I'm due for a new UPS and will probably get one with network and cable protection, which I understand some better ones now have.I was talking with an insurance adjuster who told me he had seen several cases where lightening jumped both a good wall surge protector and a UPS to fry computers. Life is full of gambles and that doesn't seem like a very large one. It seems to have to reset every time it is powered and I like to switch everything else off with a single switch. I was having a lot of cable problems until I followed their instructions and plugged it directly in the wall. The power company installs them (for a price) and there are no strictures against using a UPS or individual surge protectors to protect equipment from surges generated within the house wiring by direct hits.It is hard to imagine a surge going through the cable modem and doing more damage at the computer than blowing the NIC card, and those are too cheap to worry about. Many people here in Florida have surge protectors on their main electrical box and use UPS units with no problem. My APC unit had no specific restrictions in the instructions. Several people had technical reasons for not connecting a surge protector to the UPS, but several of us did it the other way with no problems. There was an extensive discussion on plugging the UPS into a surge protector last year. The surge protection is only as strong as the weekest link, and with home networking, there get to be a lot of links. (A friend's house had about 16 computers in it, a DSL modem, and a spike came through the DSL modem and damaged the switch and about 5 of the computers-stuff from NICs to motherboards were lost in the process).I have a cable modem myself, and I got a Tripp-Lite surge protector (stand-alone) on it, at the entrance to the house, attached directly to a cold water pipe. So I plug it straight into the wall since it belongs to them and that is what they recommended I do with itThis is dumb if you have your cable modem connected via any wires to the rest of your computer, you are negating much of the protection your computer has-lightning won't stop at your cable modem, as I know from experience: it will go through every link on your network, and do bad, bad things. The UPS can tell the computer to shut down anyway, so no real need for the monitor in most power outages.quote:My cable company recommends the cable modem not be regularly unpowered. So I just plug in the box and let my monitor shut off if the power goes out. I mean, I have an APC 350VA unit, but it's not enough to power even just my monitor (21" FD) and box (full tower, 8 drives). Overload depends entirely on what exact hardware you're using.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |