Uninterruptible power supply: How to pick the right one

A straightforward fix is provided by an uninterruptible power supply service, which is essentially a battery in a box with enough power-to-power devices plugged into its AC outlets for minutes to hours depending on your requirements and the hardware configuration. This may enable you to maintain internet connectivity throughout a prolonged power outage, give your desktop computer with a hard drive the five minutes it needs to execute an automatic shutdown, and prevent the loss of important work (or, in the worst-case situation, run disc repair software).

In terms of enjoyment, it might allow you enough time to save your game after a blackout or—perhaps more importantly—let other players know that you need to leave a team-based multiplayer game, so you won't be penalized for quitting too soon.

A UPS helps your equipment and uptime by absorbing brief voltage drops and other whims of electrical power networks, some of which have the potential to harm computer power supplies. A UPS also functions as a surge protector. For most systems, a UPS may offer a tremendous level of peace of mind along with more uptime and less loss for around $80 to $200.

UPSs are nothing new. They go back many years. However, prices have never been cheaper and there are more possibilities than ever. In this introduction, I clarify what a UPS may provide, identify your needs, and offer some introductory suggestions for purchases. Wago will analyze UPS devices suitable for homes and small offices later this year.

Uninterruptible is the key word

The UPS was invented at a time when drives were readily knocked out of alignment and circuits were brittle. They were created to offer constant, or "uninterruptible," electricity in order to stop a variety of issues. Prior to their price and format dropping so they could be used with equipment for homes and small offices, they were initially discovered in server racks and utilized with network equipment.

A damaged directory or even physical damage from a drive head slamming into another component of the mechanism could result from any device you owned that had a hard disc inside it and lost power unexpectedly. Other equipment that functioned on volatile storage and loaded its firmware from chips can similarly lose important caches of data and take some time to reassemble.

It's still possible that if your battery-free desktop computer abruptly loses power, it could be left in a condition that requires you to recover your drive or reinstall the operating system because it corrupts a document or loses the most recent state of a spreadsheet. Even if your hardware is still intact, avoiding such scenarios will help you avoid having to recreate lost work and possibly pay for drive-rebuilding software. This is especially true if you frequently have short power outages at home.

Networking hardware with low power requirements can cause a more frequent issue. Even if your cable, DSL, or fiber line is powered or active from the ISP's physical plant or a neighborhood, losing electricity means you won't have access to the internet.

Great power is accompanied by great power conversion.

There are standby and line interactive UPSs for home and small business use. As its name suggests, standby machines maintain their battery charge and are ready for automatic, on-demand use. A line interactive version charges the battery while supplying connected items with power from the wall via an inverter. Within a few milliseconds, it can condition power, reducing highs and lows, and switch to the batteries. (Other flavors cost a lot more money, are designed for vital systems, or require more power.)

Standby and line interactive methods differ in that a UPS does more than merely restore power in the event of an interruption.

On the power supplied by your utility, any one of these three voltage fluctuations could occur frequently or infrequently:

Surges: Utility companies can experience transient spikes in electrical power that can harm devices, sometimes frying the whole thing or frying the power supply. Voltage that exceeds a specific safe range is effectively reduced by surge prevention.

Sags: When a large motor, such as a heat pump or a clothes dryer, turns on, your home or workplace may experience a brief voltage sag. In certain cases, this sag may even occur in a nearby flat, house or structure.

Undervoltage (also known as "brownouts"): In some situations, involving heavy regional electricity demand, a utility may lower voltage for a protracted period of time to prevent a complete blackout. Industrial and domestic machinery that uses motors to operate might be affected by this; for example, many appliances use motors to operate compressors, like in a refrigerator or freezer.

A standby type often relies on inline metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) to handle excess voltage, just like standalone surge protectors. These MOVs transfer power to the earth, but with repeated use, they eventually burn out. All of the UPS models I checked stop transferring power at that point. (This contrasts with typical surge protectors, which continue to transfer power while extinguishing a "protected" LED on their front.)

A standby model will draw power from the battery in response to power drops and low voltage. Your UPS may not be up to the task if it occurs frequently or in quick succession and fail to give enough delay for a desktop computer or hard drive to lose power for long enough for the system to crash or shut down.

Considering your UPS requirements

For the majority of us, keeping the network operational and preventing our AC-powered computers from suddenly shutting down are the two key situations to prepare for. This entails making radically different hardware and configuration decisions.

There is one thing both have in common, though: having enough outlets that are properly spaced out so that you can plug everything in at once. Many UPSs have surge-protected outlets that aren't plugged into the battery as well as battery-backed outlets. Study number and placement carefully since it's not a good idea to plug a power strip or other extensions into either type of UPS outlet because doing so increases the risk of an electrical fire.