[Hidden-tech] what uses electricity when plugged in?

[Robert Heller]

At Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:37:41 -0400 Matt Kostek <mekostek at charter.net> wrote:

> 
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> 
> I have received a few questions about what a UPS is, I will go over it 
> real quick.
> 
> An UPS or Uninterrupted  Power Supply is pretty much a surge protector 
> with a battery backup, so let's say you leave your system on all of the 
> time and the power goes out, most UPS Systems have software you can 
> install which will shut down your computer properly, so your system is 
> less likely to suffer from a power surge. Also the battery doubles as a 
> low-grade power conditioner which means your equipment receives proper 
> voltage from the battery, and the battery is recharged by the outlet. 
> Also in case of a nasty enough power surge, it will fry the battery not 
> your equipment, a bad enough surge will fry the equipment as well, but 
> it takes a lot more than it would take to outdo a surge protector on its 
> own. Also UPS systems "claim" they save electricity, but I have been 
> unable to verify that.

Some nitpicks:

There are different 'grades' of UPSes.  Some have a higher level of
isolation between the mains and their output (more isolation means even
greater protection from power line problems).  Some generate pure sine
waves others don't (some equipment requires pure sine waves, other
equipment does not care).

"Power Saving" UPSes work by running your equipment off their batteries
for a few minutes every so often, using the stored power in the
batteries. This probably saves *some* power, but on some level it is
Peter robbing Paul, since the UPS needs to draw extra power to charge
the battery.

> 
> -Matt
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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