In most of the United States Spring means the return of storm season. As I write this we are under a storm alert serious enough that they have dismissed school and are bussing children back home in preparation for everything from heavy rain to tennis ball sized hail, lightening and tornados expected this afternoon.
I have my storm plan in place how about you? My plan includes, flashlights, dog leashes, Milano cookies and a fully charged phone at the ready. It also includes making sure that my sewing machines are unplugged.
Now I have to admit that on an average day my machines are not unplugged and since I sew every day I have no real desire to do that but I also know that power surges, and dirty-power along with spikes and dips are hard on our precious electronics so when I get a new machine I always invest in a new UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply.
Make no mistake, a UPS is not your mama’s surge protector/power strip. This is a meaty piece of protection that should be sold with each and every machine that goes out the door of a sewing machine shop. This is that added layer of protection that “conditions” the power as it comes from the outlet in your wall and flows to your machine. It acts not only as a power back up and surge protector – it equalizes the power that your machine receives into a nice steady stream that you machine can deal with. I have to admit I geek-out a little watching the readout on how the power is all jumpy as it comes into the machine and so steady as it flows out on its way to my machine.
For me this gives me piece-of-mind during summer brown-downs, unexpected power outages (storms or not) and more. Not only does the power stay clean it gives me a couple of minutes to stop sewing and situate myself since the power back up feature gives you 5-15 minutes of stored power for this exact purpose. Not to mention those storms and lightening that seem to pop up when you are away from home!
Prices range from $50 to $150, which as you might imagine gets you from bare-bones to the larger fancier units with read-outs and diagnostics. Again this is not a power strip and you will find these unsung sewing-room heroes for purchase at places that sell computers and the like. ( Think Best Buy, etc)
I agree with Lifehacker and own 3 of the models they mention. You can check that out here
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