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Don't let a power surge fry your computer
How to get the best surge protection and backup power supply |
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| Although the TV show "Home Improvement" has been off the air for several years, some of us still can't look at comedian Tim Allen without remembering him saying, "It needs more power!" |
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| Whether it was repairing a dishwasher or a lawn mower, adding more power was always the way to go. |
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| While adding a Volkswagen engine to your home-office PC is probably not going to work out very well, you can take steps to make sure that the power your computer needs is available for the mission-critical applications that you'll need to run. |
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| And, these days, with 84 percent of CPAs and finance professionals working regularly at home — according to the CPA Trendlines survey, "Home Office Trends and Issues" — home electricity management is a key issue. |
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| Power outages are unpredictable, if they weren't, they wouldn't be a problem. In recent years, brownouts, where the voltage is reduced considerably below the 110-120 Volts usually supplied, are increasingly more common during the summer months, when demand is at its peak.
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| While computers and peripherals can work with lowered voltage to some extent, when they reach their limits, they shut down. If your PC is in the middle of a write operation when this happens, you could lose data or even wind up with a corrupted file or a ruined disk drive. |
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| The answer is an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with surge protection. A UPS has a large rechargeable battery and circuitry that continuously monitors the supply voltage. When it cuts off from a power outage, or falls below a preset voltage from a brownout, the UPS kicks in to provide the correct voltage to the device or devices connected to it. |
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| To some extent, laptops have the equivalent of a built-in UPS, since they will automatically switch over to their internal batteries when the AC power supply is interrupted. However, most laptops have only limited ability to handle a situation when the power rises considerably over the expected 110/120 volts-a line surge. This can happen as a result of a lightning strike hitting a power line, or several other reasons. If the laptop's power supply can't handle the line surge, there's a good chance the power supply will be fried, and possibly even nuke the laptop. A surge protector is the answer. These come in the form of a power strip, or as a laptop-specific protector, and a good quality unit will seldom cost more than $30 or so, a good value if it saves a $1,500 laptop. |
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| UPS systems are more expensive, though they do incorporate surge protection to further protect the equipment connected to them. Size and price is dependent on capacity-how long the UPS can power the devices connected to it. If all you need is time to conduct a controlled shut-down of your PC, you can get by with a small and inexpensive UPS system. |
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| If you intend to connect your PC, display, and other peripherals, you'll want a larger unit. Some can even provide 15 minutes or more of run time to let you finish your task and shut down without losing or corrupting data. |
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| It's good practice to always have power protection, including surge protection, on any computer that runs an application that is mission critical. |
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| But don't forget your cable modem. Standard telephone lines (and some DLS lines) often continue to work during a power outage. Most cable modems don't, so if Internet connectivity is also mission critical, consider adding a UPS for your cable modem. This device doesn't use a lot of power, so even a small UPS will power it for a considerable length of time. |
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More at hp.com: |
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| Rick Telberg CEO of Bay Street Group Research, is the most widely-followed analyst and commentator for the finance and accounting profession. He has helped launch and develop a host of leading products and services for accountants and financial advisors, including Accounting Today, Accounting Technology and Practical Accountant magazines, WebCPA.com, and e-commerce portals SmartPros and CPA2Biz. He serves as Editor At Large for the AICPA Insider family of e-newsletters and blogs at www.cpatrendlines.com. |
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| Any views or comments expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and not necessarily those of any other organization. No person quoted or cited has any known connection to or interest in Hewlett Packard, and their appearance here should not be construed as an endorsement. |
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| Copyright 2008 CPA Trendlines/BSG LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission. |
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