Power to the People
by Gary Woods

Most people have their computers plugged into a surge protector, but the real harmful effects of power don't usually come from power surges or spikes that these devices are designed to handle. The culprits are things like Laser Printers and Copier Machines as well as refrigerators and hair dryers. Every time you print a page you can experience as much as 15-20 volt change in power.

Another problem is dirty power, which occurs around flourescent lights, and things like electric motors. If you could see this power on an oscilloscope you'd see a jagged line instead of a nice clean sine wave. This means that all day your computer is experiencing mini-spikes.

The most frequent culprit for harming your computer is actually not a surge at all but power sag. If your power is consistently below 110 volts all the fans and the power supply of your computer have to work harder than necessary and will diminish the life span of your computer.

Finally there are brief and even extended power outages. To deal with these it would be good to get an Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS). These devices are basically batteries that allow your computer to keep working until you can shut it down.

What I’ve done is get a Smart-UPS from APC, which provides Automatic Voltage Regulation, Sine Wave output and up to 52 minutes of backup battery time. The device will even automatically shut down my computer if I'm not there. That's it, Power to the People.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910