Is anyone using these? How many would I need to keep my trading alive in the case of poer outage assuming I have to power the computer and the DSL (or cable) thing? Two or only one? I have no idea about it, never used them. The power outages do not happen that often, perhaps once or twice a year where I live, so I am just wondering if it makes sense to use these. Any opinions? BTW, what are the best prices for such devices? TIA.
I have a power supply back up pack that runs 15 minutes if the power goes out. You can get these for diffrent lenghths of time.....and diffrent cost. It is a wise thing to have at least a 15 minuet power pack....in order to unwind postions....and or give ur self time to evalute the positions....15 minuets is all you really need.......unless your a hedgefund, like so many here on ET. Keep in mind, this power source is only good for power outages.....does not support DSL if the line goes out...or telephone/DSL is interrupted.
I got the TrippLite 800 BC Pro It failed after 6 months and I got a new one since then (free) after I shipped the 50 pund beast back to them. Their site is good for doing the load needs. I acutally have used it several times because the circut breaker in the house went off. This is more common than the power going out. Cheers
You gotta have a UPS on your system if you are trading. keep your phone (if cordless type), computer, monitor and any router and cable/dsl equipment on the UPS. Like the previous poster said, they are useful to keep your system from crashing in a power failure giving you enough time to close positions and shut down the system so their isn't a crash. I usually will give the power about 5 min. to come back on before I totally shut my systems down. If you experience power outages regularly of more than just a few minutes and want to keep your trading systems running during such, you need a UPS and a standby generator to take over.
Thanks for all the replies so far. My question now is: is one such a device enough to keep DSL, monitors (3), and computer running for at least 15 min or should I spring for more than one? TIA.
Depends upon what you are running. UPS's come in various sizes (power). I have a Tripplite SmartPro UPS. I think it is their 650 or 850 model. Just add up the wattage that all the devices you will have on the UPS will be using then find a single UPS that will handle that amount of power for 30 minutes. If you have more than one system you might want to use separate UPS's depending upon the cost of two vs. one bigger one.
I am currently using 2 APC Back-UPS units. Both are of the ES-500 variety. They can be found on sale for $40.00 every now and then, but regularly retail for $50.00 One is used to support my computer and one monitor, while the other one is used to support two other monitors along with my cable modem and router.
I use three UPS by APC. One for the PC box. One for the primary monitor, cable modem, and router. One for my ISDN phone system terminal adapter, KVM switch box, printer line extender, and a second PC box. There is a real advantage in having more than one UPS: When one goes down, you can put what really counts on the remaining UPS until you get a replacement or a replacement battery. The best place I have found for a battery or replacement UPS is eBay.