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[amiga1084]

Hello All,

I have genuine A4000T (Rare in Australia) got it shiped from the
states brand new from Software Hut in the original box and
all.I ripped out 3640 card and bought second hand Cyberstorm
(Phase 5 Made) 060 PPC card (128 Meg) with Cybervision Board.
I have 4 u/w 73 gig drives connected to it.Have 2 external
Pioneer CD 24x Stackers,Yamaha CDRW Writer All Scsi (no Ide
S**T) Only in my A1200 Apollo (040) and CD32/SX1.

Zorro Cards DKB 3128 with other 128Meg Ram (including Cyberstorm 128 Meg ram
and motherboard ram 16 Meg all up (273Meg Ram Bit Over Kill I Know),
and the usual 2 Meg Chip Ram
VLab Motion Digitizer,Toccata Sound Card,GVP TBC Card,
2065 Network Card and Professional Sony Multiscan Monitor
19 inch I Use for Video Editing and External FlickerFixker/
Scan Doubler.Also ripped out Escom PC Drive and installed
genuine Amiga Chiron slimline HD which I bought from ebay
(came out of A4000 desktop machine)

As you can see I have spent thousands on my set up but I
do use the machine everyday as I said before I do video editing
so I make money as well.

But since of late I am getting power black outs and I am
thinking should I get UPS for my peace of mind as I can't
afford to replace most of this gear should I have serious
power surge and I have heard of people in my local Amiga
user club that have blown their A4000 motherboards due to
power surges.
Please give me your comments on what you think.Thanks Merv

[Roondar]

amiga1084 wrote:
But since of late I am getting power black outs and I am thinking should I get UPS for my peace of mind as I can't afford to replace most of this gear should I have serious power surge and I have heard of people in my local Amiga user club that have blown their A4000 motherboards due to power surges.

Please give me your comments on what you think.Thanks Merv

Emphasis mine.

Anyway, if you need/want peace of mind/can't replace the Amiga if damaged it seems clear to me that getting an UPS or at the least a surge protector are in order.

If you really need a high end or very expensive one is a seperate discussion altogether. Perhaps some other Amiga.org members have experience in the matter?!

Edit: Fixed the layout.

[c64_d0c]

yes buy it...
________
N02 vaporizer

[x56h34]

I'd also take out the original AT PSU and replace it with another one, as there are reports floating around that it may cause damage to the P8/P9 motherboard connector in terms of burning out the plastic around it somehow. Not really sure why this happens, but if you do a search on A.org forums you are very likely to find some more info on this topic.

Get a quality/powerful ATX psu and use an ATX-to-AT-converter with a switch for the best results.

[Floid]

Well, almost any UPS should offer good protection from surges.

The trick will be sizing it for all that hardware -- though a 1500VA unit should definitely cover it (1200 and CD32 included), and those can be had for US$200 now. Just plug your power strip into one of the battery-backed outlets and don't overload it.

If you're having very frequent outages, it might be worth it to find one of the line-interactive types that promise to smooth spikes and sags without switching over to battery; otherwise, the cutover time on modern units is so rapid that you probably won't have to fall for the marketing.

APC has a volt-amp estimator up on their site, which can help.

The ability of the inverter to deliver current without overloading (and shutting off with an alarm) is rated in VA, the actual capacity (and thus runtime) of UPS batteries seems to come rated in watts. Once you get up to the 1000+ VA models, there're going to be large disparities in terms of how much battery they've actually got wired up to the big inverter, so remember to check.

It might also pay to find a model that still supports RS-232, so you have a snowball's chance of rigging up an automated shutdown script. I have no idea if there's software out for that on AmiNet. (There's now a standard protocol for USB UPSes, but... not every USB UPS uses it. Mac compatibility is probably a good indicator.)

...

By way of example, I just went UPS-crazy for some "standard" PC setups, using CyberPower's 550SL and 425SL units. The former ran around US$50-$60 at Best Buy, the latter were briefly $20 a piece(!) at Staples.

The 550VA, 330W units can power a Sempron 3200+ (Socket 939) workstation with onboard ATI video, one 7200RPM IDE drive and 17" LCD (plus a network hub) for about 30 minutes, if memory serves.

The 425VA, 230W can power a PPC Mac Mini, with external 3.5" drive and 19"(!) CRT for about 15 minutes. However, the unit will go into overload if the CRT is powered from an off state while running from the battery.

Unfortunately, these suckers don't have wattmeters built in, so I can't give actual drain numbers, or guess at just how much inrush the 19" (NEC) CRT takes. The moral is that a LCD will certainly cut your VA requirement and increase your runtime, while a big honking CRT means you should definitely include some startup leeway in your VA estimation.

...

I wouldn't say you need the "most expensive," unless you really want to squeeze out an hour plus of runtime. Even then, make sure you're actually getting more battery for your money.

[Floid]

Oh, and while I have no firsthand experience, my understanding about the 'fried wires' problem was that it had something to do with corrosion and lost contact over time. If so, using a tiny bit of good-quality automotive conductive grease (as sold for packing DC connectors) would probably be insurance.

[motorollin]

If I had that Amiga it would be unplugged, wrapped in bubble wrap and locked in a padded room when it wasn't being used :-)

--
moto

[Tomas]

I dont know much about cheap vs expensive UPS, but if you can afford then why not?

I hope you have also replaced the battery in that a4000..

[Oliver]

side note: If you don't need all that RAM, your performance may also improve slightly without the motherboard fastmem installed. As you're doing video work, I guess you may use a lot of RAM though.

also, if you don't have a good surge protector already, I wouldn't even have the machine plugged in to a bad mains supply. It's too much to risk, when surge protectors cost such a small proportion of your total computer price. In the same way, I think a suitable UPS would also be a worthwhile investment.

If you want to replace the power supply, make sure you check the voltage and current specs for each voltage, not just the total power output. Power supply quality is really important in electronics performance and reliability.

[motrucker]

Don't ask the question, just go buy one! Make sure surge protection is high - very high. Needing a huge battery is another story, You shouldn't really need to keep it running to long - just enough to save files and shut down - but that's your preference.
I like Isobar - but there are many good names.

[Floid]

While checking in on this thread, I just remembered one other very important purchasing consideration -- check the alarm frequency of the unit you're looking at!

The CyberPowers have proved pretty nice in that regard; they beep once every 30 seconds or so when the battery is active, then switch over to a faster (but still non-panic-inducing) cycle when they think they're about to give out.

Some others -- like a cheap and very tiny APC "Conext" I wound up with (which is best suited for backing up a DSL modem, router, and cordless phone) -- find it their duty to inform you that the power's out and the lights are off by beeping incessantly every two or three seconds, with a piezo speaker that wouldn't be out of place in a smoke alarm. I'm tempted to crack that thing open and add a 'hush' switch or circuit -- few consumer-sized models come with one.

A UPS with long runtime isn't very useful if you'll be reaching for the switch just to make it shut up.

[marcfrick2112]

Oh for ?&%!% sakes, at least get a good surge protector from a reliable manufacturer. I lost my heavily-expanded A500 (don't laugh) due to a surge from a lightning storm.... I have used a Trip-Lite IsoBar Tel Ultra 8 surge supressor since then, no problems whatsoever, has outlasted 2 A1200 Tower systems....
I paid about $70.00 US for it at the time, I thought that was an insane price....but now I have about 10.5 GB of data on my Amiga. Do whatever you need to keep your miggy going...

[darksun9210]

after reading this thread i'm looking for a good surge protector myself! :-o

with regard to the A4000T browning/melting power contacts, i had this with three AT PSU's. but only on the 5volt lines. i just put it down to the amount of electrical juice it was sucking up!

CyberStormPPC,CyberVisionPPC,CybVision64/3D,AD516,DigitalBroadcaster32,VLab-Y/C,Hydra Ethernet,80+16+2Mb, all drawing off the mainboard power hookup :roll:

[Ilwrath]

In every big server room I've ever been in, if you nose around a bit, you'll find APC UPS boxes. Despite the backup power systems, despite the mains conditioners, etc.... The APC box is always the last line of defense on these systems. 'nuff said. Get yourself one.

[justthatgood]

Geez, if you have the money to go get one. GO GET ONE!!! Why if you hardware has any value at all, you should get one. Need I tell you about all the people that wish they had fire extingushers, when their houses are burning to the ground. How about people that wish they had changed the brakes on their cars when they are watching their wrecked car. Lets talk about this little boat called the R.M.S Titantic, need I say more.

How many times can I beat this stuff into peoples heads. Always expect something bad is going to happen. ALWAYS!!! Prepare!!!