{"id":59691,"date":"2020-03-17T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=59691"},"modified":"2020-05-04T15:38:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T20:38:32","slug":"how-to-choose-a-ups-for-your-computer-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/59691-how-to-choose-a-ups-for-your-computer-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Work From Home Essentials: Choosing a UPS for Your Computer System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019ve always used a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) to protect my Mac and peripherals from loss of power, electrical surges, brownouts, and noise and glitches on the power coming into my Mac. Having this basic protection had likely kept me from losing data when power failures occurred, extended the life of my Mac, and allowed me to laugh in the face of danger, or at least the thunderstorm heading our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A UPS is something that everyone should have to protect his or her computer(s) and equipment. In this Rocket Yard guide, we\u2019ll take a look at UPS basics, features, and how to size a UPS for your needs. In today’s work from home (WFH) environment, it is more necessary than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPS: An Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At its most basic, a UPS is a battery-powered system used to provide the needed electricity to your Mac and peripherals should the normal power fail. The UPS monitors the incoming utility power, and should it go down quickly, switches the power source to its internal battery. This prevents a sudden shutdown and the stress it can cause to your Mac and peripherals. It also gives you time to save the data in open applications and perform a controlled shutdown of your Mac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Basic
A Standby UPS monitors the AC input, and provides a battery backup should the power go out.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By avoiding the perils associated with suddenly losing power, a UPS can prevent data loss, corruption of files and the system, damaged components, and a shortened lifespan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPS devices also have built-in surge protection to handle routine electrical surges that often occur in commercial and residential settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPS Types<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UPS devices are usually available in three broad categories, with each type providing different levels of protection. Each UPS manufacturer may use a slightly different name for each category:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standby UPS:<\/strong> This is the most basic type of UPS. It passes the utility power on to your Mac while monitoring the incoming voltage levels. If the incoming electrical levels fall below a predetermined level, the UPS changes the power source from the incoming utility voltage to the internal battery. Standby UPS usually can protect from surges, blackouts, and brownouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Line Interactive UPS:<\/strong> This type of UPS goes a bit further than the basic type. It monitors the incoming voltage for surges, blackouts, and brownouts, but it will also use the internal battery to supplement under-voltage conditions, and prevent over-voltage conditions from being passed on the devices connected to the UPS. You can think of this UPS category as allowing connected devices to use the normal incoming utility power as long as it is stable and within acceptable levels, but as soon as those levels are overstepped, the internal battery takes over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double Conversion UPS:<\/strong> With this type of UPS, your connected devices always run off the internal battery of the UPS, regardless of the state of the incoming line. The incoming line voltage is used primarily to keep the battery charged. This type of UPS offers all the protection of the Line Interactive, as well as protection against most line noise, frequency variations, and harmonic distortions. It\u2019s possible for a Double Conversion UPS to provide the cleanest power to your devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CyberPower
A Line Interactive UPS can offer more features, such as displays, USB charging ports, and automatic voltage regulation.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Which Type of UPS to Use?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Any UPS type is better than none, and each type can provide good service to your hardware, depending on the type of power problems you are likely to experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stable electrical environment:<\/strong> This is likely a residential setting in an urban or suburban area. The power tends to stay on year-round but may go off if a big storm rolls through. You don\u2019t have industrial machinery operating nearby, and the biggest source of electrical noise is your refrigerator, washing machine, or AC turning on or off. In this type of environment, any of the UPS types will meet your needs, including the basic Standby UPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mostly stable:<\/strong> You live in a residential setting in a suburban or rural environment. You may lose power once in a while from storms. You may be a good distance away from an electrical substation, or in the last group of homes on a power feed. You notice occasional brownouts when the weather is hot. You may also be near commercial or agricultural properties that use large electrical machinery. While the power stays on most of the time, it\u2019s likely not very clean, having over- and under-voltage conditions. A Line Interactive or Double Conversion type of UPS is appropriate for this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixed:<\/strong> The area you live in has enough power outages that you have, or are considering installing, a backup generator, or make use of alternate electrical energy sources. In this type of setting, your electrical system can experience line noise, frequency variations, and harmonic distortion. A Double Conversion UPS is the best choice for this environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note<\/em>:<\/strong> Not sure where you fall in the above list? A Line Interactive UPS is the most popular and meets the needs of most people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sizing a UPS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The UPS needs to be big enough to not only run all of the devices you connect to it but to allow for enough runtime after a power outage occurs to give you time to perform a controlled shutdown on all of the devices. To properly size a UPS, you will need to know the capacity of the UPS and the size of the load connected to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"OWC
Bus-powered external drives, such as the OWC Envoy Pro EX, use power from your Mac, so it isn\u2019t necessary to include their power needs in the load calculations.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This would seem to be a trivial exercise; add up all the loads and compare that to the UPS capacity. The problem is that UPS capacity and device loads are usually measured in two or more different units. It\u2019s not uncommon for your devices to use watts to indicate the load, and a UPS to use VA (Volt-Amps) to indicate capacity. The two measurements are not directly interchangeable, although sometimes they are. The key is a third measurement known as PF or Power Factor. Unfortunately, equipment manufacturers rarely publish the PF rating. That leads us to use a generalization that the wattage rating is generally 60 percent of the VA rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note<\/em>:<\/strong> Wattage ratings of your equipment can be found either on a sticker attached to the equipment, or in the device\u2019s manual, technical specifications, or environmental report.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n