[wellylug] UPS

[Arnim Littek]

On Sat, 07 May 2005 21:33:00 +1200 Jethro Carr <jethro.carr at jedolinux.com> wrote:
> The documentation that came with it, says that you should not connect
> multi-boards to the battery protected sockets!
> 
> This doesn't make sense to me, as a power socket on the back is a power
> socket - anything should be able to plug into it! Does anyone know if it
> could actually cause problems?

What you're device(s) will draw is a current, but it is not just the magnitude of the current.  That is, however, likely the most easily detected element, and I'd be surprised if Belkin went to the trouble of trying to specify what power factor (ie. what phase angle) you were permitted to draw from each of those sockets.

You're right, there's essentially no way anyone can tell whether you've plugged a single device into any one plug, or a layer of them, via a power board or a series of piggybacked plugs.  And even if Belkin has specified both magnitude and phase angle of the power you're allowed to draw (or real and "imaginary" = "reactive" power) I don't think they expect any normal householder or small business to have the capability to measure it anyway.  

At best you can match the power output capability specified for any one plug with the power input requirements of the devices you attach downstream.  And that's all that Belkin can probably realistically ask you about if something goes pop.

FWIW,

Arnim.