UPS Question

[Obsessor]

My computer's plugged into an Uninterruptible Power Supply. Each night, after shutting the computer off, I power off the UPS and then unplug the computer from it (in case of a midnight lightning strike), and when I want to use the computer again, I plug it back into the UPS and power on the UPS again (in that order). After seeing this thread, I'm worried this may not be a good idea. Could the same thing that happened with that user also happen if I'm using a UPS instead of just a power strip?

 

[bpm55]

Why have UPS and unplug it every night? They are Uninterruptible for a reason. From my experience all of them have a strong anti-surge in them. I am not saying that the safest way to protect your computer is by leaving it plugged in. It will be pretty hard for a surge to hit the computer if it is completely unplugged. What happened in the other thread you mentioned is that the person bumped the power off and then back on quickly. This can and may have caused a surge to his components. The method it sounds like you are using should not cause this. You are turning everything off and letting it sit then reconnecting and powering on.

It is still possible to fry your components, but no more than just turning it on/off by shutting it down and hitting the power button.

 

[-RockMan-]

Why have UPS and unplug it every night? They are Uninterruptible for a reason. From my experience all of them have a strong anti-surge in them. I am not saying that the safest way to protect your computer is by leaving it plugged in. It will be pretty hard for a surge to hit the computer if it is completely unplugged. What happened in the other thread you mentioned is that the person bumped the power off and then back on quickly. This can and may have caused a surge to his components. The method it sounds like you are using should not cause this. You are turning everything off and letting it sit then reconnecting and powering on.

It is still possible to fry your components, but no more than just turning it on/off by shutting it down and hitting the power button.

I agree with bpm on this, also if you are that concerned about your computer being shocked through upc.
Just turn the switch off on the upc unit attached to your computer
9 times out of 10 nothing will happen, not unless you have electrical problems in the home.

I've had lightning storms happen many times and hit my wall by the window.
One summer I was out of town on vacation, stupid me forgot to turn off my computer. :/
95 degree weather struck horrible lightning storms galore.
I come back 7 days later and my upc is working like a pro.
My computer was on folding with netflix browser open which I was puzzled to see it do. O-0


Best of luck.

 

[Obsessor]

What happened in the other thread you mentioned is that the person bumped the power off and then back on quickly. This can and may have caused a surge to his components. The method it sounds like you are using should not cause this. You are turning everything off and letting it sit then reconnecting and powering on.

It is still possible to fry your components, but no more than just turning it on/off by shutting it down and hitting the power button.

Okay then. Thanks a lot!

Why have UPS and unplug it every night? They are Uninterruptible for a reason. From my experience all of them have a strong anti-surge in them.

A couple of reasons:
1) In the unlikely case that a thunderstorm in the middle of the night were to send a huge surge through the power line. Many years ago, this happened to my dad's computer, and it was completely fried, thus I've been OCD about it ever since hearing about it. From what I've read, normal surge protectors and UPSes may or may not be sufficient to suppress a lightning strike, due to the sheer amount of voltage that a surge caused by lightning carries. But since that was pretty much the only time anything like that has ever happened in the many, many years that we've owned electronics, I'm probably being way too obsessive and paranoid about it.
2) Even if I didn't unplug my computer from the UPS, I'd probably still shut it off when I'm not using it anyway, because when the power goes out and the battery backup kicks in, a beeping alarm goes off. That alarm can be silenced, but if it went off in the middle of the night, that would be obnoxious. Plus it would also be draining the battery for no reason.

 

[carnageX]

@OP is the weather that bad where you live where you have random lightning strikes/thunderstorms everynight?

During a thunderstorm with heavy lighting, yes, it's a good idea to unplug electrical devices (even when plugged into a surge protector). However, doing it every night "just in case" is a bit overkill... Pay attention to the weather forecast and if there is imminent severe weather, then unplug it. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

It mostly depends on how well your house is wired/grounded as well. Surge protectors / UPS's are meant to blow before it hits components... however, lightning is very unpredictable and powerful, and can knock out electronics hooked up to surge protectors as well.

When I worked at a RadioShack back in high school, after big storms, we'd have businesses coming in looking to replace surge protectors, UPS's, etc. As well as normal consumers coming in to replace phones and such that got fried by the storm.

 

[Obsessor]

@OP is the weather that bad where you live where you have random lightning strikes/thunderstorms everynight?

Well...no, not really. I'm just very OCD.

During a thunderstorm with heavy lighting, yes, it's a good idea to unplug electrical devices (even when plugged into a surge protector). However, doing it every night "just in case" is a bit overkill... Pay attention to the weather forecast and if there is imminent severe weather, then unplug it. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I guess that's right. It was just that one time years ago that anything like that ever happened...