Ups

I am so.................tired of these freaking POWER OUTAGES in my mobilehome park. Its making me nutz. Time to get a UPS.
I have a HP computer, 2 printers, 23 inch flat screen monitor, 2 dvd drives.
What is a reasonable price UPS? How do these actually work??? How do I recharge the battery. Is this like a strip you plug everything into? I am a total newbie when it comes to this piece of hardware. I just want to be able to TURN OFF my computer the proper way instead of it was being blacked out. I have been lucky because I have expensive surge strips....and I think they have helped, but I really feel the need for a battery backup. thanks

 

A backup ups is like a big bulky surge protector, and it has a battery built into it that charges in the background and when the power goes out then you've typically got enough juice to wrap up what you're doing and shut the machine down gracefully. They usually come with software that you install on your computer and plug the UPS into the computer via USB and if you are away at work or whatever, and the power goes out, then it will shut down the PC for you. Keep in mind...you're not going to have enough power to finish watching a movie or search the internet for hours, etc....you typically get about 20-30 minutes to get it shut down.

As far as some prices...here are some examples for something big enough to handle everything you listed...I wouldn't go any less than a 750va model (around 400watts)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:234|&Sort=4

 

Thank you. So this UPS would plug into a uSB on my computer? I hope i have a free one(LOL) I made a note..not less than 400 watts. your info helped. Just a thought if I do not have a free USB....could I use a hub for the other things to free up one on the computer for the UPS?

 

The UPS plugs into your wall outlet, in place of your surge protector, and then your computer, etc. plugs into the UPS and then there is a USB connection for the UPS to control/monitor the computer if the power goes out.

And yes...you can use a USB hub,

 

Check out Uninterruptible power supply at:-

http://en.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/UPS_(uninterruptible_power_source)

Bazza