Had a transformer blow out in our neighborhood this morning. Power was back up in about 3 hours. Since it was supposed to get up to 104F (40C) today, we got lucky! However, it did create some issues/questions for me.

My BBS was obviously down since I do not have a UPS on it. I'm looking for suggestions as to what kind of minimum specs should I be looking for when I purchase one?

Also, I discovered the old Dell laptop I run it on does not have the ability to power itself back on when the power is lost. I've been through the bios looking for a setting but I confirmed with Dell that there's not one. Any suggestions? I suspect that I'm out of luck.

ogg

Sysop, Altair IV BBS
Lufkin, TX
fsxnet: 21:2/147

... Press SPACEBAR once to abort, or twice to save changes

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/07 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (21:2/147)

Hello ogg!

On 09 Jul 2022, ogg said the following...

Had a transformer blow out in our neighborhood this morning. Power was

Ouch!

My BBS was obviously down since I do not have a UPS on it. I'm looking for suggestions as to what kind of minimum specs should I be looking for when I purchase one?

Quite some time ago, when I had a UPS, I purchased one of APC's RS models to get some additional protection against certain line conditions -- it could correct some line conditions without having to switch to battery, if I recall correctly.

But really, any decent-sized UPS with some kind of USB or network
connection (so that a power outage can be detected and preferrably all sensitive devices can shut themselves down before the UPS battery gets completely drained) should do. If you opt for a networked one, make sure to check that the software(s) on your devices are compatible with it.

Typical outage times and your load would determine the size/capacity of it.

I remember having a 500 VA one, which meant approximately 5-10 minutes of runtime on battery for my load back then, which was enough for me (that was for my desktop workstation).

ability to power itself back on when the power is lost. I've been
through the bios looking for a setting but I confirmed with Dell that there's not one. Any suggestions? I suspect that I'm out of luck.

As a last resort (for an unattended BBS machine), you might want to check if there's a power-on timer in the BIOS settings which lets it power up at a certain time every day. That would mean that no outage would last for more than 24 hours in practice, should the laptop run out of battery. Assuming that mains actually does get restored within 24 hours, of course. :-D

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/07 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Quite some time ago, when I had a UPS, I purchased one of APC's RS
models to get some additional protection against certain line conditions -- it could correct some line conditions without having to switch to battery, if I recall correctly.
But really, any decent-sized UPS with some kind of USB or network connection (so that a power outage can be detected and preferrably all sensitive devices can shut themselves down before the UPS battery gets completely drained) should do. If you opt for a networked one, make sure to check that the software(s) on your devices are compatible with it.

Typical outage times and your load would determine the size/capacity of it.

I remember having a 500 VA one, which meant approximately 5-10 minutes of runtime on battery for my load back then, which was enough for me (that was for my desktop workstation).

Thanks for that. Those give me a good starting point.

As a last resort (for an unattended BBS machine), you might want to
check if there's a power-on timer in the BIOS settings which lets it
power up at a certain time every day. That would mean that no outage
would last for more than 24 hours in practice, should the laptop run out of battery. Assuming that mains actually does get restored within 24 hours, of course. :-D

Seeing as the laptop's warranty was up in 2014, it's not that sophisticated!
I looked at BIOS and didn't see anything. No wake on lan, etc. I may have to start cruising the local second hand shops to see what's available!

Thanks again!

ogg

Sysop, Altair IV BBS
Lufkin, TX
fsxnet: 21:2/147

... The person who snores the loudest will fall asleep first

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/07 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (21:2/147)

Hello ogg!

On 09 Jul 2022, ogg said the following...

Thanks for that. Those give me a good starting point.

You're very welcome!

lan, etc. I may have to start cruising the local second hand shops to
see what's available!

Yep, it might be a good idea to see if there's something nice (and
perhaps rather new) around there... Happy hunting! :)

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/07 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

BY: ogg(21:2/147)

My BBS was obviously down since I do not have a UPS on it. I'm looking
for suggestions as to what kind of minimum specs should I be looking for when I purchase one?

I lost a desktop pc due to a power surge. The motherboard died, but I was able to rescue the hard drive.


--- WWIV 5.5.1.3261
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)

I lost a desktop pc due to a power surge. The motherboard died, but I
was able to rescue the hard drive.

Way back, we lived on top of the highest hill in the county. Our next door neighbor's house got hit by lightning. We just lost a surge protector that my computer was hooked up to. The real interesting thing that came out of that episode was when the phone tech came to check on all of the phone boxes in front of the houses, she told us it wasn't unusual for those boxes to have scorch marks from the surges. Since then, I've had all of our electronics on surge protectors. Unfortunately, they don't protect from sudden and/or quickly repeated power outages. That's what prompted me to start this thread.

ogg

Sysop, Altair IV BBS
Lufkin, TX
fsxnet: 21:2/147

... Fer sell cheep: BBS spel chekker. Wurks grate.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/07 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (21:2/147)

that episode was when the phone tech came to check on all of the phone boxes in front of the houses, she told us it wasn't unusual for those boxes to have scorch marks from the surges.

Absolutely! I was working near a communications facility on the top of a hill here and the tech working in that facility called me over to check out the lightning damage to the incoming copper lines. Huge scortch mark on the wall, and the frame had actually come off the wall and was dangling.

Another incident I saw the aftermath of had blown roughly half the copper pairs in a telco pillar like fuses, and popped probably half the OVP modules in the DSLAM cabinet nearby.

Lightning makes a mess...

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20220504
* Origin: TassieBob's BBS (21:3/169)