line conditioner or UPS?

[John Doe]

Which is better for protecting personal computer
hardware/peripherals, a line conditioner or an uninterruptible power
supply?

Thank you.

 

[Joerg]

Hello John,

Which is better for protecting personal computer
hardware/peripherals, a line conditioner or an uninterruptible power
supply?

If it was me, a top notch UPS. "Modern" PCs cannot always survive a
sudden loss of power without corrupting files or part of the OS. Thank
God most cars are not (yet) designed that way.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[John Doe]

Joerg <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello John,

Which is better for protecting personal computer
hardware/peripherals, a line conditioner or an uninterruptible
power supply?

If it was me, a top notch UPS. "Modern" PCs cannot always
survive a sudden loss of power without corrupting files or part
of the OS. Thank God most cars are not (yet) designed that way.

In the home-built PC group, they regularly have users crying about
losing data when their hard disk drive fails and they do not have
backups. I do backups frequently and my stuff is not critical.

I am concerned about hardware.

Doing some research, someone said that their line conditioner
wastes lots of energy (quiescent current or whatever it is
called), something like 140 watts?

Does that sound high?

The APC Model LE1200 line conditioner specifications say it is
greater than 93% efficient. How much energy, how many wants, does
the unit itself use?

Does a line conditioner convert to DC and then back to AC?

Thank you.


By the way, anybody know what is the deal with laser printers and
their (possible) ability to destroy power equipment by sucking so
much current? Bad laser printers? Just curious.

 

[John Doe]

"Jon" <jon.lark@l-3com.com> wrote:

Regarding efficiency: I use a Sola 1000VA regulator. It is a
constant voltage transformer. I don't know what the efficiency
is , but it makes an excellent foot warmer, even under no-load
conditions. One advantage of this type regulator is high
reliability. It uses nothing but passive components (a
saturating transformer and a capacitor, no active components).
It handles "brownout" voltages down to 70V, and surges of
greater than 200V). Of course it can't help in case of a
vdropout.

I have been using the APC LE1200 for a few days. It is connected
to my personal computer, two monitors, and a DSL modem. It barely
gets warm. I guess that means it is not consuming a lot of
electricity. I will open it up later to take a look at the
components and workmanship.