A techie question for our Geeks and other Smart People

Hillbilly

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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As is kind of obvious, I work a lot on my computers. I have people here that live on theirs, literally!

Since we are on one of those "24 Hour, A-circuits" we do not have many power outages. However on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Ede-Norte people "lend" the circuits to electrical contractors for the installation of major connections and big stuff like huge transformers. So the lights DO go out.

I can put up with it, although I might lose my modem for a few moments while it resets, but one of my people here is in on-line sales and he cannot afford to have interruptions in his conversations since he loses contact and $$....

So, back in December, and for my own convenience, I purchased a nice UPS unit from Amazon and when it got here I plugged it into the wall socket and then plugged the modem and my wifi transmitter into it.

BUT WHEN THE POWER JUST WENT OUT A FEW MINUTES AGO, I LOST MY INTERNET CONNECTION. WHY? I THOUGHT THAT THE UPS WOULD BE FAST ENOUGH TO KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING. WAS I WAY OFF THE MARK??

Kindly and not so kindly suggestions will be appreciated. (No I can't do that with the UPS unit, it won't fit up "there" ....but I know what you mean.)

HB
 
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windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,969
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I purchased a UPS from the US many years ago. I found out that it did accept the square wave power from the inverter and would not charge from it. So it is essentially useless here. Locally sold units do not seem to have this problem, but I never actually needed to purchase one after researching the problem a bit more.

Your UPS sounds like it is defective or the specs don't meat the hold time of the DSL modem.

Some DSL modems have enough "hold time" to stay up during the switch between power going off and my inverter kicking in. The Speedstream modem I currently have is one of those that rarely has a problem and could be one that would work better for your situation. A conversation with someone knowledgeable at CLARO ( I know, they are hard to find) could help you find a good solution
 
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pelaut

Bronze
Aug 5, 2007
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www.ThornlessPath.com
Really don't know without seeing the specs of the unit.
It should have "switchover time", usually in milliseconds. 4ms should be about right.
Then it should have the time (I forget what the tech term is) it will keep how many watts going until the internal battery quits.

Maybe you have just a spike protector and the battery (or it's charger) are kaput. Maybe you had too many watts plugged in.
I've got one I haven't used for years, but it worked well. Just gave enough time to save files and shut down, though. I can bring it up next week if you want to try it.
 
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RayO

Member
Mar 25, 2012
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We have a Sanyo laptop & Movil Claro wifi (pay as you go), luz goes off & on all day & night. Never had any problems at all & am on here all the time since I broke my wrist.
 
Tamborista

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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RayO said:
We have a Sanyo laptop & Movil Claro wifi (pay as you go), luz goes off & on all day & night. Never had any problems at all & am on here all the time since I broke my wrist.
Click to expand...

Are you connected to your WIFI in the house, or is it Movil 3G, big difference.
 
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bigbird

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May 1, 2005
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Hillbilly said:
...Since we are on one of those "24 Hour, A-circuits" we do not have many power outages........

BUT WHEN THE POWER JUST WENT OUT A FEW MINUTES AGO, I LOST MY INTERNET CONNECTION. WHY? I THOUGHT THAT THE UPS WOULD BE FAST ENOUGH TO KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING. WAS I WAY OFF THE MARK??..............

HB
Click to expand...

Just a wild guess but maybe one of those one time freak things.

I basically have the same set-up as you. I have an APC UPS. I connected my modem, router, 42" TV, and cable box to my UPS. The few times the power has gone out my equipment never missed a beat. On one occasion the power was out 40 minutes and the building planta never kicked in. Surprisingly I was able to watch TV and surf the net during this time without the UPS battery losing power.
 
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VJS

Bronze
Sep 19, 2010
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Most, or at least some, UPS units come with 2 types of sockets: the ones that provide protection against power interruption and the others simply protect from power spikes but they cut off power when the power goes out. Just a possibility, but make sure your modem is plugged into the first set of plugs.
 
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DavidZ

Silver
Aug 29, 2005
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www.vipcigartours.com
3 possible answers...first (and most likely), what VJS said....the outlets on the back should be labeled "protected" and "non-protected" or something like that. Almost all UPS's have both types of outlets on the back. Second, when the power goes out, the power could also go out somewhere on the Internet transmission line...and needs to reset like everything else. Third, defective unit...
 
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17844

New member
Feb 2, 2013
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VJS has a good point. Here are a couple of other ideas:

1. The UPS does not provide a pure sine wave that the modem likes and so it shuts off when the UPS kicks in. Easy to try at any time by pulling the electric plug to the UPS out while watching the modem - the UPS battery should kick in instantaneously and the modem should not restart.

2. The UPS does not charge as the power from the grid is not "good", easy to tell by looking at the power indicator of the UPS, should read 100% when it had power for a good while and also, if this is the problem, the test above fails and at the same time the UPS goes black if you pull the power cord.

3. The Codetel station does not have a working UPS so even if your modem has power from your UPS, the modem on the other side dies when the power dies and the connection drops. If the test above is ok then this is a probably the issue.

If Codetel is the problem, you can try to switch to 3G as failover with a special router that has two wan connections, cost about $200 on amazon, will swith to the 3G backup if the main fails.

Cheers
 
K

Koreano

Bronze
Jan 18, 2012
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HB...

It's the electric supply from edenorte or your wiring in your house could be bad. Most of the time it's the bad wiring, but don't rule out the edenorte. Try unplugging your UPS from the wall outlet and see if UPS still have power and see if battery stay on at least 1/2 of time stated on manual, if not replace the battery. If your battery is still good try plugging the UPS into different outlets around your house, you will soon find a good ones with stable supply of power. If my method doesn't helps, it's either your UPS or your supply is REALLY BAD. So do necessary action accordingly.

We've used MANY UPS try to keep computer to turning off that is not connected to inversor but we got tired of buying battery from amazon and consistently replacing it, so we connected 4 more battery to our inversor.

Good luck finding the "plugs that is snug fit for yours...".
 
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wp3gi

New member
Oct 30, 2010
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You should perform a basic troubleshooting test to make SURE that your UPS is causing the problem and not your provider's UPS or something else.

While your electric power is being supplied by the company, unplug the power for the UPS and see if that has the same effect. If it does have the same effect then it's your UPS if not then your UPS is not the problem.

Try that, let us know.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Good answers, all. I have the brand new Back UPS BE350G Series. It only has the modem and the wifi (Cisco Valet) on it.
The transfer time is 6ms to 10ms.

The unit comes with a big strip of yellow tape across the top, which says STOP! Plug in the battery! So I plugged in the battery.
plugged it into the wall socket (I have very good lights).

However, like most hillbillies I did not read the instructions and had the stuff plugged into surge protecter plugs not the Battery plugs...Okay I fixed that when I found those plugs by taking the tape off...Yeah, I know, but Im from WVa...what did you expect????

I will keep following developments..

Thank you all for your help..Great information...

HB
 
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bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
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Hillbilly said:
Good answers, all. I have the brand new Back UPS BE350G Series. It only has the modem and the wifi (Cisco Valet) on it.
The transfer time is 6ms to 10ms..................

HB
Click to expand...


Good you have the problem resolved. You can also add your pc to the UPS. Not only does the UPS provide power in a power outage it also provides power if the street voltage gets too high or too low.
 
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carib

New member
Jul 16, 2002
142
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0
Hi HB,

If you have Claro DSL there mey be nothing you can do. In Cabarete when the power goes out all DSL connections drop off until Claro restores their power. (it is claro that also needs a UPS) I do not have that problem with my new cable modem from Cable del Norte Cabarete, but we all had problems with codetel.....

carib
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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If you have several low wattage appliances (like a modem or wifi) consider a power strip logged into the switch outlet so you don't use all the switch outlets.
 
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frank12

Gold
Sep 6, 2011
11,847
30
48
Hillbilly said:
Good answers, all. I have the brand new Back UPS BE350G Series. It only has the modem and the wifi (Cisco Valet) on it.
The transfer time is 6ms to 10ms.

The unit comes with a big strip of yellow tape across the top, which says STOP! Plug in the battery! So I plugged in the battery.
plugged it into the wall socket (I have very good lights).

However, like most hillbillies I did not read the instructions and had the stuff plugged into surge protecter plugs not the Battery plugs...Okay I fixed that when I found those plugs by taking the tape off...Yeah, I know, but Im from WVa...what did you expect????

I will keep following developments..

Thank you all for your help..Great information...
HB
Click to expand...

What part of West Virginia are you from? I spent a lot of time in Princeton & Bluefield--practically lived there in the early 80's. If you're from this area, then yes, maybe i know what the problem is. I suffer from the same problem.:)

Frank
 
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Expat-in-Cabarete

Bronze
Jan 17, 2009
1,622
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We have UPS and Claro. We do not lose Internet because the power goes out, except of course, if the UPS battery is not fully charged, or if it takes more time for the power to come back than the time available in the UPS battery. Many UPS batteries only last on for just 5-10 minutes of outage.

carib said:
Hi HB,

If you have Claro DSL there mey be nothing you can do. In Cabarete when the power goes out all DSL connections drop off until Claro restores their power. (it is claro that also needs a UPS) I do not have that problem with my new cable modem from Cable del Norte Cabarete, but we all had problems with codetel.....

carib
Click to expand...
 
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Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
16,772
429
0
Santiago
I've had Claro for the last 7 years and since I got my last inverter in 2008 I rarely if ever lose my internet connection.

My advice is along with Pelaut's that it basically has to do with the switch over time. I would have the inverter supplier see if they can tune this part to have a faster time.
 
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PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
3,566
301
83
This is just a consideration, PJT is not a geek but suggests the UPS unit may be working. However, the power outages may affect a nearby "Claro" infrastructure moving the communication signal, creating a burp (change from street power to backup) just long enough to break off the conversations.

Regards,

PJT
 
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