I am upgrading my PC again and my thoughts turn to the UPS Should I buy continuous or standby < 5ms Should I buy one unit to cover the whole setup or have one for the PC and one for the screens (2) and router etc. What about capacity for say 30 minutes. All thoughts gratefully received. regards f9
I purchased a UPS for my trading setup recently and have been happy with the purchase. I bought an APC 1500VA/865 watt UPS for my home office setup and I get about 30 minutes for a single PC and network setup. I originally planned on spending more for a larger UPS based on some analysis I found online (from APC website no less!) but ended up only having to get this unit for about $200. I think if you spend more than that you probably bought more than you really need. edit: originally I posted two PCs for 30min but in order to get more than 15 minutes you have to go down to a single PC, no printer, single monitor, etc. Just a clarification.
It is a standby UPS. The power in my area is pretty stable so I just needed something to cover brown outs and power outages long enough to manage open positions and shut everything down cleanly.
===================== F9; Probably depends on your trading plan, short term-or long time frame????? I have mostly a medium time frame/some short but high liquid stocks,etf.... Also IB is a great Broker; may ALSO want a broker that can be phone /positionclosed. Noticed over the years; Bellsouth/ATT phone is more reliable than computer My Tripp-Lite is battle tested, its survived several lightening strikes/outages[no direct hits yet ]$25,000 insurance policy included , frankly was a decision helping to buy this one @ Radio Shack And you should not need a separate UPS for moniters; my UPS covers computer/moniter-but double check this.Better safe than sorry
Yeah, in that case you might need to spend more $$$ on a UPS than I did. You can probably still stay less than $1000 which is not much if you look at what it could cost you in trading losses due to unstable power. If I were you I wouldn't skimp on this since your power is so unstable. You won't regret it. Actually, my UPS is what is called a "line-interactive" rather than a standby as I originally thought. It is a step up up from standby but not as good as continuous. Here is a spec sheet if you are interested for comparison and also a PC World article which explains the differences. http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BX1500LCD http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;815595312;pp;3
Gracias mi amigo, My current UPS gets the job done but it is too small giving me maybe 5-10 minutes. I am a short term bracket trader so this is OK but I would like a greater period of grace. Oddly enough any voltage problems we encounter hardly every occur when I am trading. Mainly they occur in the evening. (we are one hour ahead of EST) regards f9
I live in hurricane alley as well as the severe thunderstorm capital of the world, so what you hear from me may not be necessary for you, but here's what I have and why, and I never miss a tick: 60 amps 120vac (3x20 amp circuits) of power behind my trading desk. One circuit is dedicated to the primary trading system tower w/ dedicated UPS sized higher then the power supply (in watts) in the tower. It has a 2 hour runtime and I need every bit of that 2 hours. Another circuit for monitors with dedicated UPS sized higher then the aggregate wattage of all the monitors (I use 42" lcd tv's for monitors). 2 hour runtime. Another circuit for everything else at the desk which includes Dell desktop for e-mail, backup trading, web surfing, photoshop, autocad, etc. Laptop (not normally on) Printers Fax Phone system etc. With a dedicated UPS for that circuit as well w/ 2 hour runtime. In sizing your UPS system(s) consider the following: 1. What is the likeliness of an outage in your area? 2. What downside risk exists for an outage at any given time? (If you're trading heavy futures in a volatile market a greater investment in UPS is warranted vs. trading low beta stocks in an IRA). 3. What timeframe do you expect an outage to last? 4. Do you have lightning in your area and how much; what damage will result from a lightning strike if you don't have the protection in place? 5. What is the aggregate (total) wattage of all devices on that circuit and how long do you want (need) those devices to run (how long will the power be out?) I found Newegg to be the best source for UPS systems. I also have 2 generators (13kw) and even a UPS on my bedroom alarm clock; that's how serious of an issue it is here. Not only is outage an issue but also the lighning protection attained by having UPS systems all over the place. I even have redundancy in my data connection. Primary is cable modem and backup is wireless broadband. During volatile markets my systems (and I) run 24/7. During normal market volatility they run about 15 hours/ day. Feel free to ask any questions you have after reading this. M.
Hint A laptop and a dsl back up line will run a LONG time off of http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8022935&st=apc&type=product&id=1157067061643 Unplugging the laptop and using just the dsl modem on it will go even LONGER. My laptop alone will run ~200 minutes on the internal battery and my dsl modem will run right right at 135 minutes off of the ups.