# UPS for my Bolt?



## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

I've already purchased it, actually: An APC BE350G Back-UPS from Amazon for $43.99, as recommended by WeaKnees here:

http://www.weaknees.com/protect.php

I also got one for my Roamio Plus. Reason: I've lost so many TiVo boxes to either hard drive failures or bad power supplies - see the list below my signature - and all of them (including my current Roamio Plus) have had lifetime service. TiVo even replaced my first Premiere with a reconditioned one when it went up, though it was out of warranty, as a reward for my customer loyalty. But if a UPS will extend the "lifetime" of my Roamio Plus, it would pay for itself, I believe. And if it stands to give my new Bolt a long life expectancy, it might justify getting "all in" service on that unit.

Apparently, a UPS provides protection against both power surges and power drops, and accordingly is better than an ordinary surge suppressor.

What are other people's thoughts on this matter?


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## rsday75 (Oct 8, 2015)

I had an older small UPS that I had the cable DVR on just because the thing took 15 minutes to boot if the power flickered and then could take a day to get all the guide data back.(What a piece of crap)
My BOLT is plugged into it now simply because I have it, and figure it can't hurt.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

My UPS also has a cable surge suppressor on it. I think I lost one TiVo to a power surge after a power outage and a surge in the coax for another.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

chicagobrownblue said:


> My UPS also has a cable surge suppressor on it. I think I lost one TiVo to a power surge after a power outage and a surge in the coax for another.


MoCA probably won't work through those.


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

rsday75 said:


> I had an older small UPS ... My BOLT is plugged into it now simply because I have it, and figure it can't hurt.


An excellent idea: it couldn't hurt!


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

chicagobrownblue said:


> My UPS also has a cable surge suppressor on it. I think I lost one TiVo to a power surge after a power outage and a surge in the coax for another.


I'm not quite sure what a cable surge suppressor is for. Can there be power surges along the coaxial cable? If so, I hadn't thought of that ...


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

tarheelblue32 said:


> MoCA probably won't work through those.


... referring to *chicagobrownblue*'s cable surge suppressor. I use MoCA on my TiVo boxes, so I guess I can't use a cable surge suppressor anyway.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

epstewart said:


> I'm not quite sure what a cable surge suppressor is for. Can there be power surges along the coaxial cable? If so, I hadn't thought of that ...


If lightning hits the ground near a buried coax cable, it can induce an electric current through the line. This in another advantage that fiber has over coax. Glass is an insulator and won't carry a current. Still, a surge through the coax is much less likely than a surge through the power lines so it's not a huge risk.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

epstewart said:


> I've already purchased it, actually: An APC BE350G Back-UPS from Amazon for $43.99, as recommended by WeaKnees here:
> 
> http://www.weaknees.com/protect.php
> 
> ...


I've always used my TiVos on UPSs since my first three TiVos almost fourteen years ago. For over the last decade I've had all my electronic devices on UPSs. From my receivers, to my subwoofers, to my TVs etc.

Currently I use over a dozen of the APC 1500 units with extended runtime batteries. So I can get between 2 hours and 18 hours of runtime depending on the load.


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I've always used my TiVos on UPSs since my first three TiVos almost fourteen years ago. For over the last decade I've had all my electronic devices on UPSs. From my receivers, to my subwoofers, to my TVs etc.
> 
> Currently I use over a dozen of the APC 1500 units with extended runtime batteries. So I can get between 2 hours and 18 hours of runtime depending on the load.


It's cool to hear that TiVo enthusiasts other than myself are into UPSs the way you are. I consider this a topic that ought to get more attention here at TCF, if only because UPSs are not cheap and add to the "hidden" cost of buying a TiVo and keeping it in service  particularly if a TiVo owner gets lifetime (or "all in") service and doesn't want the TiVo to crap out before he gets his money's worth.


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

tarheelblue32 said:


> If lightning hits the ground near a buried coax cable, it can induce an electric current through the line. This in another advantage that fiber has over coax. Glass is an insulator and won't carry a current. Still, a surge through the coax is much less likely than a surge through the power lines so it's not a huge risk.


I have Verizon FiOS fiber, so this is another reason not to be concerned about lacking a cable surge suppressor. Thanks.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

epstewart said:


> I have Verizon FiOS fiber, so this is another reason not to be concerned about lacking a cable surge suppressor. Thanks.


Yep, if you have FiOS, then you have no need to worry about that at all.


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

epstewart said:


> I'm not quite sure what a cable surge suppressor is for. Can there be power surges along the coaxial cable? If so, I hadn't thought of that ...


Yes.



epstewart said:


> ... referring to *chicagobrownblue*'s cable surge suppressor. I use MoCA on my TiVo boxes, so I guess I can't use a cable surge suppressor anyway.


This might work for you:

http://www.amazon.com/Filter-MoCA-Cable-coaxial-networks/dp/B00KO5KHSQ

Filter, MoCA "POE" for Cable TV & OTA coaxial networks ONLY


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I've always used UPSes on all of my TiVos. I don't bother with the Minis anymore, but use the small, compact CyberPower CP350SLG on my other TiVos. 

And I still have my massive APC J15 home theater UPS in the main cabinet which the primary Roamio Pro is plugged into.


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## Javelin3o4 (Apr 22, 2003)

I used UPS units for my TiVo Premiere and Tivo HD as well but more because the damn things take so long to boot up.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

I guess I will give one more point, I have TiVos from 2002 and never used a UPS, except once, lost power for about 10 seconds, the TiVo keep running but the cable went down, when the cable came back it did not syn with my TiVo, no recordings that night. I had to remove the cable from the TiVo then reconnect and all worked, so I stopped using any UPS except for my main PC computer. I have never had any problem by not using a UPS YMMV.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

epstewart said:


> ... referring to *chicagobrownblue*'s cable surge suppressor. I use MoCA on my TiVo boxes, so I guess I can't use a cable surge suppressor anyway.


It could work, so long as the cable surge suppressor is wired outside your MoCA network (i.e. on the "outside" of your MoCA PoE filter) -- which *won't* be possible, for some.


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