The Best Uninterruptible Power Supply for Your Home and Small Business

Since March 2020, nearly all of South Africa’s non-essential workforce started working from home. With this came challenges such as internet connectivity issues, a rise in phishing attacks, and power surges and outages. Let's take a look at the best uninterruptible power supply for your home or office.

Downtime caused by power outages is frustrating for anyone, especially when deadlines are on the horizon. But, being left high and dry with no electricity can be financially crippling for a business or organisation, especially when employees are working remotely without any power generators or battery backup systems. To boot, every year, billions of rands are lost due to downtime caused by power disruptions that could have been prevented by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). 

A small investment in a UPS can protect you against the risk of losing valuable data or even a single hour of productivity.

What Is An Uninterruptible Power Supply?

Without going into too much detail, a UPS provides battery backup to other devices such as computers, routers and monitors, when power supply drops to unacceptable levels. 

A UPS contains a battery that "kicks in" when the device senses a loss of power from the primary source. If an end-user is working on the computer when the UPS notifies of the power loss, they have time to save any data they are working on and exit before the secondary power source (the battery) runs out. When all power runs out, any data in your computer's random access memory (RAM) is erased. 

What Makes The Best Uninterruptible Power Supply The "Best"?

In these uncertain times, where many of us are working from home, buying the best UPS your budget can stretch to is even more important. You may find that you're plugging in a lot more power-hungry devices into your home power supply, and this could lead to power cuts or power surges.

Your home likely won't have the power backup solutions that your office does, so buying a UPS for your home could be a very wise investment.

Keep your family’s data and devices connected, even during a power outage, with UPS battery backup from APC by Schneider Electric. When power surges occur, a UPS intercepts the surge so that it does not damage any connected machines.

Insure your computers, Wi-Fi, entertainment and smart home devices against damages from unexpected power grid disruptions, surges and even lightning. APC’s battery backups help to deliver industrial-strength protection and reliability for your most important devices at home.

An APC UPS Is Perfect For The Home Office

Battery backup is both crucial to productivity and uptime. But those kinds of productivity boosts will only occur if remote workers remain connected. To accomplish that, you need to be able to weather the occasional utility brownout or blackout without losing valuable data or being left without internet connectivity, leaving you unable to take advantage of the tools that enable effective communication and collaboration with colleagues, and partners and customers.  

A good UPS also provides another important element for home office workers: protection against power surges. Surges are short bursts of power that can damage sensitive equipment such as PCs, monitors and printers, because they deliver a higher level of voltage than the equipment is built to handle. And surges are not uncommon. They can result from a number of causes, including outside utility work, lightning strikes and other weather events, even from appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners as they cycle on and off.

In a home office, you have two options for protecting against surges. One is a power strip with surge protection built in, while the other is a UPS that offers surge protection. If you go with the UPS option, you don’t need a separate surge protector. It’s likely you can find a UPS with enough outlets to power the home office gear that needs protection. Many now even come with USB ports, to power smartphones and tablets while also protecting them from surges – and enabling you to keep them powered through an outage. APC stocks smart UPSs that support remote monitoring – a nice feature if you want to keep tabs on your home office when you’re away.

Your Battery Backup Is Ready!

Stay Online For Longer With An APC Uninterruptible Power Supply

APC by Schneider Electric has a long history of providing battery backup and UPS solutions for all sorts of requirements, from the largest data centres to small, but important, home offices. Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. At Schneider, we call this Life Is On.

Energy-efficient and simple to manage, APC UPS backup systems, deliver reliable protection for your critical data and devices — no matter where they’re located or how many you have:

• Longevity: Lithium-ion UPS batteries offer double the lifecycle of lead-acid batteries and perform better in higher temperatures.
• Simplicity: It’s easy to install and maintain Lithium-ion batteries when they’re more than 30% lighter than other models.
• Manageability: A network card or APC SmartConnect gives you crystal-clear infrastructure visibility from any smart device.

FAQs

1. What Is An Uninterruptible Power Supply?

The electronic devices you rely on every day for communication, security and entertainment are at risk of damage and failure due to unexpected blackouts, voltage fluctuations or other power disruptions. A UPS provides battery backup power and protection for electronic devices, including:

• Wireless networking equipment (routers, modems)
• Computers
• Televisions
• Security systems
• Gaming consoles
• Mobile devices

2. How Does An Uninterruptible Power Supply work?

There is no delay when the UPS steps in to take over when your primary power source fails. When power fails, the batteries drive the inverter, which continues to run the IT load. When power is restored, either from the utility or a generator, the rectifier delivers direct current (DC) to the inverter and simultaneously recharges the batteries.

3. What Size Uninterruptible Power Supply Do I Need?

It all boils down to what you want to use a UPS device for. For computers and UPS units, watt and VA ratings can differ significantly, although VA rating is always equal to are larger than watt rating. The ratio of watts to VA is called the ‘power factor’ and is expressed either as a number (i.e. – 0.8) or a percentage (i.e. – 80%). When sizing a UPS for your specific requirements, the power factor matters most. Generally, your UPS should have an Output Watt Capacity 20 – 25% higher than the total power drawn by any attached equipment. You will need to consider exactly how your home is set up and where the various components that provide Internet connectivity are located. If your router isn’t in your office, it should have its own UPS for backup.

4. How Do I Choose The Best UPS For My Money?

An uninterruptible power supply is worth every penny, especially if you’re working from home. Not only does it supply your infrastructure with enough power to ensure enough time to save crucial files and allow for a secure shutdown, but it protects against power surges which can strike at any time.

5. How Long Will An Uninterruptible Power Supply Last?

Most APC batteries should last three to five years. There are many factors which affect battery life including the environment and the number of discharges. Lithium-ion UPS batteries offer double the lifecycle of lead-acid batteries and perform better in higher temperatures. It is good to keep in mind that a Smart-UPS gives you 2x the battery life of other solutions and up to 50% lower total cost of ownership.