Uninterruptible Power Supply Protection for your PC
You are sitting at your computer, feverishly trying to finish your ten-page report that is due tomorrow. Unbeknownst to you, five miles away in the next county, Johnny Teenager is trying to text his girlfriend as he drives down the road to her house. The good news is that he got his text message off. The bad news is that he missed the turn and took out a power pole before he came to a stop.
You are about to write the last sentence, when without warning – Blam! The power goes out! Sitting there, fingers in mid-stroke, you suddenly realize that you did not save your document! The only good thing about the darkness you are sitting in is that you can’t see the note you left on the desk the last time the power went out—“Turn on Auto-save”!! Which, of course, you didn’t do
The Power Problem
Power line incidents happen all the time. By some estimates the average home owner will see about 120 line voltage related incidents per month—about 4 per day! (That’s average, which means that some areas are worse than that.) It doesn’t have to be a break in a line to cause an outage. Lightning strikes can overload the grid and cause circuit breakers to open the lines; everyone turning on their air conditioners at the same time can overload the grid causing the power to drop; or somebody in your home turning on the microwave and the toaster oven at the same time can cause the circuit breaker to trip, taking your computer down because it was plugged into the same circuit.
In the nasty world of electrical power, your computer is vulnerable to damaging transients, overvoltages, brownouts, dropouts (especially when they occur in rapid succession over a few seconds) and just plain noisy line voltage.
The Power Solution
“What’s one to do?” You may ask. Have you considered using a UPS?
No. That’s not the delivery guys in the brown trucks, but: Uninterruptible Power Supplies. A UPS, can provide your system with more than just battery backup, they can protect your system from the ravages of the real world electrical power grid.
The power supply in your computer or the wall supply used by your laptop converts the AC line voltage (typically 120VAC or 240VAC) to a direct voltage your computer can use (typically +3.3VDC, +5VDC and +12VDC). The integrated circuits (IC’s) you have in your computer have a very low tolerance for voltages that deviate beyond these typical values. Lower voltages will generally cause your system to lock up and/or crash while higher voltages can destroy the IC’s in an instant. The power supplies that power your systems have been designed to handle a certain level of noise and variability on the AC mains. They can only tolerate so much before they may quit doing their job providing regulated DC voltages and your computer suffers the consequences.
In all cases, the batteries are continuously charged while the UPS is connected to the AC line. Once the UPS detects a low AC line voltage it will switch over to the battery supply (except the On-Line UPS that is always running off the battery) and power your computer for a period of time that will depend on the size of the UPS and your system.
For a typical desk top system and monitor, the power draw is about 70 Watts (about 98 VA) and a 350 VA UPS would provide about 14 minutes of backup time, while a 550 VA UPS would provide about 30 minutes of backup. (Note that the 350 VA UPS would provide about 2.5 minutes of backup time if it were fully loaded at 350VA.) Of course, the longer the backup, or the higher the VA rating, the more you will spend to provide the desired protection.
In addition to providing clean power to your system, a lot of the UPS units provide transient protection for your phone lines and network connections and with a USB connection and appropriate software installed on your system, your computer can power-down safely, unattended, in the event of a power failure when you are not there.
Uninterruptible Power Supplies can provide you with another level of protection from the “elements” and you may want to consider them if you cannot afford data corruption or loss of hardware due to beasties that inhabit the power grid.
Here are Some Recommended Uninterruptible Power Supplies:
International Version: 208V Input Voltage Range: 141 - 255V Output Voltage: 208V Outlets: 4 Battery Run Time: Typical Backup Time at Half Load: 26.7 minutes (2000 Watts) Typical Backup Time at Full Load: 9.4 minutes (4000 Watts) Battery Replaceable: RBC55 Interface Port: DB-9 RS-232, SmartSlot Approvals: CSA, FCC Part 15 Class A, UL 1778
Never lose vital data or productivity time due to a power outage or surge again with the APC Back Uninterruptible Power Supply. The Back-UPS features unique chargeable batteries that continue powering your equipment with up to 390 Watts in the event of a power interruption so that you can safely save your work and shut down your computer. The Back-UPS will let you know if it is running on batteries, if the battery is low or if there is an overload condition. Once the event is over, simply reset the breakers on the unit and get back to work. As an added bonus, the Back-UPS will also conduct periodic self-tests to warn you if a battery needs to be replaced. The unit can also be customized and managed by your PC with the included software and USB connection. The Back-UPS has been certified to meet the standards of UL, FCC, CE and more. For reliability during mission-critical projects and safety for your valuable data, make the APC Back-UPS part of your computer system today! Output Voltage: 120V Outlets: 8 Outlet Type: (4) NEMA 5-15R (Battery Backup) (4) NEMA 5-15R (Surge Protection) Battery Run Time: Typical Backup Time at Half Load: 13.1 minutes (195 Watts) Typical Backup Time at Full Load: 3.8 minutes (390 Watts) Battery Recharge Time: 16 hour(s) Battery Replaceable: RBC17 Alarms: Alarm when on battery : distinctive low battery alarm : overload continuous tone alarm Data Line Protection: RJ-45 Modem/Fax/DSL/10-100 Base-T protection, Co-axial Video / Cable protection
APC's Back-UPS BR800BLK provides high-performance battery backup and power protection for your computer and peripheral devices. It has seven outlets, four of which are linked to the battery power, with three providing surge only protection for less critical equipment, all in a slimline unit. With a battery run time up to 17.3 minutes, the BR800BLK will offer you enough time to close files and protect data in a power outage. It also protects your data lines against surges, spikes, lightning, and other power disturbances. Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) ensures that all your electronics are receiving clean power and stabilizes the voltage to a nominal 120V. The award-winning shutdown software automatically saves and closes open files and shuts down the PC in an intelligent and orderly manner, with audible alarms. Count on the BR800BLK and APC to keep your valuable equipment and data safe! Input Voltage Range: 120V Input Frequency: 47-63 Hz Output Voltage: 120Vac +/- 5% Outlets: 7 Battery Run Time: Typical Backup Time at Half Load :17.6 minutes (270 Watts) Typical Backup Time at Full Load : 5.3 minutes (540 Watts) Battery Recharge Time: Interface Port: USB Approvals: CSA, FCC, UL
Series: Symmetra Input Voltage Range: 208/240V Input Frequency: 50/60 Hz Output Voltage: 208/240V Features: Engineered to deliver the highest level of business continuity possible, the Symmetra LX uses a modular, redundant architecture that can scale power and run-time as demand increases or when higher levels of availability are required. Advancements in this next generation design greatly decrease footprint or U-space needed in an equipment Parts: 2 years limited Labor: 2 years limited
Input Voltage Range: 155V AC to 276V AC Output Voltage: 120V, 208V Interface Port: RS-232 Approvals: CSA, FCC Part 15 Class A, UL 1778 Weight: 164 lb Dimensions: 14"" Height x 19"" Width x 29"" Depth Features: Batteries arenot included
