{"id":42,"date":"2006-02-07T16:59:38","date_gmt":"2006-02-07T22:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.89.31.222\/~wkblogco\/?p=42"},"modified":"2008-05-14T16:14:26","modified_gmt":"2008-05-14T22:14:26","slug":"buy-a-battery-backupand-please-dont-void-the-50000-insurance-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/2006\/02\/buy-a-battery-backupand-please-dont-void-the-50000-insurance-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Buy a Battery Backup…and please don’t void the $50,000 insurance policy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A month ago<\/a>, we pleaded with all DVR owners to purchase an uninterruptible power supply<\/a>. We consider this so important, that we\u2019re reminding you again\u2014please, if you have a TiVo DVR, purchase a UPS! A UPS, unlike a standard surge protector or line conditioner, will protect your TiVo from power fluctuations, surges and power drops. Because it has a battery to provide power, a UPS is able to increase power when it drops, and can step down power when there is a surge.<\/p>\n

\"apc_ups.jpg\"<\/div>\n

UPSs nearly always come with some amount of \u2018insurance\u2019 from the manufacturer, which promises that if any unit connected to the UPS is damaged from a power event (surge, brownout, etc.), the company will reimburse you for your losses. After talking with several manufacturers, we have learned a bit about how these insurance policies work.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the purpose of a UPS is to avoid trouble down the road. However, if you do have problems, you\u2019ll want to be sure that the UPS manufacturer\u2019s insurance policy will cover your losses. To do so, you must install the UPS properly, and comply with the manufacturer\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

The insurance policy on UPS devices is likely to require you to jump through various hoops. For example, APC has a number of conditions<\/a> that must be met if you expect to make a claim, including.<\/p>\n

1. REGISTER YOUR PRODUCT ON TIME!<\/strong> You must register the product by returning to APC the warranty card provided with the product within 10 days of purchase. All information must be filled in, and you should retain a copy for your records. The warranty card must clearly identify the types of electronic equipment that will be plugged into the APC product for which protection under this policy is claimed. All connected equipment must be UL or CSA approved.<\/p>\n

2. DO NOT USE A UPS WITH AN EXTENSION CORD, SURGE PROTECTOR OR OTHER DEVICE!<\/strong> The APC product must be plugged into properly wired and grounded outlets; no extension cords, adapters, other ground wires, or electrical connections may be used, with the sole exception of other standard APC 120 volt products. The installation must not include power protection products made by any manufacturer other than APC. The installation must comply with all applicable electrical and safety codes set forth pursuant to the National Electrical Code (NEC).<\/p>\n

3. SUBMIT YOUR CLAIM QUICKLY!<\/strong> Any claim under the Equipment Protection Policy must be made within 10 days of the date of alleged damage to the connected equipment.<\/p>\n

I suspect that the number of failures attributable to a faulty UPS is fairly small. However small, though, it seems pretty clear that the number of valid claims has got to be miniscule. How many UPS purchasers read the fine print sufficiently enough to register the product? And of those who have actually registered, how many fail to submit the claim on time? It’s gotta be a small number.<\/p>\n

I don’t mean to suggest that UPSs fail frequently; to the contrary, we have many customers whose problems (TiVo-related problems, that is) disappeared the day they purchased a UPS. Inexpensive investment…well worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A month ago, we pleaded with all DVR owners to purchase an uninterruptible power supply. We consider this so important, that we\u2019re reminding you again\u2014please, if you have a TiVo DVR, purchase a UPS! A UPS, unlike a standard surge protector or line conditioner, will protect your TiVo from power fluctuations, surges and power drops. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkblog.com\/tivo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}