down a PC or not as soon as the UPS goes "warning warning" is 
up to the user... too many brownouts, is not a good enough reason
to shutdown the server before it "loses battery power"