At work we’ve used APC, Belkin, Eaton, and CyberPower, depending on who had the better deals when we renegotiate our office supply contracts. Apparently we even had a deal with APC to just replace/recycle batteries, but someone thought it was more of a hassle than a benefit and we stopped that practice. Those companies selling used UPS units are probably recycling from companies like mine which just toss old units when the battery starts beeping.
At work we make a point of connecting the little RJ11 -> USB cable between the UPS unit and the computer, with the computer, two monitors, and telephone power plugged in. The RJ11 cable is there to tell the computer when the UPS unit thinks there’s a power outage; WIN7 and later platforms have a place where responses can be set and we set the computers to do a graceful shutdown after 5 minutes. That’s enough time for someone to save his/her work and close applications if the power outage happens during work hours. It’s less time than it takes for the batteries to burn out while trying to support two monitors and a computer. [The phones are Power-over-Ethernet units with a giant APC UPS unit supporting the routers, but we plug them into the cubicle UPS units via wall-warts as well.]
At home, I run a similar situation with Belkin and APC 1200VA UPS units in my office and the wife’s office, plus a 750VA UPS on the router and modem (and another on the entertainment system, as well as another on my guitar amp & FX). Again, they’re intended to give me time to shut things down gracefully, not keep me going throughout the power outage.
I did look into an APC unit that would give me an hour of support for my monitor, computer, and printer, but their calculator said I would need a 4-foot cubical monster to supply that much back-up power. The beast in the server room at my work is a 5-foot cube of batteries and electronic controllers; I suspect it’s designed to supply 2 hours of power to all our servers – it really is expected to keep us going throughout a power outage.
–G!
He’s got a hunger for power
He wants to have it all…
…–Rik Emmet (Triumph)
…Time Goes By
…Thunder Seven