UPS vs SURGE PROTECTION:

[daysleeper]

hello!

I was wondering. We just had a generator installed in our building. now the generator is a diesel one and it will switch on we the power goes out.

For a computer hardware point of view, we have some very expensive bits of computer equipment, i mean very expense.

my question is, what is the best possible way to protect the equipment against surges in the case of the generator switching on. will a "normal ups" do fine as far as the surges are concerned?

insurance doesn't cover power surges so can anybody help with which equipment i should buy?

 

[Decotey]

Buy the most expensive UPS you can find. More expensive means better

 

[Azrael]

You'll need a true online UPS - nothing less

 

[Juggy]

Azrael is right. Basically the Eskom power and Genny power are fed to your server room/PC's through the UPS. This then regulates the power spikes and ensures zero downtime as the UPS carries the load for the 5-15 seconds it takes for the genny to kick in.

We just put in the following in our new building.

1 x 500KVA genny
2 x 80KVA UPS's
1 x 40KVS UPS's

The 2 80's feed 2 seperate circuits in the sever room and each critical server has 2 power supplies each connected to a different power rail. The 40 is for the distribution switches on the floors which carry user net acces and the critical user PC's that need to run in the call center.

 

[thisgeek]

Juggy has a good setup there with multiple UPS's.

We've got a 1000KVA genny for our building with a 100KVA UPS for our server rooms and critical business functions (Call center, treasury, etc).