A guide to choosing the right UPS for you!
What is a UPS?
An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, is a handy device that provides you with guaranteed power protection for your connected electrical devices. If your power supply is interrupted, or the power levels fluctuate outside the levels deemed safe, a UPS will step in to replace the unstable power with battery backup power until the problem has been rectified. This means your equipment will only receive clean power and will be surge protected.
Why do you need a UPS at home?
At home, we can guarantee you have multiple electronic devices in every room. We rely on these for communication, security, entertainment, education, and even sometimes our livelihoods. Without a UPS attached, they are at the mercy of unexpected blackouts, voltage fluctuations, and other power disturbances. Not only will this be inconvenient and frustrating, but they can also damage your devices or even cause them to fail.
A UPS provides battery backup and power to these devices to allow you to keep everything running smoothly at home. Devices that can benefit from a UPS include:
- Wireless networking equipment
- Computers
- Televisions
- Security systems
- Gaming consoles
- Mobile devices
Why do you need a UPS for your business?
When your business comes into the equation of power outages, the stakes are instantly raised. No longer is the biggest worry the frustration of the incident or a damaged device, it is the financial burden this could cause. Every year, billions of pounds are lost due to downtime.
This can cause huge financial risk to small to medium businesses, costing them money and preventing revenue to be generated. Luckily, this is preventable. An APC UPS in your arsenal can allow your business to continue running despite potential power problems, allowing your business to thrive!
What size UPS do you need?
Electronic devices have both maximum watt ratings and maximum volt-ampere (VA) ratings.
Watts measures the real power that is drawn by the equipment.
Volt-amps are a product of the voltage applied to the equipment times the current drawn by the equipment.
Neither of these ratings can be exceeded by the attached equipment.
For more help with sizing, try out APC’s UPS selector!
What does runtime mean?
Runtime is the amount of time the UPS will be able to power your attached equipment in the case a power disturbance occurs. The runtime you need will depend on what you intend to back up.
The more equipment you plan to be plugged into the same UPS, the lower your runtime will be. If you need a long amount of runtime, you will need to evaluate the most critical equipment and only attach power to them.
What key features are included in the different UPS models?
There are different levels of UPS systems depending on the level of operation you need. The levels include basic, enhanced, and advanced, with each level having many different models available. These are the key features for each to help you identify the level of UPS system you will need:
Basic
• User-Replaceable Batteries
To save time, and money, and increase availability, user-replaceable batteries allow trained end-users to perform battery upgrades and replacements without assistance.
• Surge-Only Outlets
Surge-only outlets allow you to protect your secondary electronics against surges and spikes whilst allowing all your battery power to focus on your mission-critical equipment.
• Building Wiring Fault Indicator
Never worry about wiring problems again with LED indicators to inform you of potentially dangerous wiring.
• Transformer-Block Spaced Outlets
Have it all with outlets that allow you to protect equipment without blocking access to other receptacles.
• Automatic Self-Test
Never be left unprotected by battery problems again. APC’s basic UPS systems will periodically check its own battery to ensure early detection of batteries in need of replacement.
Enhanced
• Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)
Correct low and high voltage conditions for high application availability without draining the battery.
• Pure Sine-Wave Output on Battery
Vital for sensitive equipment and PFC servers, the battery is able to simulate utility power using pure sine-wave output.
• SmartSlot
As if the usual features on the UPS aren’t enough, you are able to customize the capabilities even further with a network management card. This will bring your UPS abilities to the next level!
• Scalable Runtime
For those of you in need of long runtimes on multiple mission-critical pieces of equipment, the ability to add external battery packs is the answer to all your problems!
• Power Conditioning
Protect your connected equipment against surges, spikes, lightning, and all other power disturbances.
Advanced
• Adjustable Voltage Transfer Points
By widening the input voltage window, or tightening the output voltage regulation, you are able to maximise the useful battery life of your UPS!
• Temperature-Compensated Battery Charging
Regulate the charge voltage according to the temperature of your UPS battery and you will be able to further prolong your battery life.
• Intelligent Battery Management
Maximise your battery’s life, performance, and reliablity with intelligent precision charging.
• Predictive Failure Notifications
Be one step ahead of potential problems with early-warning fault analysis. This allows you to proactively deal with the issue before it can affect you or your equipment.
• Plug-and-Play External Batteries
When adding additional runtime to your UPS, plug-and-play external batteries ensure clean, uninterruptible power.
Still need help choosing?
Try out APC’s UPS battery backup tool for further help in choosing the best UPS for you!
Find the right APC UPS at Comms Express!
Here’s a brief overview of some of the APC UPS lines we have available at Comms!
Perfect for home users:
APC Back-UPS
Battery Backup & Surge Protector for Electronics and Computers
Protect your wireless networks, computers, gaming consoles, and other electronics with guaranteed power and surge protection using an APC Back-UPS. This range of UPS supplies backup during outages and unsafe fluctuations, as well as protects your equipment against damaging surges and spikes. Available in both tower or floor styles, these flexible UPS systems are ideal for both home and workplace, being adaptable to different situations.
Benefits:
- Intelligent battery management
- Battery failure notification
- Automatic self-test
- Audible alarms
- Battery and surge protected outlets
APC Back-UPS Pro
High-Performance Computer and Electronics UPS for Premium Power Protection
An upgrade to the Back-UPS model, the Back-UPS Pro provides you with guaranteed power protection for high-performance computer systems, routers/modems, external storage devices, game consoles, and other electronic devices. They will keep your equipment running during power problems by providing an abundance of battery backup, stabilizing unsafe equipment, and providing protection against surges and spikes.
Benefits:
- Customisable voltage-transfer points
- Boost and Trim Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)
- Battery failure or disconnected notifications
- Cold-start capable
- Intelligent battery management
- Automatic self-test
APC Easy UPS
Power protection for unstable power conditions
Perfect for homes or small offices, the Easy UP is a versatile UPS that will provide you with the essential power protection you need, no matter how unstable the power conditions.
Benefits:
- Advanced Safety Features
- Intelligent battery management
- Battery failure notification
- Cold-start capable
- Boost Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)
Perfect for businesses:
APC Smart UPS
Intelligent and efficient network power protection from entry level to scaleable runtime
Unlike traditional UPS systems, the Smart UPS will seamlessly integrate with your network. Enjoy better visibility into the health and performance of your UPS and real time battery status updates with a UPS that includes higher accessibility, enhanced performance and increased reliability.
Benefits:
- Adjustable voltage sensitivity & transfer points
- Power conditioning
- Intelligent battery management
- Boost and Trim Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)
- Predictive failure and disconnected battery notifications
- Temperature-compensated battery charging
APC Smart-UPS On-Line
High density, double-conversion on-line power protection with scalable runtime
Protect your servers, voice / data networks, medical labs, and light industrial applications with the high density, true double-conversion on-line power protection that comes with a Smart-UPS On-Line system! When your business requires a runtime of hours and not minutes, a Smart-UPS On-line is your best solution. All models 5kVa and above include a Network Management Card to allow you to manage your system from anywhere.
Benefits:
- Temperature-compensated battery charging
- Automatic restart of loads after UPS shutdown
- Hot-swappable batteries
- Intelligent battery management
- Frequency and voltage regulation
- Disconnected battery & predictive failure notifications
Buy APC Smart UPS Online SRT Marine
Buy APC Smart UPS Online SRT Lithium-Ion
This is just a brief look at the APC UPS Range, if you require more Schneider Electric equipment for your business, you can check our Schneider Electric microsite for a wide range of APC products to suit your needs.
Other Schneider Electric products Available from Comms Express:
Server Racks & Accessories | NetBotz Security and Environmental Monitoring | Extended Warranty | Accessory Extended Warranty | Power Distribution Units | Uninterruptible Power Supply
If you require any further information on these or any other products that we stock here at Comms Express, please do not hesitate to contact our team who will be only too happy to help.
Until next time…
