What
is UPS?
Uninterrupted
Power Supply (UPS)
Sometimes, even surge protectors aren’t sufficient
to protect your hardware and data — especially when the lights go out.
Not only can surges, spikes, and brownouts (voltage reductions) cause
lost data, but because computer components can be quite sensitive to
electrical irregularities, these events can also damage the components
beyond repair.
A UPS is a battery-equipped device that supplies power
to your system in the event of a power outage. UPS systems can power
your system for a few minutes to more than two hours during a power
failure, depending on the model and brand of the UPS and your connected
equipment. This gives you enough time to save your data and shut down
your PC and hardware properly. Many UPS systems come with software that
allows you to automatically back up data and shut down hardware in the
event that there’s a power outage when you’re not close to your
PC.
Rating to pay attention to when choosing a UPS
system is the VA rating. To find out how many amps a UPS system can
effectively handle at a given voltage (known as a UPS load rating), look
for the (Volt-Ampere) VA needs of your computer, monitor, and all of the
peripheral devices that will be attached to the UPS’ battery back-up
outlets. Add these together and this total will give you the minimum VA
rating to look for when choosing a UPS system. Many UPS systems range
from about 300VA to well over 500VA.
Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR)
UPS systems with Automatic Voltage Regulation provide
the same protection benefits as standard battery backup systems, but do
so without simply relying on substituting battery power. AVR ensures
that your PC gets clean, constant voltage by monitoring and adjusting
dangerously low and high voltage levels. When voltage levels drop too
much, the AVR increases output voltage, and when voltage reaches
dangerously high conditions, it decreases the level. By providing such
safe and consistent voltage levels, your system will also receive the
following benefits:
Guarding
against power problems is crucial to the longevity of your computer
systems and integrity of data, and you can’t always rely on your power
company to provide clean, consistent power. Fortunately, we offer a wide
variety of protection solutions for your computer, hardware, and data.
Alternating Current(AC)-
An electrical current that reverses direction periodically, usually
about 60 times per second in the United States.
Amps- An amp
is the basic unit of electric current. It measures the amount of current
that a device needs to operate.
Back-up Time (or
run-time)- The amount of time for which a UPS system will
supply battery power to your computer and connected equipment during a
power failure.
Blackout-
Total loss of utility power for more than 8 minutes 35 seconds.
Blackouts can cause hard drive crashes, data loss, and prolonged
downtime.
Brownouts- A
brownout is a reduction of your incoming voltage. Brownouts account for
more than 75 percent of all power problems. When brownouts occur, the
lower voltage causes your computer system to work harder than it has to.
This can cause excessive wear and premature failure of critical
components.
Forroresonance-
A transformer design in which the transformer contains two separate
magnetic paths with limited coupling between them. The output contains a
resonating tank circuit and draws power from the primary to replace
power delivered to the load.
Hot-Swappable-
Components, such as batteries, which can be replaced without powering
down equipment.
Online Power Supply-
A power supply that continuously provides output power to devices
without interruption.
Output Power Capacity
in VA (volt-amperes)- Measurement of the electrical potential
(volts) multiplied by the electrical current (amperes). To find out how
many amps a UPS system can effectively handle at a given voltage (known
as a UPS load rating), look for the (volt-ampere) VA needs of your
computer, monitor, and all of the peripheral devices that will be
attached to the UPS’ battery back-up outlets. Add these together and
this total will give you the minimum VA rating to look for when choosing
a UPS system.
Runtime- The
length of time that a UPS will support a device while running on battery
power during a power outage.
Sag- A
short-term decrease in voltage. They’re often caused by large loads
starting up, utility power line faults, or rolling brownouts created by
utility companies on peak-use days. Sags can cause workstations and
servers to freeze, hard drives to garble or misplace data, and motor
parts to wear faster.
SNMP Adapter (Simple
Network Management Protocol)- Hardware that allows monitoring
and management of remote UPS systems and protects key network devices
such as servers, routers, and hubs.
Spike-
An instantaneous, dramatic increase in voltage. Spikes are often caused
by lightning and sometimes by power coming back on after a blackout.
Spikes can cause aborted modem transfers, microchip failures, and
"fried" hardware.
