Suffering from blackouts, brownouts, or sags? How about bushfires, floods, or cyclones? Then maybe you need a UPS. We review six UPS appliances.
A few years ago this would not have been such a serious an issue as over-sized power supplies protected our machines from a certain amount of trouble. However not so with my current machine. The power supply itself survived the disaster (I could just hear it saying, "That'll teach you to make me work so hard"), but I lost the RAM, CPU, and both hard drives.
Foolishly, I had backed up certain information on the second disk, but did not have everything on removeable media for offsite storage (although I thought I did).
As a result, I am still discovering exactly what I have lost, and am still trying to replace it. The worst of it is, all of this trouble could have been prevented by using an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
Emergency power is online
The job of a UPS is basically twofold. Firstly, it should ensure that the electric current reaching your equipment is "clean" -- and I don't mean "green" but rather that it matches the quality intended by the utility and that required by your equipment.
Clean power can be achieved by using a line conditioner. Spikes, sags, surges, noise, and even frequency variations can be detrimental to the effective live of electronic devices of all kinds. Spikes and surges are momentary and prolonged increases in voltage respectively, these can overload circuitry, blowing fuses -- or worse -- delicate electronics. A surge protector will protect you from such troubles, but you might still be caught out be the opposite problems: sags and brownouts.
Fluorescent lights, electric motors, and high-voltage cables can all cause noise, so it is worth taking a careful look at the relative positioning of all electrical equipment and the cabling that supports it. Don't leave cables in messy bundles or coils, avoid piggy-backing power-boards, and try to use the right amount of cable for the job. Besides the problem of noise, messy cords can be a potential fire hazard.
Secondly, in the event of a total power failure (blackout), the UPS should continue to run on battery power until either, (a) the power supply returns to normal, or (b) the user is able to save data and shut down the equipment gracefully, or transfer to an alternative power source, such as a generator. Once power is restored the UPS automatically recharges its batteries. A UPS will contain circuitry for line conditioning as standard.
In the event of an extended power shortage -- say storm damage wipes out power-lines in your area -- then a UPS may not be able to protect your business by itself. In critical situations you might consider a generator to back up your UPS. This way, if you cannot afford to stop work when the UPS battery runs down, the UPS can signal the generator to take over from the mains supply (or switching can be manual for that matter) before the battery capacity reaches zero. Hospitals, for example, make use of generators to backup their essential services. Check the generator periodically to ensure that it is well maintained and that there is an adequate supply of fuel on-site.
