Power Strip Vs Surge Protector vs UPS

iko22 said:

Yes, I did look but it doesn't say. Only quantifies surge protection in terms of joules.

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joules (energy) and let through voltage. You can find the latter on the manufacturers website for the model. Some also stae surge amperage.

Josey Wales said:

A power strip without surge protection is kind of useless .........................

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or vice versa

PerpetualCycle said:

or vice versa

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You can get whole building surge protection devices built in. They have no power strip.

kelper said:

You can get whole building surge protection devices built in. They have no power strip.

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LOL. We were talking about power strips though

hsehestedt said:

That EcoFlow IS a UPS in addition to being a power station. It comes with UPS monitoring software and uses a USB connection back to the PC for monitoring and to perform an orderly shutdown just like a real UPS. That incredible versatility is one of the reasons that I like it so much.

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What is the exact ecoflow model you are using? So when using it, say the power goes out. Now any monitor and laptop or any electronic will now be using power from it?

So you won't have any downtime at all like if you had it connected all to a surge protector where now you need to unplug everything from the surge protector and connect it to the ecoflow?

Can you do this with all types of power stations or not? I have seen Jackery power stations on amazon that are like 1070W or more and those are power stations. But I thought you leave those to the side and only connect to it when you need it? If you connect to it like a UPS, wouldn't it be draining power though if it's on 24/7? With a power station, don't you just charge it to 100% and then power it off? Then when you need it... turn it on and connect your devices to it? If you use it like UPS, isn't the battery going to wear it fast?

PerpetualCycle said:

I will just speak for the surge protectors.

Highly recommended surge protector brands: TRIPP LITE and APC.

let through voltage is just as important or even more important that joules. This is the threshold voltage at which a voltage surge will trip off the power. The closer to 120V the better (they won't get too close to 120V though) - 330V is good.. If this threshold is too high, a surge could damage your equipment.

I prefer TRIPP LITE myself. They also make data center surge protectors and UPS and also consumer UPS.

When you use a surge protector, every piece of equipment that electrically connected (including cable and other wired connections) must go through it. For instance, If you have a PC with monitors and a cable modem with an Ethernet connection to the PC, they must all go through the surge protector. Otherwise, current from a lightning strike or power over-current may travel through house power, to the peripheral, and through its conductive connection to the PC, even though the PC power is protected.

Also, every time there is a surge, it weakens the surge protectors ability to protect. They usually come with a "protected" light, which if indicated unprotected, you should replace it. If you get a lot of power outages you should check that indicator periodically.

I am using three of these in my office, and have numerous others in my house:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AI0N2?th=1

You can also get a whole house surge protector for surprisingly little - anywhere for A few hundred dollars to a thousand, though I have not any experience with these, I have looked into them.

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The one on Amazon that you have is pretty expensive.

What about the ones I posted earlier?

newmann said:

What is the exact ecoflow model you are using? So when using it, say the power goes out. Now any monitor and laptop or any electronic will now be using power from it?

So you won't have any downtime at all like if you had it connected all to a surge protector where now you need to unplug everything from the surge protector and connect it to the ecoflow?

Can you do this with all types of power stations or not? I have seen Jackery power stations on amazon that are like 1070W or more and those are power stations. But I thought you leave those to the side and only connect to it when you need it? If you connect to it like a UPS, wouldn't it be draining power though if it's on 24/7? With a power station, don't you just charge it to 100% and then power it off? Then when you need it... turn it on and connect your devices to it? If you use it like UPS, isn't the battery going to wear it fast?

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It is the EcoFlow River 3 Plus. EcoFlow only sells two models with true UPS capabilities, and this is one of them. A number of Power Stations have basic UPS capabilities often citing a 20mS switchover. This unit is a very fast 10mS switchover and it has "real" UPS capabilities like the ability to shutdown your PC in an orderly manner when the battery gets low. It connects to your PC using a USB cable for communication between the PC and the EcoFlow.

When it is connected to your PC, it passes power through from the AC line. As a result, it is not draining the battery. But if power drops, it switches over to the battery within 10mS which is easily fast enough to keep the PC running without interruption.

As I noted, most power stations have basic UPS functionality in that they can switch from line power to battery fast enough to provide continuos operation, but they have no two-way communication with the PC like a real UPS does.

If you need any further information, feel free to ask!

newmann said:

Is the Anker one below the best one? What about the Belkin one? Avoid other non brand names right like the 3rd one below even though it has good ratings? Some of the bad ratings are bad though in those products. What about rocket fish brand from best buy?​

Anker Power Strip with 2100J Surge Protector, Outlet Extender, 20W, 12 AC​

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Protector-Multiple-Extension-Essential/dp/B09SG2Q23M/ref=sr_1_3?crid=26VBW6FA2Z33W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GaUDJu_n4gewZoCVlsXRnOKnidhYusOaUpDrYeOpsRsn_ciEbWCA149eU77BlsqaFPfG8PLMn0bVQwGJlNNz8Ymkacg-XYm2j5KwrwQoXg1A9fX1BJkceDzrW6owb33ruRJsLdYBRkIqHgPv__qTxl61l90VFFcM9mXDjrb0MzOiTkfwtFuIbeKS6vPoQmtQ8AXPL8OqOrQGArjza_p-8X4OwBBsaxX_pXZZVrwW3n4.auTjp6v-Moj5sD20_AW2FsubqiPAQ2skDjukVDssJHU&dib_tag=se&keywords=surge%2Bprotector&qid=1791135161&sprefix=surge%2Bp%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-3&th=1

Belkin 12-Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip w/ 12 AC Outlets & 8ft Flat Plug, UL-Listed Heavy-Duty Extension Cord for Home, Office, Travel, Computer, Laptop, Charger - 3,780 Joules of Protection​

https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-12-Outlet-Protector-Heavy-Duty-Extension/dp/B0C6S6TPRH/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1GR8H700G17W3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.LFh2iyDRG7Z-htOeBPz-D38NyOAVoBNkUO1Z3wlZuBVQ5AbZXKvs4uDvVGvhJOSSsZyLLOU2iEdTgJ3gWRfvhOJwKp_u-ZzakL4fg4cT8ABVIumxaBBWBQ6XM8qbr6h52RYu9G2OGIrnKOWSWScEUROtibsCdgLPJfXXLj7lZcngC3U3sIcRss6OahLzFxFcuSYYui0J2if7PqR9NTtAfe2QQqTSVib76K7nsSrtvwk.kuHnSLfLR3vpGCY5gSsX1_f9SAL7A3_DwsJ6qAjXD2s&dib_tag=se&keywords=belkin%2Bsurge%2Bprotector&qid=1791137310&sprefix=belkin%2Bsur%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-3&th=1

Surge Protector Power Strip - Nuetsa Flat Plug Extension Cord with 8 Outlets and 4 USB Ports, 6 Feet Power Cord, 2700 Joules, ETL Listed, Black​

https://www.amazon.com/Protector-Nuetsa-Extension-Outlets-Joules/dp/B09F2XPJ47/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2JL06QGMSGFVF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.h8tojv5EH_VWsZTVWvAF_9GpmgwgQ3RT-Ks5SJNgVJjI_ix2w3U4XLHi_xk2KpTL2UV-e86bH350qFvwVH6kB-BbQJqJotCB_zsBkrHnuHAUn087D_D8LEvPQE_D2nB8jDFoovvW2v5f_AuRb569DpuVlWQVWF9s70RyDg-8UEeNQW1cW6ZuTaCffKFNuMh61KjLqn3jTytOzPjIURxVCShkIZ8PU70RCZL3gqrBpHGRzrxqLaqBCyzyzznh-XHc8X8aLQwdYsy7VSVa4fh71huxyghL3naw9yF3CZHWM4M.G0uFI1KIlYAcfI4EKBXE5ZL9ttfV55T1ZV33MqIhkqU&dib_tag=se&keywords=surge%2Bprotector&qid=1791135276&s=electronics&sprefix=sur%2Celectronics%2C96&sr=1-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

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Thoughts on these 3 surge protectors? The last one should be avoided since it's not a big brand name right? So either the 1st or 2nd option of Anker or Belkin would be fine? The belkin is 3,780 joules which is a lot more than the Anker at 2100 joules.

hsehestedt said:

It is the EcoFlow River 3 Plus. EcoFlow only sells two models with true UPS capabilities, and this is one of them. A number of Power Stations have basic UPS capabilities often citing a 20mS switchover. This unit is a very fast 10mS switchover and it has "real" UPS capabilities like the ability to shutdown your PC in an orderly manner when the battery gets low. It connects to your PC using a USB cable for communication between the PC and the EcoFlow.

When it is connected to your PC, it passes power through from the AC line. As a result, it is not draining the battery. But if power drops, it switches over to the battery within 10mS which is easily fast enough to keep the PC running without interruption.

As I noted, most power stations have basic UPS functionality in that they can switch from line power to battery fast enough to provide continuos operation, but they have no two-way communication with the PC like a real UPS does.

If you need any further information, feel free to ask!

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I took a look at that. So only 2 of ecoflow's power stations have UPS capabilities. I thought they all didn't or all did.

What if someone buys a Jackery 1070Wh power station? Could they use it like a UPS or not? Imagine connecting 2 laptops and 2 monitors to it all the time with the power all on the time. Wouldn't this drain the power station battery though?

Thus compare that with buying a Jackery 1070W power station and charging it to 100%... and then just powering it off. The only time you power it on and connect your devices is when you need to like when it's a power outage? That is the correct way to use a regular power station right? I heard these are good for 10 years as well but that is assuming you aren't using it all the time right?


Wouldn't the ideal setup be to get a Cyperpower UPS and have 2 laptops and 2 monitors connected to it all the time? Now when a power outage happens, you can do 1 of 2 things?

1. Continue doing what you are doing until either the UPS runs out of battery and then your devices all turn off. Of course the power can come back on within 10 minutes and you don't need to do anything else. The 2 monitors will turn off but your 2 laptops won't since it would still have its own battery. Then you unplug the cables from the UPS and connect all the cables to the Jackery power station. Then you power the Jackery power station on and continue doing what you are doing until you are done or when the power station runs out of battery?


2. Continue doing what you are doing until maybe until the UPS has 50% battery left? Once it does that, then unplug all cables from UPS and connect it to the Jackery power station and then continue what you are doing? I read if you ever drained a UPS to 0%, it wears out the battery more... is that true? I always read people say a UPS isn't meant to be used to continue doing what you are doing but to safely save anything and power your devices. Well if you have 2 laptops and 2 monitors, that isn't usually a concern since it isn't a desktop right?


The other setup would be buy a regular surge protector which costs a lot less than a UPS. Then when power goes out, if you have a Jackery power station, now unplug cables from surge protector and connect it all to the Jackery power station?


It would seem like if you don't have power outage issue in your area and want to protect your devices, surge protector is good enough? A UPS probably isn't needed? But if you want battery backup to continue what you are doing, a power station is exactly what you want right?

newmann said:

What if someone buys a Jackery 1070Wh power station? Could they use it like a UPS or not? Imagine connecting 2 laptops and 2 monitors to it all the time with the power all on the time. Wouldn't this drain the power station battery though?

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A couple of things to consider: No, you are NOT draining the battery. As I stated, power stations passthrough power from the AC line to devices that are plugged into it and only switch to battery when AC output fails. Besides, even if was running on battery (and it is NOT), remember that LiFePO4 batteries now have up to 5,000 cycles. So, even if you went through a full charge / discharge cycle EVERY SINGLE DAY, that gives you 13.7 years before the battery is down to 80% capacity.

The difference between just an ordinary power station and a true UPS is that a true UPS typically cuts over from AC line power to battery faster, for example, 10mS vs 20mS. 20mS is typically fast enough, but it may be a bit slow for some excessively sensitive devices. Also, with a power station, you will need to shut down your computer manually since the power station has no way to communicate a low battery condition to the PC. That's fine if you are there to manually perform a shutdown. Not so good if you are not present to intervene.

newmann said:

The one on Amazon that you have is pretty expensive.

What about the ones I posted earlier?

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Of those I would go for the Anker. Never heard of Nuetsa - and it looks really cramped, and has a high 600v clamping voltage. The belkin is really an old model, and I believe has higher clamping / let through voltages than the Anker.

I have never had an Anker surge protector, but have had numerous of their other products and have always been happy with the quality. I think I had that same Belkin and wasn't too thrilled.

hsehestedt said:

A couple of things to consider: No, you are NOT draining the battery. As I stated, power stations passthrough power from the AC line to devices that are plugged into it and only switch to battery when AC output fails. Besides, even if was running on battery (and it is NOT), remember that LiFePO4 batteries now have up to 5,000 cycles. So, even if you went through a full charge / discharge cycle EVERY SINGLE DAY, that gives you 13.7 years before the battery is down to 80% capacity.

The difference between just an ordinary power station and a true UPS is that a true UPS typically cuts over from AC line power to battery faster, for example, 10mS vs 20mS. 20mS is typically fast enough, but it may be a bit slow for some excessively sensitive devices. Also, with a power station, you will need to shut down your computer manually since the power station has no way to communicate a low battery condition to the PC. That's fine if you are there to manually perform a shutdown. Not so good if you are not present to intervene.

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Can you explain what is a life cycle? So you say they have 5,000 life cycles. So you use the entire Jackery 1070 Wh power station from 100% to 0%. Now you charge it back to 100%. That counts as only 1 life cycle?

The thing is if you only use the power station during a power outage or when you need to, wouldn't that mean you could use it for a very long time even more than it's supposed to last for? So these typically last 10 years before they are no good?

So let say on average you use it just once a month and thus use it up and then charge it back to 100% each time. If you do that 12 times a year, that means you only used 144 cycles? So if you do that for 10 years, it only uses up 1440 cycles? But the average person who buys this is going to use it a few times a month. So say they use it 3 times a month. So if they do that every month for 10 years, that would be over 4000 cycles right?

But even if you don't it much, it wouldn't last for like 15 years or more because the battery degrades right? Imagine someone discharging it to 0% after using it and then charging it back to 100% and say they only used it 2 times a year. So after 10 years, they only discharged it 20 times. But because the battery degrades, it probably won't last more than 15 years?

When I had a UPS, I didn't even use it more than a few times a year. It ran out of battery after I believe 3 years or so. I probably discharged it to 0% and then charged it back to 100% no more than 15 times maximum in those 3 years or so. Almost always, the UPS was plugged into outlet and I didn't even power my UPS on. Only time I power it on was when power outage and the I remove all the cables from my surge protector and connect it to the UPS. But UPS is different because those batteries wear out no matter what even if you have it turned off for an extended period of time right?

In your example of it full charge and discharge everyday, the capacity would still be 80%. If that's the case, how long can you still use it for then?

PerpetualCycle said:

Of those I would go for the Anker. Never heard of Nuetsa - and it looks really cramped, and has a high 600v clamping voltage. The belkin is really an old model, and I believe has higher clamping / let through voltages than the Anker.

I have never had an Anker surge protector, but have had numerous of their other products and have always been happy with the quality. I think I had that same Belkin and wasn't too thrilled.

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Anker has good ratings and so does the Belkin. But does the joules makes a big difference? Anker has 2100 joules but Belkin has 3700 joules.

Nuetsa is not a big name brand and reviews don't look that good.

Yes the Belkin is an old model. It was one of the highest rated ones back then on Amazon I believe. My concern with that Belkin model was even though there are a lot of great reviews, I saw a few reviews of it not being good and dangerous like it causing a fire and things like that. But all models will eventually have someone make those comments right?

Why didn't you like the Belkin surge protector you had?

The only other brand I'm looking at is Rocketfish which is a Best Buy brand. It has very good reviews. Only thing is it's quite expensive compared to the Anker or Belkin one. It seems rare to find negative reviews on Best Buy for Rocketfish brand. Anyone know why? Is it because it's real good?