You Need a UPS

You Need a UPS

As I sat down to originally write this newsletter back in March, 2004, a falling branch hit a transformer and knocked out electricity to my neighborhood. Perhaps that was a sign of what I should discuss in this article: power protection. I will discuss the three most common computer power sharing scenarios and explain why Uninterruptible Power Supplies are the safest and wisest solution.

Power strips. Power strips are merely small boxes with multiple outlets. You plug them into a wall outlet and share that outlet with four or six devices that you plug into the power strip. On the UP side, these are the cheapest option; I've seen some for $5.00. On the DOWN side, they provide no protection at all. Connecting sensitive electrical equipment, including computers, to cheap power strips does not protect them from voltage spikes or temporary blackouts.

Surge protectors. Surge protectors are one step above power strips. They share one outlet with multiple devices. They also contain circuitry that blocks voltage spikes from going through the box and to the devices plugged in to it. Voltage spikes occur when lightning strikes or immediately after utility power is restored. As soon as power is restored, a surge of electricity rushes through the lines at a voltage much higher than normal. Sensitive equipment, including computers, routers, firewalls, monitors, printers, microwave ovens, VCRs, DVD players, stereos and TVs receive this voltage spike. Sometimes they resume normal operations. Sometimes they blow up.

Surge protectors insulate devices from these potential voltage spikes. On the UP side, they're a relatively inexpensive solution. I've seen some for $20.00. Make sure yours has a circuit breaker or fuse. On the DOWN side, they do not provide battery backup power during temporary blackouts.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies. UPSs provide the features we find in surge protectors and go one step further. They provide automatic battery backup power for temporary blackouts.

Let's return to the scenario last month when my neighborhood lost power. When the lights went dark, my UPS switched from utility power to battery power, started beeping every 10 seconds to warn me that utility power was lost (as if being in the dark wasn't enough of a clue) and sent messages to my server telling me how much more electricity (in minutes) the UPS could provide before the batteries ran dry. When the batteries were close to exhaustion, the UPS told the server to gracefully shut itself down.

You don't need a server to realize this functionality. All you need is a UPS with a communications cable that helps the server monitor the UPS's performance, power input and battery life. On the UP side, a UPS provides both surge protection and battery backup to overcome temporary blackouts. On the DOWN side, they cost more than surge protectors. I've seen some small office UPSs for $40.00. UPSs for larger environments have a higher price tag.

Sensitive electrical equipment needs power protection. Computers need battery backup that lets them shut down gracefully during temporary blackouts.