Telkom UPS reliability

[willemvdm]

First my bad experiance...

I stay on a smallholding and we have endless trouble with power failures. Most of the time the power only goes off for a few seconds, but on a bad day this can happen up to 10 times. If the power is of for more than 10 seconds you can be sure it will be off for the rest of the day, if not tomorrow too.

So two weeks ago after having to reinstall windows, I bought a TrippLight UPS, rated at 550VA. When I opened the box and read the manual I already saw what looked to me like red flags. This was the first time I used a UPS. In the manual there was a long list of do nots, here is a few that I can remember:

• Do not use with anything other than a PC (Ok, that I can understand)
• Do not use on power supply that is not suitable for PC use.
• Do not use on a generator.
• Do not use for mission critical functions. (Now my little PC is just a plain and simple home PC, but it is the only one I got and to me it is "mission critical")
• Do not test UPS by switching of the power, use the test button. (So if you press the test button the thing knows that it is going to cut its own power and it can be prepared to switch to battery.)

Never the less, I've set up the thing and to my horror, that same day the power went off for a few seconds as usual and my PC did a reset. Normally it would turn off completely. Ok, so I thought maybe the UPS's battery is not yet fully charged. For a week or so we had no hassles with the power supply and then we got a really bad day and my PC reseted almost every time (probably about 7/10) the power went off. After that I tested the UPS several times by switching it off by the plug and not once did my PC reset. So it has to be something about the way the power fluctuate, that the UPS can't handle. I returned it and after some explaining the dealer was kind enough to give me a refund.

So now I'm thinking of buying the Telkom UPS as advertised for R449, but I'm also very weary, cause it is also a line-interactive UPS and the specs isn't much different from the one I had. It is physically bigger, about twice the size and rated at 600VA. I only want it to keep the CPU running for those few seconds that the power goes. No need for the monitor or any other device to be plugged in by the UPS.

My question is how reliable is this Telkom one. I know there will will be no guarantee that it will work on my specific power line, but I just want to know if anyone had any similar problems with this one or any other UPS for that matter.

From doing some research I know one get a true sign wave UPS that runs off the battery 24/7, no switching, but I have no Idea what such a UPS will cost, but I have a feeling it will be more than the cost of a PC and that I can't afford.

Also, how good or bad would it be to attach a normal plug to the UPS, a 20m extension lead and then run my ADSL router off the UPS as well.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Rather go for an APC UPS - you get ones who are generator friendly.

Ask the salesperson if it's possible to have an evaluation or demo model first and explain why.

Cheap UPS'es are not recommended - get a proper, industrial-strength one from the beginning.

You can also have a shufty at http://www.sinetech.co.za/

A good UPS will be able to handle the additional load of an ADSL router on an extension cable as well.

 

[spiderz]

no, you'll need a online ups.
The standard cheep line-interactive ups's only switch over once a power failure is detected, and is not always fast enuf in doing this. (or sensitive enought)

A onlin UPS permantly run off the battery's with the AC charging them. So there is not switch-over to batteries when the power fluctuates or dip.

but they are expensive! R4k for a 1KVA , but they are worth it!
(http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/index.php?cPath=150_152)

 

[TonyDigital]

First my bad experiance...

I stay on a smallholding and we have endless trouble with power failures. Most of the time the power only goes off for a few seconds, but on a bad day this can happen up to 10 times. If the power is of for more than 10 seconds you can be sure it will be off for the rest of the day, if not tomorrow too.

So two weeks ago after having to reinstall windows, I bought a TrippLight UPS, rated at 550VA. When I opened the box and read the manual I already saw what looked to me like red flags. This was the first time I used a UPS. In the manual there was a long list of do nots, here is a few that I can remember:

• Do not use with anything other than a PC (Ok, that I can understand)
• Do not use on power supply that is not suitable for PC use.
• Do not use on a generator.
• Do not use for mission critical functions. (Now my little PC is just a plain and simple home PC, but it is the only one I got and to me it is "mission critical")
• Do not test UPS by switching of the power, use the test button. (So if you press the test button the thing knows that it is going to cut its own power and it can be prepared to switch to battery.)

Never the less, I've set up the thing and to my horror, that same day the power went off for a few seconds as usual and my PC did a reset. Normally it would turn off completely. Ok, so I thought maybe the UPS's battery is not yet fully charged. For a week or so we had no hassles with the power supply and then we got a really bad day and my PC reseted almost every time (probably about 7/10) the power went off. After that I tested the UPS several times by switching it off by the plug and not once did my PC reset. So it has to be something about the way the power fluctuate, that the UPS can't handle. I returned it and after some explaining the dealer was kind enough to give me a refund.

So now I'm thinking of buying the Telkom UPS as advertised for R449, but I'm also very weary, cause it is also a line-interactive UPS and the specs isn't much different from the one I had. It is physically bigger, about twice the size and rated at 600VA. I only want it to keep the CPU running for those few seconds that the power goes. No need for the monitor or any other device to be plugged in by the UPS.

My question is how reliable is this Telkom one. I know there will will be no guarantee that it will work on my specific power line, but I just want to know if anyone had any similar problems with this one or any other UPS for that matter.

From doing some research I know one get a true sign wave UPS that runs off the battery 24/7, no switching, but I have no Idea what such a UPS will cost, but I have a feeling it will be more than the cost of a PC and that I can't afford.

Also, how good or bad would it be to attach a normal plug to the UPS, a 20m extension lead and then run my ADSL router off the UPS as well.

Hi,


I work for a UPS company and the problem you describe is quite familiar to me. A lot of customers often buy the cheaper UPSs and then have to fight with the store to give them back.


The problem is that the cheaper UPSs do not provide fast switching times and are not as reliable as the higher end line interactive UPSs.


Try and stay away from any of the smaller (light weight) UPSs that don't output a sine wave. These are the ones where most of the problems come from. For example, stay away from the Back-UPS CS, models, those are the lower end APC models that are a third of the price of a Smart-UPS.


The Smart-UPSs have a near instant switching time, so when the power goes out your computer wouldn't blink or even notice. The Smart-UPSs also use bigger batteries and can usually provide a much longer run time. Also, they output a sine wave and provide good clean power to your computer. The lower end models, have very weak or no power filtration capabilities.


Plugging your ADSL model into the UPS is a great idea, I would probably also plug in my router and my cordless phone. That's what a UPS is for.


If you have any questions about any of the APC models, don't hesitate to ask.


Tony