Preventing “Brown Outs”
Everybody has heard of a power surge, but most people will give you a funny look if you say brown-out. While a surge is a sudden jolt of extra electricity, a brown-out is actually a loss in electricity. And surprisingly, I have seen more damage to electronic equipment from brown-outs than from power surges. This may be due to the fact that surge protector power strips are cheap, while the hardware necessary to prevent a brown-out is not.
When a brown-out occurs, partial power is lost. This causes lights to dim and eventually "brown out" before power is completely lost. These few seconds of partial power can do serious damage to your computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment. Every component in your computer requires a specific amount of electricity to function. When full power is lost, the device shuts down fairly safely. But when partial power is lost, the device struggles to operate on limited power. Because it was designed for normal power, this scenario has a high chance of destroying the device. Imagine putting rubbing alcohol in a car engine. The device, in this case an engine, would be operating on a power source outside normal specifications. Result? Blown head gasket.
In order to prevent against brown-outs, use of various Battery Backup Systems is recommended. These systems, created mostly by APC and CyberPower, can protect your electronic equipment at a fraction of the cost to purchase a new computer. My personal preference is APC, but CyberPower is a little cheaper. To make things simple, both companies' sales teams will assist you by explaining their systems and which best suits you. The general rule of thumb is to pick up a ~400Watt system for a single desktop computer and monitor. If you are including extra equipment, such as a router and modem, allow for an extra ~50Watts. Make sure to purchase a model that comes with a USB cable and software, which will put your computer in Hibernation mode in the event of an extended power outage (these battery backups can run out of power if your main electricity goes down for too long.)
The product I use most often is the APC BE650G. At $89.99, you are not going to find a better buy for protecting your desktop computer and monitor. If you are running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, just plug in the USB wire and you are done; no need to even install the software. My second choice would be the CyberPower CP1000AVR. It only runs $79.99 for slightly more Wattage, but it uses a serial connection instead of USB.
Quick Tip: If you are using a laptop computer, you only need a simple surge protector power strip, not a battery backup.
