mhull wrote:For critical work to continue for short outages, a UPS might do at least until you get your alternate power up and running. I have a Honda 3000ui generator (2800 watts continuous capacity) which ran for 10 days without interruption until the mains were restored. It's very quiet and provides clean power for sensitive electronics. Not cheap though.
At my stage of life, I have moved towards simplification and this means avoiding purchasing anything heavier than I can carry. What I have done is to implement easy, reliable recovery mechanisms for Perft(14) work unit processing.
My major concern with power outages is keeping my insulin supplies at a cool, proper temperature. To assist with this, I've purchased about a dozen reusable cooling packs and keep them frozen at about -18℃. In the wintertime, I can supplement these with snow and ice as long as the insulin itself doesn't freeze.
mhull wrote:For critical work to continue for short outages, a UPS might do at least until you get your alternate power up and running. I have a Honda 3000ui generator (2800 watts continuous capacity) which ran for 10 days without interruption until the mains were restored. It's very quiet and provides clean power for sensitive electronics. Not cheap though.
At my stage of life, I have moved towards simplification and this means avoiding purchasing anything heavier than I can carry. What I have done is to implement easy, reliable recovery mechanisms for Perft(14) work unit processing.
My major concern with power outages is keeping my insulin supplies at a cool, proper temperature. To assist with this, I've purchased about a dozen reusable cooling packs and keep them frozen at about -18℃. In the wintertime, I can supplement these with snow and ice as long as the insulin itself doesn't freeze.
For protecting your insulin supply, this is much more affordable and hand portable.
Could keep your fridge/freezer running during an extended outage, and a some distance into a zombie apocalypse.
The real danger is "brownouts". Hardware can handle a power outage (usually) but if the power drops to 70 or 80 volts and stays there, that's not good. Computer hardware is just not designed for that.
Still, I agree about UPSs. They are big old beasts, the batteries in them don't last forever, and replacing them is costly.
I haven't seen a brown-out in decades here in New England, although total outages are common -- particularly if you live in a rural area or near the end of a distribution line.
More common here is the Deadly Sputter. This is when the power goes off for several seconds, then comes back on for several seconds, then repeats. Plays hell with the power supplies, and is the reason that my machinery is set to NOT restart after a power failure.
