Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Even if you have power cut for a few minutes, you potentially stand to lose a lot of data – we’re talking from a business perspective. Imagine a power cut in your office (reason notwithstanding) and people not having had saved the work they have been doing – you should be scared to think how much business data gets lost. And then everyone having to do the same work they had been going all this while – it’s major time lost. This situation can be managed with Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). As the name suggests, Uninterruptible Power Supplies ensure continuous power supply to vital electronic equipment so that no data is lost and no piece of equipment is damaged.

Choosing your Uninterruptible Power Supply

How much power backup do you need?

The basic premise of buying Uninterruptible Power Supplies lies in calculating how much power you will need to run all the pieces of electronic equipment for which you need uninterrupted power supply. Once you have done the calculation, make sure you purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply that has 20% to 25% more output watt capacity than what you need. There is another bit of calculation you need to do – you need to figure out the time for which you need the power backup. It is possible you only need uninterrupted power supply for a few minutes – time enough for you to shut down all your computers etc. Or it is possible that you want the backup for as long as there is no power supply. In that case, you need a more powerful Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Important features in Uninterruptible Power Supplies

The different models of Uninterruptible Power Supplies have different features and you should choose the features as per your need. Some of the features worth looking at include:

• Surge protection – if there is any spike or surge, all your pieces of equipment are protected against it.
• Overvoltage protection – If there is overvoltage, the UPS can protect all the connected equipment.
• Online operation – this ensures that there is no transfer time gap to the battery.
• Pure sine wave output – if you have sensitive electronic equipment connected to your Uninterruptible Power Supply, pure sine wave output ensures perfect supply of power to these pieces of equipment.
• Brownout protection – this feature ensures that the voltage level is maintained without the UPS having to use power from the batteries.
• Battery backup – this feature ensures that there is backup power when there is power outage.

Space required for Uninterruptible Power Supplies

The amount of space you have also decides which of the Uninterruptible Power Supplies you should choose. There is the tower type Uninterruptible Power Supply that stands upright and can be placed on the ground or on a desktop. There is also the rack mount Uninterruptible Power Supply that is mounted on rack enclosures measuring 19 inches. This UPS needs more space.

Buy a scalable Uninterruptible Power Supply

Scalability is another important point for you to consider in Uninterruptible Power Supplies. Every UPS has a fixed number of outlets that connect to the pieces of equipment. Today you may only have five pieces of equipment and you would naturally be inclined to buy a UPS with five outlets. But why not look at Uninterruptible Power Supplies with 10 outlets (for example)? This will allow you to connect more pieces of electronic equipment in future. When you increase the number of electronic gadgets, you will then not need to buy a new UPS.

Advanced features in Uninterruptible Power Supplies

There are some advanced features of Uninterruptible Power Supplies that you should also consider.

• Energy saving

These are eco-friendly Uninterruptible Power Supplies that have become highly popular.

• Hot-swap replacement or repair

This feature allows uptime even when the UPS is getting repaired or replaced. This is possible with a detachable PDU.

• Communication ports

Some Uninterruptible Power Supplies have USB and DB9 as communication ports and these allow automatic shutdown and power management.

• Extended runtime

This feature allows connection with an external battery for more runtime.

• Remote power management

This feature allows you to monitor power consumption remotely and also reboot any piece of equipment that is unresponsive.

Which Uninterruptible Power Supplies for which use?

If you are interested in the most popular manufacturers of Uninterruptible Power Supplies, then the names you need to consider are APC, Tripp Lite, CyberPower Systems, Eaton and OPTI-UPS.

Among the most popular models are APC Back-UPS ES 550VA and APC Back-UPS 1000VA BR1000G from APC; Tripp Lite SMART1500RM2U and Tripp Lite TLP810NET from Tripp Lite; CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD and CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD from CyberPower; Eaton 5S1500LCD and Eaton 5PX1500iRT from Eaton and OPTI-UPS DS1000B and OPTI-UPS SS1200 from OPTI-UPS.

If you are looking for Uninterruptible Power Supplies with pure sine wave technology, then CyberPower rules the roost in this category. Some of the most popular Uninterruptible Power Supplies with pure sine wave technology are CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD, CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD, CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD, CyberPower OR1500PFCRT2U and CyberPower CP850PFCLCD.

If space is of concern, opt for tower Uninterruptible Power Supplies like CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD, APC Back-UPS RS Pro 700VA and CyberPower CP850PFCLCD.