UPS for equipment protection and as a Failsafe? Is it viable? And do you need it?

You got lots of gadgets and appliances and surely there are stuff that you might want protected when there’s a thunderstorm or a blackout that’s imminent.

Just relying on your everyday power outlet just won’t cut it, what if there’s a bad thunderstorm in your area?

Well that transformer was unlucky, guess what lightning surges can do to your equipment.

Depends on what you use, there is of course the smartest course of action when getting protection for your appliances.

You might’ve heard that an Uninterruptible Power Supply provides backup power when blackouts occur. Yay. But also there are other practical forms of protection such as surge protection and the choices are many.

So do you really need a UPS?

 

In most cases, no

Usually it’s enough when you get a surge protector for most of your appliances and sometimes even an Automatic Voltage Regulator does the job (but for a different purpose)

If you want a simple chart to tell you what you need, then go over my other article. It has an infographic that MIGHT just help you decide what to get.

Surge protectors as the name implies protects your equipment from sudden spikes but it could overload when used improperly or when it can’t handle higher voltage spikes, while an AVR could blow a fuse in order to prevent overloading.

Oh and don’t confuse Surge Protectors with Extension leads.

Plug so much and it WILL overload.

See here: Extension Overloading https://youtu.be/jGPkkOU3Uf8?t=1m10s

Appliances like your fridge, microwave, television and consoles would do well already with Surge Protection or Voltage regulators. These appliances aren’t  that crucial to be kept alive for more than a few minutes after a blackout. No need to shut em down.

So what about the UPS?

An Uninterruptible Power Supply is much more suited on mission critical tasks like server maintenance, office work (for desktop PCs) and routers too. Laptops don’t need them mind you, as laptops run on alternating current (AC)

And YES it protects your equipment from brownouts!

Desktop PCs for work are delicate equipment and you’d best save whenever you can. But it dies the moment power gets cut, so if you haven’t saved and file recovery fails, you’re screwed. Likewise for servers and routers, you have to at least turn em off properly to ensure things would go smoothly once you resume operations when power gets restored.

Sometimes I don’t get why some offices here in my hometown don’t invest on one. Generators yes but these are much more cost efficient if you ask me.

This is how an Uninterruptible Power Supply works btw:

In the end it all depends on what kind of user are you if you’re gonna pick out what to get.

Be practical and be safe. That is all.