Can I plug a surge suppressor into a UPS?

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: boboko
One is what MS Dawn said, about the output from a UPS when it's on batteries, and that isn't really a factor FOR ME, because I will immediately shut down if I lose grid power, so I'll only be on batteries for a minute or two at most, and the stuff on the surge suppressor (external drives and DSL modem) will be turned off within seconds.

The other is something nobody has mentioned, and that is that maybe adding loads to a UPS output while it's already putting out power (e.g. by switching on a second external drive on the strip) might cause problems. But if that were a problem, it shouldn't matter whether the strip was a surge suppressor or not, right?

You don't have to lose utility power to run on batteries. A voltage drop can do it. As a matter of fact a copier machine or laser printer on the same circuit often can trip the UPS transfer function every time its fuser heaters come on.

This will run the inverter briefly and if the inverter output has instability due to uncertainty of running through the unnecessary downstream filtering on the power strip with filtering, your PC, modem, attached HDD, etc. may crash, restart, etc.

It's just another weak link in the chain that can lead to a seemingly insurmountable ring of fire when troubleshooting a mysterious issue with things going wrong on the desktop.

Get a good power strip as previously mentioned and be done with it.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: goku
How do you know if you have a power strip or a surge strip?

Power strips have only a cord and input plugs - no connections for modems, etc., and they are bare bones cheap. Basically an extenstion cord with a plug box.

 

[thescreensavers]

Lol you ppl will flip if you see what my school did. 25 comps on 1 outlet they got strips plugged into strips 20 year old ones there are 2 strips every desk and theres 3 desks Plus a Laser printer lol then laptops form students, all on one plug woo i cant believe nothing has happened

 

[corkyg]

They must have put a penny in the fuse chain.

Hope they have paid their fire insurance prems.

 

[boboko]

Originally posted by: Blain
I assumed you asked the question in the first place because you wanted to protect your equipment the correct way.
Seems like you're going to use a surge strip plugged into a UPS no matter what anyone says.
It's your harware... do what you want to with it... it won't cost us a dime.

Oh, don't be so prickly. I did ask the question because I wanted to protect my equipment.
But I don't want to buy something I don't need, when I have something that will do the job
perfectly well. And nobody but an idiot would do whatever some stranger on the internet
told him without questioning it.

I considered all the replies, even the ones that made it pretty obvious they hadn't read the question.
I considered very carefully the replies that actually gave reasons why I should or shouldn't do something,
as opposed to spouting something they half-remembered or heard somewhere. If it hurts your
feelings that I didn't do everything everybody said, I'm sorry.

 

[boboko]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

You don't have to lose utility power to run on batteries. A voltage drop can do it. As a matter of fact a copier machine or laser printer on the same circuit often can trip the UPS transfer function every time its fuser heaters come on.

This will run the inverter briefly and if the inverter output has instability due to uncertainty of running through the unnecessary downstream filtering on the power strip with filtering, your PC, modem, attached HDD, etc. may crash, restart, etc.

It's just another weak link in the chain that can lead to a seemingly insurmountable ring of fire when troubleshooting a mysterious issue with things going wrong on the desktop.

Get a good power strip as previously mentioned and be done with it.

Thanks for your very informative reply. Fortunately, this has all become moot.

My original problem was caused by the fact that my ten-year-old APC UPS had only two outlets.
I just saw a TripLite UPS on sale at Buy.com ($80 something with Google checkout) that has 8 outlets, and it's on its way. As a bonus, it has a higher VA rating, as well as a UPS connection to automatically shut down the PC if I'm not around when the power fails (unlikely, but possible).

Thanks again to everyone who replied.

 

[Thor86]

At home, I use APC SMART-UPS units with APC surge protector/powerbars and no problems here.

As previous notes, make sure you do not overload the UPS/wall outlet.