UPS

I am wondering if I really need this UPS. I lost power and my unit only lasted 2 seconds before crashing the computer. I figure I need New (expensive) batteries again for the unit. Since my system started up just fine after going through the Microsoft bad shutdown deal,I am wondering if I really need this UPS.I think that probably most people don't have a ups and I don't hear any horror stories.Any opinions? A person writing programs or something that would be very bad to crash while doing might need this protection but I am not sure about the average user.

I don't use one and for the rare power interruptions we've had - even out here in the country - I've never had a problem. The worst thing that's ever happened is that it happened while I was gaming and the game didn't get saved. Now if I worked from home or on documents or files that were important all the time, I'd have one for sure.

Unless there is an "electrical or power" reason for not letting your computer get shut off - assuming you are plugged in to an really good surge protector - I think having good backups are more important.

I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this too.

Appreciate the response Draclvr,but the power outages are not the problem,I have no control over power outages,the problem is if I really need the UPS.As long as stuff doesn't get corrupted when crashing,I don't see the need.

Yup... and that's just what I was saying. None of us can control power outages, but if I worked from home or had data that would not get saved or would potentially be corrupted, I'd have one. But same as you, I've just never seen the need. But maybe we're missing something here!

Whether you get damage from having the computer suddenly lose power depends on whether the computer is writing back to the hard drive at the time it loses power. If Windows happens to be doing "scheduled maintenance" at the time of the outage, or doing anything that involves writing back to the hard drive, you could lose data or the operating system could be corrupted.

If your UPS only lasted two seconds, I have to wonder what is plugged into it. Are you using a CRT monitor?

Every UPS I've ever had has had a noisy low-battery warning that would be pretty hard to ignore, so I wonder about the problem being caused by low batteries. If your UPS only lasted 2 seconds, there is either something wrong with it or it's insufficiently powerful for what you have plugged into it. I'd guess the former.

Hmm. No crt,Im using a led monitor. The UPS is one of those larger more expensive ones that uses 2 batteries so I know it is powerful enough.I never heard a low battery warning so I wonder if something is wrong with it like you say.

I need to make a correction...
My brother says there are some newer UPS models that don't have the automatic battery test. So you'd have to check the features of your particular model UPS to see if it is capable of setting off a low/bad battery alarm. Without the automatic battery test, the first sign of a bad battery would indeed be failure of the UPS during an outage -- which is too late to do any good. I think the bad battery alarm is well worth having.

I'm surprised there are any UPS models without an automatic battery test. Even the smaller, older, less expensive UPS that I and my brother own have the battery test, and will beep and squeal unholy murder if their battery goes bad.

I used to work at home a lot so I had a UPS connected to my system.. it also had a low battery indicator(although mine would run for a couple of hours if needed). Now that I am pleasantly retired I do not use one. I only use a good surge protector.

I had never bothered with a UPS until last year, when, just as my Win7 machine was starting to boot up, there were three power cuts within seconds of each other - the power going Off/On, Off/On, Off/On

My computer was so adversely affected that once "normal" power was restored and I could switch it on, it wouldn't even boot up.

My Son in Law came round (the one who built the machine for me) and was able to fix everything but recommended I get a UPS as soon as possible.

I got this one .. APC BE700G-UK 405 Watts /700 VA,Input 230V /Output 230V, Interface Port USB Power-Saving Back-UPS .. and have never had a problem since, despite there having been plenty of power cuts.
[It ensures I have more than twenty minutes from the start of a power cut to safely shut down my machine - using the battery power.]

•Battery and surge protected outlets
•Surge only outlets
•Automatic self-test
•Battery failure notification
•Intelligent battery management
•Safety-agency approved
•2 Year Warranty