Wall > Surge Suppressor > UPS ~not~ advised???

Dear Major Geeks,

I am here for your help again. I hope someone can shed some light on this. I bet someone can!

In the interest of protecting my telecommuter's workstations, I have done some reading. I purchased an APC Back-UPS ES 550, and a Belkin 112234-08 Surge Suppressor with the intention of this arrangement: Wall A/C > Surge Suppressor > APC UPS > Computer/Display/Modem/Router

The Belkin has about 4000 joules of protection, and the APC UPS has about 350 joules of protection. Now that the equipment has arrived, I read that APC advises against this "daisy chain" configuration.

A rep directed me to this link about daisy chaining one UPS into another. NOT my scenario.

I found this link with the second bolded paragraph applying to my setup.

After reading this, I don't see where the competing equipment is if only ONE thing (the UPS) is plugged-into this 12 outlet Belkin surge suppressor. (Well, I am running the phone line and the Coax for the Comcast modem through it, too, but nothing with any real 'power').

After speaking to an APC rep, I am advised that since the UPS detects over- and under-power situations, plugging the UPS into a surge suppressor will "pre-filter" the power to a point that the UPS will be somehow fooled into going into battery mode unnecessarily.

What???

So, the Belkin makes the power too clean? Like water twice filtered is too pure? Why in the world might a UPS go to battery more often with power coming from a surge suppressor, rather from a raw wall socket? If the power drops or exceeds the levels I set, I hope it DOES go to battery. [<--I wonder what these should be set to? They are currently at 139 and 92 Volt thresholds] I'd think the Belkin would be a GOOD pre-filter so to speak.

I understand that fire regulations frown on daisy-chaining ANYthing, yet we are really not talking about a lot of amps here. (Workstation runs 200W, 225 VA, 1.89 A).

So, I ask, is it reasonable to gain 3000 more joules of protection from the Belkin unit, or, must I remove it from the setup?

It's not my area of expertise. I hope it's yours.

Thank you greatly,

drcarl




PS - I also read-up on joules...had to read it twice to get a feel for it. Am not sure if the Belkin uses a MOV....not sure how much I want to know about all this. I just want to do the right thing. TIA

 

If you don't plug anything else into it, you shouldn't run into undercurrent issues. (Your cable and phone lines do not draw AC power) If you have people plugging in other devices like lamps and shredders on the surge strip, they could draw power from the UPC and fool it into battery mode to cover the perceived power loss.

 

Thanks Just....been talking to my electronics friends....something about a high frequency sine wave (like lightening that we rarely see) fooling the UPS....I dunno....and the only person plugging anything into anything is ME! lol

thanks again