[mythtv-users] Power outages and UPSs

[David Brodbeck]

On Jul 30, 2007, at 1:41 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:

> On 07/29/2007 11:33 PM, f-myth-users at media.mit.edu wrote:
>> Is your power exceptionally spiky?  APC UPSes have surge clamps in
>> them, but simple MOV-based clamps can only absorb so many joules over
>> their lifetimes before becoming useless (they can get "used up"); I
>> don't actually know how the APC clamps are implemented in any given
>> UPS.  [I ask because we had an issue in a lab once where a 480V feed
>> started arcing and generally playing hell w/the 120V feeds; that
>> caused permanent damage to some UPSes and soft upsets to others.]
>
> That sounds like a very real possibility.  Florida is, after all, the
> lightning capital of the US.  Though I almost always have power, I  
> get a
> lot of spikes (with both the up and the down that follows--I've heard
> the down is usually worse on electronics).

It might be worthwhile to put a good surge suppressor ahead of the  
UPS.  The UPSs have built-in surge suppressors, but surge suppressors  
are sacrificial devices.