NAME: Electra-Guard 1
PRODUCT: Voltage Supressor
PRICE: $16.95
AVAILABLE FROM: E. Arthur Brown
3404 Pawnee Drive
Alexandria, MN 53608
(612) 762-8847
How many of you have experienced this situation?:
You are sitting at your keyboard, typing in the “ultimate” program. You’ve been at it for three hours, and you have two lines left. Suddenly, your wife starts the clothes dryer in the basement…you see a glitch on the screen…POOF!!! Three hours of work down the drain…
This problem is caused because household electricity is “raw”. That is, the current is not carefully regulated, and surges, or “spikes”, can occur instantaneously, possibly causing even permanent damage to your computer.
The solution is to attach a surge protector or voltage regulator to the outlet that your computer is plugged into. But, the cost of the device has been more than the price of most home computers.
That is, until now. E. Arthur Brown Company has a low-cost voltage supressor available called the ELECTRA-GUARD 1. For under $20.00, you can give your system protection against surges and spikes.
The ELECTRA-GUARD 1 has a Windocator, a visual indicator to determine that it is doing its job. ELECTRA-GUARD is also good for stereos, microwaves, or any electronic appliance you have.
I do not claim that ELECTRA-GUARD 1 will do the same job as those over – $100.00 surge protectors, but it will protect well enough to warrent buying it for your system.
ELECTRA-GUARD 1 is one of those devices that is doing its job when you DON’T notice it. For low-cost protection for your computer system, I highly recommend it.
Bill Ferrebee
Power Saver 1000 ($59.95) Power Saver 2000 ($199.95) H & Z Electronics P.O.Box 8761 Madison, WI 53708
POWER SAVER 1000 & 2000 BATTERY BACK-UP
The Power Saver 1000 is an uninterruptible power supply for the TS 1000 series of computers (ZX81, TS1500). The Power Saver 2000 is similar, but for use with the TS 2068.
There are two ways in which the Power Saver 1000 (or PS 1000) charges itself; these two modes are selected by a switch on the case. In fast mode, the PS 1000 recharges from no charge up to full charge over a period of several hours (overnight) when the computer is not in use. After the batteries are fully charged, the slow charging mode draws off a trickle of current continually to keep the batteries at maximum charge. The PS 1000 is self-regulated to protect against overcharging.
The PS 1000 works as advertised. I was able to unplug the Sinclair power supply (which supplies the power to the PS 1000) for several minutes without memory loss. The instructions say that the computer can be operated up to 7 hours in this manner. With 16K the charge lasts 3½ hours.
So if your household current is undependable or if your computer blanks out each time your refrigerator or furnace comes on, this unit should be very helpful. It would have been nice if they had incorporated a surge suppressor in the design, that way you would be protected from too much or too little power. It would also be nice if you didn’t have to remove the cover to change the fuse.
Dan Richardson