Any of you pro traders using a "whole house" UPS? I have a new place now and apparently it's a long way from the power company because I get a lot of sags and (brief) outages. I want to put in a whole house solution, but I'm still not sure about, for example, UPS vs. line filters. Your experiences, a brand recommendation, etc., would be much appreciated.
I would definitely recommend this, call up GE they will install it for you. But in your case since it's relatively low power consumption, you dont need two, one should be enough. Oh yeah, make sure you store the used fuel rods in a safe place like your basement, instead of on top of the generator like those amateurs.
don't know about the whole house solution. i am using one UPS for my desktop: APC ES 550. it is cheap and totally sufficient for my needs. only once i had a long power outage and the desktop + modem lasted ~ 30min. with added 23in monitor i don't think it lasts more than ~5 min. i think this UPS allows one to program automatic computer powerdown, but i don't use this feature. the battery is still working after >1 year.
UPS on the tech stuff and everything depending on it. Make sure you do your calculations for everything connected. I like to have 90 minutes run time for everything just because. Standby power with ATS for the building. Your fridge and HVAC will be off for about 10 seconds while the system starts up depending on what you get. Longer if you spend less money. If lighting and security are a concern, put in emergency lights; they're cheap. Easy system. Works great.
I don't have the budget of building a whole house UPS. My solution is: Power out... Go to the nearby FedEx Kinko's. Laptop (where I have all my charting software and trading platform), and 1 external monitor. My emergency trading setup.
To the OP, check out this website for whole house UPS. Disclaimer: I haven't actually bought their product just saw it researching longer term UPS options (for more than 30 mins which is what you'd prob get w/ only 1 monitor plugged into as others have said). Newguy, seeing that power plant I've thought about powering all of my computers, monitors, modems, etc. on a nuclear power plant then another power plant goes offline and family says "can we charge our cell phones?" and I'd say "don't ask me that again - I don't want to strain my nuclear power plant anymore than I already am w/ my monitors - now please leave me alone the tanken report is due in a few minutes and I'm long enough 6J to buy tokyo". To anyone considering buying a UPS or battery back up: consider it essential unless you have a fall back plan like the previous poster said to go to a store w/ wi-fi. You don't want to "save" money by not having back up power then one day you're in a position w/ a huge profit you want to lock in or worse you want to exit at a loss to prevent a meltdown then the power goes out and you're sitting there in the dark. Also have your broker's number programmed into your cell phone. If anyone has any questions re planning for emergencies PM me or post in this thread - I've prob spent more time thinking about this than I should and want to pay it forward. How funny would that be if the power went out all over the country and a satellite picture shows the only lights on are at the ET'ers houses lol.
Im running 6 monitors at the moment(used to be 8), my main trading pc, and a backup trading pc for redundancy, and my internet router. I run all of this thru this back up online system(below), definitly not cheap but allows me to stay on for a good 8-12 min(depending on load) to decide whether or not to close out or hold on to my client's positions till main power comes back on . * Im getting ready to add another battery or two to add runtime capacity up to 15-20 min. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3883659&CatId=234 This system is highly recommended, Ive had it for over a lil over a yr now. I tried to purchase the system at my local tigerdirect store here in Miami but found out they only sell the more high-end UPS systems thru their website, shipped from somewhere in Illinois I used to have 6 of the basic UPS(offline) systems working together which when a power outage occured sometimes the UPS wouldnt kick in fast enough and had to deal with my computers freezing up and having to do restarting/ reboot functions which cost me more time in getting my trading platform(Ninja) up and running again. Online sinewave UPS systems are the way to go for true UNinterruptible backup power....if you can justify the cost.
this is in a response to a pm i received re managing op disasters. ask yourself what could go wrong in every aspect of my trading and have a backup for it. this includes: data feed - always have at least 2 contact broker outside of trading platform - cell phone not VOIP since internet could go down trading platform - install this on multiple computers so you can switch easily and log onto the other computer - have a backup laptop/desktop UPS - this is already covered but make sure to plug EVERYTHING you need into the UPS including modem/router not just cpu and monitor. also don't plug anything you don't need such as printer that isn't absolutely essential to executing a trade gtg. i'll post more later.
Whole house UPS is the best solution if you can afford it and are in a rural area. I have a whole house ups that is seamless and cost me about $15K installed. Mine is propane run but you can do diesel or natural gas if available too.