Power outages & my poor PC.

We have power outages in my area quite often. Usually I just shut the computer down & wait for the wind to stop, but as a Mod I don't feel I can since it might be windy for days. Well, after 3 outages (they usually just last a second or so) the computer started doing weird things. I mean really, really weird. As soon as I ran all the checks (which found nothing wrong) & then rebooted it ran fine. Computer, heal theyself!

What I want to know, is there anything I can buy? A battery back-up? Something to keep it going for even a short time until I can shut it down safely.


thanks for any help.

:hi:

You are in dire need of an Uninterpretable Power Supply, which is basically a battery backup. Just make sure it is a UPS and not just a battery backup. The former will keep trucking along even during a temporary power outage. The latter don't necessarily.

You can get a pretty good one for $100 or less.

I have the biggest surge protector on the market, but that doesn't solve the outage problem.

How do I know what a good one is?

:hi:

And then there's "ohmygod I can run a small city." :-)

Since you're just having momentary outages, you just need something that will run your PC, Monitor, and any other necessary equipment you have for small amounts of time. The low-end UPS units that are still quality usually are rated to run at least those devices for 15-30 minutes.

What you're looking for is wattage, # of outlets, and a VA rating. I can't really explain these in detail. I just know what tends to work. It's also nice to have one with jacks for phone and coax lines, but the latter can be protected with a basic surge protector. You'll need an RS-232 port on your computer to run the software, which functions to carefully manage your system and shut it down if the power goes out longer than the battery can maintain it. This is good if you keep it on while you're away.

This is a pretty good one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107112

If you don't want to do an online purchase, just look at the ratings and try to find something similar locally.

have been a tremendous help.

thank you.

:yourock:

tigerdirect.com. Use a secondary email addr if/when you sign up, as you get the daily specials.

:hi:

Wish *I'd* thought of it. :-)

The malicious spell-checker strikes.

And you can get them for under $50. Run to the store and get one NOW!

But you'll first need to determine what wattage you need, which depends on what you plug into the thing, etc. (Don't bother plugging in the monitor into it though - kind of a waste.) You can check this out to help determine it:
http://www.advizia.com/tripplite/

I'm only familiar with APC and Belkin but other brands might be just as good, if not better....

Here's an article on UPS's:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,116712,00.asp