What's a great quality/well priced UPS and should I even get one?

aafusc2988

Honorable
Jan 8, 2015
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This is my surge protector:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16...

Tripp Lite ISOBAR6ULTRA 6 ft Cord 6 Outlets 3330 Joules Isobar Surge Suppressor


Recently had a scare from a bad storm that somehow took out my motherboard and did nothing else to my computer. It would not POST and could just turn on for a split second and immediately shut down. When I say turn on I mean I'd hear the fans and see some blue LEDs light up but then nothing. When I got the computer to stay 'on' on my kitchen counter where I was working on it, it then would not shut down from the power button - but only by turning off the power in the back. I had to almost jump start it like a car to even get it to stay on by hitting power over and over. That's all resolved and I've freshly reinstalled Windows 7 on a similar but slightly newer model of my old motherboard.

Now I want to protect myself even further. Can I plug that surge protector into a UPS for another line of defense?

As in: UPS --> ISOBAR Surge protector --> Computer

Not even sure how I got so unlucky. I live in a relatively new apartment complex and newer buildings are even better at protecting things in the regular outlets because of higher standards and whatnot. My friend said he uses a regular cheap power strip and never has issues. I got REALLY unlucky, and do not want it to happen again. Would a UPS (or could it) take the brunt of a surge in the future before it even got to my ISOBAR?
 
Solution
Would not be too comfortable with "green" light(s) per se.

Much like a check engine light.....

Only one LED indicates "protection" per the product specs:

"I.e., Diagnostic LEDs confirm power, protection and line fault status at a glance."

As for the motherboard may have been just some coincidental failure.

Or the surge came in via some other source: network cable, speaker cable.... Maybe the sound originated from a speaker.

Our microwave can beep with power outages as can my UPS's (APC by the way).

So if power did not go off then not sure about where the sound you heard originated. Could occur with just a minor drop in voltage.

You might try unplugging various devices and see if one of them makes the sound. Just for...

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Would not use the old surge protector.

The "protection" (joules) is cumulative and after a bad hit the surge protector's protective value may be low or non-existent.

Here is a link to a current tutorial:

https://turbofuture.com/misc/how-to-pick-a-surge-protector

If your UPS provides surge protection then a surge protector is unnecessary.

PLus there are some recommendations and reasons against using a UPS and surge protector together. Reference:

http://www.schneider-electric.us/en/faqs/FA158852/

Read the UPS User Guide/Manual carefully and establish what is applicable to the UPS product you may be considering.

Check with the manufactor's website, forum, and FAQs to be sure.
 

aafusc2988

Honorable
Jan 8, 2015
345
0
10,810
My surge protector has lights that indicate it's fine.. they've always been green. It's weird though because the incident that screwed up my motherboard actually wasn't from a power outage. My microwave and lights never went off during the storm, and neither did my TV in my bedroom while I was watching Netflix. I heard a very strange alarm type sound that I thought was my smoke detector but it's possible it was the motherboard making a noise. Does this sound at all familiar? It seems like it was hit directly.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Would not be too comfortable with "green" light(s) per se.

Much like a check engine light.....

Only one LED indicates "protection" per the product specs:

"I.e., Diagnostic LEDs confirm power, protection and line fault status at a glance."

As for the motherboard may have been just some coincidental failure.

Or the surge came in via some other source: network cable, speaker cable.... Maybe the sound originated from a speaker.

Our microwave can beep with power outages as can my UPS's (APC by the way).

So if power did not go off then not sure about where the sound you heard originated. Could occur with just a minor drop in voltage.

You might try unplugging various devices and see if one of them makes the sound. Just for future reference.
 
Solution