CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD

The CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent UPS/Surge Suppresser/Voltage Regulator offers you protection from brownouts, spikes and power outages, and is a great little device for the money.

The unit has a power capacity of 1000VA/600 Watts and has nine NEMA 5-15R receptacles (5 with battery backup, surge suppression and voltage regulation, 4 with surge suppression and voltage regulation only), and it also has inputs/outputs for RJ11/45 and Coax filtering and surge suppression.

CyberPower’s GreenPower technology means that the Automatic Voltage Regulation feature only kicks in if there is a drop or spike in the supplied current, and it reduces energy consumption by 75% over comparable units. Surge protection is rated @ 1080 Joules, and it has an easy to read LCD screen that displays 11 different functions, including input and output voltage, load, and approximate run time on battery given the current load.

It also has both a USB and Serial port for connection to your PC, and comes with a copy of PowerPanel Personal Edition UPS Management software which allows you to status the UPS from the PC and interfaces with Windows power management to automatically close files and shut down the PC.

I have a 20” iMac, a Windows Media Center PC with a 19” LCD screen, a 1 terabyte external hard drive, and my FiOS router plugged in to the 5 battery protected outlets. With all devices powered on, load is at ~ 38%, with peaks of 50% during reboots. Estimated runtime @ 38% utilization is 14 minutes, more than enough time for a clean shutdown. The PC is the real hog at the trough here, though; when only the iMac, hard drive and router are on, estimated run time is a whopping 60 minutes.

The unit is compact and light, weighing in at about 16 lbs, stays cool to the touch, and is virtually silent; all enormous plusses, and it also has more available outlets then most units in its price range. I have our inkjet printer/scanner, another external hard drive and a small digital cable box that I use with the Media Center PC plugged into the 4 suppression/AVR only outlets, allowing me to unplug everything with one swift pull in the case of a severe lightning storm. Pretty cool.

I like this baby so much that I’m going to order another one for my entertainment center. The battery backup will keep my Cable box/DVR and my DVD recorder from resetting, and protect the LCD TV and audio components from brownouts and spikes. It will give me “one plug pull” in an emergency for the entertainment center also. Nice.

The only drawback to the unit is that although it’s advertised as having “widely spaced outlets to accommodate transformer plugs”, that’s not the case at all. I have no idea why they would put this claim so prominently in their product description when it’s so obviously false, but they do. You can plug in 3 standard power cords and 1 transformer block, at best, on the 5 outlet battery side.

One way to deal with this is by using one or two 1’ extension cords for your power block devices, although CyberPower strictly forbids the use of both extension cords and power strips with their unit. Nein, Verboten! Use of said devices will result in the voiding of both the 3 year warranty on the UPS and the $350,000 connected device replacement feature, so proceed down this avenue at your own risk. I can see why they have this caveat; you could plug any piece of crap power strip or threadbare extension cord in and create a massively dangerous situation.

My advice is; if you’re going to bend the rules, do it right. Use a short, heavy gauge cord like the ones referenced above, or a small, high quality power strip, and only use it to allow for transformer plugs, e.g.: don’t use a power strip so that you can plug in an additional 8 or 9 devices into the UPS and overload it. That’s a very dumb and dangerous thing to do. I saw that little light bulb going on in your collective heads; don’t be that chucklehead.

You can find this unit at Staples for ~$120, or online at Amazon ($106) and Walmart ($111) . That’s pretty short money for a little protection and peace of mind.

While we’re on the subject of protection and peace of mind, here’s another helpful little tip; I have a small, open, 2 shelf bookcase with lattice style sides under my desk. All cords, connectors and power strips are on it, protecting them from wandering feet and rising fluids. I have the cords woven through the latticed sides for a little added strain relief also.

Because my home office is in my basement, the bookcase itself sits on a thick block of Styrofoam, so that if there is water, it won’t soak into the wood and wick its way up to the electronics. That’s a little trick I learned from the ServiceMaster guy the last time we had water issues. Also, the PC tower itself is up on a wheeled tower stand. There should be nothing in direct contact with your floor.

Keeping everything up and semi mobile not only protects you from minor flooding, it will also help with heat dissipation and makes it easier to clean under the desk. Beware the deadly dust bunny.

End Of Transmission.

More Extreme Tech - Rigid VP2000 Wet Vac Pump

I found this baby at Home Depot this weekend while I was looking for a replacement squeegee head for my Rigid Wet/Dry Vac.

I love my shop vac, except when it’s full of nasty water and I need to empty it. I could drain it into the sump pit, but that would be kind of counter productive. Instead, we ladle some off with a bucket, and then we lift it up and pour the rest down the basement utility sink. Back breaking work. No fun at all.

With this baby, you pop it on before you start, and then when the unit is full you connect a hose and you can pump the water up to 50ft at a rate of 10gpm. Nice!

I know, I know, I should have done these last two posts before and not during Irene. Can’t be helped; busy, busy, busy.

Backyard Tech – Extreme Edition: Generators

Having a basement that’s prone to flooding, we were way overdue in adding a generator to our flood fighting arsenal. We’re fine as long as the sump pumps run, but if they stop working, disaster ensues. We finally bit the bullet after we remodeled Man Town this past year.

I knew nothing about generators when we started looking, but after a little research, and some professional electrical advice, we came up with a plan. Our main concern was the pumps, but we also wanted something that would help us out during those ugly winter Nor’easters that we’re prone to around here. There’s a great Wattage Estimation Guide on the Honda Power Equipment website that helped us out a lot.

We settled on the Honda EG5000. It’s big enough to hook up to your house via a transfer switch and run quite a few devices, and yet small enough to still be considered a portable. It’s from Honda’s Economy line, which means it has the power of the more expensive models, just fewer frills. No key start, no wheels, no fancy panels. It does, however, pump out 5000W (4500W rated) of power, both 120/240V, via a nice variety of outputs (two 20A 125V outlets, one 20A 125V locking plug, one 30A 125V locking plug and a 30A 125/250V locking plug).

It’s powered by Honda’s commercial grade 389cc engine, which is relatively quiet (73dB), and it has some great features that you won’t find on cheaper generators, like DAVR (digital automatic voltage regulation witch prevents power fluctuations) and Oil Alert (the unit shuts down the engine before you hit the add level). It also comes with a 3 year parts and labor warranty that’s valid for both commercial and residential use.

I bought mine from a Honda dealership (Parkway Cycle), rather than on line, because I wanted one that was assembled, bench tested, and ready to rock and roll. It has an important job to do, so I did it right, and you should too.

More Backyard Tech - Rain Barrels

Rain barrels are about as low tech as you can get, but they're a very effective and time proven way to conserve water and save money.

I'd been thinking about getting a rain barrel ever since I saw a rebate program on my local DPW website. With all the rain we've been having here in the Northeast lately, I thought it was finally time to stop thinking about it and start capturing some of that free water.

I decided on a flat backed, faux wood grain, 50 gallon barrel from Clean Air Gardening. I got one barrel to start with, just to get my feet wet, so to speak. The plan was to test drive the first one before I got any more. I wanted to know if they were useful, how long it took to fill one, and I also wanted to use it as a template to see where else I could fit them. There are a number of sizes and types, even small ones that double as planters, so I wanted to be sure of what I needed before I bought multiples of any one size or type.

Once it arrived, setup was a piece of cake. First I wrapped the threads on the spigot with Teflon tape before I screwed it in place. I recommend screwing it in partially before you tape it, to get a feel for it, and to make sure the hole is threaded correctly. Mine started to go in crooked, and when I backed it out I saw a chunk of plastic in the threads. Once I picked it out, it went in straight and true. Next I snapped the bug screen in place, and that was it, done.

I took some quick measurements and then built up the area where I would be placing it with patio block. You want the barrel to be high enough so that you have clearance to use the spigot, and also to improve the water flow, but not so high that it looks ridiculous, or is a tipping danger. Once I was happy with the placement, I started work on the downspout. Remember, you’ll need to put your downspout back together after you put the rain barrel away for the winter, so don’t hack up your existing stuff, start fresh.

I removed my downspout all the way up to the elbow at the top where it comes into contact with the house, and stored it away for safe keeping. Then I replaced it with a 1 foot straight piece, a direction changing elbow, and then a flexible elbow, so I could shape it right down into the barrel opening.

There are diverters available that redirect the water back down the existing spout when the barrel is full, and they're a great solution in most cases, but my problem is that I live in a low lying area and I've always had issues with my downspouts dumping water too close to my foundation and aggravating the situation, so I decided to rely on the overflow valve at the top instead.

Once I was happy with the feed, I covered the concave top of the barrel with polished river stones that I had leftover from another project. You can find them in 5lb bags at most garden centers. I also added a short 3 foot hose to the spigot to make it easier to fill watering cans.

That’s it, I was ready to start collecting water, and boy did I…

We got about 2 inches of rain that first night, and it was still drizzling a little in the morning when I went out to check on it. At first I thought something had gone wrong with my plumbing, and then I realized that the barrel was full and water was spurting out of the overflow valve at the top.

50 + gallons of water in 1 night! Wowzers!

So, it seems like I have an endless supply of water now, and the backyard is much drier. How cool is that?

You won’t get a lot of pressure when you hook a hose up to it, but it’s great for filling watering cans or just letting the hose run without a nozzle next to ornamental trees and shrubs. You can also hook a soaker hose to it and lay it out in your garden. Plus, now you have an easy way to run excessive rain water far far away from your house. Just hook up a hose to the spigot and run it out into the yard. Bonus.

If you have the space, and the need for more water, you can daisy chain barrels together using the overflow valves. That would be the only criticism I have of the barrel I got, the overflow valve hole isn’t threaded for a hose, where some of the other models have this feature. I traded off the threading for looks and the space saving flat back as the barrel is in a high traffic area.

Clean Air Gardening had the best prices, hands down, and the barrel arrived when promised and in good shape. Check them out; they have quite a selection, plus lots of cool stuff like high quality reel mowers and compost barrels.