If you've thought about getting a UPS (uninteruptible power supply) but thought they were too expensive, try putting a "wanted" post on your local freecycle group (www.freecycle.org). A lot of times people will just chuck their UPS when the sealed lead acid battery inside finally dies (about 3-5 years). If you pick up one that isn't working, the odds are extremely good that the only problem is the battery. All you need to do then is to www.froogle.com or other shopping search engine and search for the battery you need.

The best way to do this is to search on the brand name and model number of the UPS.

If that doesn't work, search on the battery's model number - if you can locate it.

If you still have no luck, take the exact measurements - all 3 dimensions - make a note of how many amp hours (ah, e.g., 30ah) it's rated at and the exact voltage. With that you should be able to get a matching battery. Call the vendor to double check that it's compatible.

Almost all use spade connectors so that shouldn't be a problem, but check to be safe.

I have several UPS's. Four of them are 900watt Conext brand. I couldn't find the battery specifically for my brand and model, but I found another battery that was exactly the same size and specs. I think each one cost about USD30. Four new UPS with that rating would have cost about $600. Not bad for a little online searching.

BTW, a UPS will solve your problem because it takes the alternating current from your wall jack, converts it to DC, charges the internal battery and then takes DC from the battery and converts it back to AC. That way you get nice clean power all the time - even during storms and brown outs. A surge suppressor won't do that for you. If the power fluctuates or drops below 110 volts, the suppressor doesn't care. Plus, many only protect the hot wire and give no protection for the neutral or ground. So if you get a lightning strike or get a short to the neutral - you're still screwed.

In short, a suppressor is better than nothing, but not by a lot.

oh, no, not again. the page 2 blues.

what may help to curb to crouding in this chat room is to find a division point and split this chat room in two.

right now there is a new room called caring and sharing. try it out!

Since this is 'The' Chat Room one of 3 fora in the 'Community' section, formerly known as 'Just For Fun', let me try and spell it out: The 'Caring and Sharing ' Forum is similar to the Grorg's 'Cancer Stories ....' so, there is nothing to try out but for those who feel the need to Share their inner motions and find the Caring from those who want to share or be just a shoulder to lean or cry on. There was no place with 'decorum' previously, which now was created on special request!

If you do not see what u need, Use the Recent Threads forum and do mouse on to page 2 or 3 or 4. or jump straight to CR or add your favs to the My Forum Profile tracking section, and you get notice and just need clicking on the hyperlinks in the mail. In your My Forum Profile you can also select how many threads or posts you want to see on one page where 50 is the maximum (works only when signed in). I just did and it listed pretty much 24 hours of current traffic.... I think that is more than sufficient, hence see no reason to support any request for a sub division for 'Chat' at this time.

Sekerob

I've posted a suggestion in the feedback forum for adding new forums to help alleviate some of the chat room overcrowding. See Request for new "Community" forums

I leave my cable modem/router connection on all the time.
The router has a built in NAT firewall & all the machines use the Windows firewall as well.
In 8+ years of having a broadband connection, I haven't been hacked into yet.