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Battery Back Up / UPS systems: AV equipment thoughts?

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
We are plagued with power outages where I live. Most are for less than 5 seconds, but it is long enough to cause me to have to reset many of the digital clocks in my house! My computer's network has been hooked up to a UPS for years, it powers the satellite and the internal Wi-Fi.

I was at the office supply store and saw a UPS system on sale so I bought one for the VCR/DVD recorder in my bedroom. The lovely Mrs_B relies on the clock on the screen of that unit to keep her on schedule in the morning but the power outages, often one per week, can cause the digital readout to reset to 0:00.

Have any of you folks used a UPS with your AV equipment? :confused2:

I don't pretend to think it will keep the TV, satellite box and VRC/DVD player running, I simply want to keep the damn clock from having to be reset. Did I just waste some money?
 
B_Skurka said:
We are plagued with power outages where I live. Most are for less than 5 seconds, but it is long enough to cause me to have to reset many of the digital clocks in my house! My computer's network has been hooked up to a UPS for years, it powers the satellite and the internal Wi-Fi.

I was at the office supply store and saw a UPS system on sale so I bought one for the VCR/DVD recorder in my bedroom. The lovely Mrs_B relies on the clock on the screen of that unit to keep her on schedule in the morning but the power outages, often one per week, can cause the digital readout to reset to 0:00.

Have any of you folks used a UPS with your AV equipment? :confused2:

I don't pretend to think it will keep the TV, satellite box and VRC/DVD player running, I simply want to keep the damn clock from having to be reset. Did I just waste some money?
Click to expand...

We use UPS on all of the equipment we produce at work, and we don't have any problems. The main difference is probably that th one you purchased is not an "online" version. The ones we use are AC->DC (charging circuitry)->AC. This actually results in cleaner power than what comes out of the wall. I doubt the one you bought has this feature.

What has caused you to think there might be an issue? As long as th UPS outputs a true sine wave, I can't think of any reason why not.
 
DaveNay said:
What has caused you to think there might be an issue? As long as th UPS outputs a true sine wave, I can't think of any reason why not.
Click to expand...
Well it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then I began to doubt myself so I thought I would ask. I couldn't think of any reason why it wouldn't work (unless my wife/daughter try to continue to watch TV during an extend outage and presume the UPS would power the equipment for any extended period of time).

Now I'm thinking maybe I'll go back and see if they are still on sale and buy a couple more.:a1:

I just don't know anyone who's done it so I figured I would ask.
 
B_Skurka said:
Well it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then I began to doubt myself so I thought I would ask. I couldn't think of any reason why it wouldn't work (unless my wife/daughter try to continue to watch TV during an extend outage and presume the UPS would power the equipment for any extended period of time).

Now I'm thinking maybe I'll go back and see if they are still on sale and buy a couple more.:a1:

I just don't know anyone who's done it so I figured I would ask.
Click to expand...

What MFG and model #?
 
CC526A76-5056-9170-D3C1AA34D07A2C78_pr.jpg


APC BACK-UPS ES 8 Outlet 500VA 120V
APC Back-UPS ES, 500VA/300W, Input 120V/Output 120V

I paid $39 for it, list price is $59. Bought it last week at Office Max? Or Depot? We have both within a block of my office and I get them confused!
 
B_Skurka said:
CC526A76-5056-9170-D3C1AA34D07A2C78_pr.jpg


APC BACK-UPS ES 8 Outlet 500VA 120V
APC Back-UPS ES, 500VA/300W, Input 120V/Output 120V

I paid $39 for it, list price is $59. Bought it last week at Office Max? Or Depot? We have both within a block of my office and I get them confused!
Click to expand...

We have many of that product line around the office for the desktop computers. Nothing has changed my opinion that you have no problems.
 
My DW likes to use a bread-making machine for fresh bread. It relies on a timer for each stage, mixing, allowing to rise, mixing agan, rising again and finally baking. The only problem is that if the power goes off, it does not remember where it was in the cycle. Plus, there are some things, such as the time to rise, that really shouldn't be done over. The worst is if it goes out during the bake cycle; several times I've had to take a partially baked loaf out, try to maintain the shape and put it in the oven, then guess at how long to continue baking it.

All this because a brief brownout knocked out the power for a second.

So, I got a UPS system large enough to handle the wattage while the bread was baking (the highest demand) and kept the bread machoine plugged into it. If we were out of the house and the power stayed off for more than 20 minutes or so, we'd still lose it if it was baking, but that never happened. When it was just sitiing there rising, the only power required was to run the timer.

It worked great. We never again lost a loaf of bread.
 
I have one of those UPS units as well and it seems to work well. At $39, I may consider getting a couple more myself.

A couple thoughts/questions.
  1. What's the life expectency of the UPS?
  2. On you satellite boxes, do they have the capability to display the time-of-day? On our cable boxes, after a power outage, it resets itself and re-displays the time.
  3. If that UPS is the same as mine, there's connections for phone and cable. Per the cable guy, it's best not to use these connections as it dirties the signal or something. He disconnected and bypassed these connections.
 
1. Don't know, but I have one that uses the SAME battery connected to my computer network, the battery had to be replaced after 4 years of use. The battery costs about $29 at Radio Shack.

2. No. The time only shows if you turn the TV on and hit the INFO button on the remote, then the satellite information screen shows the time, but she doesn't leave the TV on.

3. I've heard the same thing. I only use it for power.
 
bczoom said:
What's the life expectency of the UPS?
Click to expand...

The circuitry should have a long life, but if you want to have a reliable battery when you need it, I would suggest a preventative maintenance schedule of about two years to replace the battery. The charging circuitry is pretty crappy in these things (duh, it's only $39 retail!), and they have no conditioning for the battery. Since these use a sealed lead-acid battery, if they get sulphated, or worse start to gas, they go bad real quick.
 
Back in college, a bunch of guys and I were at a friend's apartment one night watching a football game on TV. During the game there was a power outage and everything (lights, etc.) in the apartment went off...except the TV :confused2: . We all continued to watch for about 20 seconds before someone spoke up and asked why the TV didn't go off. My friend, without missing a beat, said "It runs on gas." I busted out laughing as a few of the other guys were saying "okay, wow, that's cool." Turns out he had a UPS hooked up to his TV.

I think hooking up a UPS to your audio/video equipment is a good move :thumb: .

Lawrence
 
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