What are the advantages of using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)?
- It ensures power continuity
- It prevents significant data loss
- It offers equipment protection
- It helps save time, effort, and money
A short visit to any electrical supplier in Metro Manila could make you aware of the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), but why go to all that trouble when you can sit back and relax as we tell you – or write – everything there is to know about this amazing yet slightly less known device.
An uninterruptible power supply or uninterruptible power source is a device that serves as a backup battery for hardware components. It is most commonly used with desktop computers but can also be hooked up to data centers and telecommunication equipment. In essence, it allows these electrical equipments and hardware to continue running in the midst of a power outage or any surge or drop in power.
You can liken it to a backup generator except for one huge difference. A generator can power devices for long periods of time often lasting for hours to days. A UPS, on the other hand, can only keep equipment running for a short period of time – literally minutes. Because of this, there’s a wide misconception that they’re not worth the investment. This, however, is completely false.
The fact that it can only keep your equipment powered for a few short minutes doesn’t mean that it’s useless. A UPS offers many other benefits that not many people know about, so we enumerated them here!
Ensures Power Continuity
switch and turn it on. What this means is that your desktop or hardware still loses power and you’d have to wait for it to start up again.
With a UPS, you won’t have to sit through the long start up or worry about any kind of power disruption. Any disturbance in power triggers the UPS and allows it to kick in. Sure, it may only be able to power your computer for a few minutes but that’s more than enough time to switch from your main power source to your backup generator.
After doing so, you can go back to regular programming as if nothing happened and just wait for the power to come back.
Prevents Significant Data Loss
Let’s say you don’t have any kind of backup generator and a power outage means complete loss of power to your area, what purpose would the UPS serve then? Well, in that case, what it can do is prevent significant data loss.
We all know how important data is nowadays, being a very valuable resource for everyone to use. The thing about it, however, is that it takes a great amount of time and effort to gather but only a quick second to lose. An instant and unannounced power outage can strip you of data that you gathered for hours on end, essentially throwing your efforts down the drain.
Luckily, you can prevent such a thing from happening with a UPS. The short time that the device gives you allows you to properly save or backup any important data before they get thrown into the abyss.
Offers Equipment Protection
As mentioned in a previous section, the UPS is triggered by any kind of power disruption and isn’t specifically sensitive to loss of power. Other possible triggers – which professionals call power variances – are spikes, surges, sags, and noise.
All these things, blackouts and brownouts included, can damage your electrical equipment one way or another. Surges – an increase in voltage – excessively dissipate heat to electronic components which may cause damage or premature failure. Spikes (or significant but almost instant voltage increases), on the other hand, can corrupt your data and prompt components to break down.
A UPS filters these things and allows only for a steady stream of power to travel to your equipment. As a result, it stays protected from any damage brought about by inconsistent power levels, enabling it to live far longer than any equipment that isn’t backed by a UPS.
There are also UPS systems that simply warn you of unusual power activity which then gives you the chance to safely and properly turn off your device until levels go back to normal.
Helps Save Time, Effort, and Money
When your power source acts up, data isn’t the only thing that gets lost but also productivity and money. Think about it this way, any unsaved, lost, and/or corrupted data must be retrieved. You’re lucky if your computer or equipment backed it up but if it didn’t, then you’d have to spend hours (maybe even days) to get back everything you lost.
It may be necessary but it’s also a huge waste. That’s time, effort, and money you could’ve used on more important things but instead you spend on redoing work you’ve already done. This may not seem too big of a deal to individuals but it definitely means a great deal to businesses who thrive on important data.
If you own a business that stands to lose a lot of revenue when data is lost due to unavoidable events such as power outages, we highly recommend that you hook up your computers to a UPS.
Key Takeaway
Now that you’ve learned about the UPS and its many advantages, you can head to a trusted electrical supplier in Metro Manila and purchase one for yourself or for your business. We guarantee that it’s well worth the investment and you’d thank yourself for doing so sometime in the future!