power regulator or surge protector

[blowrabbit 0]

i have heard from members on this forum that a simple ups backup or surge protector is not enough to protect dvrs and cameras from a power spike or surge generated by mother nature. so what is it called and any recomendations on brands, specs, and where to get it??

[rory 0]

You need voltage regulation, APC has single units for approx$40, 600 watt, or you can look at something like the following. I havent used these yet so cant confirm they work or not. APC units I have here in the field and they have worked through all the major brownouts and spiked we have had this summer (there have been a ton of them basically every day!), i need to real world test these belkin units before I can comment.

 

330 watt

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=76&pcount=&Product_Id=171876

 

660 watt

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=76&pcount=&Product_Id=171958

[Jasper 0]

This is a very nice APC unit I have at home.

http://www.apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=23&tab=features

 

It easily setup with a PC and once you configure the voltage tolerances and other features you can then use it for a stand alone DVR. It will remember all your settings.

 

It keeps track of every time it goes on battery backup, which could be for to low voltage, to high, brown out, power outage, etc. If you use it with a PC it has a good management program that comes with it. The software tells you how many watts of stuff you have connected to it and estimates run time for you. You can program it for audible alarm or only between certain hours or no alarm at all, just battery backup. It connects to a PC through a USB port and can shut down your PC automatically before the battery goes dead.

 

 

Highly Recommend. I also have a smaller APC and Belkin that I use if anyone wants info on those.

[rory 0]

yep that has it too.

 

The key thing to look for is:

Automatic Voltage Regulation

 

Just Surge Protection and UPS is not enough.

 

now i gotta test that in the real world too, though the ones I currently use are APC, Im just weiry of these all in one units, since the Voltage Regulators I have used are basically twice the size of these.

[spytown 0]

Ditek has a unit specifically for DVR'S ..here is the link for it

http://www.ditekcorp.com/productDetails.asp?idProduct=DTK-DRP16

[RIP 0]

Ditek has a unit specifically for DVR'S ..here is the link for it

http://www.ditekcorp.com/productDetails.asp?idProduct=DTK-DRP16

 

 

$1,029.60

[Jasper 0]

Yeah, unless you need the specifics features that are offered by that expensive UPS you can buy 5 of the APC UPS listed above.

 

Plus each APC unit has more than 3 times the battery power of this other unit.

 

Guess I would need an explenation of why that one is so much better

[rory 0]

I dont see where it sais it has Voltage Regulation though ..?? Which is the only really important thing.

[Jasper 0]

Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) Automatically corrects low and high voltage conditions, allowing you to work through brownouts and overvoltages without discharging the battery. This saves battery life, increases uptime, and improves your productivity

 

And you can define the lower and upper limits to your own specs.

I have been very satisfied with this UPS, it has saved me several times.

[rory 0]

Actually i dont even use a UPS, or battery back up, but without Voltage Regulation down here, we stand little chance of anything surviving our daily brownouts, hums, spikes, poweroutages, low voltage spikes, well you name it, we got it. I have the same Trip lite Voltage Regulator I bought back in 1996, and it has protected from from way back then, never lost anything to power problems myself, but everyone else i know does, all the time. Trust me, without a voltage regulator down here, your equipment doesnt stand much of a chance.

 

The funniest thing is when the power dips, then comes back on .... lately it will hang there for a while, with low voltage, lights are dim orange with just enough power to give them something, all my electronics turned off thanks to the Voltage Regulator ... get alot of calls after those ones .. when i was doing alarms we used to spend most of our time replacing panels!

 

And this summer ive already seen many PCs that lost things like CD Drives, ofcourse HDDs, even the cables themselves went bad, all after days of low power and brownouts. And they were all on UPS but no Voltage Regulation. I dont know what kind of generators we have down here, but i know they dont work right! They say they are second hand from years ago from some 3rd world south american country ..

[Jasper 0]

Yes, you need to keep that equipment within its tolerance range or bye bye.

 

I didn't realize the power situation you were dealing with there. Is this a low priority with the government or what? I imagine there are many things we take for granted here that are not available there, for the mere fact your on and island in the middle of the ocean.

 

How does the regulator shut down your equipment? Does it just kill the power to the equipment?

 

Are you selling UPS's to your clients for their equipment or do they just by new equipment from you when it breaks

[rory 0]

Right here bud, they generally all have UPS's already, but dont realise they need one of these for true power protection. Its cheap, even down here I can get it for $55. Only really need the UPS for Windows Systems, though since 1996 myself never having a UPS and non stop power ourages, Ive never had a file system problem. Power off, power on

 

http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=LE600

 

Government here do not have the funds to fix it, they are just now trying to fix some of the roads, i wont go there!

[scottj 0]

Ditek has a unit specifically for DVR'S ..here is the link for it

http://www.ditekcorp.com/productDetails.asp?idProduct=DTK-DRP16

 

 

$1,029.60

 

 

 

That's retail from Ditek online sales, don't let that scare you.

[spytown 0]

exactly. it goes for half the retail price..as you can see here..

http://www.spytown.com/didt16chdire.html

[cctv_down_under 0]

When looking at UPS devices you need to be carefull, there is a lot of marketing hype, I like to make sure that your device will handle all 9 types of power problems, most will NOT.

 

1/Total Power Loss

2/Power Sag ---- This is elminated by units that can lift and lower the input.

3/Power Surge ---- can be caused by large machinery turned off

4/Over Voltage ---- this is the most common cause of damage

5/Electrical Line Noise --- causes data corruption and is rarely protected

6/Frequency Variation ---- this can be caused by Gen sets etc

7/Switching Transient ---- hardly ever protected by most ups, the reason is it happens to fast before the UPS switches over, this is the difference between ONLINE or LINE INTERACTIVE UPS.

8/ Harmonic Distortion ----- caused often by switchmode power supplies

9/ Undervoltage ---- very commo0n, but usually caused by overdemand at the switch.

 

 

CMON HERMY LET ME IN

[Thomas 0]

People. I would like to remind you all of the forum's rules. One of which is that non-retail pricing is not to be posted outside of the dealer forum.

[cctv_down_under 0]

Ur a sales rep now thomas?

[Thomas 0]

I have been for a while to be honest. I had forgotten what my sig said.