Do we need both a UPS and a Surge Protector

F

flurp

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
111
I'm getting tired head, so please forgive me but I had resolved that I needed a UPS with my new computer. In my 50 year old house, brownouts and flickering happens periodically and it's not uncommon for me to come home from work and find that my computer has rebooted or the clocks are flashing

Currently, I have an old belkin surge protector. I noticed when looking at all the fancy, expensive (in my mind) UPS from ATC that the commeon joules rating is around 320. Even cheap surge protectors have quadruple that rating or more.

So, do I actually need both a UPS and SP?

I'm getting an i7 920 with a gtx260 and a 650w psu so it's not like I'm going to be drawing insane power from the wall.

One other question is in regard to power. With a UPS does the sucker just run all the time and does it by itself use juice or only whatever is needed to power the stuff plugged into it?I'd like to think I'm at least thoughtful about my energy use and don't want to use more than I have to but at the same time, I don't want to go around and unplug every electronic device in my house every time I'm done using it.
 
You do not need a surge protector if your devices are plugged in to the UPS. On most UPS products there are a few outlets that are actually not battery powered and are only surge protected, so take note of that when plugging in devices that you want to stay on when the power goes out.

Some APC units have half the outlets battery protected and the other half only surge protected.

The UPS is a giant smart battery, once the battery is charged it will only pass power through when needed and only draw power when the battery is not full.
 
Huh? This thread was way longer than this, with a whack of posts by me. Methinks that [H] lost some database records. Yep, there's the sticky up top.....
 
Definitely don't need a surge protector + UPS. Use the SP ports on the UPS instead. Do not daisy chain SP devices onto each other.

"The UPS is a giant smart battery, once the battery is charged it will only pass power through when needed and only draw power when the battery is not full."

+1
 
I have run a UPS off of a surge protector for many years (varying models too) without a problem. Rather fry my surge protector than the UPS.....
 
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