Hi dear fellow musicians, I thought this could be the right place to talk about:

surge protectors & backup batteries!

To which extent do you guys think its important to have some hi-tech protectors with batteries? Would you mind a casual, rare happening power failure? Can we take the risk not to have quality surge protectors?

I checked those APCs' fatties today and I'm wondering if they're noisy, having a home-studio brings gear in a kindred way...I dont want no troubles while miking with condensers such as the NT4!!! Otherwise I would go for something like that, with the USB connection ensuring secure computer shutdown in case of a power failure. The other thing is that it uses a usb port, which is already overcrowded. But in another hand, I would consider one APC (or else) that has multiple usb ports to shut down multiple computers.

So, what is your opinion on all that, considering an appartment with no possibilities of lone grounding? Any suggestions and experiences on various brands would be appreciated.

regards!

Hi, I don't know what APC's are I'm afraid, but I would advise surge protection at the very least with any hi tech gear you value, I have an 8 socket Belkin jobby which cost under £30.00.
I'm thinking of adding a power 'conditioner too, which are a bit more expensive. I posted a question on the difference between surge protectors and 'conditioners' a while back and some helpful macmusic soul explained it to me.....I confess I've forgotten the details but it sounded like a good idea.
Jaysee

A surge protector only do that, surge protect.

A power conditioner make sure the main you use are at the V/Hz it shoud be.

No there are other problems to address :
- small cuts in power
- peaks in power shorter than the latency of the unit
- radio frequency garbage
- thunder…
- no power at all

A good power conditioner will stop most of these, but an APC "online" will wake sure you have the cleanest possible main. And time to shut down the computer if mains disappear…

I use an APC.

hey thanks for the replies! now I'm considering 1 or two APCs' (i'd like to have all my comp automatically shutdown when needed) But I wonder if they're noisy... are they?


thanks again!

Mine is not, over sound professional I know use some and have no problem. If noise there is, it must be from a lower standard APC.

I've used some 800-1500 VA rack mount APCs in the past and they are very quiet. In fact, they hardly make any noise at all except when running on battery (when fans have to come on), and if you are actually on battery you aren't going to be too worried about a bit of noise at that point. It's very worthwhile to have a real UPS system for almost any computer these days, and that particularly goes for hard disk recording.

thanks for all the replies folks! you guys confirm what i thought and gave that little extra that makes me worry less about spending my money this way!

thanks again

this board is a great community!

There are a few different things to consider when dealing with power. Surge protectors are just that. They do nothing more. Power conditioners are surge protectors that also feature EMI/RFI filters. This filters out interference in the air that can cause hum on your mains (i.e. flourecent lights, electric motors, etc). Balanced Power Conditioners do the same thing as a power conditioner, but also filter the AC power going to your gear. These are very expensive and are mostly used in pro facilities due to the fact that they must have a dedicated 20-30Amp socket to attach to. Then there are UPS (uninteruptable power supply). These are basically big batteries that allow you to save your data, close programs and shut down your gear in the event of a power outage. Personnaly, I recommend a good power conditioner for most people. Furman is a good brand that makes rackmount versions that aren't too pricey and have models that allow European compatibility. Even with all of this stuff, you could still get hum and noises from parallel grounding. This is what happens when two pieces of metal cased gear are touching. The best way to combat this problem is to use nylon washers for you rack mounting screws.

thanks for the time you took to reply. Due to budget, I started with a lightning & surge protector, the apc backup 650va. I think I'm at least a little protected...