APC UPS recall

[JoeRT]

APC is recalling UPSs that can overheat and cause a potential fire hazard. The recalled Back-UPS CS Uninterruptible power supply devices include the Back-UPS CS350 and the Back-UPS CS500 models sold from November 2000 through December 2002. Free replacement units are available by contacting APC at 1-866-272-7359.

More information is available from APC's web site at http://www.apc.com/rely/index.cfm.

--edit-- Fixed period. ;)

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Joe Torsitano
www.weatherforyou.com

[hobbes]

A period snuck in at the end of the above URL; the correct one is http://www.apc.com/rely/index.cfm

BTW, I happened to have one of these still sitting in the box. Good thing I waited to install it!

[kitchin]

Slight correction. The actual model numbers are:
PRODUCT: The recall is isolated to the BK325I, BK325-RS, BK350, BK350EI, BK350-AZ, BK350-FR, BK350-GR, BK350-IT, BK350-UK, BK350JP, BK350IX218, BK475I, BK475-RS, BK500, BK500EI, BK500-AZ, BK500-BR, BK500-FR, BK500-GR, BK500-IT, BK500-UK, BK500BLK, BK500JP, and BK500TW product models.
Guess I'm stuck with my model (bk300c). Right now it's just powering my answering machine, since I switched to a laptop. When the UPS beeps (we often get very short outages here, < 1 second), the dog gets upset. That's my only complaint.

[kitchin]

And this is probably a good general rule for UPS's (from the manual, in case you didn't read it):
Caution: Do not connect a surge
suppressor or laser printer to the UPS.
These devices may overload the UPS.

[GregJ]

Just how does one protect a Laser Printer from electrical surges? I have a Xerox XD120f and would like to put it on a UPS/Conditioner of some sort for protection (not the best power around here).

I even have our tv (stero, et. al.) on one.

-g

[kitchin]

You can plug a laser printer into a surge protector. Just don't plug either of those into a UPS. The UPS, at least in my little setup, is just for critical stuff I need when the power goes out: the computer & monitor. Then I can save my work and close down, since the battery in the UPS gives 5-10 minutes of power for those two devices. If I had a print job, I could restart it when the power came back on.

[Dunx]

What is a "surge suppressor"? Is that the same thing as a fuse?

The problem I have is that I have two computers and a monitor which need plugging into the UPS, but only two battery backed sockets. At the moment the computers are both plugged in, but that might make it difficult to shut things down cleanly in the event of a power cut...

Actually, this is something that rather bothers me about the electrical systems here in the States: plugs don't have fuses in them, so every power strip seems to come with a surge suppressor built in. I'm not saying that the British system is necessarily better, but since the plugs always have a fuse built in there's no need for additional surge suppressors everywhere.

Oh well.

[JoeLeBlanc]

eww, I have one and I been using it for 3 to 4 months :-/ time to disconnect and get new one

[Andilinks]

Yes, I have one, have been using it since mid-September and just registered for the new unit. Now I must decide whether to risk a fire or a crash until the replacement arrives. If I remove the monitor from the UPS and just run the computer on it it's much less likely to overload. ummm, I think...

BTW, they are just changing out the unit and not replacing the battery.

[PaulKroll]

Is that the same thing as a fuse?
No, which is why you're thinking the surge suppressor is unneeded in GB. I doubt that's really the case. :)

Surge suppressors literally, stop surges. Not circuit overload/use, like fuses do: surges. That 110 volt input sometimes goes way low (like when I turn on my laser printer and the lights dim) or, most problematically, REALLY HIGH... particularly in the summer when several air conditioners in the area happen to click off at the same time. Voltage can go, er, high enough to be a problem lets say.

Pretty much everywhere in the US you have to have fuses or circuit breakers at the electrical box (but not in the outlet itself, which I'm not sure you were getting at or if I'm being too literal). Some places have rules that require GFCIs (Ground fault circuit interrupters) in place for bathroom or kitchen areas. (For new construction, at least.)

[Dunx]

Originally posted by PaulKroll:

No, which is why you're thinking the surge suppressor is unneeded in GB. I doubt that's really the case. :)
Maybe, maybe not - they're very uncommon, though.

Thanks for the explanation - I understand now.


Pretty much everywhere in the US you have to have fuses or circuit breakers at the electrical box (but not in the outlet itself, which I'm not sure you were getting at or if I'm being too literal). There are fuses or circuit breakers at the electrical junction box in Britain too.

The main difference is the appliance fuses, then. When I said that there were fuses in every plug, I meant that there is a fuse in the plug attached to each appliance rather than in the outlet. I've heard American remark that British electrical plugs are very large, and this is one reason why - each one has a fuse inside it.

[kitchin]

Another thing about surge protector power strips I've heard is that they do not protect devices on the same strip from each other. So if you plug a motor into your surge protector, you are putting some real problems on the line to your computer. Motors are bad: refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and I don't know about laser printers. So the next time you are looking for the closest outlet to plug your hoover into, don't use the power strip! That's what I heard, anyway, and it makes sense if that's how they work.

Then again, the power supply can probably handle it. Problems I've seen all came from faulty wiring or lightning. That phone box of the side of the house needs a good ground wire. So does the power strip! A device to check U.S. third-prong grounds is very cheap, a yellow thing with lights on it.

[Bruce]

A "surge suppressor" is a semiconductor device that protects against momentary surges of electricity by instantaneously rerouting them from the power line to ground, rendering them (mostly) harmless. This only works for very short surges (shorter than one cycle of the AC power). A "fuse" (or "interruptor") on the other hand protects against longer lasting surges of electricty by cutting off the flow of electricity to the device being protected. Fuses react relatively slowly compared to surge suppressors, and in some cases must be destroyed in order to . Both devices protect against different kind of problems, and so both are necessary.

Many power bar type devices that include surge suppression technology rate themselves as to how many "Joules" of power they protect against. The "Joule" is a (metric) unit of energy, and rates how much electric charge the surge suppressor can take before it melts down. Obviously, the higher the number, the better.

See this definition (http://www.whatis.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213630,00.html) for more details.

[Andilinks]

I just installed the replacement APS350 unit which arrived today.

This was just another hassle I didn't need but I have to give APC high marks for making it as painless as possible under the circumstances.

Thanks, JoeRT for the heads up.

Andi

[JoeLeBlanc]

Thats interesting Andilinks, haven't even gotten my replacement yet, hopefully tommarrow ;)

[YFS200]

Originally posted by PaulKroll:



That 110 volt input sometimes goes way low (like when I turn on my laser printer and the lights dim) or, most problematically, REALLY HIGH... particularly in the summer when several air conditioners in the area happen to click off at the same time. Voltage can go, er, high enough to be a problem lets say.


Well, low at least.
I have a APC Back-UPS 500. I needed something better then a surge suppressor, and this was on sale. A year or so later, I needed someting to show how UPSs worked for a class. So I hulled it in, along with a nite light, a meter and a variable transformer.

The APC UPS does work correctly when the voltage drops, but does nothing with high voltage. I raised the voltage slowely untill I saw 200 volts (I am in the US) on the output side of the UPS. It never kick on to protect anything.
The UPS (and nite light) surived without harm, but when I went shopping for a big 1400VA (800 bucks) UPS for an office, APC was NOT on my list.

YFS

[PaulKroll]

It never kick on to protect anything.
Ah ha... well, slowly is a lot less likely to happen in the real world than fast (and fast is what the surge suppressor stops), and did you hold whatever UPS you finally got to the same standard? Which one was it?

[YFS200]

Oops. "Kicked". That's what I get for posting at 2am.

I messed with the voltage a bunch. Swinging it around as fast as I could turn the knob. As long as I never went past the low cut off point, it piped everything out. 200+ volts of it. I know this is a cheap UPS, but still.


In the end, I got an even bigger UPS then 1400VA. A 2200VA TrippLite.
http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=30
I did not run it under the same test. I did not want to kill my variable transformer on this 97 pound beast. And that UPS has a 20 amp plug.
I do like it a lot. Been using mrtg to graph stuff with it.
http://www.4096k.net/test/ups2-month.png

Not had a power outage yet. :)

YFS